Cardone Venture's Natalie Dawson On Why She Fired Married Employees Caught Having an Affair: 'They're a Liability'

Natalie Dawson, co-founder and president of Cardone Ventures, sparked fierce debate after publicly defending her decision to immediately fire two employees who were having an affair whilst both were in relationships with other partners outside the company. Speaking on The Diary of a CEO podcast, Dawson said the decision was instantaneous and she has no regrets, despite receiving substantial criticism online.

'As soon as I caught wind of it, it wasn't even like a split second decision', Dawson told host Steven Bartlett. 'I can't have this in my environment, especially somebody close around me'.

When pressed on whether she would fire someone simply for cheating on their partner, Dawson was unequivocal. 'Absolutely. I can't have cheaters. If they're going to cheat on the person they're supposed to spend the rest of their life with, do you think that they're cheating on their work? Do you think that they're going to cheat on our clients?'

'I Can't Have Cheaters'

Dawson, who co-founded the management consulting and private equity firm in 2019 with her husband Brandon Dawson and business guru Grant Cardone, has built her reputation on creating high-performance teams. The 34-year-old, who hosts the Building Billions podcast and authored the bestselling book TeamWork, has scaled Cardone Ventures to $225 million in revenue in just five years. Her approach to company culture is uncompromising, with strict adherence to core values at the centre of her leadership philosophy.

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The admission has divided opinion online, with reactions ranging from praise for maintaining ethical standards to accusations of overreach into employees' private lives. Some commenters on TikTok and LinkedIn supported the decision, arguing that personal ethics reflect professional conduct. Others questioned whether employers have any right to police employees' romantic relationships, particularly when the behaviour occurs outside working hours.

Workplace Ethics or Moral Policing?

The controversy highlights a complex area of workplace ethics. According to research on workplace affairs, around 65 per cent of office workers claim they've had at least one inter-office relationship. Whilst workplace romances can create complications including favouritism, gossip and potential harassment claims, employers generally cannot ban relationships outright without potentially breaching employees' right to privacy.

Terminating employees based solely on personal conduct unrelated to job performance can be legally risky, particularly in jurisdictions with strong employee protections. The Society for Human Resource Management's Code of Ethics emphasises that HR professionals must ensure terminations are based on objective criteria such as documented policy violations rather than personal judgement about employees' private lives.

However, Dawson's position rests on the principle that character matters, regardless of where behaviour occurs. She argues that someone who lacks integrity in their personal life poses a fundamental risk to the business. 'That person in any environment is a liability to the environment. It's a complete liability', she said on the podcast.

Dawson views maintaining a values-driven environment as non-negotiable, even when that means making controversial decisions that draw public criticism. 'I really wrestle with who I need to be and what the boundaries are that I set for myself', she said. 'And one of the things I've gotten so much criticism of online was when I publicly shared a TikTok about firing somebody because I found out that she was cheating on her significant other'.