Music. Banter. Festive. Concert. Singing. Dancing. Laughing. Hiding. Cheating. The shock. The awe. The shame. The game. The internet these days is on an overdrive over the ColdPlay concert Cam video. The video of a couple swaying to a song in a ColdPlay concert is perhaps a norm. Concert team picks up celebrities or cosy couples via spotlight. This then is splashed on the social media to create a hyper hype of the concert. The viral video couple looked to be having a bang and was eligible for the concert pick outs. So far so good; then came the ugly part. As soon as the spotlight came on them, and they realized it, in a reflex action the man left the woman to hide under the railing and women turned her back. To make it worse the singer Chris Martin said, “Are they having an affair or are they really shy”. This reel has been viewed by anybody and everybody.
The social media is invasive. It presents and misrepresents. It exposes and disposes. It speculates and assumes. It makes and fakes. Like a nice juicy gossip out of a movie, this reel has hundreds of memes being made that again are being viewed and reposted. The lives of these two people are being searched and ripped apart. Their company has sent them on leave, perhaps permanent. The public are still waiting for more news. The opinion over them is diverse. There is a segment that is feeling sorry for them. The harshness of public glare has definitely added to the pressure. Many feel that the private lives of individuals do not deserve such exposé. The amount of unwanted attention and exposure is definitely not helping the affected families of these two people. The second school of thought believes that they asked for it. Generally speaking, corporate “affairs” are not a novelty. How they have become a public mockery circus? Corporates for too long have looked the other way to personal “affairs” as long as the financial affairs are OK. Astronomer, the company that had hired Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot were also probably letting the bucks cover up for some very “personal” bonding between the CEO and the HR head. That is often the case, and that often can lead to some hard realities:
From corporate affairs to personal “affairs”— Corporates talk about ethics and values. The talk is often converted to code of conduct. The code of conduct is more of a plaque on the wall. The unwritten understanding is that what corporate staff does in his or her personal life is not the business of the business. That makes some sense when it comes to people carrying out their “affairs” outside the company. When it happens within the company, it sure is the business of the business. The problem is bigger when the affairs are C-Suite level. It is very difficult to reveal the indiscretions of the top management. Companies only look at the bottom line. If the boss is making good money for the company, “who cares.” That looking the other way is the first crack in the trust culture of the company.
The cultural impurification— The way of the leader is the way the company is. Culture is set by the leaders. His or her behaviour is the example that is going to be followed by his team and their teams in the company. Imagine a CEO or a manager preaching ethics, punctuality and accountability without following it her or himself. It is going to create a mockery behind his back. People are going to look at him with disdain. In a company there is no hiding place, especially if it is an intra-company affair. The body language of people involved changes. They are more secretive. They are more unusual. The word spreads. The tongues wag. The grapevine whistles. The culture gets less transparent. Lies are a norm. Disrespect and distrust replace respect and trust.
To cheat is to cheat— You cannot divide a human being as a cheater at home but totally upright in the office. A human being who is involved in a hidden affair is practicing deceit, lies and betrayal. To cheat anywhere is to cheat everywhere. This has also been proven through research. According to a study from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin on whether there is a correlation between personal infidelity and professional conduct, “We find a strong correlation, which tells us that infidelity affects professional conduct.”
Organisations that are avoiding this truth because of the CEO’s “performance” need to know that sooner or later the misconduct filters down the ranks, affecting the performance. Just imagine the motivation or engagement level of the staff at Astronomer. The fact that their CEO and HR head were having an affair would be an open secret in the company even before the ColdPlay concert incident. Even if the HR head was hired on merit, their mutual over-involvement would become a talking point. The HR head in turn may be hiring or rewarding people on her own likes and dislikes, knowing that the CEO will not say anything. This triggers off bias, politics, incompetence, and lobbies that eventually affect productivity and profitability. That is why such personal digressions cannot be ignored. Companies need to be proactive and take into account some core actions:
Holistic reference checks— When hiring executives, companies need to change their briefs for the headhunting companies. Normally all they ask is for experience and performance. Reference checks are also mostly about performance and attitude. Very little is explicitly asked for their moral and ethical behaviour. Time to do that as well. Asking about any untoward personal advances within the company is also important. With Artificial Intelligence tools reference checking of the social media behaviour can now be done in minutes that reveal the candidate’s personal disposition.
Snip it in the bud policy— Within the company, pay attention to what is being said or not said about someone. Do not avoid. Do not pretend. Do not look the other way. If there is some talk of something going between two people, have a polite and courteous talk about it and discuss the impact it is and will have on their careers and futures.
The obsessive attention to numbers, the compulsive behaviour on the social media has made a mockery of humans and humanity. Companies only talk about the bottom lines. That many times forces them to cross the lines of ethics and values. While the mega Rock band ColdPlay is already a phenomenal success, the latest KissCam video views have broken all records. Some feel, such additional streams may induce them to change their name from ColdPlay to “HotPlay”.
(The writer is a columnist, consultant, coach, and an analyst and can be reached at dleeb.abbas1@gmail.com)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
The writer is a columnist, consultant, coach, and an analyst and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com