Robert Chesnut, Airbnb general counsel. Courtesy photo

Earlier this week, Rob Chesnut announced that he'd wake up the next day "without a full-time 'day job' for the first time since law school."

He had served as Airbnb Inc.'s chief ethics officer and general counsel for more than four years and has held a variety of legal and advisory jobs since he graduated from Harvard Law School in 1984. 

Chesnut, who will continue to serve as an adviser to the San Francisco-based company, added in a LinkedIn post, "It feels great, and I couldn't be more excited about the next chapter of my career—helping companies find purpose and drive #integrity into their culture."

Chesnut, who joined Airbnb in 2016 as general counsel and was named chief ethics officer in October 2019, said in an interview Friday that his departure had "been in the works" since he was still serving as general counsel, a role that Rich Baer filled last year. 

"While I was a general counsel I started thinking about how to address proactively this wave of bad publicity that was hitting companies and leaders all across the world," he said. "MeToo was part of it. Uber certainly got my attention. I started thinking about, 'How can you drive integrity into the culture of a company?'"

So Chesnut wrote a book, "Intentional Integrity," which he now intends to promote, though the coronavirus outbreak has altered his plans for a traditional book tour. 

"With the world changing it's going to be a lot more virtual than I was planning," he said. 

Chesnut noted that he felt comfortable leaving Airbnb because the company is "on a great course" in regard to ethics and its corporate culture. 

"I wanted to get out and influence other companies to do similar sorts of things and focus on integrity the same way," he said. "Companies don't intentionally make efforts to make integrity part of what they do. Compliance is different from ethics and integrity."

Airbnb is having a rough time at the moment, as are other gig economy tech companies, including Uber Technologies Inc., which have implemented austerity measures amid pandemic-induced social distancing. Earlier this month, Airbnb laid off 1,900 employees.

In his LinkedIn post, Chesnut wrote: "I'll miss all of you. As tough as the last few months have been, I know that because of you, Airbnb will be back, stronger than ever."

Airbnb is searching for its next chief ethics officer, according to Chesnut. Though he added that the company is considering appointing "someone who I worked with a lot in legal who is overseeing things" now. 

"I don't know if he will be the full-time person for the long run, but I think that's something that they were really engaged with until the pandemic hit," he added. "That's had a pretty substantial impact on the business side. I know that they're committed to doing it. But with the pandemic now there are some other things that have taken the front seat."

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that Airbnb was searching for a new chief legal officer. The company is searching for a new chief ethics officer.  

Read More: 

Acting With Integrity at Work and in Community During COVID-19: A Q&A With Airbnb Chief Ethics Officer Robert Chesnut

Airbnb Books Rich Baer to Serve as Chief Legal Officer