The incident that took place in the highest ruling circles of the Uber company forced one to reconsider the relationship between corporations and society, in particular public opinion. Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber, was caught in a video that has grown into a public scandal. Kalanick’s reputation began to damage the corporation’s reputation, causing him to quit his job and leave the company in limbo.
Travis Kalanick insulted a driver who was an employee of his transportation system, which caused widespread public condemnation. Then, when Kalanick needed to find a person for the COO position, he ran into unforeseen circumstances. The vacancy fell on deaf ears for a very long time as people felt uncomfortable knowing that they would be working for a man with a tainted reputation. Circumstances were so uncomfortable for Kalanick that they shook the company’s profitability. Uber offered him a choice – either he leaves his job, or the company continues to suffer losses. It is important to note that the defeats that the company suffered were also associated with other departments of Uber, from which employees began to quit en masse. As a result, Kalanick had to leave the workplace, however, retained his place among the chairmen, but only due to significant financial investments in his own company.
The current situation demonstrates to what extent, in modern culture, the exemplary behavior of a media personality is associated with the success of his business. Kalanick’s bad reputation alone, associated with a one-time incident, put an entire international company at risk while doing quite well. This is not to say that it is entirely fair that there is collective responsibility when people dependent on Kalanick lose their jobs or financial income from shares. However, the culture of modernity is developing in such a way that the entire company is subject to cancellation to the extent that the violator of decency remains in the bosses (Fiordelisi et al., 2019). Likely, the particularity of the Kalanick case and the overly angry public reaction to a one-time offense suggest that such situations are contradictory and ambiguous. It is only obvious that in modern Western culture, a person convicted of bullying and discrimination is punished in direct proportion to their influence and popularity (Derschowitz, 2020). The CEO cannot remain at the head even if the company performs well because this situation will certainly change for the worse due to the outflow of shareholders and employees.
Given that Uber is experiencing an acute shortage of top c-suite staff, they need to make working at the company once again prestigious. First of all, they need to refute a public report about discrimination in company circles. To do this, they need to hire a talented public relations manager to offer other points of view besides being sharply critical of the work of the company. Secondly, management needs to work on actually making the work environment less toxic within the company. Uber has traditionally focused on expanding spheres of influence, but now it’s time to hold on to existing ones. Thirdly, the company needs to hire a new CEO who will coordinate the company’s actions and policies with current times and culture.
As final recommendations, it is necessary to note the importance of the ability to adapt for any company. The situation that happened within the walls of Uber speaks of the extreme negligence of the authorities and the focus on the capital. Modern corporate ethics require an ostentatious demonstration of inclusiveness and tolerance, and an open violation of these rules can destroy even the largest Western business.
References
Derschowitz, A. (2020). Cancel culture: The latest attack on free speech and due process. Skyhorse Publishing.
Fiordelisi, F., Renneboog, L., Ricci, O., & Lopes, S. S. (2019). Creative corporate culture and innovation. Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, 63, 101-137. Web.