Good morning. As AI continues to revolutionize business, companies are fundamentally rethinking their workforce strategies for the decade ahead—and exploring new options.
This topic came up during a panel session at the Fortune Brainstorm AI Singapore conference last week. Jess O’Reilly, Workday’s general manager for the ASEAN business, reflected on how a major Southeast Asian bank is considering a skills-based approach to employment.
“I was in Thailand a couple of weeks ago with a huge bank, and they’re really looking at their 10-year strategy and saying, ‘We don’t even know if our people are going to have a traditional full-time job anymore,’” O’Reilly said. Instead of planning around fixed job roles, the bank is considering pivoting to what it calls a “skills economy.” Here, every project or initiative is treated like a gig assignment—team members are chosen for their specific skill sets relevant to the project at hand.
What’s particularly notable is the bank’s approach to continuous learning and reskilling. O’Reilly explained that there’s always room for someone new to build their skills within these project teams. For example, the bank might set aside 1% of a project team for employees looking to reskill—people who say, “I don’t have these skills yet, but I have experience in adjacent areas and I want to learn.” By doing so, the company ensures that fresh talent is constantly cycling into critical roles.
O’Reilly posed the question: How do we use AI not just for automation, but as the backbone for identifying and matching skills with project needs? She argued that AI can help organizations inventory existing skills, identify opportunities, and make it easier to create space for upskilling and onboarding new talent through gig-style projects.
Perhaps a gig-based workplace would also inject variety into the day-to-day. And many companies are considering moving away from job-centric structures and toward a skills-focused approach, according to Deloitte’s report, “Becoming an AI-enabled, skills-based organization.” The firm finds that companies integrating both AI and skills-based approaches will be better positioned to predict talent gaps, improve talent placement, retain high performers, and reduce mis-hires.
AI and skills-based approaches could also mean that entry-level positions aren’t eliminated by automation—instead, new hires would be selected for specific skill sets that can be expanded and developed.
Skill requirements for jobs are constantly changing, noted Peiying Chua, head economist for APAC at LinkedIn, during the panel session. “For entry-level workers, this presents the opportunity to upskill and work on different sets of abilities—to build human-centric skills, agility, and creativity,” she said.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Leaderboard
William J. Atkins was appointed interim principal financial officer of the casual-dining chain BJ’s Restaurants Inc., effective July 28, according to an SEC filing. Atkins has been a partner in the consulting firm FLG Partners, a consulting firm, since 2023, and since then has served as a consulting CFO or advisor to clients. Before that, Atkins was CFO for software services company Mobileum, and CFO for climate resilience data analytics company One Concern.
Daniel Berenbaum was appointed CFO of Zūm, a student transportation provider. Berenbaum brings three decades of experience in financial management. He was previously CFO at Bloom Energy, NI (National Instruments), and Everspin, and held finance leadership roles at Micron and GlobalFoundries.
Big Deal
In the U.S., which accounted for roughly one-third of all global CFO appointments—the highest share by far—over 90% of hires involved individuals moving to new roles within the same industry.
Most new CFOs were promoted internally (59%), typically advancing from other CFO-titled roles or from VP/senior VP of finance positions. External hires made up 41% of appointments. The average age at appointment was 51, with opportunities peaking in the mid-50s.
Fewer than one-third (29%) of U.S. hires were first-time CFOs, suggesting boards prefer seasoned financial leaders.
While public companies remained influential, the majority of appointments (about 72%) were in private and PE-backed businesses, reinforcing the role of private capital in the CFO landscape.
Overall, the U.S. reflects a mature market where private equity influence, regulatory complexity, and sector-specific growth in health care and technology drive demand for highly experienced, sector-savvy finance leaders, according to the report. The talent pool is deep, competitive, and in high demand. Whether these trends will continue in 2025 remains to be seen.
Going deeper
"U.S. and E.U. reach a trade deal that sets 15% tariff rate and pledges hundreds of billions in investments" is a Fortune report by Jason Ma.
From the report: “The U.S. and European Union agreed on trade terms that include a 15% rate on most E.U. products as well as hundreds of billions of dollars of investments in American industry.
President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met in Scotland on Sunday to iron out the agreement.
Trump said the E.U. will invest $600 billion in the U.S. and buy $750 billion of U.S. energy, with ‘vast amounts’ of American weapons also in the mix. He also said the E.U. will be ‘opening up their countries at zero tariff.’ Von der Leyen said the 15% rate was ‘all inclusive,’ but Trump said later that it didn’t apply to pharmaceuticals and metals, though it does for autos.”
Overheard
"I ask them, what would make them more effective? Which basically is saying, what are your weaknesses? And you’d be amazed at how many people can’t answer that."
—Kelli Valade, CEO of Denny’s Corporation, told Fortune the critical questions she asks job applicants at the end of an interview.
