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With Her Blog Post About Toxic Bro-Culture at Uber, Susan Fowler Proved That One Person Can Make a Difference (recode.net)
Kara Swisher, writing for Recode: It was Lao Tzu who said that "the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." In the case of complete and utter change reeling through Uber right now -- culminating in the resignation of its once untouchable CEO Travis Kalanick -- it turns out that it began with one of the most epic blog posts to be written about what happens when a hot company becomes hostage to its increasingly dysfunctional and toxic behaviors. It was clear from the moment you read the 3,000-word post by former engineer Susan Fowler about her time at the car-hailing company that nothing was going to be the same. Titled simply, "Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber," the essay deftly and surgically laid out the map that the media and others would use to prove to its out-to-lunch board and waffling investors that Uber CEO Travis Kalanick had to go. In her account, Fowler was neither mean nor self-righteous, although in reading the story that she laid out about her horrible time there, it would have been completely fair for her to have taken that tone.
In retrospect, it is interesting to see that a reflective blog post from an engineer ended up in the casualties of CEO, most of the senior leadership and a few board members. Maybe the cracks were already there but nevertheless it has been surreal seeing this unfold in the space of 5 months. It is almost like watching the butterfly effect in action.
"If you think you're too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito."
Film at 11.
It's doubtful that Travis was the only problem child at Uber. He probably hired like-minded pals who remain in power there, so this won't be the last we hear of problems at Uber.
But this isn't "bro culture" or "toxic masculinity", he's just an everyday, run-of-the-mill, common asshole. Plenty more where he came from.
slashdot: A failed experiment.
lol when did we have a good reputation?
love is just extroverted narcissism
It was an easy target. Let's see her try that with a real company with real money, not some damn unicorn that barely exists at all. This story is one about the triumph of political correctness, not civil rights.
I would argue she was an asset to the company.
It is now in the process of growing up a bit. It may not make it to grown up, but this was a needed kick in the slats.
emt 377 emt 4
I'm represented by Verve and InkWell. [susanjfowler.com] And it looks like she's doing the public speaking circuit.
She's an author. I know this is shocking for some people on Slashdot, but she has a personal brand that exists independently of her tech job.
But, I have to agree with the GP, she's not going be hired by anyone ever.
According to her blog post, she left Uber and works at Stripe.
The HR software used these days will catch it and her application would be deleted.
I was out of work for two years, underemployed for six months, and filed for chapter seven bankruptcy in 2011. During that time I was told repeatedly by recruiters that I was "unemployable." The day after my bankruptcy got finalized, I had a new full-time job. The opinions of recruiters and HR software are overrated.
Of course not.
And young attractive females have always had an easy time âmaking a differenceâ: allegations of sexual improprieties against men have often been fatal to the careers of those men, or simply fatal when the abuser was a white woman and the male was black.
The idea that this is some newly developed superpower by women is not just laughably historically ignorant, it is offensive.
My wife works in the medical industry and more or less ignores what happens in technology. However this entire time with news stories on NPR and the nightly news she was firmly against 'bro-culture' and sexism in technology.
When the Uber Miami Memo leaked I showed it to her as 'evidence' for the toxic, misogynistic, bro-culture that was everywhere. She read it through twice and then came back with, "Ok, so where's the sexism that people are complaining about?". Every single thing in there she thought was completely reasonable. ("Don't have sex with someone that is above you or in the same group.", "Don't do drugs".)
There is a narrative that a lot of people are pushing and a lot of other people are onboard with defending without sitting down and listening to what some individuals consider offensive and toxic.
Well, the board of the company certainly thinks she was being truthful, as did the independent investigation that they commissioned.
This is a community site.
Everyone, even ACs can post articles.
Sure, you can 'write your own site' and then you still complain that certain news is not posted in time ... so what is your point?
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
You are a buffoon, and a fraudulent blow-hard, who could not engineer his way out of a wet paper bag, even armed with a skill knife and a pair of scissors.
Not sure why everyone keeps mistaking me for an engineer. Not everyone in IT is in engineering or management.