S8E81 Interview with Rob Chesnut, Chief Ethics Officer at Airbnb

Rob Chesnut is the Chief Ethics Officer at Airbnb. He brings a profound array of experience, ranging from his time as an attorney and to working at Ebay. At Ebay, he was the guy who help establish the rules of what you could and couldn't sell (and we talk about that as well!). Not to mention he also has advised for Upwork and Uber.

This interview is unlike any other we've had on Tech Nest. Instead of talking about tech revolution, industry transformation, and disruption, we delve into topics like ethics and culture.

In this interview, we talk through why corporate ethics is so important, how it shapes culture, and even how internal culture helps the external positioning of a company. Rob is the expert on corporate ethics—he's literally written the book on the topic called Intentional Integrity. We even dig into one of Rob's signature programs he's created for building and growing a culture of integrity.

Listen in and then grab a copy of Rob's book for yourself at intentionalintegrity.com.

Rob Chesnut is the Chief Ethics Officer of Airbnb, Inc., a role he took on in late 2019 after almost four years as Airbnb’s General Counsel. Rob is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of Virginia.  He worked for 14 years with the U.S. Justice Department, where he prosecuted bank robberies, kidnappings, murder, and espionage cases, including the prosecution of CIA employee Aldrich Ames. He joined eBay in 1999 as its third lawyer, where he led eBay’s North America legal team and later founded the Internet’s first ecommerce person to person Trust and Safety operation. Rob subsequently spent nearly 6 years as the General Counsel and first attorney at digital education leader Chegg, where he helped take the company public in 2013. He joined Airbnb in 2016, where he grew the legal team from 30 to over 150 legal professionals in 20 offices around the world. His team led initiatives to promote home sharing and address regulatory issues with local governments and landlords around the world. Rob developed a popular interactive employee program, Integrity Belongs Here, to help drive ethics throughout the culture at the company. His book “Intentional Integrity: How Smart Companies Can Lead an Ethical Revolution” is set for publication by St Martin’s Press in the spring of 2020. Rob works with companies to help them develop strategies to drive integrity into their culture. He lives in San Francisco, CA, and can be reached at www.intentionalintegrity.com 

Connect with Rob on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robchesnut
Visit the Intentional Integrity website: https://www.intentionalintegrity.com