Nicola Green, Chief Communications Officer at Virgin Media O2: Lessons From 18 Years of Breaking the Rules

Episode Guest:

Nicola Green is the Chief Communications and Corporate Affairs Officer at Virgin Media O2, where she leads all internal and external communications, brand PR, and public affairs. With over two decades of experience, she’s a driving force behind major industry campaigns and a passionate advocate for building trust through authentic communication.

Episode Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

0:43 Meet Nicola Green: Role at Virgin Media O2

1:18 Paper rounds and the power of early graft

2:30 Building confidence through work, not textbooks

3:49 The teacher who fuelled Nicola’s drive

5:08 The impact of setbacks and self-belief

6:35 Balancing hard graft and glass-half-full mindset

8:00 Learning from the hard parts of the job

9:42 Internal vs external comms: what Nicola learned

11:01 Helping others see the opportunity

12:31 Why mentors matter (and when to move on)

13:53 The fearlessness of youth vs corporate caution

15:16 The 6-letter hustle that unlocked her career

17:04 Staying curious in the boardroom

19:01 Bringing the customer into every conversation

20:12 18 years at O2: from startup spirit to industry impact

22:41 From iPhone launches to Beyoncé at The O2

24:45 Why you don’t need to know tech to work in telco

26:03 Writing is still a superpower

27:47 How AI helps — and hinders — comms

30:00 AI as a starting point, not a solution

32:58 Daisy AI: Using tech for good

34:00 Will AI replace comms jobs? Nicola’s view

36:16 The three life lessons Nicola lives by

37:30 Why connections are your career currency

38:20 Nicola’s duvet flip: enjoying the work, being a role model

Episode Partners

Hg Foundation

Together with The Hg Foundation, we’re on a mission to motivate and inspire young people like you to explore, or even start a career in technology through inspirational talks from industry.

https://bit.ly/4mwzRGs

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