I think we should have a regular ‘Dilemma’ question on the site for our learned users to help themselves to a ‘brainjob’
So, here goes:
Case:
You are the CEO of a Financial Services Company thats been around for 14 years. After some major roller coaster movements in the lifecycle of your business, you are finally flourishing.
The Company is on the verge of an IPO and you are a week away from the Investor Roadshows.
A major contributor to the success of the business has been your CFO of 14 years. He is 41 years old, married, very sharp and dedicated to his job. He is the cornerstone of the Company.
However, he is a perpetual skirt chaser. He keeps flirting with the Women in the office and has had a couple of serious affairs with girl executives who were trainees. You have managed the situation so far, but the latest situation is out of control…
Mr. CFO is sleeping around with a 32 year old very senior analyst of the Company. She doesn’t seem to be troubled by his married status and actually believes that Mr. CFO loves her. He is clearly leading her up the Garden Path.
Also, Mr. CFO’s wife has called you and clearly told you that she knows what is going on and wants you to do either of the following in the next 2 days:
A – Ask CFO to leave immediately (so that she can then re-locate to another city)
B – Ask Ms. Analyst to leave immediately (thus preventing Mrs. CFO’s marriage from dissolving).
Your IPO is just a week ago. The Analyst has worked for you for over 3 years now and is absolutely perfect at her job. If you will fire her, it will be for ‘no cause’. The CFO is like your Co-Founder.. he loves the Job but refuses to mend his skirt chasing habits.
WHAT WILL YOU DO?
Varun Wahi
Uhmmm…why do I have to listen to the CFO’s wife. How does her saying anything matter to me???
Aalok Pandey
This case is business@cost_of_ethics.
Both needs to be fired, sooner or later. How!.
Step 1: Call the ‘Mrs’ Analyst tomo. and ask her to take a yr long sabbatical/on-site assgnmt from today, preferably, coz you dont want to loose her, and keeping her in the radar of the company.
Step 2: Call Mr CFO and explain him the dilemma of running an organisation with either ethics or business, not mentioning this case. If he chooses, ethics, give him a time of a year of so, to improve upon, and work on some assignments in improving organisational values and ethics, else he can take a strategic exit after a year. He being a co-founder, he deserves being given the right.
If he chooses business, then surely he isn’t the right partner for you. It was your mistake that you failed to understand him. Give him a clear answer, that you cant take him along for the time to come. Again give him a chance to respond. If he is ok, with immoral behavior at workplace, ask him to leave post IPO.
Step 1 may seem impractical, given the time frame. but surely,if thought through, can work without backfiring.
Step 2 is a hi-risk call, given the co-founder may rebuff and walk-away. But the risk is worth taking, given the rewards.
Eventually, in step 1, you could direct, and in step 2, you could discuss. Once settled, raise a policy of ethical standards at workplace, and make the two head that function, and have a watchdog,independently monitoring the situation. In a years time, when you are settled with the business and the ethics, ask either or both, depending on the outcome, to leave. Make it a lesson for the organisation, so the nezt time, you dont need to have a policy in the first place.
These ideas may have loopholes,but is just one of the ways of tactically dealing with a dilemma like this.
And yes call the Mrs CFO next day and tell her that Ms Analyst would not be available in the org. for a year. 🙂
Hope this throws some light. 😛
Best
Aalok Pandey
APD Innovation Ventures
makers of ‘self-cleaning toilet apparatus.’
abubucker.athick
Flirt is a better word to ‘skirt chaser’.
Is this unethical as per the organizational code of conduct ? If not, then ceo doesn’t have anything to do and shouldn’t do anything.If he does he violates the terms of contract of employment.I hope they are not flirting around in the office.
If it is indeed unethical, then this is a HR case.CEO should go with HR recommendation that aligns with the expected behavior from every employee.Due process (warnings,notice,termination) should be handled.
It is unethical but there is no codification of conduct, then steps needed to be taken to codify it.
If i read this case carefully, i understands that the ceo has been tolerating this behavior.He will have no face to challenge the cfo at this critical moment. First fire the ceo for not defining a proper code of conduct for the organization.
Omkar Sapre
I am the CEO of this company, and not the grandpa of the Mr CFO or Ms Analyst’s family. I see no reason why I should bother about it.
Mrs CFO shouldn’t be calling me up for what I see is her family matter. I would tell her to speak to her husband and mend his ways in her own style. Relocation can not be the answer as Mr CFO can find ladies anywhere Mrs CFO takes him. So there is no logic for her asking me to sack him.
As long as Ms Analyst is good at her job and doing justice to the company, I see no reason why I should be bothered about her affair.
Whether Mr CFO and Ms Analyst should be in an affair or not, is a morality related questions and that is very subjective. I don’t believe in loading my subjectives on to other people.
However, the company is going public, so we need to keep up a clean public image. Clean is also subjective, but what I connote here is to have an image where people will talk of how we do business and not what we do in personal lives.
So I will call both Mr CFO and Ms Analyst and tell them that their affair or whatever is being talked about in the market. This is your personal matter and I would have no objections as long as you keep it personal. You have to make sure that your relation does not affect your work, and that is not talked about in the office. This will come with a stern warning that if the company gets a bad name because of you, both would have to leave the company. Remember The Social Network.
I will tell Mr CFO that he should make no commitments or promises to Ms Analyst about promotions, raises and stuff on behalf of the company. Secondly, I will also warn him about the anti sexual harrassment policies of the company, and tell him that he will face action It may also include termination, if any lady complains against him and the concerned department finds him to be guilty.
Having done that I will concentrate on my investor meetings and making sure the company has a great listing.
Aditya Singh
Simple solution –
1. Call the CFO’s Wife and brainwash her. Give her the lawyer’s number.
2. Tell the CFO that you are so happy with him. Then get him hooked with a a hot-shot model or actress and sponsor their trip to bangkok for a few weeks.
Bobby
For long term solution & before IPO (no matter wat d cost)-Sack both of them on the issue of probity . Mrs CFO calling CEO is a good sign to do the above.
Munish Goyal
I would try to coax Mrs CFO to wait for 2 weeks till i look into the issue and straighten the things.
Next will try to talk hard to CFO to mend himself.
Finally, it is 2 consenting adults, so there is no question of harassment or company’s action in purview. So there is no detriment to existing women employees and future hiring (CFO is no sexual predator 🙂 )
But to save my business, if nothing works, will politely ask Ms. Analyst to leave. No questions answered !
Aalok Pandey
Omkar, the CFO is almost the co-founder. Arrogant thoughts, dont make long-term results. Had the story been in some other org., the CEO could have given this gyan. IF today, this has happened, then simply, its not a place for good people to join and work. And the CEO cant take a stance, rather, he should be thankful to Mrs CFO about the knowledge given, and take immediate action, without any delay. Rest the systems and procedures will take their course.
Omkar Sapre said:
Aalok Pandey
its our organisation, and this cancer should be out, asap. The comp. should not loose Ms Analyst, cause of her personal issues. Asking her to leave is not a soln.
Munish Goyal said:
Aalok Pandey
impractical soln. :), then the CEO is ok, with such things going on his org. :)… does’nt work.
Abhishek Rai said:
Aalok Pandey
grow up bobby.:)
Bobby Theodor said:
Vishwas Patel
This is the time for the “CEO” to face the “Truth / Satya”. Anybody remember the movie “Satya”? The politician is on tenterhooks as the election is round the corner. The elections are very, very important to him but two of his main supporters / “Goons” are fighting with each other. He tells Bhiku Mhatre and the other goon to just lie low and cool down till the elections are over. But Bhiku Mhatre cant just mend his ways and kills the other goon. The politician is damn angry and calls Bhikhu Mahtre and asks him WTF? Bhiku tells him what if the other guy had murdered him? The Politician just laughs it off. Bhiku Mhatre is now feeling good and proclaims “Mumbai ka raaja kaun…Bhiku Mahtre!”. The elections come and the politician wins. He then summons Bhiku Mhatre to his bunglow to celebrate. As Bhiku is sitting on the table, the politician arrives and just shoots him in the head from behind and then slowly finishes of Bhiku’s men. …..Now all you my intelligent rodinhoods just map the above to Alok’s brain teaser and you have your logical business answer! Rgds, Vishwas.
Munish Goyal
Thankful to Mrs CFO ?
First, it is the personal matter of all 3 parties.
Technically, the company (CEO) doesnt become liable to interfere if there is a mutual affair between colleagues.
Since I have been managing the situation so far, that means i have been personally involved and only threat here is an outsider Mrs CFO blowing the whistle or pressurizing my CFO, which is bad for my CFO’s health and consequently company’s health.
But if we fire Analyst then also CFO wouldnt like it.
Will ask the CFO to make his colorful associations outside of the company. Will give him some time off probably 😉
Aalok Pandey said:
arpit shekhar
As a CEO my primary responsibility is toward my company.I have failed in the sense i had to put controls earlier to have such behaviour in the company.Now i am on the verge of an IPO and i should get through that successfully so I would let the CFO stay and complete it.After that may be ask him to mend his ways or to ask him to leave,and giving this confidence to Mrs. CFO at the beginning when she comes to meet us.As far as MS. Analyst is concerned its her personal life and we should not interfere in it may be a word of caution to be sounded by HR,as the CFO is running after her and she is giving access.As far as she is contributing well to her work there is no problem at all.But as we say the reputation of the company is from the employees and it starts from the top management as they are in governance so action against the CFO is justified first.
Thanks
Pankaj Kayathwal
Good ! This looks quite plausible !
Omkar Sapre said:
Anushka Shroff
True…true…true…
Vishwas Patel said:
Satish Vijaykumar
Seems like Narayan Murthy & Phaneesh Murthy story.
Abey John
At least one thing is very clear from this thread. Sex sells like hot cakes. While almost all other discussions languish with 2 or 3 replies, this one is going gangbusters! A lesson for all entrepreneurs. What’s the analytics story on this post Alok? Highest number of page views? :))
Omkar Sapre
Isn’t that way. It is always perception that sells, I believe. People who came into the discussion, or to say, bought into the discussion, did so because they perceived something in it to be important for them. So in a way, this discussion put up a perception (of importance) that appealed to the people that it drew in. That should be the lesson for all entrepreneurs.
I see meetha panee companies as a great example of this. Humans actually do not ‘need’ meetha panee to survive, but these companies have created a perception that made them multi billion dollar companies. They put up a perception of need, with messages that appealed to a vast audience that bought into their products. In that perception, every member of the audience found a unique ‘need’, which prompted him or her to shell out the price.
BTW, there is a discussion on professional degrees and talent, which has 10 replies more than this discussion. Now what do you call that?
Abey John said:
Anushka Shroff
Omkar…..Your reply is the best. 🙂
Omkar Sapre said:
Omkar Sapre
Thanks Anushka!
Anushka Shroff said:
satish v iyer
CEO has no say in a CFO’s personal life NOR he is liable to take orders of the CFO’s wife. Whether an IPO situation or not.
Ya friendly talk with CFO can be done but accepting the advise of CEO is CFO’s personal decision. Business should be more important to CEO.
Anand
There is no official complaint from anyone within the company. It should be business as usual till the IPO. This is the right thing to do for the franchise as neither the CEO or the CFO is larger than the company itself!! A strong policy on code of conduct should be put in place. Once the stock gets listed the CFO should be asked to resign.
This seems like SKS microfinance story minus the ‘skirt chasing’ bit.
makemegenius
Would sit across with CFO to keep the company away from his personal escapades….would ask him to switch off from current affair or get the analyst placed in some other company of he wants to continue with her.
If this does not work out, would speak to analyst to stay way from it or leave the company if she wants to continue with this relation.
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
SHUCKS – I wish the IMF Board has read this in December when we carried it!!!
Abey John
Oh yeah! 🙂
dhruvpubby
I think as a company, the interference into personal lives of employees should be avoided and when necessary, be taken as a business call.
In this case, the simplest solution is to send the analyst to a conference/ foreign assignment abroad for 1-2 weeks.
The CFO obviously remains in town for the upcoming IPO.
Tell the wife that these things are delicate and as a policy, the company does not interfere with the personal lives of the employees, moreover, the company has set up a sexual harassment committee to look into all complaints.. Drop hints that the Analyst is away on a foreign assignment and the CFO is busy with the IPO. After the IPO goes public, it would be the right time for the wife to take up the issue with her husband and the company would investigate any charges leveled against the CFO is necessary.
Its business, simple. Let your IPO get through without hiccups. Delay the delayable 😛
Nayana Somaratna
Few points here :
1. Forget about the IPO value – as a founder, I would not be able to sell my shares until many months after the IPO.
2. Principles are important : are you considering getting rid of your CFO / Analyst because you believe that they have broken your code of ethics ? Or is it the money which is key ?
I my case, I would tell the CFO’s wife that I cannot interfere – as a principle, I believe that people’s personal lives are their own business, and I would not interfere with them.
And if someone (say, the investors) applied pressure on me to remove one of them, I’d tell them to get lost. Your subordinates should know that you’ll stand up for them.
Prabhat Sinha
I would share with the CFO’s wife in confidence that I wasn’t clueless about that –
“I knew that and was looking for an idea that would resolve the problem without bringing any name to shame. It is far more complicated than you think, yet I am also aware that Mr CFO on his own is making his best to come out of this.
You know how it is – once you take the wrong path, it is not easy to come out, such are human failings. But a conscientious man knows that he must come out quicker than sink. I do not know how you feel, but I am certain that Mr CFO is a conscientious man, else he would not have been with a person such as me for so many years. I believe in being considerate with one’s closer ones particularly during the times of their failings than otherwise.
I also know that he has deep love for you and your unquestionable trust and faith in him shakes his conscience and soul more often than it shows.
On the lighter side, let me assure you that he sits with me from 8 in the morning until close to midnight as you know how committed he is to his job. All of last month there has not been a moment for him to engage in another thought and this would carry on until a week after the IPO gets over.
If I may have your confidence, and I know I can trust you on that from whatever I have known from Mr CFO about you as a person with a high sense of integrity.
I have already taken a decision to shift my strategic Finance team to Delhi and give Mr CFO added portfolio of managing the relationship with the Ministry of Finance in an elevated designation that I cannot disclose just yet. In fact, I am also aware that it is difficult to get the role of Principal in an established school in Delhi and the resettlement process from a more cosmopolitan environment of Mumbai. It is coincidental indeed that there is someone who is in a position to get an extremely attractive opportunity in Delhi. It is the IPO that holds me now from taking a course.
Ms Analyst has a very strong reference and that makes the challenge bigger for me. She is not particularly outstanding at her job but her behaviour with men upsets me a great deal. I would keep her here in a role that does not in anyway engage with Mr CFO, yet I know how I would resolve that.
A CEO’s role is such that we cannot react to circumstances because every decision of mine would have an impact on the company, its people and the future prospects of all. You may call that regimented, but experience trains us to see the best for all in a situation, than get crammed by the situation or the role play of people. At the end of the day we live to make our lives richer, undeterred by the challenges of life’s circumstances, and unperturbed by the roles of people in setting the challenge. I believe in that strongly, both in my personal and public life. At the end of the day, I must live well to make a value to another.
Thanks very much for your patient hearing. CEOs make a habit of elaborating conversations. I wish you well and have faith in God that all will fall into place sooner. I can understand your concern and anxiousness but I would request you to be on the path of solution than the problem.
So kindly permit me the time until a fortnight, and bear with me in patience.
Prabhat Sinha
I would share with the CFO’s wife in confidence that I wasn’t clueless about that –
“I knew that and was looking for an idea that would resolve the problem without bringing any name to shame. It is far more complicated than you think, yet I am also aware that Mr CFO on his own is making his best to come out of this.
You know how it is – once you take the wrong path, it is not easy to come out, such are human failings. But a conscientious man knows that he must come out quicker than sink. I do not know how you feel, but I am certain that Mr CFO is a conscientious man, else he would not have been with a person such as me for so many years. I believe in being considerate with one’s closer ones particularly during the times of their failings than otherwise.
I also know that he has deep love for you and your unquestionable trust and faith in him shakes his conscience and soul more often than it shows.
On the lighter side, let me assure you that he sits with me from 8 in the morning until close to midnight as you know how committed he is to his job. All of last month there has not been a moment for him to engage in another thought and this would carry on until a week after the IPO gets over.
If I may have your confidence, and I know I can trust you on that from whatever I have known from Mr CFO about you as a person with a high sense of integrity.
I have already taken a decision to shift my strategic Finance team to Delhi and give Mr CFO added portfolio of managing the relationship with the Ministry of Finance in an elevated designation that I cannot disclose just yet. In fact, I am also aware that it is difficult to get the role of Principal in an established school in Delhi and the resettlement process from a more cosmopolitan environment of Mumbai. It is coincidental indeed that there is someone who is in a position to get an extremely attractive opportunity in Delhi. It is the IPO that holds me now from taking a course.
Ms Analyst has a very strong reference and that makes the challenge bigger for me. She is not particularly outstanding at her job but her behaviour with men upsets me a great deal. I would keep her here in a role that does not in anyway engage with Mr CFO, yet I know how I would resolve that.
A CEO’s role is such that we cannot react to circumstances because every decision of mine would have an impact on the company, its people and the future prospects of all. You may call that regimented, but experience trains us to see the best for all in a situation, than get crammed by the situation or the role play of people. At the end of the day we live to make our lives richer, undeterred by the challenges of life’s circumstances, and unperturbed by the roles of people in setting the challenge. I believe in that strongly, both in my personal and public life. At the end of the day, I must live well to make a value to another.
Thanks very much for your patient hearing. CEOs make a habit of elaborating conversations. I wish you well and have faith in God that all will fall into place sooner. I can understand your concern and anxiousness but I would request you to be on the path of solution than the problem.
So kindly permit me the time until a fortnight, and bear with me in patience.
Sugumaran Uppili
Its literally a relative issue. Decisions and policies are drafted but need not be Hard and fast for a CEO. Business comes first and ethics a relative issue. Fire Ms. Analyst. Keep up the spirits of CFO, for its IPO time. Mrs.CFO is happy. Take time to resolve things with CFO. IPO comes first.
Hemant Pulijala
Its better to fire both of them.Keeping such people in company going to tarnish company’s brand value,that will lead to potential investors and shareholders run away .