The Leadership Letter

Real correspondence from the people running real companies — and what it reveals about leadership.

When Your Partner Stops Taking Meetings, Believe the Silence

A calendar tells you more about a partnership than any press release ever will.

Travis Kalanick to David Drummond, March 7, 2015:

"Is the below true? We get stuff like this more than I would like. A meeting with Larry could calm this down if it's not true but he has been avoiding any meeting with me since last fall. Without any dialogue we get pushed into the assumption that Google is competing in the short term and has probably been planning to do so for quite a bit longer than has been let on. I hope I'm wrong here, just need to do a meeting with Larry ASAP to get clarity and a mutual understanding of how to do a proper partnership here."

David Drummond replied later that evening:

"I'm sorry that these things keep coming up in this way. I will speak to Larry again to reiterate the importance of a meeting with you very soon. I'm returning from London tomorrow and will report back with next steps. I continue to believe that the value of a partnership now far outweighs concerns about an uncertain future."

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Court Exhibit
Waymo LLC v. Uber Technologies, Inc.
3:17-cv-00939 (CAND), Doc. 811-5, filed 2017-07-06
March 7, 2015
Public domain
View the primary source →