Slack is smart & valuable

October 30th, 2014 / Author: John Berard

For more than a hundred years, when personal arguments have devolved to an emotional back-and-forth, someone will often seek a reprieve with this: “Cut me some slack.”  It is a near universal signal that everybody needs to take a breath, take a step back, chill.  It seeks the chance for perspective and context.  The method holds for companies, candidates and institutions, as well.

It is a useful approach, offering a chance to review the problem and restate, perhaps with more clarity, a persuasive point-of-view.  Under the right circumstances, an apparent affront or misstep can be corrected without getting in the way of a relationship or an opportunity.  It only becomes a problem when people — or the market — won’t cut you that slack.  That’s why actions that diminish an individual’s or company’s reservoir of good will should be avoided at most costs.

Sometimes you just have to burn a bridge, in defense of principle or in support of a valued partner, but bad customer service, fraud or discriminatory hiring are some of the practices that have consequence beyond the moment.  They hurt a company’s ability to maneuver.

Today’s story is about Uber, the fast-growing and already well-known car-not-taxi service.  As the Pando Daily story reports:

Uber is an impressive company. The massive global operation that it’s built in a relatively short time is nothing short of unprecedented. And if the company were run with a shred of humility and integrity, it could be one of the greatest companies that Silicon Valley has ever produced. Sadly, as elite as Uber’s valuation may be, its behavior continues to be equally abhorrent.

Recall this is the same company that declined responsibility for the death of a 6-year-old girl at the hands of one of its drivers, showing no empathy or remorse in the process. It’s the same company whose CEO casually refers to it as Boob-er for the impact is has on his sex life. It’s the same company that recently saw a regional office publish a promotion likening female drivers to call girls.

Next to these offenses, trying to hoodwink the LA Weekly is a minor infraction. But the arrogance and ethical indifference in this case maps directly to each of the above far graver incidents.

It is easy to see how such visible, bad behavior might affect the success of Uber’s arguments with city councils and taxi commissions world wide.  They will cut the company no slack.  And that can get expensive.