A Geek Leader Podcast - inspiring technical and creative leaders around the world AGL 459: Honestly Speaking with Andrew Blotky
About Andrew
Andrew Blotky, JD, PCC, brings a wealth of direct experience in leadership, culture, and communications in the corporate, political, and non-profit worlds. He has successfully built and led organizations during periods of unprecedented growth, change, and impact.
His work focuses on building and maintaining vibrant cultures, steady, effective leadership across functions and teams, and consistent, clear communications on a wide array of issues.
Andrew has always been passionate about leadership, culture and how organizations work, from his first election to student council in 3rd grade. He’s passionate about being an excellent manager, and empowering teams to grow and thrive.
He is the author of the book, Honestly Speaking: How the Way We Communicate Transforms Leadership, Love, and Life.
From 2023 – 2025, Andrew was Vice President of Communications at Johnson & Johnson, overseeing the enterprise employee communications, Human Resources communications, and global shared services communications teams. During his tenure, he significantly transformed the way the company engaged with its 130,000 employees globally across all business units. He also evolved the company narrative externally and internally about the company’s culture and its people practices, from hiring and recruiting to learning, development, and total rewards, in conjunction with the new J&J brand, launched in late 2023.
From 2013 – 2018, Andrew built and led the first global employee communications team to support all company teams and functions at Facebook during a period of significant, rapid growth and global impact, as the company grew from 5,000 to 30,000 employees worldwide.
At Facebook, Andrew was responsible for leading communications with all of the company’s employees and leaders globally on every initiative and program at the company. He focused on maintaining and evolving highly-effective, open communications channels and messages during a period of rapid growth.
Andrew started his career in politics and public policy as an intern in the White House Office of Presidential Speechwriting under President Bill Clinton. Later, he worked as the Communications Director for various elected officials in the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and on the communications and policy team in the San Francisco Mayor’s office.
Before joining Facebook, Andrew spent several years in Washington, DC, where he built and led the first-ever legal policy and communications program, Legal Progress, at the Center for American Progress (CAP), a progressive think-tank and advocacy organization. At CAP, he worked closely with the Obama Administration and progressive advocates in Washington, DC and in states across the country on building education and advocacy campaigns focused the U.S. courts and judges as a political issue.
Andrew was also an adjunct professor at Stanford University for several years, where he developed and taught public policy courses on advocacy and nonprofits in the political process as well as on national security in a changing world.
Andrew is currently an operating advisor for Bessemer Venture Partners. He has previously served on the boards of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy and on the Stanford University Board of Trustees Committee on Academic Policy, Planning and Management.
He holds B.A. and J.D. degrees from Stanford University, and is a member of the California State Bar. He holds an Professional Certified Coach (PCC) Accreditation from the International Coaching Federation and is a Certified Hudson Institute Coach. Andrew is also a graduate of the Modern Elder Academy.
Today We Talked About
- Andrew’s background
- Communication
- Transparency
- Honesty
- Trust
- Invite others to come with you on the journey
- How do you build trust?
- Relativity for long term relationships
- Feelings Wheel
- Create space – silence