One of the lessons some in the media have been quick to draw from the downfall of Travis Kalanick is the peril of unchecked power bestowed on startup founders. And, thus, they prescribe solutions like curbing founder voting rights and stepped up board involvement (which I have long advocated for a number of reasons.) 

But the argument that absolute power corrupts ignores the fact that the tech industry has been full of founders with extraordinary power from Bill Gates to Larry Page to Mark Zuckerberg. Kalanick’s real problem wasn’t power; it was that he never learned how to use it.