Uber behaving badly

Another case of big-money startup behaving badly: http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/uber-executive-suggests-digging-up-dirt-on-journalists

I know Uber is by nature an aggressive, controversial company, but maybe you've been following - their messaging and PR practices have been a bit suspect too. They even hired Obama campaign mgr. David Plouffe to improve their voice. But like we've discussed before, if you're so in the right, why do you need to go to such lengths to convince people? Or is it just a case of arrogant, quasi-autistic tech geniuses being such terrible communicators?

As a link in the above article describes, the big investors don't hold Uber leadership to account because of all the billions riding on them. People don't want to upset the money-printing machine, so they kowtow and condone their antics. And the sad part is, most of their offensive, sexist practices have nothing to do with rideshare social technologies. Is it just another manifestation of the self-absorbed "bro culture" that we've already seen from the Street? Only this time the nerds get their chance. Like with most major tech companies, I am pretty sure Uber is nearly devoid of female and minority leaders. I am not saying that a company has to be an affirmative action Utopia, but different viewpoints and backgrounds at the table help keep bad behaviors and terrible ideas in check.

In this particular case, Uber's SVP of Business Emil Michael suggested during a private dinner (where press was in attendance but he thought he was off the record) that the company should conduct "opposition research" and defame critical journalists. In particular, he was alluding to using some family dirt on PandoDaily's editor Sarah Lacy (who has written about women's issues and Uber in the past). From a business standpoint, it's pretty stupid for them to be so dismissive re: the concern that some women customers have about the safety of their service (a usually male stranger with only a cursory background check & regulation drives a solo woman customer to her home late at night). And to top that off with sexist comments and Vendetta is beyond me.

These braniacs may have huge IQs, but what about their EQ? This is obviously not how dignified adults should behave. When word got out, of course Michael apologized and the company distanced itself from his statements. And to be fair, this is nothing new; "traditional industries" have been doing this for centuries (and still do, a la Chevron in Richmond), but you'd think these Masters of the Universe would be a bit more enlightened now? Or are they just the 21st Century Rockefeller and Carnegie bullies? Well, most of the top industrialists in US history have one thing in common - they are monopolists who get rich by screwing everyone else in the value chain (incl. customers).

Over dinner, [Michael] outlined the notion of spending “a million dollars” to hire four top opposition researchers and four journalists. That team could, he said, help Uber fight back against the press — they’d look into “your personal lives, your families,” and give the media a taste of its own medicine.