If there’s one thing multinational pharmaceutical companies know how to do, it’s innovating at a massive scale. Encouraging employees at all levels to share their ideas is more of a challenge. 

At Johnson & Johnson, the solution didn’t come from the boardroom—it came from a grassroots effort to build a first-of-its-kind TEDx program within the organization. Thanks to volunteers like Penelope Misquitta, J&J employees from Brazil to Japan have the space to speak up and be heard. And a decade on, the program shows no signs of slowing down.

From Chocolate Bar to Changemaker

As AD Head for Safety Data Analytics at Johnson & Johnson, Penelope has plenty on her plate. But just days before the FDA approved J&J’s groundbreaking COVID-19 vaccine, Penelope found time to talk about her passion for TEDx.

“TEDxJNJ is not just an initiative to me. It’s a way of life,” she explained. “If I’m having a bad day, the TEDx community will always lift me up.” 

Penelope was an early member of the group of volunteers that first brought the idea of TEDxJNJ to life in 2011. 

“I was in Singapore when it got started,” Penelope explained, “and a doctor I worked with left a chocolate bar on my desk with a URL on the wrapper that led to a site with information about getting involved. I didn’t know how big the effort was going to get, but I knew there was something there, and I wanted to support it.”

Penelope’s hunch was correct. The group held some small events in late 2011 and early 2012, and then their first global event, held on December 12, 2012, was a big sensation across the company. And for Penelope, it was the first step on a new path.

Taking TEDx Global

A few years volunteering for TEDxJNJ left Penelope hungry for more. She jumped at the chance to join a newly-created J&J leadership program aimed at expanding TEDx around the globe and soon found herself leading efforts in Latin America.

“I knew from the start that there would be barriers with staffing and languages,” she explained. “But I saw it as a blank slate. LATAM only had a handful of volunteers, while the leaders for other regions had 20 or more. But it gave me a chance to bond with them.”

Penelope kicked off her efforts with events in Mexico and Brazil, making sure to learn a few words of Spanish and Portuguese. From there, the project spread like wildfire throughout the region. “We were building with them, not for them,” she said.

For Penelope and her teammates, the success was transformative. A self-described introvert, she said her work in Latin America “gave me the confidence to come out of the shadows and be more vocal at the enterprise level.” That effort was rewarded with an 18-month stint as global curator for the TEDx program.

Under Penelope’s leadership, the TEDx program gained grassroots support around the globe.“I launched an ambassador program, with several people in each region. We had a website, a platform, events that were small and large and multilingual,” she explained. Thanks to a platform J&J built to host videos of the talks and track engagement worldwide, it was easy to watch the momentum build. 

“Before I was the curator, we had a few countries on the map,” Penelope said. “But later, you started seeing all these countries light up: Kazakhstan, Russia, Norway, even small countries in Africa. Even if there weren’t enough people to hold an event in a country, people were watching the events.”

And most importantly, this global spread led to new ideas being implemented inside the company. Teams at J&J explored videogame opportunities for addressing mental health, they explored telemedicine approaches, and employees around the globe were being empowered to solve problems differently on a day-to-day basis.

Breaking Down Silos Organically

Engagement with TEDx gave Johnson & Johnson employees living on opposite sides of the world a common language. And that brought with it a distinct change in culture.

“The second you mention TEDx, people drop their titles,” Penelope explained. “The tone distinctly changes. You check your ego at the door. A good idea can come from anyone, anytime. It inspires people to bring their authentic selves to work.”

That shift in attitudes radically changed how employees engage with the company and with each other.

“It brings together people who would normally not meet because of their job descriptions,” Penelope said. In a highly specialized workforce, she noted, it’s all too easy to fall into silos and miss employees’ full range of talents. “If Thomas Edison worked at J&J, we wouldn’t know where to put him because he was good at too many things,” she laughed. “But it should be a positive when people can think across disciplines to solve problems. You don’t have to be in the same field to solve a problem. Someone from sales might be able to solve a supply chain problem. That’s what attracted me to TEDx.”

And Penelope’s not alone in her assessment. In 2019, Fast Company recognized Johnson & Johnson in its inaugural list of best workplaces for innovators. The rationale? Johnson & Johnson’s unique TEDx program.

Lessons for Community Leaders

Despite Penelope’s day job at the cutting edge of scientific advances, she still makes time to volunteer with TEDxJNJ team and small community TEDx organizers who don’t have the resources to hire speakers. These days, she’s also a key supporter of TEDEd, a new effort to make lessons on a wide range of subjects accessible to children and adults worldwide.

Asked for advice for aspiring community builders, Penelope offered up a simple guiding principle. “Build a community you’d want to be a part of and stay a part of even if you weren’t the one building it,” she said. “And build with people, not for them. The biggest mistake corporations make is trying to build communities for their employees without their input.”

From that lens, she notes, TEDxJNJ is an undisputed success. Though the effort now enjoys significant corporate visibility, it’s maintained its grassroots feel. And as Penelope explains, “the power of the program is the people behind it.”

Share your ideas. Solve problems. Make a difference.

We’re building a community where your voice is heard, solutions are shared, and changemakers around the world can mobilize for change. If you are passionate about change, culture, and innovation, this is the place for you.