Jacek Olczak

𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞. 𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧💡 In our latest CEO’s Circle interview, we speak with Frederic de Wilde, CEO International of Philip Morris International, about what more than three decades across global markets have taught him about regulation, consumer behaviour, capital allocation, growth and leadership. One theme runs particularly strongly through the conversation: experience matters, but so does knowing when to challenge it. As Frederic puts it, leaders need to keep “learning, listening and adapting.” A huge thank you to Frederic for taking the time to answer our questions so thoughtfully and for sharing his insights with us. 👉 Read the full interview: https://lnkd.in/e4egHP3M #Deheza #CEOsCircle #Interview #PMI #Leadership

Delighted that IMD has been recognized with a Brandon Hall Silver Award for our Executive Development Program with Philip Morris International This award recognises what can be achieved when two organisations share an ambition to develop #future-ready leaders. The partnership between IMD and PMI created engagement at scale to embed a new cultural DNA, foster a growth mindset and build the AI capabilities leaders need to shape the future. Embedding a new cultural DNA meant translating aspiration into everyday behaviours and creating the conditions for those behaviours to spread across the organisation. Leading in the age of #AI requires more than understanding the technology, it requires leaders who are curious and adaptable, who can rethink how work gets done, and who can bring people with them as AI reshapes organisations and ways of working. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to bringing this program to life in particular, Dominik Chahabadi Misiek Piskorski David Bolton Anne-Catrin Glemser Manjith Manohar Kanyana Powell José Mendez And, of course, to the leaders whose energy and commitment was so fundamental, Jacek Olczak Frederic Patitucci Massimo Andolina Dr. Moira Gilchrist Stacey Kennedy Stefano Volpetti Michael Voegele Michael Kunst Anneleen Waterloos Waynn Wu Bin Li Jo Stephanos Filipe Dahlin #FutureReadyLeadership #AI #GrowthMindset #ExecutiveEducation

This was one of those moments that, without a doubt, left me feeling inspired, energised, and even more excited about the future. Over the past two days in Dubrovnik, during BEYOND: Creating Tomorrow, Today, I had the great opportunity to reconnect with colleagues from the Philip Morris International Global Travel Retail organization. We are a team spread across the world, collaborating across multiple countries and time zones every day. Moments like this are rare. Bringing more than 300 colleagues together under one roof reminded us that while we may work from different locations, we are united by one purpose, one ambition, and one team spirit. A special thank you to Stefano Volpetti, Vassilis Gkatzelis, Christophe Scarton, Ilaria Gregotti, Michele Carville, and Anneleen Waterloos for an inspiring conversation on growth and transformation. Their insights reinforced a powerful belief: transformation doesn't just happen to us. It is something we create through courage, innovation, and a willingness to challenge ourselves every day. For me, BEYOND is more than this year's conference theme. It is a mindset. It is in PMI GTR's DNA. Beyond expectations. Beyond traditional thinking. Beyond business as usual. One thing is clear: our greatest achievements are still ahead of us. In Global Travel Retail, success is not just about reaching the next target. It is about staying curious, embracing change, and constantly challenging ourselves to rethink what is possible. That is how we grow, innovate, and create lasting impact. A big thank you to everyone who helped bring this event to life and create such a memorable experience for all of us: Lucila Wynen, Bernadette Lozada Fondeur, Melany Cristal end the rest of the team.

Imagina un futuro donde los cigarrillos sean vistos como una reliquia del pasado, guardada en la vitrina de un museo. 🏛️ Ese es el objetivo directo que plantea Jacek Olczak, CEO de Philip Morris International. Pero pasar del discurso a la realidad requiere más que buenas intenciones: requiere tecnología, ciencia y un cambio radical de mentalidad. La pregunta ya no es si el cigarrillo va a desaparecer, sino a qué velocidad podemos lograrlo si la regulación y la tecnología trabajan en la misma dirección. 💡 El cambio es posible cuando la innovación reemplaza a la combustión. 👇 ¿Crees que veremos la desaparición de los cigarrillos en esta década? ¡Déjanos tu opinión abajo! #PhilipMorrisEspaña #CadaVezMásCerca

As AI democratizes how people access information, it has also evolved the role of corporate communications.  In my conversation with Business Insider, I shared how Philip Morris International is adapting to this new reality by ensuring accurate, fact-based information is easy to find, both for people and for the AI tools they increasingly rely on.  From strengthening our digital content ecosystem to using audience insights and persona testing to sharpen our storytelling, we are rethinking how we communicate. The result is a more informed, balanced information ecosystem where facts are easier to access, understand, and trust.  Thank you Julia Hood and Erica Iacono for the feature.

Another week, another set of headlines pushing the AI debate towards its furthest extreme. Extraordinary promise dominates one side of the debate, existential risk, the other. Even in the most dramatic scenarios, the deciding factor remains us: the choices we make, the limits we set, and the outcomes we pursue. That is the paradox. AI may be brilliant at generating answers, but we humans are still responsible for what it cannot do well: understanding context, navigating complexity, creating truly new ideas, building trust, and considering the people affected by every decision. Our Cognition Index Research Paper, launched last week with The Wall Street Journal Intelligence, gives us a clearer picture of where that human factor still counts. Across more than 2,500 professionals in five countries, 62% said human intuition should take priority over AI in creative work, and half said human judgment should remain the deciding factor even in data-driven fields. You can see all the findings here: https://lnkd.in/eiJQ-q4S Which leaves us with this: our responsibility is not simply to produce more, or faster. It is to ask better questions, see patterns machines miss, and apply creativity and intuition to challenges that have no obvious answer.

𝟭𝟬 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗠𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 from Jacek Olczak, Philip Morris International CEO, in a fireside chat with Pallav Mittal at the Barclays Back to School Conference The company that raised guidance the same morning it presented — 9 cents on Q3 and FY26, FX — and then talked about the next ten years, not the next quarter. 1/ IQOS: the H1 headwinds are behind it. Japan's excise increase and Poland's flavour ban, both one-offs. In Japan the main players have already filed their H2 price increases, so visibility is good — and pricing now carries more of the heated-tobacco story there than it used to. 2/ Taiwan is the market he is most pleased with. One to keep in mind. 3/ IQOS Iluma in the US: sooner rather than later. Target: 10% of cigarettes plus heated tobacco combined within five years of launch. A big number in a big market. 4/ The next generation of IQOS technology is already being prepared. The leader is not waiting for anyone. 5/ ZYN: US pouches still growing 20%+. PMI is happy to be the premium — and launched Ultra, 20 pouches a can against 15 in the core ZYN, to give more value without touching the price. 6/ Ultra is doing what was expected, but it is early. Twenty-plus new SKUs means distribution takes time and so do consumers. 7/ Combustibles: volumes robust across the board, pricing power intact. Turkey and Vietnam named as the two white spaces still to fill. 8/ Capital allocation: dividend first. A buyback is the next conversation, not the current one — nothing decided. Barclays has leverage at about 2x by year-end, so the conversation is not far away. 9/ The sell side's read: PMI stays the preferred tobacco name — best growth in staples once FX is stripped out, revenue 6-8%, EBIT 8-10%, EPS high-single to low-double digit, and a smoke-free transition far enough along to argue for a re-rating. 10/ Three engines, one company. Heated tobacco with a US launch ahead of it, pouches growing 20%+ with a new value tier, and combustibles still printing volume and price. Very few FMCGs have three growth stories at the same time. PMI has two and a cash story to fund them. Net: this is what portfolio choices made a decade ago look like when they mature. Growth is not a question of fuel here; it is a question of which door opens next — and the US door is the big one. Exciting times #cpg #fmcg

From Ginza to the world. Earlier this month, we opened the first Global IQOS Flagship in Ginza, Tokyo, one of the world's most iconic retail districts. More than a store opening, this is a milestone marking the next chapter of our smoke-free transformation. Japan is where IQOS was first launched in 2014. In just a decade, smoking prevalence in the country has fallen by half, with more than 10 million legal-age smokers choosing smoke-free products. What began in Japan inspired a global movement. Our smoke-free products are now available in 109 markets and used by more than 43 million adult consumers worldwide. That first decade was about pioneering a new category and proving it could scale. The next chapter is about accelerating it through consumer-centric innovation, elevated brand experiences, and a portfolio of scientifically substantiated smoke-free products across categories to ultimately replace cigarettes. Innovation is not built in laboratories alone. It is inspired by adult consumers; and Japanese consumers are among the most sophisticated in the world. Their expectations of quality, design and exceptional service continue to challenge and inspire us. Our new flagship was built in this spirit, bringing together the IQOS brand with Japanese culture, art and design. A heartfelt thank you to our team for bringing this vision to life, and to our business partners for their trust and commitment throughout this journey. A new chapter starts here. From Ginza to the world. Philip Morris International Jacek Olczak, Massimo Andolina, Stefano Volpetti, Kostas Salvaras, Shea Lih Goh, Ajay Asrani, Daniel Cuevas, Oggie Kapetanovic, Christophe Scarton, Marco Rotondo, Louis Grieco, Elvira Lianita, Kenichi Kobayashi, Herman Cheung, Cecilia Siu, Blaine Dodds, Winnie Tan #SmokeFreeFuture