Pfizer CEO says he used ‘emotional blackmail’ to get employees to achieve impossible goals during COVID-19

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla says he used extreme team-motivating tactics to meet seemingly impossible deadlines during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In a conversation with Fortune Editor in Chief Alyson Shontell on the Titans and Disruptors of Industry podcast, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla admitted to using what he called “emotional blackmail” in order to create and deliver vaccines faster. 

Specifically, his team was tasked with creating a vaccine to combat the new illness from scratch.