5 things I learned from engineering an internal comms turnaround during a pandemic

There’s on-the-job learning—and then there’s on-the-job enlightenment.

I’ve held a lot of roles during my career, many of them at Philip Morris International (PMI), but nothing could have prepared me for the challenge of effectively communicating to our 71,000+ employees about our company’s historic transformation.

By the time I took on the role as head of global internal communications​ in late 2019, PMI was already roughly three years into its transformation, having announced in late 2016 that it would build its future on smoke-free products that—while not risk-free—are a far better choice than cigarette smoking. Our bold new mission was a powerful motivator for our organization and employees.