{"id":343564,"date":"2017-06-14T04:15:10","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T20:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1503218"},"modified":"2017-06-14T04:15:10","modified_gmt":"2017-06-13T20:15:10","slug":"uber-investors-who-called-it-toxic-are-satisfied-by-plans-for-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/uber-investors-who-called-it-toxic-are-satisfied-by-plans-for-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Uber investors who called it \u201ctoxic\u201d are satisfied by plans for change"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Freada and Mitch Kapor broke rank with typical investor silence in the face of scandals at their portfolio companies by publicly criticizing Uber<\/a> in February, saying it was \u201ctoxi\u201d and had \u201ca culture plagued by disrespect, exclusionary cliques, lack of diversity, and tolerance for bullying and harassment of every form.\u201d<\/p>\n

But today, the couple who invested in Uber starting in 2010 issued a letter announcing their satisfaction with the tough and far-reaching recommendations for change<\/a> that Uber\u2019s board unanimously voted to enact. They were encouraged by the firing of some senior leadership, and now urge follow-through on the plan with transparency and measurement.<\/p>\n

The Kapors wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe also said that we were ready to help, but only if the company took a comprehensive approach to overhauling its culture, including \u201cevery aspect of its policies, practices, complaint systems, training, upward communication systems, sentiment analysis, and commitment from the top.\u201d Our initial review of today\u2019s report suggests that this is the approach that the board has adopted. The recommendations are both thoughtful and extensive, and we are very encouraged that they have taken this as seriously as we had hoped.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The changes include diminished responsibility for CEO Travis Kalanick, who is taking a leave of absence<\/a>, as well as more independent oversight from the board, manadatory inclusive leadership training, management compensation tied to success with increasing diversity and decreasing employee complaints, increasing the profile of the head of diversity, and a clear process for escalating HR problems.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Travis Kalanick, billionaire and chief executive officer of Uber Technologies Inc., speaks during the opening of \u201cStartup Fest\u201d, a five-day conference to showcase Dutch innovation, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Tuesday, May 24, 2016. The Digital City Index for 2015 ranked Amsterdam Europe\u2019s second-best city, behind London, for tech startups. Photographer: Marlene Awaad\/Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The question now is whether Uber will enthusiastically adopt the planned changes, or drag its feet. If it can turn things around and fix its culture without tanking its business, it will embolden other tech companies to face their own internal problems head-on.<\/p>\n

But if the investigation into rampant harassment and bad behavior results in a some new faces but the same old cesspool, the whole industry may be marred by Uber\u2019s reluctance for justice. We already have our first terrible sign: Uber board member from TPG Capital David Bonderman made an incredibly sexist remark towards fellow board member Arianna Huffington \u2014 WHILE ON STAGE AT THE ALL-HANDS MEETING ABOUT UBER BECOMING LESS SEXIST.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Apparently he\u2019s already apologized, but the fact that this comes from who\u2019s supposed to oversee Uber\u2019s road to change is horrifying.<\/p>\n

Tech must change, and more people like the Kapors must stand up for that change.<\/p>\n

Below you can read the Kapors\u2019 full letter:<\/p>\n

\n

STATEMENT FROM MITCH KAPOR AND FREADA KAPOR KLEIN RE: ERIC HOLDER\u2019S UBER INVESTIGATION REPORT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Back in February, we released an open letter<\/a> to Uber\u2019s Board of Directors and Investors decrying the \u201ctoxic patterns\u201d we had observed within the company culture. As we said at the time, Uber\u2019s response to this crisis would be defining for the company. Today\u2019s report and recommendations are \u00a0the best signal yet of how they intend to respond.<\/p>\n

We also said that we were ready to help, but only if the company took a comprehensive approach to overhauling its culture, including \u201cevery aspect of its policies, practices, complaint systems, training, upward communication systems, sentiment analysis, and commitment from the top.\u201d Our initial review of today\u2019s report suggests that this is the approach that the board has adopted. The recommendations are both thoughtful and \u00a0extensive, and we are very encouraged that they have taken this as seriously as we had hoped. (To be completely transparent, we did not have any interaction with the investigators and we do not know the extent to which our point of view was specifically taken into account in the report).<\/p>\n

Uber\u2019s termination of a number of employees, including some in senior leadership, has also shown sincerity in action, and we are hopeful that their actions will continue to meet the aspirations of this report.<\/p>\n

Everyone, from drivers to employees to investors, will be watching to see that the implementation of today\u2019s recommendations are handled professionally. This will mean measuring results, being transparent and course-correcting when needed. One way to enhance the effectiveness of these commitments in a rapidly growing company is to leverage technology tools. \u00a0At Kapor Capital, we have catalyzed a new sector by sponsoring People Ops Tech pitch competitions and investing in several companies; \u00a0we have introduced Uber to some of them.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve always believed that Uber\u2019s problems, while extreme, are not different in kind from those of the majority of large tech firms. We have watched as senior, visible people in the larger tech ecosystem excuse the reprehensible behavior of some individuals, and we have observed the pattern of passing around bad actors from company to company. This holds the entire sector back.<\/p>\n

Our stated hope all along was that Uber could leapfrog other companies to be a real leader in diversity and inclusion. \u00a0At this point we believe that the company deserves some room to put the plan into effect and show us what can be done.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" Freada and Mitch Kapor broke rank with typical investor silence in the face of scandals at their portfolio companies by publicly criticizing Uber in February, saying it was “toxi” and had “a culture plagued by disrespect, exclusionary cliques, lack of diversity, and tolerance for bullying and harassment of every form.” But today, the couple who invested in Uber starting… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"\/ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5817,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[59,66,26],"class_list":["post-343564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-media","tag-techcrunch","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343564\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}