The now-former CEO is an idiot. He not only dated somebody who directly reports to him, but did so while cheating on his wife AND chose to take his employee/bedroom buddy to a huge concert in public.
No sympathy for him.
The HR director is an idiot, too.
Hey Mr CEO - hope getting laid with an employee was worth it.
If a kiss cam ever found me, I would duck and cover exactly like those two did. Even having nothing to hide lol. Being on camera in front of 50,000 people and having to awkwardly wave or grin or - worse! - kiss someone is my idea of hell.
have you never seen the Lookalike Cam? Some things are truly in good fun.
Would this have been the same story if it happened at a smaller band concert?
Coldplay is in the upper % of known bands. Their concerts sell out nearly immediately and I can say for myself and the few I’ve been too are huge but at the same time wildly intimate. I cannot describe the experience other than to say when I left one of their concerts I looked at my son and said “the joy I felt there? I hope that is what heaven is like”
So. Do we know if this couple were with others or others from work? Did they get caught up in the experience? (I realize I’m grasping ar straws here lol). Was everything heightened because Chris Martin part of in if the most well known bands of the last few decades was part of it?
Just some thoughts.
The powerful feel they can get away with everything,it seems. Like they didn’t care if they might run into someone they know? A Co worker went with and was right next to them. What an office culture…
Boss probably perhaps wouldn’t take a “work colleague” (wink wink) to a less “big name” concert. And while the straws being grasped is kind… really…. if anyone really believes that was just a work outing… given their on screen reaction, I have a bridge to sell them.
This actually was not a “Kiss Cam” thought it uses the same jumbotron. According to what I read, it is well known by fans who attend Coldplay concerts that at some point, Martin has the Jumbotron find people in the crowd (letting them know this is about to happen) he talks to them for a minute and then improvs a couple of lyrics about them. So going to a Coldplay concert is clearly risky here for those trying to maintain privacy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aD80bGh2hM
So the CEO actually resigned over being seen with his arms around a woman, not his wife? It seems very quaint nowadays, with our top politicians, military leaders and top of the food chain tech CEOs going out and committing adultery openly, even sometimes bragging about it.
Shame? What’s that? I’ll bet the company couldn’t have fired him, but offered him a sweet deal to resign immediately. Otherwise, it would be completely stupid to resign when you could first deny you were doing anything improper, then double down and attack and sue anyone who accuses you of having an affair. I’m betting he got a nice exit package.
A woman not his wife - who works for him - big difference.
I’m not defending this scumbag, I’m cynical. With what has been seen at the top of the heap here in America, these guys do anything they want, even when the other person is not willing……this is trivial in comparison.
I’m sure he was forced out and received a nice settlement to leave. Most companies have rules that a supervisor can’t have an intimate relationship with a direct report…I believe that’s the case here, but not sure. Some companies have a policy that management can’t have a relationship with anyone in the company. Some companies have a no relationship policy for all employees, regardless of level or reporting hierarchy.
Maybe it was a win/win, the board wanted him out anyways. I wonder how many companies actually have no relationships allowed policies? That seems pretty restrictive. The few companies I worked for gave my husband priority in hiring because I worked there. I don’t remember any relationship restrictions at all, they were considered a positive. And is HR a direct report to a CEO?
Astronomer just raised a Series D in May, led by Bain Capital Ventures. PE firms like Bain Capital are quite conservative in nature (remember the firm was founded by Mitt Romney) and definitely not likely to overlook something like this (I’m on the board of a private equity backed company and we definitely would fire the CEO if something like this happened).
It’s not at all the same as Mark Hurd being hired by Larry Ellison, who gets what he wants at Oracle: Ellison is best buddies with Elon Musk who has got away with a lot worse.
So the big guys get away with anything they want, and the smaller guys get fired? Unsurprising.
No, my point is that Larry Ellison and Elon Musk control their companies (as CEO and major shareholders, and particularly as founders) in a way that is simply not possible in a PE-owned firm. Ellison and Musk have handpicked their company boards so the board members do not exercise any meaningful oversight. Other founder CEOs (think Facebook or Google) can get away with a lot too.
That doesn’t happen in a PE-owned firm. If the management don’t perform or cause problems for the firm then they are unceremoniously fired. Even the CEO is just an employee.
It wasn’t a casual embrace. His hands were on her breasts.
Don’t know either. But ‘anti-fraternization’ policies have increased since the me-too movement.
That seems…quaint. Too much liability these days to allow close personal relationships in the workplace, the idea is to decrease risk for sexual harassment claims and such. Beyond PE firms/investors, company attorneys tend to be conservative and recommend companies have some type of policy regarding dating in the workplace.
Certainly in the CEO’s chain of hierarchy, if not a direct report. IME that’s what most anti-fraternization policies are focused on…no relationships within a given hierarchical reporting structure. As kelsmom noted above, the CEO was in a position of power over the employee. But because of the nature of her job, I think she should be fired too.
My H was laughing about this yesterday. He said anyone with respect for a partner would never classify this as a potential embrace between friends.
They were both placed on leave pending an investigation prior to him resigning, so yes, pretty much forced out.
“By comparison” is exactly the sort of downward spiral policies against harassment and relationships are meant to prevent. There was a time that the moral judgement of adultery was simply 'if they can’t keep vows to someone they profess to love, how can they be trusted at work". And yes, I know that was a long time ago.