AirAsia‘s CEO Tony Fernandes mentioned he does not remorse posting his shirtless photograph on LinkedIn because the viral put up garnered him quite a lot of publicity.
Fernandes advised CNBC in an article printed on Sunday that he posted the controversial photograph in October as an instance the flexibleness throughout the Malaysian airline’s work tradition.
“Initially I requested whether or not we might delay the assembly in order that I might have a therapeutic massage, I used to be in quite a lot of ache from quite a lot of flying. However the group mentioned, we’re okay, you recognize, nothing to cover. We would relatively not delay it. So I used to be really posting to say, what a tremendous tradition we’ve got,” Fernandes mentioned.
“Do I remorse it? No. Received me quite a lot of publicity,” he added.
The put up, which has since been deleted, confirmed Fernandes getting massaged by an individual in an apron, hairnet, and face masks. Fernandes seemed to be sitting topless in an workplace chair in a convention room.
“Was a annoying week and Veranita Yosephine steered a therapeutic massage,” Fernandes wrote within the put up, referencing AirAsia Indonesia CEO Veranita Yosephine. “Received to like Indonesia and AirAsia tradition that I can have a therapeutic massage and do a administration assembly.”
Tony Fernandes/LinkedIn
Fernandes’ photograph divided customers, with some folks commenting that he was selling a pleasant work tradition whereas others criticized him for being unprofessional. In December, Fernandes made one other controversial put up on Instagram, the place he mentioned that he needed to fly Singapore Airways as AirAsia flights have been full.
Fernandes advised CNBC that he manages his personal social media accounts and posts on-line with out them getting reviewed by his PR group.
“I’m clear, and social media permits me to be very clear. It has a drawback that folks will misrepresent and misunderstand Tony Fernandes the persona,” he mentioned. Fernandes and AirAsia didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from Enterprise Insider.
Fernandes will not be the one CEO who sees the significance of leaders working their very own social media accounts. On the 2023 World Authorities Summit, Elon Musk mentioned CEOs ought to ‘converse authentically’ and write their very own tweets.
