The San Francisco Bay Area has been taken over by the cult
of “Radical Disruption.” Everywhere I turn I see a new elite college drop-out
founding the latest, greatest tech startup that will totally disrupt life as we
know it, and make someone a shitload of money, with a workforce of only rock star,
ninja programmers and slick, hip PR guys and gals who will remake the world,
while also completely fudging the numbers and harassing every employee that
comes through their doors. I imagine we can blame it on Steve Jobs, but the
leaders of the cult of “Radical Disruption” around here are startup CEOs, worshipped
like gurus for their guts, their genius and their ability to both be super cool
and create radical new workplaces while totally DISRUPTING some commercial
space AND attending Burning Man and Coachella Music Fest each year.
I don’t mean to sound snarky. Both of my teen-aged sons inform me on a regular basis that I’m not funny and thus snark is way out of my element. However, as I
watch the world of technology from my seat in the sleepy Santa Cruz Mountains
to the south of Silicon Valley, all I can do is wonder, “Who the hell are these
people?”
I get it, I’m old. But not that old. I mean, I didn’t have to
program using punch cards. I actually learned to write code using an actual
keyboard. To give some perspective, I’m only five years older than Uber Founder
and CEO, Travis Kalanick, so I’m not sure we’re of dramatically different
generations. Yet I’m astounded by the allegations that show up in my newsfeed
everyday about him, and many others, that live and work just over the hill from
me. They have come to power and what do they do with it? Use it to disrupt
EVERYTHING, and I don’t mean the actual commercial space they occupy, but the
lives of the employees and investors that prop up the very dream they seem to
think is their divine calling.
Let’s begin with Travis Kalanick, the Uber CEO, who has been
accused of spying on former employees who have dared to sue him, tagging iPhones even after its app had been deleted and the devices erased — a fraud detection maneuver that violated Apple’s privacy guidelines, creating a workplace rife with sexual harassment
where female employees weren’t given the same black leather jacket reward because there weren’t enough women in the
department to get a group discount. And my favorite? Alphabet’s Waymo lawsuit against Otto (purchased
by Uber) for allegedly stealing the design of a key self-driving system.
Wow. You get to be CEO of a company about to IPO while all
this shit is hitting the fan? Travis Kalanick, you are sooooo lucky to be a
rock star CEO in 2017. Seriously, because if you’d been the CEO of a company in
the 1990’s, you’d be finished.
It appears that sexism exists all over Silicon Valley, but
certainly not in a company founded by women, right? One would think that at
Thinx, a company that makes period-proof underwear, things would be downright
utopian for the ladies. Not so, and this story really breaks my heart. Meet
Miki Agrawal, one of the cutest Valley CEOs and the founder of a company I
completely adore. I use the Thinx period panties and while they’re a bit
pricey, they’re a great technological feat. I wanted her company, and the brand
she was selling, namely herself, to succeed. But that was not to be, and just a
month ago sexual harassment charges
were brought against a “SHE-E-O”!!!! Allegedly, Ms. Agrawal touched employee’s
breasts, and demanded that one employee to let her look at the empolyee’s new
nipple piercings in front of the male co-worker in her office. Ms. Agrawal also
often changed into other clothes and period-proof undies in front of everyone
in the office. In her post on Medium,
Agrawal writes that her lawyers have found no evidence for these claims,
however, the case is still open and awaiting trial, and she’s stepped down from
her post of CEO. Of course, in another post on Medium, she details her adventures in the Orgy Dome at Burning Man while promoting her products, so, I guess that's okay for a CEO to reveal in public as well?
Now, for those reading this that live in the Midwest, Deep South,
or even the East Coast, this is happening in California, the land of the free
in more ways than you can think of. Nudity is common, I see it when I walk down
the main street of my town, polyamory is in, and many women flirt and make-out with
one another all the time. It’s cool, for some, you know? But in the workplace? No. It isn’t
cool, even in Silicon Valley.
Sexual harassment, stealing trade secrets and spying, I
imagine that’s what you have to do to be a successful CEO in the cult of “Radical
Disruption” because that’s what venture capitalists are looking for. But how about completely lying to investors
about key metrics? Take Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos, the blood-testing start-up that she started as a 19-year-oldStanford dropout, which was valued at some $9 billion. That was before the
Wall Street Journal reported in October of 2016 her company was basically a
sham and that Theranos used competitor’s products to do all of its testing because
its own technology didn’t actually work.
Oh my. Holmes was a female self-made millionaire in a world of male dominance, and a shining light here
in the Valley. She even wears nothing but black turtle necks, just like Steve
Jobs. Theranos was going to disrupt the health care industry by providing lab
work at a fraction of the cost. Yet when Ms. Holmes’ technology failed, rather
than report it, she purchased competitor equipment and lied to her investors.
But Ms. Holmes, you’re not alone. Let me introduce you to Evan
Spiegel, your male twin when it comes to hiding data from investors, and
Snapchat’s founder and CEO, who not only said, according to a former employee, “This
app is only for rich people. I don’t want to expand into poor countries like
India and Spain,” his company also exaggerates Snapchat’s user data to keep top executives completely misinformed about
key metrics. Now if you are an actual investor in Snapchat, Evan wants to assure you that these metrics are really no big deal, honestly, they're not, because in the end lying to your investors is also part of the cult of “Radical
Disruption.”
All of this troubles me. I wonder, what will happen to our
technology and our future when these types of people are considered glamorous
and fit to found and run the companies that will define the future? Do business
schools assign case studies on these innovators as a means to encourage their
students to follow in their enlightened footsteps? Each one of these founders set
out to create something new—a new way to hail rides, a new way to manage your
period each month, a new way to administer blood tests, a new way to
communicate with your friends. Yet each and every one has created a workplace of harassment, poor benefits, or lied to their investors and the public.
Where did they learn how to do business? Who were their role models?
If companies are now being founded on the cult of “Radical Disruption” is it any wonder that everything—from workplace security to honesty in reporting data—is being disregarded? To disrupt means, “drastically alter or destroy the structure of (something).”
If companies are now being founded on the cult of “Radical Disruption” is it any wonder that everything—from workplace security to honesty in reporting data—is being disregarded? To disrupt means, “drastically alter or destroy the structure of (something).”
What do we lose when we encourage this next generation of
leaders to destroy in the name of success, brilliance and destiny?
Personally, I expected more from my generation. Corruption
is corruption, even if you attend Burning Man.
