Oversight – What compliance expertise has been available on the board of directors?”, you need to have not only the structure of the Board Level Compliance Committee but also the specific subject matter expertise (SME) on the Board and on that committee.
Finally, recognizing that compensation can be a powerful motive to induce ethical and even business appropriate behavior the Board recommended that it use compensation to hold senior executives accountable by “incorporating ethical business practices, diversity and inclusion, and other values from Uber’s Business Code of Conduct into its executive compensation program. This compensation program would be coupled with training on the company’s revamped ethical business practices, diversity, inclusion and other key corporate values.
As is often the case, it is the editorial board at the FT which has some of the best advice for businesses, both in the UK and the US. In a piece entitled “At Uber, counting the cost of winner take all” the paper said, there are three groups which can influence the behavior for Uber going forward: the company’s owners, largely Kalanack and his cronies; the Board of Directors, think about Bonderman at this point; and its customers, IE., you and me. As to the final group, we can vote with our pocketbook by changing over to other ride-sharing companies such as Lyft.
Most importantly, the Uber ownership structure is a forbearer of ownership being concentrated in the hands of a few key founders. If they do not put compliance and ethics into the ethos of the company at an early phase, they cannot be forced to do so by shareholders or investors. This anomaly will make independent Boards of Directors more critical for getting such companies ready to go public. For if such companies cannot meet the requirements of a public company, everyone loses.
 
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What role did the Uber Board play in its culture disaster and what role must it play going forward?
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© Thomas R. Fox, 2017]]>