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Comment by jacquesm | Hacker News Reader

The new culture at Uber is off to a running start. At least he apologized but seriously, this kind of thing at a meeting "aimed at addressing the harassment of women and other unprofessional conduct within the company"? Totally tone deaf.

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Yeah, though hopefully it was a public teaching moment as to the kinds of "microaggressions" that women face every day. Even ones accomplished enough to be on the board of a multi-billion dollar company.

The "joke" occurred shortly after Arianna made a "white men" "joke". I doubt he would have made his comment if she hadn't first made a similar comment that prompted that sort of kneejerk retort among two colleagues on familiar terms who are both at least two or more generations removed from the average tech worker. Arianna is 66 and Bonderman is 74.

https://youtu.be/b4q-WwXgYHU

That said, the comment was still inappropriate.

"My goal was to increase the diversity of the board, much though [sic] I love my white male colleagues" Then she starts talking about diverse hires on the board. Not sure how it was a joke. I don't think anyone would have raised an eyebrow at that. It wasn't derogatory at all.

If your response to a biased remark is another biased remark you should not be in a position of authority.

I'd be skeptical of calling it a "new culture." When you make apologies and changes based on external pressure instead of true understanding, the problems won't actually go away.

Yes, that was my point in an earlier thread. Institutions have a lot of inertia and even if you change all of the management the old habits will remain until that inertia is overcome. This can take a long time.

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