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Memo to the CEO: Office romance is also the board’s business

Senior executives should disclose workplace relationships

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Published Wed, Sep 10, 2025 · 07:00 AM
    • Over-strict codes can drive relationships underground with even more explosive fallout. The board has a role, therefore, in applying common sense about the necessary action.
    • Over-strict codes can drive relationships underground with even more explosive fallout. The board has a role, therefore, in applying common sense about the necessary action. PHOTO: PIXABAY

    NESTLE’S dismissal last week of its chief executive officer Laurent Freixe for failing to disclose a romantic relationship fits an all-too-familiar pattern. 

    It follows the ousting of Bernard Looney on similar grounds at BP in 2023, the resignation of NBC’s Jeff Zucker in 2022, McDonald’s sacking of Steve Easterbrook in 2019, and so on, back to Harry Stonecipher, who stepped down at Boeing in 2005. All had failed to reveal relationships with colleagues.

    The problem of how, or even whether, to regulate a natural human instinct persists. The evidence suggests codes of conduct are not working. Is there a better way?

    Corporate governanceCEOsWorkplace safetyDisclosures

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