Why Do We Care So Much About The Love Lives Of CEOs?

This post originally appeared in Forbes on Sept 2, 2025.

Nestlé has just dismissed its chief executive, Laurent Freixe, for having an undisclosed relationship with a subordinate. And July 2025 provided the kiss-cam moment seen around the world, when the CEO of technology company Astronomer and the company’s Chief People Officer (CPO) were caught in a passionate embrace. With the relationship also being an affair, many assumed both would be asked to leave as a matter of principle, and both resigned in short order. This situation sparked an interesting conversation on whether what one does outside of work should have any bearing on whether they are fit to perform their job. Why is the general public so eager to make judgments on the love lives of CEOs? Because it isn’t really about the behavior or relationships themselves. It’s about ethics.

Why people behave unethically at work

Ethical lapses are more prone to happen in weak workplace cultures and are rarely isolated incidents. Think of it as the difference between one bad apple versus one bad barrel. This apple analogy is often used to categorize different schools of thought on workplace integrity. In the bad barrel argument, situational and organizational influences on unethical behavior must be considered.

Then, of course, there is the cognitive dissonance that arises when one behaves unethically, leading them to strive for alternative explanations for their actions, creating a feedback loop where unethical behavior goes unchecked. “Sometimes individuals rationalize unethical decisions. They excuse their own bad behavior. That is just naturally ingrained in the science of how we are as human beings,” says Lori Pressler, Chief Ethics Officer at Deloitte.

Read the rest on Forbes.