Uber’s management exit crisis seems to be worsening, with a new addition to the list with each passing day. On the heels of President Jeff Jones’ surprising departure just after 6 months, Uber’s vice president of Mapping Brian McClendon has also decided to call it quits at the ride-hailing giant.
In an official statement released by Uber, it said that McClendon’s exit has been in the works for quite some time and he’ll now be advising them from here on out. It further mentions that the departure is happening on amicable terms, which has most likely been included to particularly highlight the fact that it is not related to ongoing controversies at the ride-hailing giant. It further goes on to add,
Mr. McClendon is departing amicably from Uber and will be an adviser to the company. He is moving back to Kansas, where he is from, to explore politics. His exit has been in the works for some time and his last day at Uber is March 28
However, whatever reasons Uber throws at the public, the timing of the departure is highly questionable. It further begs us to delve into and thinks about the same. McClendon is departing the $68 billion ride-hailing giant after a good two years of working on leading the developments of Uber’s mapping division. And we have just recently seen his efforts bear fruit in the form of navigation updates added to the driver-side of the mobile app. He had joined Uber after spending ten years at Google’s mapping department.
Talking about his decision, McClendon has released the following statement:
After 30 years away, I’ve decided to move back to my hometown of Lawrence, Kansas. My roots there run deep and traveling back a few times a year no longer seems like enough. This fall’s election and the current fiscal crisis in Kansas is driving me to more fully participate in our democracy — and I want to do that in the place I call home.
Voicing his pleasure of moving back home to Kansas on Twitter, McClendon said,
It’s a big day for me. I’ve got my Kansas driver’s license and am registered to vote. There’s no place like home! https://t.co/SmhPmoeIcj
— Brian McClendon (@bmcclendon) March 20, 2017
For those unaware, Uber is currently suffering from a number of troubles which only seem to be increasing with each passing day. It all started out back when the company faced an intense backlash for running a campaign during U.S President Trump’s immigration ban. But, it escalated as the masses saw Kalanick’s presence on the President’s advisory council as him supporting his actions and this incited the #DeleteUber campaign. It led over 200,000 users to delete their accounts and opt for its arch-rival Lyft’s services — which helped it peak to the 7th spot on the App Store.
But, this was overshadowed by the allegations of sexual harassment and sexism at the workplace that were brought forth by a former employee. This has caused mass outrage and deteriorated Uber’s brand image over the past couple of weeks. Uber’s CEO has called a town hall meeting with all female employees of the company, but that only ended up making him all the more aware of the culture in the company. And this has caused several employee exits, be it SVP of engineering Amit Singhal who was removed for not disclosing sexual harassment charges at his previous employer Google or other members of Uber ATC team who’ve departed just recently.
This has, however, further been aggravated because of an embroiling battle between Uber and Alphabet’s self-driving division Waymo. Here, the latter has accused the ride-hailing giant of building their self-driving efforts on stolen tech, which a former Googler Andrew Levandowski brought over with the acquisition of his self-driving truck startup Otto. Waymo is now looking to make Uber’s efforts to come to a standstill, thus, it has filed an injunction atop the patent and infringement lawsuit in court. Thus, the situation is looking oh-so-bleak for the ride-hailing giant at the moment.
