Tech

Scandals like Uber shouldn't result in 'knee-jerk' firings, crisis expert says

Key Points
  • Former Uber board member David Bonderman was a "distraction," Eric Dezenhall tells CNBC.
  • Whether he should or shouldn't have resigned is "irrelevant," he says.
Uber's problems continue as board member resigns after sexist remark
VIDEO3:0803:08
Uber's problems continue as board member resigns after sexist remark

Former Uber board member David Bonderman represented a "distraction" for the company and he had to go, Eric Dezenhall, a crisis management expert, told CNBC on Wednesday.

Dezenhall, CEO of Dezenhall Resources, spoke a day after Bonderman resigned from the ride-hailing company after he spurred outrage for making a sexist remark at a staff meeting. The resignation will be effective as of Wednesday morning and comes amid an investigation of alleged sexual harassment at the company.

"The reality is when you are working for a company under withering siege and you suddenly find 100 percent of what you're doing is responding to comments people make, it is simply too traumatic inside a company," Dezenhall said on "Squawk Box."

"Whether is should or shouldn't be is irrelevant," he added.

Dezenhall said most companies don't want to spend days and weeks explaining what their leadership said instead of fixing its problems.

However, Dezenhall said globally we are in a climate where getting rid of leadership is on a "knee-jerk basis considered a good crisis management strategy when it is idiotic."

In a statement after his resignation, Bonderman said, "I directed a comment to my colleague and friend Arianna Huffington that was careless, inappropriate, and inexcusable."