Good morning. Lila Maclellan here, filling Sheryl today. Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup, is a largely respected leader, but she recently told me about the director general she admires. “Julie is one of the main leaders in the business world, period,” she said about the CEO of Accenture, Julie Sweet. “I mean, there are not many other people who can get closer.”
“She is very clear in her eyes; she is always curious,” also told me Fraser. “I think that is probably what will give it incredible longevity as a leader.”
As I write in a profile that also appears in the last edition of Fortune Magazine, Accenture results support Fraser views. Sweet took control of the technology council giant in 2019, leaving his CEO post from North America to take the local office. Accenture market capitalization increased from $ 90 billion in 2018, the year before Sweet was appointed world CEO to $ 149 billion today. And in 2018, Accenture recorded an annual turnover of $ 41 billion. Last year was $ 65 billion.
Part of this growth can be attributed to the famous Accenture Aggressive Accenture Accent Strategy, which has once earned the company the title of “the most acquisitive company in the world”. Indeed, Sweet first joined Accenture in 2010 as a general councilor and was recruited due to his career as a lawyer who led large and often innovative transactions of mergers and acquisitions.
But the style of leadership of Sweet – in shape by its unique history – also explains its success in the organic growth of the company and the accenture. As I learned, Sweet has managed to stay ahead of several trends, including the migration of the cloud, partly by studying emerging technology, admiring many points of view, then acting quickly when it sees an opportunity. To the point of fraser, the curiosity and the opening of Sweet undoubtedly allowed him to see the rise of the generative AI long before the arrival of Chatgpt. Despite the current opposite winds in his company of federal contractors, analysts say that Sweet has now positioned Accenture to take advantage of an upcoming massive cycle of the adoption of AI while some of the largest companies in the globe are looking for help. Even if a generative AI itself eats part of the request for IT services of Accenture, as an analyst has suggested, companies will continue to come to Accenture for always complicated AI projects.
“We have already managed,” said Sweet, describing the accent put by the company on the AI, “but we double that because we know that the unlocking of customers in difficult times is on the scale of the impact of AI.” Read the full profile here.
Lilas Maclella
lila.maclellan@fortune.com
Classification
Alex Kayyal was appointed financial director of The Trade Desk (NASDAQ: TTD), a global advertising technology company, from August 21. Currently, sitting the Board of Directors of the Trade Desk, Kayyal will direct the company’s financial and long -term investment strategy. Laura Schenkein will go from the CFO after more than a decade in a series of management positions in finance with the company. More recently, Kayyal was a partner of Lightspeed Venture Partners, where he directed the practice of the company’s application software. He also spent nearly a decade at Salesforce in various management positions in the world, notably SVP and director of SALESFORCE Ventures.
Todd Tinelli was appointed vice-director, director and treasurer of Centrus Energy Corp. (NYSE American: Leu), from August 11. Tinelli replaces Kevin Harrill, who resigns to pursue other opportunities after a four -year mandate succeeded as financial director. Harrill will remain in society until August 29. Tinelli has recently been a financial director of Sprague Resources LP, a multinational subsidiary of Hartree Partners LP. During his 18 -year term in Sprague, he progressed in management positions, notably the treasurer and director general of finance, the director of the FP & A and the commercial development and other positions in accounting and finance.
Severe
The World Financial Welfare Report of 2025Published by NUDGE Global, a financial education platform, notes that young generations – in particular 16 to 24 year olds (Gen Z) – are the most proactive to improve their financial health.
While only 69% of generation Z assesses their financial literacy as “good” to “excellent”, 88% actively work to improve it – the highest rate of all age groups. On the other hand, only 71% of adults aged 55 and over (Gen X and baby boomers) do the same, despite more life experience. According to the report, this suggests a generational change in the state of mind, young people showing greater self -awareness and motivation to fill their knowledge gaps.
However, a drop in financial literacy can also contribute to greater emotional volatility around young people. Gen Z reports the highest levels of financial shame (40%), which can reflect the pressures of navigation debt, insecurity of employment and the increase in the cost of living early in life.
In addition, 18% of generation Z say they feel overwhelmed by debt, more than double the rate of 55 years and over (7%).
Go further
“How the formerly iconic Intels fell into a decrease of 20 years” is a Fortune Geoff Colvin report.
According to the report: “Intel’s decline began about twenty years ago, when the company made several acquisitions, many of which were in telecommunications and wireless technology. In the concept, which had a lot of meaning. But the acquisition of companies is a competence at the time, and David Yoffie, a business school teacher from Harvard who was part of the Intel board of directors at the time. Fortune “100% of these acquisitions failed. We spent $ 12 billion and the yield was zero or negative. Intel has also tried in vain to seize the opportunity of the gigantic mobile phone. And over the years, a simple mediocre management has slipped. “”
Read the full report here.
Heard
“The United States needs Intel because Intel is the only American company capable of providing advanced logical manufacturing.”
—Craig Barrett, former CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Intel, written in a new Fortune Opinion article.
