Rhetorical Analysis
Rhetorical Analysis
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Solo RKP: Rhetorical Analysis Graphic Organizer Outline
Name: ________________________________
Solo RKP: Rhetorical Analysis Graphic Organizer Outline
Taxi for Travis
Why Uber’s
boss must go
The ride-hailing giant must fix
its reputation. It cannot properly
do so with Travis Kalanick still
in charge
The Economist – Leaders
Jun 17th 2017 edition
Jun 15th 2017
1
IT HAS been a wild ride. Seven years ago Uber launched itself as an app connecting
well-heeled users with nearby limousines. It has since become the most prominent tech
startup in the world, with a valuation of $70bn. The company’s hard-charging
culture—embodied in Travis Kalanick, Uber’s co-founder and boss—was celebrated, not
questioned.
2
No longer. The firm is fending off accusations of stealing autonomous-car technology. It
is being investigated for allegedly designing software to identify and evade transport
regulators. Most toxic are charges of rampant sexism. Mr Kalanick and his band of
brothers created a workplace more reminiscent of a bar than a business. For months a law
firm has investigated what are believed to be more than 200 claims of misconduct,
including sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying.
3
Uber is belatedly making efforts to fix things. As a result of the inquiry into sexual
harassment, more than 20 employees and executives have been dismissed. Uber is going to
strengthen its board, which has been under the thumb of Mr Kalanick and two others, who
together control a majority of the voting rights; an independent chairman is planned. The
firm will do other things differently, too: more performance reviews, less booze and no sex
between a manager and an underling.
4
So far, so bleeding obvious. The big question is over Mr Kalanick himself. He said this
week that he will take an indefinite leave of absence, in part to grieve for his mother, who
was killed in a recent accident, and in part to “work on himself”. Uber is searching for a
chief operating officer to help him to run the firm when he returns. It hopes all this will be
enough to reboot its culture and its reputation. In truth, that is possible only with Mr
Kalanick’s permanent departure.
5
At any normal company, he would have been fired by now. He is culpable for its
failings; its culture was created in his image. But Mr Kalanick will not go unless he and his
two co-majority shareholders so decide. He can marshal arguments that Uber continues to
thrive: it reported record revenues in the first quarter of this year. Yet if he cares for
Uber’s, and his own, long-term financial health, a clean break makes more sense.
6
The firm’s problems have started to take a toll. In the past five months Uber’s market
share in America, its most important market, has declined by 7%; even investors in the
firm admit to feeling embarrassed getting into an Uber vehicle. Uber is having to work
harder to recruit the best engineers.
7
The spectre of the past will continue to loom large, thanks to litigation and government
probes. Dirty laundry keeps coming out. Another executive, who had obtained the
confidential health records of a woman who had been raped by an Uber driver in India,
was fired this month after media questioning. At the very board meeting called to draw a
line under Uber’s sexist culture, a director resigned after joking that women talk too much.
Yet more scandals almost certainly lurk. Each one will reinforce the idea that Uber cannot
change so long as Mr Kalanick remains in charge.
Frat’s your lot
8
Uber’s culture is not unique; it has lessons for the rest of Silicon Valley, too. One is that
a tolerance of casual sexism can inflict real commercial damage. Another is to be wary of
the power handed to founders. The right person to lead a young company may not be the
best one to oversee it when it has grown up. A third lesson concerns the benefits of going
public. Uber’s missteps would have become clear much sooner with better governance and
a visible share price. Mr Kalanick has said he needs to grow up. Leaving the firm he
created, and letting it go public as soon as possible, would show genuine maturity.
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