Norfolk Southern’s board has fired CEO Alan Shaw after an investigation found that he has been “engaging in a consensual relationship with the company’s chief legal officer,” the colorfully named Nabanita Nag. She was also canned from her positions as executive vice president corporate affairs, chief legal officer and corporate secretary.
Those are the lovebirds above.
Because this is a firing for cause, Shaw might have lost millions of dollars in what otherwise would be a “golden parachute.” This kind of vertical messing around is always stupid and unethical (but so romantic!), but it is particularly reckless for a CEO who is on metaphorical thin ice already, for then the “King’s Pass” is not going to be in play.
His two-year tenure included bitter labor negotiations that nearly resulted in an economy-crippling strike and the horrific derailment in East Palestine, Ohio that released tank cars full of toxic materials. This was not a good time for the company’s chief executive to go all Woody Allen.
But there is never a good time. When Cupid’s dart strikes, the only professional, ethical decision is to suck it up and resist, or play Edward the Eighth and abdicate “for the woman you love.”
The fact that Shaw was married to someone else should have giving him a strong hint that his ethics alarms should be ringing.
Ethics Alarms 
Testosterone is a powerful hormone. I’ve just about concluded all we are put on earth for is, like our fellow animals, to procreate and insure the survival of the species. All women want is to bear children and raise them. And male behavior is about dominance. That’s why men play and watch sports way past our playing age. CEOs are the dominant ones in the business game (these days, THE game.) That way, they can get laid. Women want to have their children so those children will have an increased likelihood of being dominant. Everything men do is designed to give them a reliable access to a steady supply of sex. Ethics, schmethics.
I don’t know that it’s all we want.
Bottom line, I think it is, Alicia. All the rest, on both sides, is window dressing. Nice guys make reliable husbands. Reliable husbands will provide for children and grandchildren. Ultimately, to have a reliable source of … good sex. Kind of grim, but kind of a base line explanation.
Query: how do you get italics into a comment? I’ve never been able to.
Italics is between the B and the (-) on the format line above the comment window. It doesn’t look like an I so much as a /. But it’s for italics.
Ah Hah! Molto gratzie, Edward. All my comments will be in italics from now on. Hah!
Edward’s got you covered. I only discovered the / yesterday. I suck at WordPress.
I have no sympathy. Now, if they were younger, I could have some sympathy. The strength of the hormones of youth combined with a lack of experience and wisdom can result in some bad decisions. So, a 27 year-old ‘supervisor’ and a 24 year-old worker? Yeah, I have some sympathy there. A CEO of a major company and the chief lawyer? You have to be kidding. They just thought they were above the law. It is just shocking to me how often this happens. Of course, we also have the head of all DoD elementary schools getting caught in a child prostitution sting and 5200 Pentagon employees caught purchasing child pornography, so what do you expect from the private sector?
No, I don’t think any of us have heard of these. Why don’t you post some news articles? I couldn’t find anything, though I did find an article about the former director of DoDEA Americas region getting caught trying to purchase services from a prostitute, as part of a weekend sting that saw 26 people arrested and six women rescued.
The Peter Principle would seem to apply here…in more ways than one.
Thinking with his small head.
Jack, I really think this is a Julie principle situation. CEO’s gotta’ get everything they can get. It’s what they do. If they happen to run a company well in their spare time, so much the better. They’re a breed apart. Sociopaths for the most part, according to some.