Kalanick believed Whetstone and her deputy, Jill Hazelbaker—another Google alumna and former political operative—were doing a terrible job shaping Uber’s image, evidenced by the company’s consistently bad coverage. The comms team, on the other hand, believed they were doing their best to defend the company with what they were given: an unlikeable, inflexible CEO and a raucous workplace staffed with thousands of men shaped in Kalanick’s image.
