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Lessons learned on my journey—from MBA grad to the least experienced person in the boardroom

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Across college campuses, business school students are gearing up for graduation—excited, uncertain, and determined to make their mark. To the class of 2025, I offer my best wishes—and some hard-earned lessons on navigating the road ahead.

First, know this: The business and tech world needs you. Every new generation brings fresh thinking, and today’s graduates are more prepared than ever for our fast-moving, data-driven economy. As AI and digital transformation continue to reshape industries, business leaders like me are eager to tap into your energy and ideas.

I was recently back at my alma mater, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, talking with MBA students about their transition into the workforce. One key takeaway I shared: Be ready for disruption.

When I was in their shoes 25 years ago, “digital transformation” wasn’t even in our vocabulary. Today, we live it every day. Generative AI is accelerating change across industries, making adaptability and soft skills—communication, collaboration, and the ability to learn on the fly—more critical than ever. Some of my most valuable lessons at Kellogg weren’t about business strategy or operations but about developing this kind of flexible mindset. If I could do it all over again, I’d seek out even more experiences that push me beyond the classroom, because those are the ones that truly shape your growth.

The least qualified person in the room

As you move up in your career, your area of expertise becomes just one part of the equation. People skills take center stage. Having recently marked five years as CEO of Informatica, I can tell you that much of my job isn’t about technology—it’s about people.

I’ll never forget my first leadership team meeting as CEO. Looking around the room, I realized I was the least experienced person there. My executives had spent years mastering their domains—far longer than I had been CEO. That moment reinforced something I had learned throughout my career: Success isn’t about knowing everything. It’s about surrounding yourself with great people, trusting their expertise, and building strong relationships.

This lesson applies at every level, from interns to chief experience officers. Early in my career, I leaned on mentors and colleagues for guidance. Now, as CEO, I do the same. No one succeeds alone.

Embracing change and iterating your career

The tech industry has always been fast paced, but with AI and automation redefining roles across fields, today’s graduates may face even greater uncertainty. My advice? Don’t fear change—embrace it. Disruption creates opportunities to innovate, learn, and add value in unexpected ways.

That mindset shaped my own career, which evolved in three major phases: engineering, product management, and ultimately leading a global tech company with over 5,000 employees. I couldn’t have predicted every step, but I stayed adaptable and open to new challenges. Some transitions required me to rethink traditional business models, but in every case, I focused on the future rather than clinging to the past.

Everyone’s journey looks different. Some graduates will join startups, others will work for Fortune 1000 companies. Some will change careers entirely or take time off to raise families before returning to the workforce. There’s no single route to success, and that’s a good thing.

Career paths aren’t always linear or easy. Some MBA grads today are struggling to find jobs. But setbacks are temporary. If you anticipate change and build the skills to navigate it, nothing will stop you from reaching your full potential.

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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In wake of tragedies, BofA tasks senior execs with overseeing junior banker workload

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Bank of America, which has come under scrutiny for its treatment of junior bankers, is changing who is overseeing the workloads of its young executives. The bank is now having senior bankers—those who hold a title of director or above—monitor the nature and volume of assignments piled on lower level staff who, in an industry famous for grueling hours, often work well into the night to complete deals. 

Bank of America’s efforts come after a series of tragedies involving young people that have shaken the investment banking sector. In January, Carter Anthony McIntosh, a 28-year-old investment banking associate at Jefferies, passed away from a suspected drug overdose. McIntoch was working as much as 100 hours a week, the New York Post reported. Leo Lukenas, a BofA junior banker, died in May from a blood clot. Lukenas had worked 100-plus hour weeks before his passing. BofA in 2014 instituted policies to limit young banker hours, the junior execs were often pressured into lying about their workloads, the WSJ has reported.

To carry out its oversight program, BofA has long relied on what it calls a chief resource officer model. Under this model, BofA used mid-level executives, on one-year rotations, to allocate work to junior investment bankers, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

BofA has opted to shake up the model as it seeks to build the next generation of leaders, a person familiar with the situation said. The investment bank will now rely on senior bankers, working in permanent, full-time positions across sectors and regions, who will supervise young banker development as their CROs. 

Bank of America  is picking volunteers or assigning the role to the senior bankers, who are no longer dealmakers, the person said. BofA is seeking executives who have a very strong leadership quality, have managed teams and feel strongly about the evolution of junior bankers, they said.

“We want all of our junior bankers to have the best experience possible, learning from the teammates they work with and further benefiting from the career growth and development this role brings,” according to a BofA statement.  

BofA Securities, the investment banking division of Bank of America, employs thousands of bankers. It’s unclear how many are junior bankers. Young executives typically spend several years as a junior banker, including two as an analyst and two to three years as an associate, before they move up to vice president. At that point they usually work on a sector team, like consumer or technology or industrials.

BofA also cut roughly 150 junior investment banking roles, the person. The majority of people that were reduced were “mapped to new roles” outside of investment banking like financial analysis or strategic planning, the person said. “They were given the opportunity to move somewhere else,” they said.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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Four teens charged for alleged pistol-whipping, attempted Bitcoin robbery of OnlyFans influencer

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Four teenagers in Houston, Texas, were charged Thursday for assaulting and trying to steal Bitcoin and Ethereum from an OnlyFans influencer in early March. Kaitlyn Siragusa, known online as “Amouranth,” was sleeping in her home in northwest Houston when three men broke into her room and demanded cryptocurrency, reported FOX 26. Siragusa had previously posted on social media a screenshot of her more than $20 million in cryptocurrency balances, according to the New York Post.

The three men allegedly pistol-whipped the OnlyFans influencer three times before Siragusa’s husband fired shots at the suspects, who then fled Siragusa’s home, according to FOX. The Harris County District Clerk’s Office identified the three men on Friday as Demarcus Morris Jr., 17; Dylan Nesho Campbell, 18; and Bryan Anthony Salazar Guerrero, 19. Officials also identified a 16-year-old as a suspect.

“They brought duct tape and masks and were armed with handguns,” Siragusa posted on X.

The assault and attempted robbery is just one of a series of recent attacks on individuals with known crypto holdings. 

In late January, French police leapt into action after a group of criminals kidnapped David Balland, cofounder of the crypto hardware developer Ledger, and his wife, demanding a ransom in Bitcoin. French authorities, however, tracked down the kidnappers and rescued the couple. Balland’s wife was found unharmed but the Ledger cofounder had his finger severed in the ordeal. The Paris prosecutor’s office said that police had arrested 10 individuals alleged to be part of the kidnapping.

And in February, six men were accused in a Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit of kidnapping three family members and a nanny from a Chicago townhouse, according to the Chicago Tribune. The criminals released the victims after they forced the family to hand over more than $15 million in cryptocurrency. 

Crypto executives and wealthy crypto owners are taking notice. Some are hiring bodyguards to protect themselves from would-be attackers, according to WIRED. And others are buying up “wrench-attack” insurance, or policies designed to insure individuals if they’re the victims of a physical-force crypto robbery.

“In general the best things Bitcoiners can do to stay safe is to remain private,” Jameson Lopp, a famous early Bitcoiner, told Fortune. “The goal should be to avoid becoming a target,” he said. “Don’t go around telling anyone about your Bitcoin holdings. Don’t flaunt your wealth online or in meatspace. Don’t engage in risk activities such as high-value face-to-face trades.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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A French politician wants the U.S. to return the Statue of Liberty after 140 years. But it can’t actually do that

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Hey, America: Give the Statue of Liberty back to France.

So says a French politician who is making headlines in his country for suggesting that the U.S. is no longer worthy of the monument that was a gift from France nearly 140 years ago.

As a member of the European Parliament and co-president of a small left-wing party in France, Raphaël Glucksmann cannot claim to speak for all of his compatriots.

But his assertion in a speech this weekend that some Americans “have chosen to switch to the side of the tyrants” reflects the broad shockwaves that U.S. President Donald Trump’s seismic shifts in foreign and domestic policy are triggering in France and elsewhere in Europe.

“Give us back the Statue of Liberty,” Glucksmann said, speaking Sunday to supporters of his Public Place party, who applauded and whistled.

“It was our gift to you. But apparently you despise her. So she will be happy here with us,” Glucksmann said.

The White House brushed back on the comments Monday, saying France instead should still be “grateful” for U.S. support during World War I and World War II.

Can France claim it back?

Dream on.

UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural arm that has the statue on its list of World Heritage treasures, notes that the iconic monument is U.S. government property.

It was initially envisaged as a monumental gesture of French-American friendship to mark the 100th anniversary of the July 4, 1776, Declaration of Independence.

But a war that erupted in 1870 between France and German states led by Prussia diverted the energies of the monument’s designer, French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi.

The gift also took time to be funded, with a decision taken that the French would pay for the statue and Americans would cover the costs of its pedestal.

Transported in 350 pieces from France, the statue was officially unveiled Oct. 28, 1886.

Is France’s government offering asylum to Lady Liberty?

No. French-U.S. relations would have to drop off a cliff before Glucksmann found support from French President Emmanuel Macron’s government.

For the moment, the French president is treading a fine line — trying to work with Trump and temper some of his policy shifts on the one hand but also pushing back hard against some White House decisions, notably Trump’s tariff hikes.

Macron has let his prime minister, François Bayrou, play the role of being a more critical voice. Bayrou tore into the “brutality” that was shown to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his White House visit and suggested that Trump’s administration risked handing victory to Russia when it paused military aid to Ukraine.

Glucksmann’s party has been even more critical, posting accusations on its website that Trump is wielding power in an “authoritarian” manner and is “preparing to deliver Ukraine on a silver platter” to Russia.

In his speech, Glucksmann referenced New York poet Emma Lazarus’ words about the statue, the “mighty woman with a torch” who promised a home for the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

“Today, this land is ceasing to be what it was,” Glucksmann said.

What is the White House saying?

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked Monday about Glucksmann’s comments, and responded that the U.S. would “absolutely not” be parting with the iconic statue.

“My advice to that unnamed low-level French politician would be to remind them that it’s only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now,” Leavitt said, apparently referencing the U.S. fight with allied powers to free France from Nazi occupation in World War II and alongside France during World War I. “They should be very grateful.”

But the debt of gratitude runs both ways. Leavitt skipped past France’s key role in supporting the future United States during its war for independence from the United Kingdom.

Leavitt is one of three administration officials who face a lawsuit from The Associated Press on First- and Fifth-Amendment grounds. The AP says the three are punishing the news agency for editorial decisions they oppose. The White House says the AP is not following an executive order to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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