A timeless lesson from the Coldplay incident: America loves to hate CEOS
But the video went viral after internet sleuths quickly outed the couple as Andy Byron, CEO of Astronomer, a New York startup, and Kristin Cabot, the company's chief people officer.
Get Starting Point
A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.
Enter Email
Sign Up
In the fallout, the company issued a statement saying it had put Byron on leave pending an investigation. He resigned soon after, and he, his wife, and Cabot all reportedly deleted their social media accounts.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, meme makers cranked out countless comic takes and parodies featuring the likes of the
What's been dubbed 'Coldplaygate' would all be good summertime fun — except that lives and careers have been turned upside down. And the glee with which the internet pounced on Byron underscores some not-so-humorous realities of American business life.
Advertisement
In The New York Times, Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote, 'The moment seems to encapsulate the pervasive schadenfreude within our culture, especially our office culture, and a deep-seated animosity toward bosses and colleagues.'
CEO resentment is indeed widespread. It's been fueled by decades of excessive pay and a growing cynicism about capitalism and the inequality, greed, and lack of accountability it breeds.
In 2023, CEO total compensation at S&P 500 averaged $17.7 million, according to
The December assassination of Brian Thompson, chief executive of UnitedHealth, sent shockwaves through the corporate world. Thompson was shot on the street outside of the New York hotel where he was scheduled to give a presentation to investors.
Prosecutors say the alleged killer, Luigi Mangione, may have targeted Thompson because he embodied a health insurance industry that Mangione believes does all it can to avoid paying claims. Mangione has pleaded not guilty.
Big-name CEOs like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg draw most of the public's ire.
Neither Byron nor Astronomer were well known outside of their niche of 'DataOps,' a category of software that pulls together raw data and formats it for easy analysis.
But Byron's relative anonymity didn't matter to the internet. A CEO is a CEO.
Moreover, the irony of cheating with the head of human resources was too much to resist. In the modern workplace, HR isn't just about vetting job candidates and managing benefits — it's the morality police.
Advertisement
If the chief executive and chief people officer don't follow the rules, who will?
Larry Edelman can be reached at
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
38 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Trump criticized the idea of presidential vacations. His Scotland trip is built around golf.
The White House isn't calling Trump's five-day, midsummer jaunt a vacation, but rather a working trip where the Republican president might hold a news conference and sit for interviews with U.S. and British media outlets. Trump was also talking trade in separate meetings with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Trump is staying at his properties near Turnberry and Aberdeen, where his family owns two golf courses and is opening a third on Aug. 13. Trump played golf over the weekend at Turnberry and is helping cut the ribbon on the new course on Tuesday. Advertisement He's not the first president to play in Scotland: Dwight D. Eisenhower played at Turnberry in 1959, more than a half century before Trump bought it, after meeting with French President Charles de Gaulle in Paris. But none of Trump's predecessors has constructed a foreign itinerary around promoting vacation sites his family owns and is actively expanding. Advertisement It lays bare how Trump has leveraged his second term to pad his family's profits in a variety of ways, including overseas development deals and promoting cryptocurrencies, despite growing questions about ethics concerns. 'You have to look at this as yet another attempt by Donald Trump to monetize his presidency,' said Leonard Steinhorn, who teaches political communication and courses on American culture and the modern presidency at American University. 'In this case, using the trip as a PR opportunity to promote his golf courses.' A parade of golf carts and security accompanied President Trump at Turnberry, on the Scottish coast southwest of Glasgow, on Sunday. Christopher Furlong/Getty President Trump on the links. Christopher Furlong/Getty Presidents typically vacation in the US Franklin D. Roosevelt went to the Bahamas, often for the excellent fishing, five times between 1933 and 1940. He visited Canada's Campobello Island in New Brunswick, where he had vacationed as a child, in 1933, 1936 and 1939. Reagan spent Easter 1982 on vacation in Barbados after meeting with Caribbean leaders and warning of a Marxist threat that could spread throughout the region from nearby Grenada. Presidents also never fully go on vacation. They travel with a large entourage of aides, receive intelligence briefings, take calls and otherwise work away from Washington. Kicking back in the United States, though, has long been the norm. Harry S. Truman helped make Key West, Florida, a tourist hot spot with his 'Little White House' cottage there. Several presidents, including James Buchanan and Benjamin Harrison, visited the Victorian architecture in Cape May, New Jersey. More recently, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama boosted tourism on Massachusetts' Martha's Vineyard, while Trump has buoyed Palm Beach, Florida, with frequent trips to his Mar-a-Lago estate. But any tourist lift Trump gets from his Scottish visit is likely to most benefit his family. 'Every president is forced to weigh politics versus fun on vacation,' said Jeffrey Engel, David Gergen Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, who added that Trump is 'demonstrating his priorities.' Advertisement 'When he thinks about how he wants to spend his free time, A., playing golf, B., visiting places where he has investments and C., enhancing those investments, that was not the priority for previous presidents, but it is his vacation time,' Engel said. It's even a departure from Trump's first term, when he found ways to squeeze in visits to his properties while on trips more focused on work. Trump stopped at his resort in Hawaii to thank staff members after visiting the memorial site at Pearl Harbor and before embarking on an Asia trip in November 2017. He played golf at Turnberry in 2018 before meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland. Trump once decried the idea of taking vacations as president. 'Don't take vacations. What's the point? If you're not enjoying your work, you're in the wrong job,' Trump wrote in his 2004 book, 'Think Like a Billionaire.' During his presidential campaign in 2015, he pledged to 'rarely leave the White House.' Even as recently as a speech at a summit on artificial intelligence in Washington on Wednesday, Trump derided his predecessor for flying long distances for golf — something he's now doing. 'They talked about the carbon footprint and then Obama hops onto a 747, Air Force One, and flies to Hawaii to play a round of golf and comes back,' he said. On the green... Christopher Furlong/Getty ... and in the sand. Christopher Furlong/Getty Presidential vacations and any overseas trips were once taboo Trump isn't the first president not wanting to publicize taking time off. George Washington was criticized for embarking on a New England tour to promote the presidency. Some took issue with his successor, John Adams, for leaving the then-capital of Philadelphia in 1797 for a long visit to his family's farm in Quincy, Massachusetts. James Madison left Washington for months after the War of 1812. Advertisement Teddy Roosevelt helped pioneer the modern presidential vacation in 1902 by chartering a special train and directing key staffers to rent houses near Sagamore Hill, his home in Oyster Bay, New York, according to the White House Historical Association. Four years later, Roosevelt upended tradition again, this time by becoming the first president to leave the country while in office. The New York Times noted that Roosevelt's 30-day trip by yacht and battleship to tour construction of the Panama Canal 'will violate the traditions of the United States for 117 years by taking its President outside the jurisdiction of the Government at Washington.' In the decades since, where presidents opted to vacation, even outside the U.S., has become part of their political personas. In addition to New Jersey, Grant relaxed on Martha's Vineyard. Calvin Coolidge spent the 1928 Christmas holidays at Sapelo Island, Georgia. Lyndon B. Johnson had his 'Texas White House,' a Hill Country ranch. Eisenhower vacationed in Newport, Rhode Island. John F. Kennedy went to Palm Springs, California, and his family's compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, among other places. Richard Nixon had the 'Southern White House' on Key Biscayne, Florida, while Joe Biden traveled frequently to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, while also visiting Nantucket, Massachusetts, and St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. George H.W. Bush was a frequent visitor to his family's property in Kennebunkport, Maine, and didn't let the start of the Gulf War in 1991 detour him from a monthlong vacation there. His son, George W. Bush, opted for his ranch in Crawford, Texas, rather than a more posh destination. Advertisement Presidential visits help tourism in some places more than others, but Engel said that for some Americans, 'if the president of the Untied States goes some place, you want to go to the same place.' He noted that visitors emulating presidential vacations are out 'to show that you're either as cool as he or she, that you understand the same values as he or she or, heck, maybe you'll bump into he or she.'
Miami Herald
an hour ago
- Miami Herald
Saudi Electricity Company Achieves 30% Increase in 2025 Sustainability Rating Compared to 2024, According to S&P
The Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has achieved a significant milestone in its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance, as evaluated by S&P Global. RIYADH, SA / ACCESS Newswire / July 27, 2025 / The Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has achieved a significant milestone in its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance, as evaluated by S&P Global. The company scored 65 out of 100, marking a 30% increase compared to its 2024 score, and an 85% improvement over its 2023 rating. This accomplishment highlights SEC's strategic progress and reinforces its position as a regional leader and a benchmark for sustainable excellence in the energy sector. Notably, SEC's score exceeds the global utilities sector average of 39 points by 66%, demonstrating its strong commitment to sustainable development. The rating reflects SEC's comprehensive institutional commitment to sustainability, driven by effective governance frameworks, ambitious strategies, and tangible improvements in environmental and social performance. SEC also showcased proactive disclosure aligned with leading international sustainability reporting standards. This progress further underscores SEC's alignment with Saudi Vision 2030, particularly in advancing sustainable energy, enhancing transparency, strengthening investor confidence, and adopting global ESG best practices. SEC reaffirmed its commitment to continuously improving its ESG performance by deeply embedding sustainability across all operations, positioning itself as a trusted and responsible energy provider both regionally and globally. SOURCE: شركة صانعي الخيال للدعاية والإعلان press release
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Why Morgan Stanley Thinks Alphabet's (GOOGL) Innovation Cycle Isn't Priced In Yet
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is one of the . On July 24, Morgan Stanley reiterated the stock as 'Overweight' and raised its price target to $210 per share from $205 following Alphabet's latest earnings report on Wednesday. Analyst Brian Nowak is optimistic about Google's accelerating cloud revenue growth and its updated AI-based engagement metrics. 'Search, YouTube and Google Cloud all accelerated as GenAI-enabled innovation is driving faster growth,' he wrote in a Thursday note to clients. 'Our EPS ests are largely unchanged (revenue higher offset by higher D & A/investment) but we remain OW as this accelerated pace of innovation sets up GOOGL for more durable multi-year growth.' A business person pointing to a graph displaying a company's projected EBITDA growth. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company wholly owning the internet giant Google, amongst other businesses. While we acknowledge the potential of GOOGL as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and . Disclosure: None. Sign in to access your portfolio
