Well, Uber, to start with, has its founder on leave and most or all of the C-suite has been dismissed from the company by the Board of Directors.
Pretty sorry situation, but in hindsight, there are some lessons that could probably be learned.
- The Board of Directors probably should have put Travis Kalanick on leave a lot sooner, when it became pretty evident that he wasn’t up to running a disruptive, rapidly growing company. They should have put him in a non-executive position, such as Non Executive Chairman of the Board.
- It sounds as if the culture at Uber was like a frat house. Not exactly what one wants in an important company.
- It should have been apparent to the board that the rest of the C-level players that were hired weren’t up to snuff. The Board should have formed a search committee and checked out the hires for competence. We’ll bet they didn’t….they fell victim to the ‘we need the position filled yesterday’ syndrome. And, as is often said, hire slowly and fire fast. And, we’ll bet they were all friends of Travis.
- It’s possible the Board wasn’t up to meeting the demands of the company. David Bonderman, who’s the head of TPG group, is reportedly a pretty savy guy. Maybe he was seduced into thinking everything was fine because of the rapid growth.
- So, now a bunch of people need to be replaced. Do it according to the rules, guys. Allan Mullaly is available, BTW. He’s REALLY GOOD AT TURNAROUNDS.
- Written 6/24: OK, now that the C-suite has been cleaned out, a couple of additional comments that others could benefit from:
- +There is a former CEO still on board; one would hope they’d interview him.
- +Most of the employees seem to be positive, but nervous. Give them something special, such as some stock options for the shares to be IPO’d next year.
- +Don’t get spooled up about the culture; it might be better after Travis’
- departure. It will flow from the new leader, whoever he or she is.