“The Fixer”
Welcome to The Fixer, a weekly newsletter from The WayFinders Group.
You could be making headlines for all the wrong reasons, but it won’t happen to you because you’re here learning from other leaders’ spectacular missteps. Every Friday, we forensically examine the corporate crises that could have been avoided with foresight, fresh thinking, and a phone call to the right people (aka us!). We also provide the next installment of our agony aunt column, and the best escapism money can buy.
Friday’s fiasco: better late than never
Last week, Nestlé demonstrated how quickly corporate credibility can crumble when personal conduct meets professional responsibilities. The Swiss food giant abruptly dismissed CEO Laurent Freixe after just one year in the role, following an investigation that confirmed an undisclosed romantic relationship with a direct subordinate that breached the company’s code of conduct. When leaders breach trust, swift action beats prolonged denial every time. Freixe’s mistake wasn’t having feelings – it was lying about them to the people responsible for governance.
The real scandal? It took two investigations to get to the truth.
Freixe initially denied the relationship to the board when concerns first emerged through an internal hotline in spring. Only after persistent concerns triggered a second probe – this time with external oversight – did the full picture emerge. The board’s response was swift: immediate dismissal with no exit package.
Our advice to Nestlé? You did the right thing, eventually.
The company correctly prioritised governance over short-term disruption even though losing a second CEO in consecutive years raises uncomfortable questions about leadership stability. The bottom line is that when CEOs forget that transparency isn’t optional, boards must remind them that trust, once broken, is nearly impossible to rebuild.
The path to organisational repair
As consumer goods companies are already facing unprecedented pressures from inflation to supply chain disruptions to changing consumer behaviours, it’s essential that sector leaders commit to basic governance standards. Nestlé’s situation demonstrates why governance failures require addressing root causes, not just managing headlines. The restoration they need requires rebuilding trust through transparent communication about what went wrong, implementing robust disclosure policies that apply equally to all executives, creating independent oversight mechanisms that can’t be circumvented, and demonstrating that company values aren’t negotiable regardless of performance levels.
When your greatest business risk turns out to be your CEO’s inability to have difficult conversations, it’s fair to assume they may be hiding something else.
Fix me!
Dear Leah,
I’m Chief Risk Officer, and I’m sitting on information that could destroy our company.
Three months ago, a senior manager came to me with evidence that our largest division has been systematically overstating revenue figures to meet targets. The amounts aren’t huge individually, but over 18 months it’s added up to £8 million of misreported income. The division head – who reports directly to our CEO – claims it’s “timing differences” and “complex accounting,” but the documentation suggests deliberate manipulation. I’ve raised concerns with our CEO twice, but he’s been defensive, saying I’m “overthinking it” and that the auditors haven’t flagged anything. The problem is, our CEO and this division head have been friends for 15 years, and this division’s “performance” has been central to our recent funding round. The manager who brought me the information is now getting frozen out and has hinted about going to regulators. I’m meant to be protecting the company from risk, but addressing this feels like the biggest risk of all.
Do I push harder internally? Do I go to the Board? Do I contact our auditors directly?
– Dabbling in Risky Business
Oh dear!
You’re not dabbling in risky business, you’re staring down the barrel of potential corporate catastrophe whilst your CEO embodies an ostrich. This isn’t going away, and every day you delay makes the eventual reckoning worse.
DIAGNOSIS: Your CEO is prioritising friendship over fiduciary duties; you’re being asked to be complicit in what could be fraud. The “timing differences” defence is classic deflection, and the auditors’ silence doesn’t mean innocence, it means the company hasn’t been found out yet.
THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM: This isn’t about accounting complexity – it’s about a CEO who can’t separate personal loyalty from professional responsibility. Meanwhile, you’re caught between protecting the company and protecting your career, whilst a whistleblower grows more desperate by the day.
THE PATH TO RESOLVING IT: Document everything immediately and escalate to the Chair of the Board today. This is beyond internal resolution when the CEO is compromised by personal relationships. Frame it as protecting company value, not attacking individuals. The longer this festers, the more criminal it looks when it inevitably surfaces.
YOUR ROLE GOING FORWARDS:
- Cover yourself legally. Ensure all your concerns are documented and escalated through proper channels.
- Protect the whistleblower. Their courage brought this to light – don’t let them face retaliation alone.
- Act on your job title. You’re Chief Risk Officer – the biggest risk right now is doing nothing.
When friendship trumps governance, someone needs to be the grown-up. That someone is you, and the time is now.
Future-proof after crisis – our post-crisis restoration programme systematically repairs organisational culture over 90 days, ensuring lasting transformation rather than temporary fixes.
Find your way forward – whether a merger gone wrong, a scandal brewing, or simply the sense that your organisation has lost its way – we help leaders chart a course to calmer waters.
Feel-good Fixes
Leaders have long days too, so here’s what we’re loving at The WayFinders Group this week:
Find your flow: Leah swears by the Caledonian Sleeper. Why not book a first-class train ticket to somewhere you’ve never been, leave your laptop behind, and spend the journey with nothing but a notebook and your thoughts?
Flex your brain: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count is a decade in the making and worth every moment of anticipation. For anyone who spends their days untangling human relationships in professional settings, Dream Count offers both mirror and medicine – a reminder that the personal and professional are never as separate as we pretend they are.
Fuel your body: if forcing yourself to drink eight glasses of water feels like a punishment, try eating your hydration instead – cabbage, cantaloupe, celery, cucumbers, lettuce, strawberries and watermelon are all 90% to 100% water.
Feed yourself well: Soho institution Rita’s is serving up a special offer: £10 martinis (wet, dry, dirty, with olives or a twist) and margaritas for diners after 10pm. FYI it’s Negroni Week from 22 to 28 September, raising money for Slow Food whilst serving special pours. You’re welcome.
