Uber’s Missteps Should be a Cautionary Tale to the Tech Industry

Summary

This week, news broke that Uber’s investors demanded and got CEO Travis Kalanick’s resignation. The company has been embroiled in controversy from the get-go, and Kalanick should have been let go much sooner. The fact that the company’s investors backed Uber with astounding $15 billion and tolerated its behavior for so long speaks volumes about their lack of leadership. Some of Silicon Valley’s most powerful people backed an illegal enterprise — which is exactly how the Harvard Business Review describes it — that willfully and systematically broke the law, racked up over $150 million in fines, lied to the public, strong armed local governments around the world, abused employees, exploited drivers, violated users’ privacy, and triggered thousands of sexual harassment complaints.