
Uber’s vice president of product and growth Ed Baker has resigned - coloneltcb
http://www.recode.net/2017/3/3/14805384/uber-ed-baker-resigns-travis-kalanick
======
genericpseudo
At this point, it doesn't matter whether he's leaving because of accusations
or if he's leaving because of everyone _else 's_ accusations – let's assume
the latter because that's more charitable.

This is what a PR tailspin looks like. All your good people will leave, all
your bad people will have to be fired, and consumer demand and driver supply
will be affected. Perception is reality, and that means Uber are in real
trouble here and it's gonna cost them a lot – maybe most of the exec suite –
to get out of it.

The key question is: who benefits? This is corporate politics by insurgent
means, so I wonder who is emptying their opposition research briefing against
Uber and why. Could even be an investor who wants to force leadership out,
possibly as a prelude to driving Uber to an exit.

Those tactics don't work unless the dirt exists, so this really, really
doesn't excuse anything which Uber may (and, on the balance of probabilities,
there's more than likely fire to go with this smoke) have done. And I don't
think it's likely the individuals alleging harassment in particular are part
of this at all, so anyone coming trying to impugn their motivations can go
pound sand; but, as a byproduct of their legit and serious grievances, they
created the environment where this kind of power-play can be made.

So who benefits?

~~~
msabalau
"Ultimately the root of any conspiracy theory is a strong desire to believe
that someone, somewhere, is competent at what they're doing." -Amy Dentata

~~~
genericpseudo
Point taken :-)

But I don't think I'm advancing a conspiracy theory. There's a genuine crisis
at Uber, and that's the important issue here; if a hundredth of what's been
alleged is true then that's the main event here and all of this is really
Valley inside-baseball navel-gazing. Let's not draw moral false equivalences
here.

Still, as a student of Valley dynamics, one has to acknowledge that
realpolitik exists whenever things go really wrong. Given that, it's worth
wondering whether any parties can _take advantage of those conditions_ ,
especially given the non-existent state of board oversight in tightly-held SV
companies. Chris Sacca and Mitch Kapor have already gone to the press on this
(publically), so it's not even that much of a reach.

This is, in some really grim ways, an opportunity which doesn't come around
very often.

~~~
nostrademons
There doesn't have to be a _single_ actor who benefits for there to be
realpolitik. It could be that the the company has pissed off a number of
people on the way up (this is a virtual certainty), and now that they smell
blood in the water, they're all coming out. Think "information cascade", not
"nefarious actor".

~~~
postgeographic
Information cascade does not necessarily mean no nefarious actor or actors.
While I'm not saying there IS a vast conspiracy to take down Uber, I too have
felt that there is a concerted push for negative PR on Uber, with the timing
of the releases of bad news a bit too neat. Uber's troubles have been on top
of the news cycle for a few weeks now for various things.

------
pdog
_> Baker was seen "making out" at an internal Uber event held in Miami three
years ago, which was seen by some employees. There was no suggestion of any
sexual harassment on his part and the encounter was apparently consensual._

Is that it? I was expecting something a little more scandalous.

~~~
jacquesm
Whether it is a problem or not depends on what the relationship was between
the two people in the org chart.

~~~
e40
I cannot imagine being a VP and engaging in this behavior, even if the person
was under another VP. It's extremely unprofessional.

~~~
jacquesm
There's a line between 'unprofessional' and 'illegal'.

The org chart will tell you the difference.

~~~
exolymph
It's not illegal for a boss to kiss or even sleep with an underling, as long
as the encounter is consensual. It's fucked up, but not illegal.

~~~
HillRat
Not illegal, but almost always a major violation of company protocol and a
very good reason to get fired with prejudice. But Uber seems like the kind of
corporate culture where that kind of thing is tolerated, if not basically
encouraged.

------
nodesocket
This is not going to be a popular oppipion here, but when does this start
being a witch hunt? Disgruntled employees sending anonymous tips to Arianna
Huffington over seeing employees make out at a party. There was no evidence of
misconduct, yet they printed the story and included the "incident".

~~~
jrockway
I'm not sure what you think "evidence" is, but eyewitness accounts are
traditionally considered evidence.

~~~
nodesocket
So kissing at a party which was most likely consensual is now evidence? Give
me a break.

You do realize that inter-company relationships and hookups happen all the
time right? How is two consenting adults sexual harassment? This is still
innocent until proven guilty right? Maybe not.

~~~
CodeWriter23
On what basis do you establish "most likely consensual"? If the makeout
partner was a subordinate, they may very well have been coerced, EVEN in a
setting such as that. Risk takers thrive on risk taking behavior.

~~~
uniformlyrandom
> On what basis do you establish "most likely consensual"

It says so in the article.

~~~
CodeWriter23
Um, no. "most likely" != "apparently"

> There was no suggestion of any sexual harassment on his part and the
> encounter was apparently consensual.

------
oculusthrift
It's rather unfortunate (or maybe deliberate) for him that one can't tell if
he's leaving because of the bad press or because he was one of those "high
performers" mentioned in the medium posts.

~~~
snug
I think it's pretty obvious

> For example, one person anonymously tipped off board member Arianna
> Huffington — who is one of the people conducting a wider-ranging
> investigation into sexism and sexual harassment at the company — via an
> email that Baker had engaged in a sexual encounter with another employee.

~~~
theoracle101
How the fuck is this obvious. Consensual relationships between two adults if
nothing to be ashamed this.

Now office relationships are illegal too? This is ridiculous

~~~
sfeng
It's very common for relationships between superiors-subordinates to be banned
or to have very specific steps which must be taken. Of course, for a superior
to be 'making out' with someone at an event is potentially a whole different
thing.

~~~
sib
And nowhere did it say that she was his subordinate...

~~~
chickenfries
Chances are... she is. It's Uber.

~~~
theoracle101
Easy with your pitchfork jabroni, you might hurt yourself

~~~
chickenfries
Did I say something incorrect? He's a VP of product. Statistically, most women
at Uber are his subordinate.

~~~
sib
A subordinate in the context of a business org structure means someone who
reports up into him, whether directly or indirectly. If the person reports up
into someone who is his peer, say, the VP of Finance or VP of Marketing, then
you would not refer to the person as his subordinate. And, in most (US)
companies, a relationship between him and such a person in a different section
of the company would not be considered problematic or against policy.

~~~
chickenfries
I see, so most employees in Product would be his subordinate but not someone
in a different organization, and this is typically the line at which American
coorporations consider a relationship problematic? Thanks for the
clarification.

~~~
sib
Yeah, only a small number of co's would prohibit relationships altogether.
It's pretty common to prohibit it in ones where there is a (direct or
indirect) reporting relationship.

------
abpavel
'''Specifically, said sources, Baker was seen “making out” at an internal Uber
event held in Miami three years ago which was seen by some employees. There
was no suggestion of any sexual harassment on his part and the encounter was
apparently consensual'''

How is consentual making out at a party in Miami can in any way be considered
a bad thing? That what those events are made for. I can't believe this is the
real motive.

~~~
spadeisaspade
He sexually harassed employees, which is not consensual. The make out was seen
by many people which is why it's in print. It doesn't mean he didn't do other
inappropriate things. This article doesn't even scratch the surface of what
this guy did. Lucky for him he was able to exist at the company for as long as
he did.

------
Spooky23
Wanting to spend time getting a government gig certainly is a departure from
the standard "focus on spending more time with my family".

------
johnsmith21006
I can not imagine Kalanick surviving.

~~~
CodeWriter23
> Kalanick quickly apologized for his words and admitted, for the first time,
> that he needs to “grow up.”

I see the board using that statement against him.

~~~
apapli
I expect the board are the ones that said exactly that phrase to him.
Seemingly he remembered.

~~~
CodeWriter23
Maybe. I'm just thinking the board cannot support a CEO of a $70B firm whose
personal assessment of himself is he needs to grow up. It also provides the
perfect excuse to remove him, the major obstacle to Uber's IPO.

------
sgustard
"Before joining the company, Ed Baker -- VP of growth -- founded two dating
sites, one of which was acquired by Facebook in 2011"

[http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/14/technology/uber-corporate-
cu...](http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/14/technology/uber-corporate-culture/)

------
friedman23
Never apologize folks, it doesn't actually engender any sympathy, especially
when you are a billionaire.

~~~
logicallee
If you're referring to his blog post entitled "profound apology" where he
makes no mention of this very public sexual harrassment thing and on the whole
apologizes for a video where he did nothing wrong: yeah, don't do that.

------
meerita
All my friends deleted their Uber accounts. Most of the in the last 3 weeks. I
think UBER now has a cancer and everyone noticed this.

------
XJOKOLAT
Couldn't stomach continuing to work for such an ethically derisory company.

------
godzillabrennus
Any clues on if it's related to the investigations?

