American CEOs are looking to reset workplace culture — emphasizing productivity and speed over flexibility and work-life balance.

Why it matters: This is putting employees on guard, with some feeling like a more hardcore culture is not what they signed up for.

Driving the news: AT&T CEO John Stankey and Cognition CEO Scott Wu made headlines this week for notifying employees that their corporate cultures were changing, and to get on board or exit.

• "If a self-directed, virtual, or hybrid work schedule is essential for you to manage your career aspirations and life challenges, you will have a difficult time aligning your priorities with those of the company and the culture we aim to establish," Stankey wrote in an internal memo obtained by Business Insider.
• Employees at Cognition were told that six days in office and 80-hour workweeks were expected, per The Information. "We don't believe in work-life balance — building the future of software engineering is a mission we all care so deeply about that we couldn't possibly separate the two," Wu wrote.

Between the lines: "To some extent, this tough talk from CEOs is based on an undercurrent of fear," says Glassdoor chief economist Daniel Zhao.

• "I think CEOs are worried about the economy. They're worried about AI coming to eat everybody's lunch. And so why are CEOs pushing so hard to get more efficient, get more productive? It's because they recognize the risk that AI poses to their businesses, and that's why so many of them are pushing so hard in this moment," he added.

The big picture: CEOs across industries are embracing the "Big Boss Era," which has been underscored by mass layoffs, return-to-office mandates or diversity, equity and inclusion walk-backs.

• Plus, macro factors like the softening job market and the threat of AI taking the jobs that are left, have put employees on their back foot.

What they're saying: Deprioritizing employee well-being could backfire and hurt a company's performance or ability to attract talent, says Indeed senior talent strategy adviser Kyle M.K.

• "Although the employees may not be calling the shots like they maybe were back in 2022, they are still obviously a gigantic part of how a business functions and how they perform. And if they don't feel like they're being taken care of, I fear that the business won't be taken care of as a result."

Zoom in: Return to office continues to be one of the biggest sticking points.

• Nearly half of workers say they are unlikely to stay at their job if required to go back into the office full time, according to a recent Pew Research poll.
• If given the choice, a majority (72%) say they'd choose a hybrid arrangement.

Yes, but: If change is coming, then transparency from leadership is expected.

• "Leaders should be upfront about their culture," says Zhao. "If you are going to create a culture that prioritizes grinding over work-life balance, that should be something you make clear to applicants and to your employees."
• "You should expect push back, but I do think it is important for leaders to be transparent about the culture that they're trying to build, especially if that culture is more aggressive than what you might find elsewhere," he added.

Plus, as Seven Letter partner Mike Ricci previously pointed out, there's a case to be made for strategically leaking internal memos about the shifts to more hardcore work cultures because it can send a strong signal to board members, investors or stakeholders in Washington.

What to watch: Most companies are undergoing a major transformation, whether it's related to business operations, trade or AI.

• It's common for company cultures to shift during these moments, changing how they talk about themselves to their key audiences.

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Just four days after demanding Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan resign, President Trump has described a meeting with Tan as "a very interesting one."

Why it matters: The president's resignation call over Tan's alleged Chinese ties had threatened to waylay the chip maker's turnaround effort.

What they're saying: After a meeting Monday at the White House, Trump posted on Truth Social that Tan's "success and rise is an amazing story. Mr. Tan and my Cabinet members are going to spend time together, and bring suggestions to me during the next week."

The bottom line: By moving quickly to engage the White House and to endorse its priorities, Tan has taken a page from Apple CEO Tim Cook and other corporate chieftains on how to best navigate being caught in the Trump spotlight.

💭 Eleanor's thought bubble: As we've pointed out, every company and leader is just one Truth Social post away from being thrown into the political crosshairs. Tan modeled how CEOs can take control of the narrative.

Go deeper: Each month, Axios Communicator Pro members receive a case study ripped from the headlines. This month, we will go deep on the Trump crisis comms playbook. Become a member today!

3 in 4 public relations professionals have incorporated AI into their work, up from 28% in 2023, per a Muck Rack report out today.

Why it matters: AI is supercharging the communications function, which has evolved from straight media relations to a more strategic advisory role.

By the numbers: Muck Rack surveyed 1,089 PR professionals between June 5 and July 16 and found that roughly 6 in 10 say AI will grow in importance over the next five years.

• Other future priorities for communications teams include media relations (35%), strategic planning (33%) and reputation management (29%) followed by influencer marketing and owned content (28%).
• Of note, only 4% cite DEI or ESG communications as a future priority.

State of play: Currently, 84% say media relations is the top job function, however, securing media placements has never been more difficult, per the survey.

• 72% cited low response rates from journalists as a key obstacle to securing media, while 62% pointed to shrinking newsrooms and 48% cited shorter news cycles.

As such, many are turning to owned platforms to generate interest or appeal directly to consumers, investors and employees.

• LinkedIn is the most valuable social platform for PR pros (56%) by a long shot, followed by Instagram (16%) and X (11%).
• Only 2% view TikTok as valuable, and only 1% say Reddit and YouTube is valuable for their PR efforts.

The intrigue: 39% of PR pros say they've stopped using X for professional purposes in the past year, making it the most frequently abandoned platform by a wide margin.

• However, rival platforms like Bluesky and Threads have not replaced it.

What to watch: As communicators rely more heavily on social media platforms, they must also re-evaluate how they are monitoring the conversation and measuring the impact of these efforts.

• A whopping 53% of PR pros say they don't use social listening tools.

In the three years I've spent covering communications, I've noticed a couple of things:

1. This world is small. Everyone knows everyone in comms, and most roads seem to lead back to Outcast, Apple or Salesforce in Silicon Valley and Brunswick, GE or Burson among East Coasters. (Don't come for me! I'm sure there are others too — and if there are share them).
2. Cultivating talent is rare. Executive recruiters tell me they are concerned that younger colleagues aren't gaining the skills needed to step into the top roles, and many comms leaders feel they don't have the bandwidth to mentor like they want to.

🥁 Which is why I'm excited to introduce a new feature highlighting communicators who have built a reputation for mentoring top talent.

Why it matters: The communications function is changing at a rapid pace, and those in the role are expected to serve as key advisers to the business.

• The guidance, experience and exposure that Jane Hynes — vice president of communications at Google Cloud — provides has prepared her mentees for this.

Catch up quick: Hynes started her career in agency, working for Hamilton Ink and Outcast. It was there that she worked with two of her future mentors, Outcast co-founders Caryn Marooney and Margit Wennmachers.

• "I had this experience of working for these powerhouse women, and it gave me the opportunity to see myself in leadership roles and to feel like I had a voice that mattered," Hynes told Axios. "And these are women that weren't afraid to make big decisions or tough calls and weren't afraid to be the only woman in the room. That was just very motivating for me."
• Hynes joined Salesforce in 2003, where she helped grow the comms function and supported the company through its IPO, quickly climbing the ranks to senior vice president, communications.
• In 2017, she joined Google Cloud, where she has scaled the team more than 10x.

Here are key ways Hynes builds talent, according to her mentees:

• Creates opportunities. "She's really good at giving people ownership of things that might feel slightly beyond their comfort zone, allowing them to rise to the occasion," says Cynthia Trejos, senior director of communications at Salesforce. "It's big to have that vote of confidence from a leader like her."
• Plus, "if you lead a project, she'll put you in front of the executives. It doesn't matter if it's [Google Cloud CEO] Thomas Kurian or [Alphabet CEO] Sundar Pichai or whoever else, if you're involved and you're leading, then you're a key part of driving the project forward," Trejos said.
• Doesn't gatekeep. Hynes has a reputation for sharing information and key stakeholder relationships.
• For example, "She would go into a meeting with [Salesforce CEO] Marc Benioff, who was very notorious for coming up with some new strategy or plan on a whim, and she would just write up detailed notes and blast it out to the team," says Ted Ladd, senior director of go-to-market communications at Google. "It was clear she thought it was important to share what she knew with her people."
• "She has an incredible way with transparency. She's the opposite of a gatekeeper and she keeps the ego out of it," says Allie Cefalo, marketing partner at Kleiner Perkins. "Which makes it so much easier to get to a solution quickly."
• Gives credit. Hynes defines her success by her team's success, says Trejos.
• "Part of that is giving people visibility, showcasing their wins and giving them credit publicly, which not every leader does."
• Hynes also credits her agency partners for wins, says Cefalo. "When an internal stakeholder would say, 'thanks for something' or 'how did this get placed?' Jane gave credit to the agency and made sure that the credit was passed back to the people who made it happen."
• Stays close. Once you're in her orbit, Hynes is intentional about maintaining the relationship, says Ladd.

What they're saying: "The only way to scale is to give people the opportunity to do good work. And if you're micromanaging them or trying to control how they are going to get it done, they're not going to be able to bring their full power to bear," Hynes says.

🧠 Best advice from Hynes: "When I left Google, she said, 'Don't forget that your people are your power, and to always take care of your people,'" Trejos said.

Keep reading.

PSA for communicators: This is happening a lot.

"In fact, I actually tried to get my IR group — but they've not yet gotten excited about this idea — to do our earnings call in the form of a podcast. If I ever convince them to do that ... Maybe we'll get you guys to host it."