“I MUST fundamentally change as a leader and grow up.” It is rare for the boss of a big technology firm to be so contrite. It is even more of a surprise to have Travis Kalanick (pictured), the chief executive of Uber, a popular ride-hailing company, go that far: he is one of the most pugnacious entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. “This is the first time I’ve been willing to admit that I need leadership help and I intend to get it,” he added.

优步首席执行官特拉维斯·卡兰尼克说：“作为一名领导者，我必须从根本上做出改变，不断成长”。一家技术大公司的领导人做出如此忏悔，实属罕见。对于共享出行服务商优步的CEO来说，他还有更令人惊讶的事情：卡兰尼克是硅谷最好战的创业者之一。他还说道：“这是我第一次主动承认我需要在领导能力的帮助，我想要得到这种帮助。”

Mr Kalanick had little option but to grovel. On February 28th Bloomberg, a media group, released a video showing a heated discussion between him and an Uber driver, Fawzi Kamel, about the fact that the firm has lowered the rates its drivers receive. Mr Kamel told Mr Kalanick that he had lost $97,000 and gone bankrupt because of him, at which point Mr Kalanick lost his cool: “Some people don’t like to take responsibility for their own shit.”

卡兰尼克只能低头服软，别无选择。2月28日，彭博社发布一段视频。在视频里，卡兰尼克与出租车司机法齐·卡迈勒激烈争吵，主要内容是优步减少了优步司机收入的比例。卡迈勒对卡兰尼克说由于他的原因，自己少挣了97000美元，破产了。卡兰尼克当时一度情绪失控，爆粗口道：“有些人根本就不为自己拉的屎负责。”

The video capped a terrible month for Mr Kalanick. First, more than 200,000 subscribers deleted their Uber app after the firm was accused of breaking a strike by taxi drivers protesting against Donald Trump’s executive order against refugees. Then a former employee published a blog post in which she accused Uber of refusing to discipline her manager after he had propositioned her for sex. Uber’s head of engineering resigned earlier this week after reports that he had received a sexual-harassment complaint at his previous employer (he denies the allegations).

这段视频对卡兰尼克造成了很大影响，持续了一个月。首先，有20多万优步用户删除了优步APP，原因是优步之前被指故意破坏出租车司机抗议特朗普的反难民法令而举行的罢工活动。之后，有一位前员工写了一篇博客，指责优步拒绝对要猥亵她的上司予以处罚。本周，优步的软件工程项目负责人辞职；此前有报道称，有人向其前上司投诉有性骚扰行为（他否认了这种说法）。

To Mr Kalanick’s credit, his reactions have been deft. He resigned from Mr Trump’s business advisory council. He created a committee to look into Uber’s culture. He also met with more than 100 female employees and promised: “I want to get at the people who are making this place a bad place.” This week’s mea culpa, which also included an apology to Mr Kamel, was part of an e-mail to all Uber staff sent quickly after the release of the video.

对于卡兰尼克来说，他做出的反应很灵活。他辞去了特朗普政府的工商咨询理事会的任职，建立一个委员会来审视优步文化，同时，与100多位女性职员会面并承诺，“你们如果认为在哪些方面做的不妥，都可以告诉我”。在上述视频发表之后，卡兰尼克迅速以邮件的形式向优步全体成员表示对卡迈勒道歉。

But it will take more to burnish the firm’s brand. “Uber has been here many times before, responding to public exposure of bad behavior by holding an all-hands meeting, apologising and vowing to change, only to quickly return to aggressive business as usual,” wrote Mitch and Freada Kapor, two early investors in the startup, in an open letter on February 23rd.

但是，要想将进一步提升优步的品牌效应，还需要更多的投入。2月23日，优步早期投资人米奇和弗里达·卡普尔在一封公开信中写道：“优步之前也总是这样，召开全体大会以面对不良行为的公开曝光情况，致以道歉并发誓要做出改变，但是很快又回到一如既往的好斗状态”。

The bad publicity comes at a time when Uber needs to deal with two bigger issues. First, regulators are making life harder for the firm. For example, the European Court of Justice, the European Union’s highest court, will soon decide whether Uber is just a digital service or a transport firm. If it is judged the latter, it would have to comply with a dense rulebook.

这件事遭到曝光之际，优步正急需解决两件大事。第一，监管机构会让优步以后的日子更不好过。例如，欧盟最高法院欧洲法院很快会羊判定优步属于电子服务范畴，还是属于交通公司范畴。如果被认定是后者，优步则不得不遵守严密的规则。

Second, Uber, which is now operating in more than 500 cities worldwide, has to find a way to make money. It reportedly lost about $3bn in 2016 on revenue of $5.5bn—a whopping cash-burn rate, even though it has raised over $11bn in capital and debt. Such numbers make it unlikely that Uber will soon follow in the footsteps of Snap, another high-profile tech startup which priced its IPO this week at a valuation of $19.7bn. At a time when Uber could use a little goodwill, Mr Kalanick’s antics do not help.

第二，优步在全世界500多个城市都在运营，不得不寻找方法赚钱。据报道，2016年，优步收益55亿美元，大约损失30亿美元，尽管它筹集110多亿美元的资金和债务，但这明显是烧钱的节奏。这些数据表明，优步不可能赶上另一高调的技术创立公司Snap的脚步。Snap于本周首次公开招募，达197亿美元。优步也希望得到好的声誉，但是卡兰尼克频发的滑稽事件只能雪上加霜。

编译：yinliang2017

编辑：翻吧君

来源：经济学人