The New Rules of Leadership in 2026 (and What You Must Stop Tolerating)
In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, we sit down with Frederic Patitucci, Chief People & Culture Officer at Philip Morris International, reveals the inside story of PMI’s decade-long transformation, from a traditional tobacco company to a science-driven, smoke-free business.
Frédéric explains how PMI rebuilt its business model, operating model, and culture while navigating one of the most ambitious shifts in corporate history. He shares how the company co-created its cultural framework, PMI DNA, with more than 350 employees across backgrounds, levels, and regions, ensuring it wasn’t a top-down exercise but a true grassroots movement.
From redefining values like We Care, Better Together, and Game Changers, to enforcing “license to operate” behavioral expectations, Frédéric shows how culture became PMI’s ultimate accelerator for radical change, responsible AI adoption, and leadership accountability.
🎓 In this episode, Frédéric discusses:
Why defining undesirable behaviors was essential
The creation of PMI DNA, co-built with 350+ employees
The “license to operate” and how culture drives accountability
How PMI uses culture as a first line of defense for responsible AI scaling
How PMI redesigned its culture during a massive business transformation
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Chris Rainey 0:13
Frederick, how you doing? My friend, really good. What about you? Chris person, now, oh, good.
Frederic Patitucci 0:17
Five days. That's five days, yeah, how you been? I miss you. We're pretty good. I
Chris Rainey 0:22
missed you too. I was like, I wasn't gonna come, but I was told that you were here. So I
Frederic Patitucci 0:28
was like, Oh, you are too kind. I'm sure.
Chris Rainey 0:33
How was your session? You did a session around from bold vision to future driven growth. Yeah?
Frederic Patitucci 0:39
Indeed. Talk a bit more about that. Yeah, it was about explaining the transformation we have been going through over the last 10 years, starting from the statement of our CEO back then in 2016 when he stated that we will stop selling cigarettes over time, and how we got there by changing the business model, the operating model, the ways of working, bringing new skills on board. And while doing that, the culture took a bit of a setback, because it was on the priority back then, you cannot change everything in one go. And the idea was to share how we brought back culture within the organization by involving people on the way. We wanted that to be set up. So it went pretty well, put energy in the room.
Chris Rainey 1:19
And on that journey is when you've been on this journey with the PMI DNA. All right, can you talk a bit more about that?
Frederic Patitucci 1:26
Yeah, PMI DNA is just a codification of what our culture has been over the last decades, and because the fact that the operating model has had a big influence on the way the job gets done at PMI, I not being vertically driven, but working through project based organization much more horizontally. We had to reset a bit some key values, for example, the collaboration that was needed, not only because we wanted to be kind to each other, but it was a business imperative. We had to ensure that people were self aware, with on strength and weaknesses, and demystifying that the superhero doesn't exist anymore, and going to the C suite, acknowledging that we have few flows, was actually encouraged, which 15 years ago, was almost unheard of, and that went live pretty good thanks to the employees voice in the company. We co created a culture by involving roughly 350 people from different backgrounds, ethnicity, religion, tenure, seniority that help us to codify, really, what the value stands for and which behaviors we were putting behind the three key values. We care. We are Better Together, and we're game changers. Yeah. So all these values were then embedded into the employee life cycle, from pre hiring to retiring, and it became the license to operate in the company, making sure that everybody knows what they have to improve. And similarly, while we explain what good looks like, we wanted people to understand what bad may look like. We call that the indesirable behaviors. We have none of them, and that time, why
Chris Rainey 3:05
is it important? Why was it important for you and the team to label
Frederic Patitucci 3:09
that? Because it was company zone, yeah, because we because life is not Everyday Rosy, right? So we cannot pretend that everything will go well, and we just need to define the framework within people can play, and as soon as they crawl the framework, they are upside. I'm a big fan football team player. Upside is not visible in the organization. We call that the rule of the house. Call that the license to operate. And we have few people that went a bit off track, being bullish, taking ownership on stuff. They didn't do it, blaming others for mistake they did, and that is yellow cards. And that time, it became red card, meaning people were, yeah, on the bench, actually, outside of the company. Yeah, don't get me wrong. The idea is not to be on a witch hunt, just to set the tone of what is acceptable what is not. There is no negotiable on how you behave on your lead in the company.
Chris Rainey 4:01
So I suppose it's like radical transparency, radical candor, because there's no confusion for someone say, Oh, I didn't know, all right, or even super transparent, all right.
Frederic Patitucci 4:13
The CEO. Call that the rule of the house. I call that the license to operate so people, every, every, everyone knows where they can start and where they have to stop, and if people are irresponsible to go beyond the boundaries, they expose themselves, yeah, with the consequences. Now it's not about firing, it's counseling, is coaching, but there are mistakes that that are not acceptable in the company, there is a second
Chris Rainey 4:41
chance. Yeah, how do you ensure that these values and the culture does not just it's not just a poster on the wall, but shows up in the work
Frederic Patitucci 4:50
itself? Very good question. I had that question at the beginning when we started engaging with our employees, they were telling me we used to have the energies. It was kind of business values. What was that? What you are coming with will be sustainable? I think that the answer would have been different if I would have come with corporate values top down. The fun of the matter, we came with the idea to codify the company culture, but it was a bottom up exercise. When you look at these values and behaviors, these are values that you can apply with your family, neighbor, friends, colleagues, peers, teams, bosses, and they actually became a grassroots movement in the company. So I don't need my team doesn't need to push anymore. It became like the currency on how we behave in the company, up to the board room up to the C suite, and we had to start reviews and other reviews over the last two weeks, or be budget cycle. Soon, the values that as they exist at PMI became the point of reference to describe how people work among each other. And future will tell me if I was wrong or right, but I'm very confident these values will stay over time, because they are universal values, universal values, agnostic of time,
Chris Rainey 6:12
yeah, or technology or
Frederic Patitucci 6:15
technology, yeah, and you're right, because when we go with AI, I think that the job that was done two years ago is what I call the line of defense to deploy at scale responsible and ethic AI. People know exactly what you can do. Can't do an AI around the framework defined by the BMI DNA, yeah, we have been working any hand with it and the Chief Technology Officer, and this is a beautiful framework to start scaling at scaling AI in the company, yeah. I think it's
Chris Rainey 6:44
boring, right? Because it gives you, like, a solid foundation and something to operate from, yeah. And then you can say, if this isn't aligned with this, the answer is no, correct. It's very simple, like angle like, because otherwise you could just be this new, shiny directions and objects to go. If this is not aligned, correct? It's very easy to get caught up in the noise. All right, got the deal, the
Frederic Patitucci 7:05
contract? Yeah, the license operates, which I like the word quite a lot. And that time, even if we believe that we're gonna get great outcome, but if it doesn't fit with the intrinsic value of the company,
Chris Rainey 7:18
yeah, back. Put on both. And I think we spoke about this in our last conversation. How have you transformed your own team to be prepared for this? I'd say New World, or what we're already in it right now, so to ensure that your team are have the right skills and competencies to lead this transformation,
Frederic Patitucci 7:38
because you mean on the cultural elements or
Chris Rainey 7:40
technology element? Yeah, because HR is really leading the way, yeah, in a lot of it. So both and they're both just as important.
Frederic Patitucci 7:48
Well, I'll give you a rather straight answer. I think that's within my exec team. If people don't understand the need to embrace AI or tech, rather soon, they won't deserve the seat of the table, right? So what we're trying to do with the growth mindset across the company is to instill these learning curiosity, ability to challenge status quo. Don't take as granted when management is coming with upskill people, risk skill people, and I expect my leadership team to embrace that at the get go. Otherwise, who are we to walk the talk? Right? So it's not credible, yeah, so we came with a bit of a drum beat on AI, and we have a plan for the next three years. Technology will help us to go faster or to slow us down, but we have this drum bit every month where I take my head of AI for HR in charge of global processes, to put gentle pressure on all of us sitting with me to see where we stand, versus the commitment we took with the C suite and the board, and that is helping us to send Our toes and to revisit the plan, adjust the plan, scale up the plans, cut down the plan, depending on what is available from a tech standpoint, and depending as well, if the global processes are streamline enough to allow AI to penetrate. So yeah, it's not the one off. It's a gymnastic that we need to exercise day in day out.
Chris Rainey 9:17
But listen, I appreciate you coming on. Thank you for your time. Thank you.
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Frédéric Patitucci, Chief People & Culture Officer at Philip Morris International.