Uber Gets 18-Month London License; I Spoke Out Against Sexual Harassment at Uber; Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber; Energy is now the smallest sector in the S&P 500; Training for the Eco-Challenge
1) Uber (UBER) shares are up about 5% this morning after the ride-hailing company received a favorable court ruling in one of its largest markets: Uber Gets 18-Month London License After Passing Court Test. Excerpt:
Uber can breathe a sigh of relief after it was offered another chance in its biggest European market by a London judge, who granted the company an 18-month license to operate in the capital.
The ride-hailing app did enough to satisfy the court that it was now "fit and proper" to hold a permit, despite its "historical failings," Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram said Monday. In November, Transport for London revoked its license a second time over concerns that it failed to adequately verify drivers' identities and safeguard passengers.
2) I have mixed feelings about Uber, which I've studied closely over the years. I love the service and have used it hundreds of times in cities across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. The company was undoubtedly a pioneer in revolutionizing human transportation.
But under the leadership of its co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick, it was also a bad actor in just about every way imaginable: thumbing its nose at regulators, not taking safety seriously, and encouraging a toxic "bro" culture, as this brave woman's story in Time highlights: I Spoke Out Against Sexual Harassment at Uber. The Aftermath Was More Terrifying Than Anything I Faced Before. Excerpt:
In February 2017, I published a blog post about my experiences with sexual harassment and gender discrimination at Uber, where I had recently left my role as a software engineer. In it, I described a year of employment that began with a sexual proposition from my manager and only grew more demeaning and demoralizing from there. The post quickly went viral, tapping into a conversation about systemic discrimination throughout Silicon Valley.
What I wrote changed the world, some said: for the first time, a woman had spoken up about mistreatment, the world listened to her, and she walked away unscathed. And, in those early days, it really did seem that I had turned the tables, and I started to wonder if most of my fears had been unfounded. It seemed too good to be true. And it was. I was soon jolted out of my daydream, and I awakened into a nightmare...
Three years have passed since I published that blog post and shared the story of what I experienced at Uber. The company hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate its culture, which ultimately led to CEO Travis Kalanick's departure – and just months later, my story became part of a watershed movement against sexual misconduct. I could never have predicted the positive impact my story had in Silicon Valley and throughout the world, nor could I have predicted the backlash and terror that my loved ones and I faced because of it. And I've asked myself countless times whether I would do it all over again if I truly knew just how bad the bad part of speaking out would be.
Some days, when I think about all of this, I wish I hadn't come forward. At times I fear that if I could have seen how this decision would affect my life, I would not have gone through with it. But that would have been the wrong choice. Writing that post was the right thing to do, regardless of the consequences.
Speaking up comes at great personal cost. Being a whistleblower is not easy. It is not glamorous or fun. It will terrify you and scare you and forever change your life in ways that will be beyond your control. But, despite all of this, shining a light in the darkness is the right thing to do. In some cases, like my own, it is the only way to leave the world better than you found it.
To Uber's credit, things seem to have improved ever since the board ousted Kalanick three years ago and replaced him with current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.
3) If you'd like to do a deep dive on Uber, I recommend reading Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber. Here's a good article from Vanity Fair with an extended excerpt from the book: "I'm a Terrible Person": Behind the Epic Meltdown That Ended Travis Kalanick. Excerpt:
The group came up with what it believed Uber's image was to outsiders, written in bold, black ink: A bunch of young bro bullies that have achieved ridiculous success. It was a hard point to argue.
Nonetheless, Kalanick began to push back on Jones's findings immediately, rebutting the data he saw on the wall. "Nuh-uh," Kalanick said. "I don't believe it, man. I don't see it." His lieutenants were flabbergasted. Even in the midst of the most sustained set of crises in Uber's history, Kalanick couldn't see the literal writing on the wall...
Kalanick soon realized his mistake: He had pissed off the very people trying to protect him from a press corps that was about to tear him apart. As he chased his communications executives down the hotel hallway to try and convince them to stay, Hazelbaker confronted him.
"How dare you!" she screamed, inches from Kalanick's face, as the rest of the group watched in shock. "I've walked through fire for you and this company! You did this TO YOURSELF!"...
Sitting on the sofas in Hazelbaker's living room, Uber's top executives shared pizza and beer and mulled their options. Meanwhile, Kalanick continued his theatrics, writhing around on Hazelbaker's carpet. Kalanick kept repeating the same thing over and over: "I'm a terrible person. I'm a terrible person. I'm a terrible person."
Whetstone tried to console him, half-heartedly. "You aren't a terrible person. But you do do terrible things," she said...
Second, he said Kalanick needed to take a leave of absence. "You either shoot yourself in the foot, or the press will end up shooting you in the head."
4) A very interesting chart in this tweet makes me want to find some energy stocks to buy!
5) In Thursday's e-mail, I mentioned that I'd put together a four-person team and applied for the Eco-Challenge adventure race in Patagonia next year. (You can watch our application video here – I suggest watching it at 1.25x or 1.5x speed.)
We probably won't know for a month or so whether we've been selected to do it, but we decided to start training anyway. Three of us (Bob, Marcus, and I; Charlotte wasn't able to make it) met at Bob's house in southern Vermont this weekend and had great fun hiking, paddling, and mountain biking – the three core disciplines of these races.
On Saturday, we started with 15 miles of mountain biking on trails in the woods near Bob's house, then paddled his four-person canoe six and a half miles across a reservoir, hiked nine miles up and down a nearby mountain, and then paddled back to our cars. 37 miles in total – equal to an easy day in the Eco-Challenge race. Now we have to get in good enough shape to do this for 10 days in a row!
On Sunday, we did some kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding, and then drove to Stratton Mountain ski area, which has a great mountain bike park. We took our bikes up the chairlift and then bombed down various trails.
Here are a few pictures (my friend Ben – the tall guy – subbed in for Charlotte). As you can see, the foliage was spectacular!
Best regards,
Whitney