Episode transcript The transcript is generated automatically by Podscribe, Sonix, Otter and other electronic transcription services.
Hi everyone, here is Ricardo Vargas, and this is the 5 Minutes Podcast. And this week I want to talk about a story that made headlines on social media and the corporate world. The CEO of the American company Astronomer was caught on video during a Coldplay concert, and he was not with his wife, but another woman. And the situation escalated much more when it was revealed that that woman was his direct subordinate and not just a single employee, but the head of HR of the company. And of course, a few days later, both were, I don't know, dismiss it or they decided to resign. But they are not with Astronomer anymore. But I'm not here to judge or dive into personal aspects of this case. This is this is not the point here. What really matters, and it's what I believe it's relevant for all of us working in projects and organizations is the set of lessons we can take from this episode and the first one is the leader's reputation is a strategic asset. Remember this it's not just about performance or hitting targets. The CEO's image is directly tied to the company's brand, its internal culture, and the trust of investors. So don't think that the image of the CEO is not associated. And I will go even above and beyond the image of the CEO and the leadership and the whole leadership team is the image of the organization. And today, any behavior, even outside the workplace can be recorded and shared globally. And look what happened. So, something like what, five seconds, ten second video, and it created just dramatic consequences. And in this case, it's a stark reminder that a reputation that takes years to build can collapse in few seconds. And this drives me to the second point. And this point is, is very polemic because I don't think it's good because I, I would love to have more separation between personal and professional life. But honestly, the separation between personal and professional life is an illusion. It's a myth. And in today, this hyper connected world we are in all social media. People can take a photo, people can record us. And if you have a position of high visibility, for example, you are managing a project with a high visibility, high impact. There is no clear boundary between what is private and what is institutional. Trust me, there is no, even if you are catch, for example, doing something that is not ethically accepted midnight on a Saturday, this can and potentially will impact your perception and your view in the work. So what happened with the astronomer CEO didn't take place during business hours, but it became a corporate crisis and even more because of the relationship with a subordinate, because this raises serious concerns about conflict of interest. Psychological safety, for example, a harassment. So we need just to understand because these put even into check the policies and how Astronomer handle these type of cases. And this drives me to the last and final point here. Finally, organizations culture begins and can break at the top. One of the critical things when you are leading a massive project, or when you are leading an organization or when you are in on an executive level of organization, is to build culture. But at the same time, if your attitudes and your behavior goes the opposite way you can break everything very quickly when leadership acts in ways that are completely misaligned with the company's stated values, it shakes the very foundation of the organization. For example, after the video I look, I'm not related to Astronomer. I have no business relationship with them, but I received a series of articles in the news and they're talking about favoritism, week compliance, lack of safe channels to internal complaints. So, you know, all these rotten pieces of the organization just came into the surface. And it becomes a massive challenge for Astronomer to take a stance on that, because Astronomer does not want to be recognized with, okay, how Astronomer is the company that the CEO was with someone else at a Coldplay concert. They want probably to be recognized by the work that they do in in AI and technology, and not because of the behavior of the CEO. But today everybody is related. Uh, the corporate brand and corporate attitude with the CEO, the former CEO attitude. So it's very important. So what began as a personal scandal quickly turned it into a systemic issue. And what is the lesson here? We need to understand that when we are leading a project that has high visibility, you know, even even a coffee at the wrong time at the wrong place can be a challenge. So just be absolutely mindful of that because these cases are a wake up call. Okay. Projects, companies and the teams are built on trust. And trust always start at the top. Think about that. I hope you enjoyed this this episode and see you next week with another 5 Minutes Podcast.
