31st July, 2025

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Coldplay, a kiss cam, and crisis management

THIS ARTICLE recaps how a company has been handling a July 2025 organisational crisis, and speaks to the value in assistants understanding risk management, business continuity planning (BCP), crisis management and crisis communications. Shelagh earned certificates in risk management and enterprise risk management (ERM), and has been in the C-Suite and boardroom in the thick of sticky situations and crisis management. She delivers risk management training for assistants, and is developing a new course on crisis management and communications.

AN UNINTENTIONAL OUTING

Many assistants will be aware of a Coldplay concert “kiss cam” close up of July 16, 20225. That live video closeup unintentionally outed what has been acknowledged as inappropriate conduct between two senior executives of the same privately held company. I’m using the term “inappropriate”; others have used more colourful language.

The company those two people led is one with unicorn status, representing a valuation of $1 billion or more.

A REPUTATIONAL HIT

On July 17 and 18, 2025, video footage went viral. The kiss cam moment was spoofed umpteen times. The company’s board took action. Roughly two days – a bit over 52 hours – after the video footage came out, the company at which the two worked issued a statement, as follows.

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“Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability.

The Board of Directors has initiated a formal investigation into this matter and we will have additional details to share very shortly.

Alyssa Stoddard was not at the event and no other employees were in the video. Andy Byron has not put out any statement, reports saying otherwise are all incorrect.”

RESPONSE TIME COUNTS; silence is a story in itself

The last two sentences of that statement reflected significant issues. While two days isn’t a long period of time in many situations, timing is important when it comes to crisis management and communications. The 52 or so hours between the Coldplay concert and the company’s first public communication on the matter created a vacuum in which speculation and rumours took over. We also saw circulation of at least one faux statement falsely attributed to the CEO in question.

Another reputational hit, as an additional person in the video was incorrectly and publicly identified as a colleague of the executives

Imagine being the employee who was incorrectly identified as being at the concert alongside the two executives. People confused a woman captured at the left of the kiss cam footage with another HR person from the same company. How would you like to have been in her shoes, having to endure the initial, inappropriate reputational hit she incurred?

ASSISTANTS’ EARLY REACTIONS

Assistants took to social media with multiple posts and comments on the crisis. Some focused on how the EAs who reported to the two executives must be coping. Others wrote about having been privy to knowledge of colleagues’ inappropriate behaviour, or offered cautions to assistants who may be aware of unethical behaviour (whatever the nature) in their workplaces.

My thoughts went first to the executives’ family members, and then to all their colleagues and the company’s five-member board of directors. We can imagine how hellish the last half of July 2025 has been for anyone directly and adversely impacted by the kiss cam moment.

executive assistants and governance professionals in the hot seat

I have tremendous empathy when it comes to the EAs who support the two executives’ positions, and whomever supports the company’s board. Professionally navigating such a situation requires composure, clear and strategic thinking and more under tremendous strain. 

THE COMPANY’S subsequent PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONs

The company continued to issue crisis-related communications on LinkedIn, Its people made a commitment to providing further details in the days ahead, and we learned the two executives in question were on leave. People following the situation subsequently learned that first the CEO and then the second executive resigned.

“Thank you for your trust. We won’t let you down.”

The board and senior executives continued to take action, and the interim CEO – one of the company’s co-founders – issued a public “Moving Forward” statement on July 21, 2025.  That statement concluded with acknowledgement and appreciation of its employees’ resilience and commitment. The company also thanked its community and customers for their trust, and committed that it won’t let them down.

moving forward with clever irony

As July 2025 drew closer to a close, the company displayed self-awareness and an unexpected budget allocation as it retained Gwyneth Paltrow, who was formerly married to Coldplay’s lead singer, as a “very temporary” spokesperson.

IN THE EYE OF THE STORM

Having been a direct report to four CEOs, and with a decade as a governance professional under my belt, I’ve been in the eye of the storm during more than one crisis. There’s a lot at stake. Even when an organisation’s enterprise risk management (ERP) anticipates black swan events, some organisational crises represent challenges boards and management teams simply didn’t envision.

how equipped are YOU to navigate organisational crises?

Whether or not you support senior executives or a board, it pays to be informed. Business continuity planning (BCP) and crisis management training are typically made available to senior leaders, yet not necessarily extended to assistants.

what do you do when approached by media or the public?

The same goes for media training, and yet media and the public at large may turn to assistants for information in the thick of a crisis. I know, because I’ve been there. As the person responsible for board operations, my name and coordinates were publicly published as the person to contact on matters related to the board.

I’ve handled such approaches without benefit of media training other than the most basic guidance, even though the organisation invested in such training for its board Chairs and presidents.

What do you know

… about risk management, crisis management and crisis communications, and the extent to which assistants may be involved in or support such undertakings?

I did have the benefit of understanding BCP and, to a certain extent, crisis management, because I studied and earned risk management and enterprise risk management (ERM) certifications.

I DELIVER TRAINING THAT HELPS YOU HONE ACUMEN AND PREPARE FOR THE UNEXPECTED

Nothing will fully prepare you for a crisis. That said, the more you understand about business continuity planning, scenario planning and how to deal with calls and queries from media representatives, the better positioned you are to navigate these daunting and stressful situations. 

The better informed you are, the better prepared you are – whether it’s managing questions that may come your way, or working alongside leaders engaged in risk management and crises

That’s why I developed a course dealing with risk management not long after leaving my governance role in 2018. I’ve delivered it to assistants in different countries, drawing on firsthand experience as well as education. Now, I’m in the home stretch of developing a new course for assistants who want to hone acumen in terms of crisis management and communications.

Stay tuned here for word of my upcoming webinar courses on risk management and crisis management and communications, or drop me a note if you’d like to bring this training to your team.