
David Bonderman Resigns from Uber Board - ckelly
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/business/david-bonderman-resigns-from-uber-board-after-sexist-remark.html
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aresant
So Bonderman made an overtly sexist, diminutive comment about a new FEMALE
board member at a meeting held SPECIFICALLY to address Uber's inherent culture
& sexism issues?

I'm not sure whether watching HBO's Silicon Valley or just pulling up HN has
given me more belly laughs at the inanity of the current state of tech over
this past 12 months.

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pgodzin
Really can't make this up. The board has spent months trying to figure out how
to deal with their culture issues, and minutes into the all-hands presenting
their findings, he says a disparaging offhand comment about women.

~~~
jolux
And interrupts Arianna Huffington to do so, too.

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danblick
I wonder if Uber's investors have an unusual perspective on women's issues:

[https://www.crunchbase.com/funding-
round/3561e0558d4fa07f0dc...](https://www.crunchbase.com/funding-
round/3561e0558d4fa07f0dc27a9d380fd0ae)

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redm
On one hand, we live in an age that highlights and elevates any remarks made
to a point that there are serious real world repercussions.

On the other hand, the internet offers a layer of perceived anonymity that
causes people to say things they never would, or should, in person. Things
that they would be ashamed if that had to repeat to peers, in person.

It's a strange time to be alive.

~~~
pgodzin
This was said in person though?

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lancewiggs
The right thing to do. He needs to be replaced by a woman, and to Ariana's
point they need several on the board. Plenty of work required to change the
toxic culture at Uber.

~~~
initstick
FTFY: He needs to be replaced by a more qualified individual. It doesn't
matter what gender they identify as.

~~~
pgodzin
A woman with a perspective on the diversity and culture they need to create
seems uniquely qualified for the role.

~~~
throwaway-1209
"Diversity hiring" is a double edged sword though. There's a stigma attached
to it which is really hard to overcome even if you're good.

~~~
pgodzin
It's crazy that hiring a woman to be the second woman on a board is considered
"diversity hiring" though. It's not a super minority that is being looked for
to tout diversity, it's half the population! I'm sure there are women who are
both utterly qualified AND can provide a perspective on the more inclusive
culture they are trying to create.

~~~
throwaway-1209
Hiring a woman is not crazy in the least. Hiring a woman because she's a woman
over a more qualified male candidate (or the other way around) is harmful.
There are plenty of women who don't need such "help".

~~~
pgodzin
Not sure why we immediately need to jump to the trope that a more qualified
male candidate would be passed over. You're treating a seat on the board as if
were some sort of technical role with hard skills. It's not - it's a role to
be a positive and influential voice within a company dealing with a toxic
culture. Being a successful woman and having all the experiences and
perspectives that come with that is literally part of their qualification for
the position.

~~~
whitemale
> Not sure why we immediately need to jump to the trope that a more qualified
> male candidate would be passed over.

This is the original piece comment we are talking about:

> He needs to be replaced by a woman

It's evident that the objective is to hire a women, not to hire a qualified
person, therefore a less qualified person can be hired just because she is a
women. A person hired like this would most likely not get too much respect
because she had an advantage not because of her skill, but her gender.

> Being a successful woman and having all the experiences and perspectives
> that come with that

See my question in another comment.

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robbiemitchell
All thanks to the leaked audio from the meeting (6:40):
[https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inside-ubers-hands-meeting-
tr...](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inside-ubers-hands-meeting-
travis-194232221.html)

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ericzawo
This was the right move.

On another note it's getting harder and harder to separate the news out of
Uber from satire. Watching the car accident continue over again at head office
feels like I'm sometimes caught reading The Onion.

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BigJono
Preparing to be bombarded with downvotes for this, but resigning over such a
remark seems like an overreaction. His apology seems sincere, that should be
enough.

On the scale of things said about women by men in power this is about a 2/10,
there's many much more egregious examples of sexism out there for people to be
upset about.

~~~
bla2
You have to look at the remark in the context it was made. They were having a
meeting where they presumably tried hard to make the point that they're very
serious about fixing their culture. This is the only way to _maybe_ keep this
believable, even if you feel that "everyday sexism" should be considered
harmless.

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jbuild
What do you think of adding Marissa Mayer to Uber's board of directors? She
seems to be suited to run companies in Uber's position.

~~~
glasz
that comment is quite sexist.

~~~
jazoom
?

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rubyfan
I'm not sure I fully understand the point he was trying to make? Was it a dig
at Huffington not adding value?

~~~
heyheyhey
Listening to the audio, he's saying it in jest and Huffington laughs along
(albeit nervously since it wasn't a funny joke). It's just reinforcing a
stereotype that women tend to talk a lot.

~~~
rubyfan
Interesting, thanks for clarifying. Yeah the quotation on its own was unclear
what point it was even trying to make.

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staticautomatic
By now this is starting to be downright hilarious. Fuck all these folks and
the Ubers they rode into town in.

~~~
ocrimgproc
Hey staticautomatic, I hope you see this. Sorry for the offtopic comment but I
couldn't find your email anywhere. Shoot me an email at fkocrimgproc@gmail.com
. It's about OCR.

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hashmymustache
It seems like teachable moments have become fireable offenses. I understand
the seriousness of the issue and context, but is this really worth the level
of outrage it has received?

Edit: Curious at the downvotes for an honest attempt at a reasonable
discussion on the issue. Such are the times.

~~~
cthulha
Calling this a 'teachable moment' is really letting the person off the hook
for observing and learning up before now.

If he hasn't learned by now what is appropriate behaviour, why do you think
he'll ever learn?

And if he doesn't learn rapidly and advance with best practices in corporate
culture and governance, then he's not capable of the leadership and management
responsibilities of a board member.

The 'teachable moments' were at least 3 years ago, if not much earlier. The
firing offence is ignoring them.

