This Week’s Top 3
1) CEO of $190 billion chipmaker on the best piece of career advice she ever received
The best piece of career advice she ever received was to “run towards the hardest problems,” said Lisa Su, 55. “That’s where you find the biggest opportunities, where you learn the most, where you set yourself apart, and most importantly, where you grow.”
Difficult challenges are worthwhile because emerging from them is the “most rewarding,” she said.
“Hard problems stretch you, they demand focus, creativity and determination … They give you confidence, they give you growth and they give you impact,” said Su. When you choose the hardest challenges, you choose the fastest path to growth and the greatest chance to make a difference.
Su also recommended looking for challenges that require you to collaborate with like-minded individuals, allowing you to learn from other people’s perspectives and grow your network.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/16/amd-ceo-lisa-su-best-piece-of-career-advice-ive-ever-received.html
2) Ramp raised $500M to build the future of finance
- Ramp is a fast-growing financial technology company founded in 2019 that offers an all-in-one platform combining corporate cards, expense management, bill payments, travel booking, procurement, and treasury services.
- The company helps finance teams automate tedious tasks, save money, and improve accuracy and efficiency.
- Recently, Ramp raised $500 million in a Series E-2 funding round at a $22.5 billion valuation to accelerate AI-driven innovation in finance.
- Ramp has launched autonomous AI agents starting in 2025 that significantly reduce manual reviews, detect policy violations with high accuracy, and handle approvals and compliance automatically.
- The vision is to enable finance teams to shift from manual, sequential processes to parallel automated workflows where AI copilots handle routine tasks and humans focus on high-value decisions.
- Ramp customers have saved millions of dollars and millions of hours, and these agents are expected to increase productivity by up to 30 times by 2027.
- The company’s long-term mission is to enable autonomous finance operations with human oversight by 2028, freeing finance professionals to become strategists rather than clerks.
- Ramp is serving over 40,000 companies and processes over $80 billion in annual purchase volume with a growing product line and deepening AI capabilities.
This marks a major inflection point for finance teams moving from manual to highly automated, AI-powered operations on the Ramp platform. The $500M raise and AI rollout accelerate this transformation.
https://ramp.com/blog/ramp-raised-500m-to-build-the-future-of-finance
3) Accenture changes growth model to reinvent itself for the age of AI
Accenture announced a major restructuring effective September 1, 2025, consolidating its five service lines—Strategy, Consulting, Song, Technology, and Operations—into a single integrated business unit called Reinvention Services. This new unit, led by Manish Sharma (current CEO of the Americas), will accelerate the delivery of AI-enabled solutions and embed data and AI more seamlessly into offerings. The reorganization aims to serve clients and technology partners faster while driving new waves of growth. Along with the structural change, leadership shifts include John Walsh becoming CEO of the Americas and Kate Hogan becoming global COO. Accenture continues to operate across three geographic markets (Americas, EMEA, Asia Pacific) and go to market by industry. The changes reflect Accenture’s strategy to be the top reinvention partner and leader in generative AI-enabled services.
💡 Headhunter’s Lens
Lately, we’ve met many seasoned, capable leaders with impressive track records. Most aren’t actively job hunting, but they’re open to the right opportunity.
Some have been approached by companies or headhunters for roles that seemed ideal on paper: big titles, strong compensation. Still, they walked away.
Why? They aren’t looking for more money or a big title, but a good challenge and an opportunity to make an impact that lasts.
At the IPS-SBF SG60 & Beyond Conference, PM Lawrence Wong said, “Singapore has no choice when it comes to adopting technology, but should try to do so in a meaningful and deliberate manner that creates jobs.”
A CHRO we met this week put it simply: “We need to integrate with the technology first, then redesign the role and train our people to use it—not lay off people first and then figure out how to use technology to fill the gap.”
If we want to be AI-ready, it’s not just about new tools. Each job has to be crafted with purpose, starting at the leadership level.
🚀 Executive Move to Watch
Microsoft hires a high-profile AI executive from Google.
Amar Subramanya, a former Google AI engineer who led the Gemini chatbot project at DeepMind, joined Microsoft as Corporate Vice President of AI. This move is part of a broader trend of Microsoft recruiting DeepMind talent to strengthen its AI leadership.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7353453746091081729/
📬 One to Forward
🎧 Singapore PM Lawrence Wong at the IPS-SBF Conference 2025