"Morality", "character", and, worst of all, "virtue", are finger-wagging words out of favour in a less judgmental age.

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But we didn't completely abandon expectations of upright conduct and being a good, honourable person.

Instead, we rebranded them as "company values": the closest thing left to a moral compass in an age when morality is the last dirty word.

How else to explain the recent resignation of Astronomer CEO Andy Byron, caught canoodling on Coldplay's kisscam at their recent Massachusetts gig, with someone most decidedly not his wife, but instead the company's chief people officer?

Byron appears to have lost his job because he failed a character test and brought disrepute to the company, even if his private behaviour had no bearing on his professional output.

Not that any of this can be stated plainly. Instead, the company said on LinkedIn it was "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 and recently, that standard was not met."

In other words, we've evolved beyond passing judgement on people's private lives.

Around here, we don't brand suspected adulterers with a scarlet letter of condemnation. Instead, we opt for bland corporate lingo ("that standard was not met") and move them on.

Or take the

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