This year's Fortune 500 marks the 61st running of the list. Wal-Mart claims the top spot again. See who made the list.

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Wal-Mart stayed on top as its sales crept closer to half-a-trillion dollars. Apple moved into the top five. And UnitedHealth Group continued its steady climb. 

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The world of sports—and how athletes and platforms connect with fans—is transforming fast. In this session, hear from Chess.com Cofounder Daniel Rensch and NFL icon-turned-tech investor Larry Fitzgerald Jr. as they dissect how AI is reshaping the game of chess, the enduring power of strategic thinking, and what it all means for the future of competition. Larry Fitzgerald Jr., Former NFL Wide Receiver, Arizona Cardinals; Investor, Chess.com Daniel Rensch, Cofounder and Chief Chess Officer, Chess.com

Larry Fitzgerald Jr.
President, Larry Fitzgerald Enterprises; Investor, Chess.com 

Danny Rensch
Cofounder and Chief Chess Officer, Chess.com 

Kristin Stoller
Editorial Director, Fortune Live Media

The Next Move: AI, Strategy, and The Future of Play

Conferences

At the Fuel Up with Fortune event in Cannes, Washington Commanders defensive tackle Efe Obada shares how he overcame imposter syndrome after surviving trafficking, homelessness, and life as an undocumented immigrant.

Champion Mindset

Washington Commanders defensive tackle Efe Obada

you know, she alluded to the journey you've been on, and I couldn't even do it justice by trying to explain it, so I'm going to leave it to you and to give us a snapshot of the, I would say a million to 1, it's probably not even a million to 1 from the journey you've been on to where you are now as an NFL star. Tell us briefly about That journey and what you what you've been through to get where you are. I'm so nervous, but. But um thank you all for having me, and it's a pleasure to be here. Um, my name is EL Para. I am a defensive end. I've just finished my 3rd season with the Washington Commanders and um I've been in commander fans over here, um, and I've been in the NFL for the past 10 years. Um, as you can tell by my accent, I'm, I'm English, but I was born in Nigeria and um I think at the age of 5, we emigrated to Holland to meet my mom. And myself and my sister, she has learning difficulties and in that situation it was very hard for a single mom to, you know, look after her and myself and just at the time there just wasn't a lot of facilities and infrastructure to support her needs. So the plan was for us to, you know, move to England and for a better life as you do, um, but things didn't work out. I was, I was left homeless, myself and my sister at the age of 10, and foster care came into. Came into the play, so I grew up in foster care. I bounced from home to home. I've lived with probably more than 10 different families. Um, and because of the way that we were, um, we emigrated to the UK, I was trafficked. um, I was undocumented, um, so I think one time, but I did go to school because it was free and it's, you know, it's Europe, yeah, thankful. Um, but there was a scene and I couldn't go to university, I couldn't work, um. I couldn't do anything really. I couldn't progress my life, um, you know, when and where I grew up, I grew up in South London in a city. um, it was very easy access to certain things in a certain lifestyle, um, and I got caught up in that unfortunately, but it wasn't a means of, it wasn't, uh, because that's who I was and that's my personality. It was just a means of providing and surviving and making sure that my sister had, you know, necessities and needs, you know, as a woman and, and, um, and someone I care and I love I love and just. Um, but I got in trouble, not proud of it. Um, had to sit down for a year, and, um, but it, you know, it took time to reflect, um, and then when I came, when I got back into life, um, I found American football. I met one of my friends and he was, when I met him, he was very skinny, you know, when I saw him and he was huge and You know, so I thought, you know, and where I come from, if, if you, if you're big, you've obviously, you know, done some time and then, you know. So I was like, oh, when did you come out and he's like, no. So he was like, no, um, I play American football. Why don't you come in and try it out? And I had nothing to do at the time I was working in a warehouse, you know, because that's the only job I could get as an undocumented person. It was cash in hand and all those things, um, so I took, took a day off, went to practice, and it was, it was strange. It was like in the, in the blocks in the hood and you know, I saw a group of men wearing pads and helmets and things like that, and I've never seen anything like that. Um, I tried it out. I felt a sense of community and brotherhood immediately because when I hit someone, I thought I did something wrong, but then everybody cheered. They were like, oh I was like, oh yeah, like, do it again. I was like, OK, it. So, um, you know, so and but for me because of where my life was at the time, it was an amazing outlet. It was an amazing part to be a part of a brotherhood and a community like I said, and it gave me that um it was a pay to play league. I had to pay to play, but at the time, you know, it was fun. Um, there was a coach at the time, he was doing an internship at the Dallas Cowboys and, um, with the expansion of the NFL playing in different countries in 2015, Dallas came over to London. And he saw my high my potential and I guess my anger issues and And he spoke to the defensive coordinator at the time and said, Hey, I've got this kid, you know, just to take a look at him if anything happens, you know, whatever. So he phoned me up and said hey, come after practice. I went down there, um, he said, run as fast as you can hit, do everything as fast and as violent as you can, and that's what I did. I didn't have any. Um, you know, we facilities or anything like that. I literally ran in my boxes and hit bags in my boxes and all that stuff and went back to work for nothing of it. The following year, the Dallas Cowboys gave me a call and said they want to sign me to their team and um but then I was like, yeah. But, but then I was like, yeah, that's all great, but I don't have a passport. How the hell am I gonna play in America, you know, but they were able to help me and um, you know, I was able to get documents and uh went out there. I still wasn't as smooth, still had my nose, all my mistakes. I was making the NFL, um, I got released like so many times, but I just kept going. I knew that this was my golden ticket and this is my opportunity to changed my life. And um the average lifespan of an NFL player is 2 to 3 years if you're lucky, and I've been playing for 10 years. So. So as I said, I don't think a million to 1 does it justice really that is so extraordinary and you touched on it yourself, you know, you said there's a certain lifestyle, you know, where you were in South London that you know, a lot of people get suckered into. We've all seen it on news or TV shows or everything. And it makes a lot of sense for the for the people in that environment, right? It, it's not an easy thing to break away from. And you said there was something in you that wasn't. That wasn't about that life, right, so What were your mindsets, and what were the, what were the core mindsets that you were using and the habits that helped you keep going and break out of that and make you think that it's not impossible to break out of that? Um, so I, I believe that we're products of our environment, right, and you know my environment hardened me, you know, I was always in fight or flight mode. I needed to survive. I had someone that. Um, depended on me, which was my sister and I needed to provide for, so everything that I do all the decisions I made with the limited opportunities that I had was for that simple goal just to make sure food was on the table, that she had clothes, that she had sanitary, that she was safe, that she was protected and whatever I needed to do. In order to become that person and, and to, to produce results. I, I did, you know, um, conventionally, if I had means or if I had a passport, if I had, you know, documentation, I would have went a different route. If I was in a different situation, if I had the support and leadership of parents and and and people that cared or mentored me, I would have went a different route, but my, my role models were, you know, unfortunately drug dealers and kept murderers, and that was what I was around. Um, so I, I had to make the most of the means, um, but the mindset was also because I had, I had someone I cared for, I can, and I needed to provide for. It was. It was just survival mode, you know, I just needed to survive. I needed to make sure that. You know, I knew that no one was coming to save me, and that, that mindset allowed me to just make sure that I needed to do what I needed to do in order to survive and provide. Was, was there a specific moment where you thought, where you actively chose to break out of that survival mode and thought, right, I'm I'm gonna focus on, on my growth here, on, on, on my journey and the way I want it to be? Uh Um You can tell I don't, I don't know, it's a great question, but I don't think I haven't experienced what I've experienced, haven't come from where I come from, haven't seen what I've seen that that. Ever goes away, I think growth naturally happens as you age and as you become, you come in different environments and you try new things, but that level of survival, it it never goes away. I know, I don't have a safety net. I am the safety net for a lot of people. I have the safety net for my family, and if I don't wake up and if I don't do what I need to do and be where I need to be and, you know, and make those changes and grow within myself, like everything around me crumbles, you know, and ultimately no one's gonna come and save me. So. Um, that level of survival isn't, and at the same time, it, you know, I love it because it's who's made, what's what made me who I am today. I don't think it, I'm not trying to get rid of that, no. I don't, I don't want to get complacent, yeah, it's still the main driver for you. OK, now, obviously, you know, careers in sports that they're built on a lot of nos, even, you know, this journey that you've had, you must have had. An amount of rejection or amount of nos, like, how do you deal with that and how does that drive you forward? Because we all get nos in our careers, whatever they are. How do you drive yourself forward from from those nos and those setbacks? You face a lot worse, obviously than someone saying, you're not going to play this weekend, you know, you're right. Like at every, at every stage of my life I've experienced knows whether it's, you know, foster carers saying, no, I don't want you to live in my house and packing my stuff and leaving, whereas the UK government saying that we, you know, here's a deportation order and trying to kick me out, you know, um, whether it's McDonald's trying to apply for McDonald's, and they say that they don't want, they don't want me because I'm undocumented, and I'm like, wait, like, I'm not gonna flip a burger, come on. You know, um, yeah, or even in the NFL where coaches have said to my face, like, you know, you will never play it down a sport. Um, I just, I just see it as it's then no isn't my reality. I don't internalize it, you know, um, I just see it as maybe no, not today, or no, not right now, but ultimately I've had to, you know, not take it personal, and I've had to go away and do the work and turn myself into someone that they would say yes to and. I think at this point in my life I'm not really receiving a lot of those. Good, thank you. I think, you know, a lot of people struggle with that, you know, a lot of people, we all face knows and it's kind of easy to kind of go into your shell a bit and like what what would you say to those people who are struggling to get back out there and you know, for them to realize that a no is not a no forever, it's just, you know, no for now. Um, I think what I would say is don't take it personal, you know, and that no isn't your reality. It's, it's, it's not personal and sometimes that no is a delay and you need to do the work, you need to look internally, you need to, you need, and he needs to prepare you for me when I started playing, I made all like so people had was playing the sport from the age of 5 and. You know, they had years of preparation of knowing who they were, knowing what type of player they were, knowing what type of brand they wanted to put out there. I started playing the game at 21 and in at 22 I was in the NFL making all my mistakes, um, learning how to grow, and, um, and it took me 3 years to get on an active roster and that I got so many nos I put I tried out for. Maybe 10 different teams, you know, and I was like this, this team said no, all right, cool, there's, you know, 31 other teams that team said no, there's 30, you know, there's 30 other teams that, so I just kept going and kept, kept being resilient and understanding until one team said yes. And once that team said yes because of those nos, because of my resilience, because of that work ethic, because of not, not accepting that, when I did get my yes I was able to sustain that. I was able to understand the requirements to. You know, and I've already changed myself and molded myself to, to becoming someone that, that, that is worthy and deserving of that yes, you know, you could, like a lot of people can say yes, some a lot of people get yeses off the rip. And but they haven't become that person that deserves or can sustain that, yes, if that makes sense. Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. Yeah. So you know, you found your purpose through football, and now you give back to the youth in London through your foundation that we launched shortly and your mentor work with London youth big kids and NFL Academy. How important is having a sense of purpose when when building that resilience and How can companies help their employees connect their work to to a deeper mission in the same way that kind of you have? Um, So initially my, my purpose was, you know, providing, and it always will be and it is, um, just that's just my core, just to be able with someone to provide, um, so. That was my wife. That was my, that was my main driver. I needed to make sure that I can provide for my family, provide for myself, because I know no one's gonna come and save me. So when I got to a point where I achieved that, so it was like, you know, get on the team, make money, save money, all that stuff, when I achieved, when every milestone that I have to achieve it, you know, it, I had to keep look internally and I had to like figure out what my, my, my real purpose was and after I've achieved and I've secured. I guess financial stability, um, I realized that my, my upbringing and the the communities that I live in and my family lives in needs, needs help. It needs role models, it needs a voice, it needs someone that has that can show that listen, it doesn't matter where you come from, it doesn't matter where, um, you know that your life experience, it doesn't define you and whatever that dream is, whether it's football, whether it being a doctor, whether you can achieve that, right? So that's why I partner up with these amazing, you know, um, initiatives and programs that do a lot of mentorship, and that's, that's my aim. Like I said, my role models were drug dealers and murderers. So I go back and I want to make sure that. I can be that person that I never had, and I think um I think businesses can do that by. You know, all humans, you know, and working for corporations, but you need to understand your why. Like when you work and you come to work and you go home, like you need to really figure out what your why is, like how can you be leave an impact whether it be in your life, in your family's life, in your community, and if we do that, eventually, like the net starts to widen and then then we really make some real changes, but for at least like you just got to figure out what your why is, you know, and sometimes it's money and it's OK. And but sometimes it can be, you know, I really wanna, where you want to make a real change in this specific area and that's, and that's, that's OK too. Uh, OK, you've openly discussed, uh, mental health mental health in the past and, and self-doubt. So what are the strategies that you've used personally to, to overcome those mental hurdles? Yeah, so as you probably figure out, like just because of my upbringing, I had a lot of demons, I had a lot of issues to deal with. Um, when I went into the NFL, I had a lot of imposter syndrome. I felt like I never belonged like coaches, players, everyone told me that I didn't belong, you know, um. So I had to overcome that and you know I did the conventional thing. I did therapy. I did. You know, uh, you know, all that stuff, and I've, and I've even, I'm not proud of it, but I've even gone left and, you know, self-medicated and did all that stuff. Um, but none of that stuff helped, um, and I think it was when, and I was like, honestly, I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed where I came from. I was embarrassed about my upbringing. I felt ashamed. I didn't want to tell people that I was trafficked. I didn't want to tell people I grew up in foster care. I didn't want to tell people like anything. I just wanted to go to work, put my helmet on, play the game, collect my checks, and go home like I that's, but ultimately like I do some issues and within myself that I hadn't dealt with and it was presenting itself in other ways within my marriage, within my community and all these different things and it wasn't until I started being more vocal about my my upbringing and, and using my, my life as a means of um inspiration and motivation for my communities and the kids that I'm mentoring. That I started to um See some growth and some healing in my mental health because not only did it allow me to own it, it also gave other people that I was communicating the the platform and the confidence to be able to express what they're going through. It might not be the same, but everyone we will go through some stuff like every one of you for you to be here and you've you've had to overcome some hardships. You've had to overcome some nos. Um, but it allowed people to come to me and express that and feel comfortable to express that. So even with my teammates, one time I spoke in front of the team and I shared that because everybody was losing and I wanted everyone to and everyone was turning against each other and I wanted everyone to like understand and I was always smiling. I was always happy because I was like. You know what I mean like who gives it like, like we're we're blessed, you know, and I wanted people to gain that perspective and understand that like we are so blessed to be able to play this sport and to be able to be who we are and have that platform, and I did that and I, and I was very vulnerable and very open and then afterwards like teammates that I've been on the team with for like maybe 2 or 3 years, um. Came to me and they started opening up and that relationship deepened, you know, it wasn't surface level anymore. It wasn't superficial. It was like, you know, I got to know who they were. I got to know their reasons. I got to know their whys and then we just bonded. So I think when I started opening up and owning my truth and living in my life. I was able to, and it just it wasn't this cloud and this thing that was, you know, weighing over me, so I think The expression was, was really heathen for me. That's absolutely inspiring stuff, and it might be too late for a lot of us to make the NFL, but I'm sure we can all apply some of these lessons to our every yeah, do you think so? Yeah, we'll talk. Um yeah, I'm sure we can all take these lessons and apply them to our own everyday life and you know, further our own growth and achievements. But FA Obada, thank you so much. We were going to do a Q and A. I I think you're gonna stick around for a little while. So if you want to speak to, please do. a great guy. Thank you, thank you for listening. I really appreciate it.

In a landscape where consumer trust is fragile and tech investments must deliver ROI, executives face a high-stakes challenge: how to unlock the full value of data without compromising privacy or brand integrity.
At Fuel Up With Fortune in Cannes, Jarrod Martin, CEO of Acxiom & KINESSO, Kaveri Camire, CMO of DXC Technology, and Michael Lacorazza, CMO of U.S. Bank joined Fortune's Ruth Umoh to share candid insights and real-world lessons on rethinking data governance, optimizing investments, and reaching more consumers.

Executives Turning First-Party Data into a Strategic Advantage

Uh, so at Fortune we interview C-suite executives, uh, at Infinitum, and I'm sure you all have heard, uh, the adage that Ze is oil. Data is the new oil. Companies are obsessed with collecting more and more data. I, however, would argue I would posit. That most companies today are actually drowning in data, uh, but starving for insight. So first question, just to kind of level set and kick things off, how are each of you ensuring that your data strategy actually drives measurable performance, uh, and doesn't just become another nebulous call center? Perhaps you can kick this off, Kari. Sure, um, thank you for having all of us here. So for me, I think, uh, you know, I come from 20 to 30 years of just B2B world where everything is data. Data is around how we look at our customers, how we derive value from, uh, the customer set. But I think in my mind right now for my teams, especially in the era of AI that everybody's talking about, we got to really look at. Get rid of the noise, cut the noise, and really sharpen our focus on what truly matters and how you look at data that actually drives value. But for me, the biggest thing of that is customer centricity. There's so much data out there, but I think we've we have to pause and listen. And that's something that we're not doing that much of, and my biggest focus for the team right now is think about what our customers are saying. Think about what our customers want from us. Think about the problems they are looking to solve for, and that's the golden nugget that I want to look at from a data perspective, and there's a ton of technology out there today to advance that and leverage that for real value. Uh, quick follow up there, uh, you. Firm, what are customers telling you? What are they craving? What pain points are you trying to address? Yes, I'll give a quick view. DXC is 120,000 people. It's a global company. We're operate in 60 countries. Fortune 500 Fortune 500 company. Thanks Fortune. And it's, it's really about understanding. We are a global company at scale, but we also are very focused on local excellence, and what I mean by that is there are cultural norm. responses there's data sovereignty. There's so many discussions that are happening, especially around AI right now, but customers are asking for answers. Nobody knows all the answers. There is a lot of hype. There's a lot of promise, but I think for us what's really important is we work with some of the largest brands in the world if it's Mercedes, BMW, Allianz, um, you know, American Airlines United, the data for each of these customers is the life. Line because it's dealing with patients, it's dealing with passengers it's dealing with people's lives and they are asking us, and we're very fortunate that we've lived in the notion of trust. Our customers have trusted us for decades, so we've been around for a long time. We've been through many cycles internet, cloud, mobile, AI is next. Probably Quantum will be the next one, and I think the single thread of focus is we trust you journey after. Journey helping us with the innovation. So that's what they're asking us. Show us the path on how do we advance in AI, but how do we do it ethically and safely? And that's what the trusted left for DXC is really important. Yeah, well, we'll momentarily zero into that to that angle on trust. Curious to hear from you, Michael, how you're using data to really pull out meaningful impactful insights for the US banks. Yeah, I'd love to build on that point around customer centricity. Uh, you know, there, there's no substitute for understanding your customers, what's important to them, what problems you're solving, how they make decisions, how does their journey come to life, and our, our, you know, larger companies like us have massive amounts of data on our on our clients and we um. We have also an expectation that we're going to do something productive with it and something meaningful and valuable to to make the customer experience better. So it starts with that kind of level of understanding and then what we start to think about is what do we know in our data that can help us deliver a superior customer experience that differentiates us in the market. You know what kinds of solutions, products and services are most valuable at what moment in time and you know when are those channels, those touch points when we serve them, and that's that's the foundation of where we start. And then from there it's then analyzing and understanding what signals you have that can enable that because there is, there is a lot of noise and you have to find the nuggets that really make a difference. And when you say signals, what do you mean by that? Yeah, so you know, there might be some examples of how a client is moving, moving money. Um, that could, could signal some sort of a life change where they need a piece of advice or guidance and enabling to do that. And so if we understand that from just how they're working with us, then we can proactively reach out and be of service. I was just going to say like these are all really great points. I think you know advertisers are obsessed with too obsessed with collecting data to your question. And I think focusing on what matters is really important and what drives results and being customer centric is really important as well, so I'm not going to duplicate all of those really great points. What I would say though is on top of that is an enabler of these things is being able to connect the data together. So most advertisers would say they have more than enough data to make decisions, but they don't have it in a form that they can use to make decisions with. And so by connecting that data together, what do I mean by that, creating an identity spine that allows you to connect different lines of business together to connect different touch points between earned and earned media channels that enables you to really recognize the consumer and treat them as an individual and recognize their journey with you. That's really the key for me on top of these great points is having that connected ecosystem that can then power both both personalization at scale but also. Um having a way of Allowing consumers to control their own destiny. So if you've got a single repository of data that's connected, if a consumer wants to opt in or opt out of anything, it's a really simple process to give them that control and to show them in marketing that you're listening to their feedback. I say that that's the whole point. Like, are you listening? You're hearing a lot, but are you actually pausing and listening, and that's your point on like having those connective tissue and the dots of like, let's look at all the different facets and take a minute and listen. Yeah, I mean an example might be like email can be a bit of a bugbear for some people where email doesn't cost much money to send, so everyone gets their inbox spammed, right? But email might pick up signals from the consumer about who they are and what they like. Let's just say they opt out of that email. Now what the smart thing is to do is to not send them any more emails, but. But then recognize what you've learned from those emails to better inform the other channels that they still want to speak to you through. If you do that, you're managing the best of both worlds. You're creating the customization, but also the control. Uh, Kaveri brought up trust earlier and that's really at the crux of this conversation. So let's lean in, uh, there, Michael. I want to turn to you. US Bank, obviously, uh, a financial institution ostensibly highly regulated, so you cannot afford to treat data carelessly. Uh, what is your internal scorecard for evaluating third party data partners and, and just what's your overall framework for trust, for quality, for compliance, and how that shapes your marketing? Yes, and at US Bank, trust is at the center of our brand. And it's one of those, it's one of those elusive type of, you know, emotional connections where it takes a really long time to earn it and if you make a mistake you can lose it really, really quickly and data and caring for that data is at the center of that and the expectation that we will care for it, so. With respect to how we onboard third party data, we have a very, we have very well established processes and procedures to to to evaluate, you know, the veracity of the chain of control. Do we have the proper usage rights, do we have the proper, you know, IP protections and so forth, and, and so for for a partner that ends up in our ecosystem, you know, they, it's a pretty high bar. Uh, let me turn over to you, uh, Jared, because you, you alluded to this at the top of the conversation. Everyone is chasing personalization at scale. I think we're in the era of hyper personalization. What does it actually take to do that well, kind of make this really sticky for for those in the room? Yeah, I mean, personalization at scale is an easy thing to say. It's a difficult thing to do. I think we talked about creating a connected data environment to enable that personalization. That's a really key infrastructural element. I think we also talked about marrying the personalization with the control that the consumer has so that they can opt in or opt out whatever they like. I think the other thing to think about is that a lot of advertisers might personalize because they can, not because they should, and I think we should think about what elements of personalization are actually driving results versus what elements are driving complexity. The way I think about things is, is we need to bifurcate our thinking between how we operate as a business, as an advertiser versus how we appear to an end consumer. We can be increasingly sophisticated under the water. But we need to be increasingly simple above the water and increasingly customized to that consumer. So personalization at scale is around simplifying the end user experience, focusing on what matters to that consumer, while having complex decision logic and data sets to sit underneath that. A similar question for you could vary, you know, Seeds, as you already noted works with clients like Mercedes-Benz, like United Airlines, uh, like Lincoln Financial. These are all brands with vast and complex, uh, data ecosystems. So how are you helping them to unlock value while still balancing innovation with integrity? Yeah, so I think this goes back to what you were saying. Um, I think we would not exist if our customers. did not trust us and value us for taking them to these risk-driven journeys, uh, in technological advancement. tech is moving at such a crazy pace and such a fast pace. Um, the way we look at DXC and how we are operating with all of our customers is, uh, it's not just about ROI, it's trust ROI. Because if we don't have that trust ROI, it's not going to work for us. We have governments, we have, uh, you know, like I was saying, we have airlines where lives of passengers matter. We have banks where people's, uh, you know, money is sitting in those banks, and I think a slight glitch in the system is not just unacceptable, it is existential. You can't operate in an environment where you don't have that. So from a marketing perspective, I'll just say something as simple as we just had a client advisory council a couple of months ago where we brought closed door sessions, something it's sometimes it's even nice to just go to simple things that existed in the past that we don't do anymore. Let's get in a room, talk to our customers. And I asked them a simple question, where you're headed? What is your biggest challenge? And the third was, how do you like to communicate with us and how do you communicate on a daily basis? What is the tool or the platform that you use the most? Is it long lead blogs? Is it videos, is is a text? You will not believe they all said we don't want long form things first. We would prefer to look at videos, and this is C-suite, CIOs, CTOs, CEOs. Time is money, and they're constrained. So I think those are the things that we're starting to do is really listen to hear how our customers who are some of the most, you know, in the most mission critical spaces are consuming information. They all said video, start with small video. Give us the TikTok version of the story, and then if you want to lean in more, we will come to you. They want digestible. You said you also asked that cohort, what are the biggest challenges and obstacles? What did they say were the were the pain points, any trends that emerged there? So in the room without naming, there were banks. There was a bakery, believe it or not, they are using robotics to distribute thousands and thousands of loaves of bread. And they are all trying to figure out how do they drive efficiency with AI. A lot of them have very private focused networks with an AI right now because they're not kind of sure yet of is their data going to be exposed. So this goes back to my point where they are working with us and leaning on us to show them, uh, opportunities and direction of. Take advantage of AI, but our goal is to take advantage of AI in the right ethical way, which is going to take them to the next level. So that was a big question like show us how, how do you find the balance uh between helpful personalization and perceived surveillance, you know, the, the privacy conversation, and he thought, Michael, and I'd actually be curious to hear from all of you. Absolutely, yeah, yeah, well, you know, surveillance is for me if defined you're listening in in a in a sort of cynical way, right? And um with with if if we get personalization right, we're listening to our clients, we know it's important to them and we're using the data and the signals to to improve their experience with us to deepen those relationships, um. You know, I, there are several examples out there where, you know, one was, you know, a woman was shopping for, you know, one particular item and it signaled that maybe she was pregnant and then the brand starts to serve diapers and it's like to me that's that's crossing the line, right? And that's like that could be felt as too invasive and personal and surveillance, but But um, but if you but if you find a way to do it where um you're delivering value, you know, value exchange for the information that you're acting on, then you've kind of got it dialed in. Let's talk financial metrics um as as as we begin to wrap this up, uh, what would you say is the most important question a CMO or even a CEO should ask before making their next big data, uh, or more tech investment? I would say um. Is it going to simplify and connect what I have today, or is it going to complicate and further add cost to my business? I think when we talk about marketing ROI, we talk about the cost of the communication versus the benefit that that communication drives. What we don't talk about is the underlying cost of the infrastructure that's used to create those communications, and we don't actively manage the total cost to try to make it work better for us. If we can unlock the billions of dollars that are spent in Martech around the world. And make those work harder for us. That marketing ROI on a net net basis will go through the roof. I have two simple things I ask my team all the time. Show me how it's going to get us closer to the customer. Show me. Give me examples right off the bat. And the second one is, um, let's not just invest for investment's sake. Ask yourself what's the outcome that you're getting at, because I think sometimes we're All just moving at such hyperbolic speed that we're not stopping and thinking, what am I trying to get at and what these are some very basic questions, but I think oftentimes to your point where you said, we're investing and we're not thinking about it, you have to ask yourself what is the outcome that we want to get at, um, you know, and for us it's global. Most of our implementations and executions are global, so you've got to really, really be thoughtful about what's your outcome. Call us out, please. Yeah, so. I would say before you you contemplate adding on any sort of analysis tool or technology on top of what you're trying to achieve, is your, do you have the right data sets and are they in the right condition and format to be able to act upon? Because if you don't have that foundation in place, then you can put any fancy technology, AI, whatever on top of it and it won't matter. So you start getting that, get in that place first, then you can start to begin to contemplate what you put on top. Fantastic way to end. thank you all, uh, lots of great takeaways. Uh, trust is not optional when it comes to data and you have to be outcome oriented, really cutting out the noise. So thank you, thank you, thank you.

At Fortune’s exclusive Fuel Up With Fortune panel in Cannes, a cohort of powerhouse women CMOs discuss how they're reinventing brand storytelling and what it means to build a brand in the digital era. Fortune's Ruth Umoh was joined by Global Chief Client Officer at Monks, Deborah Heslip, Chief Digital Officer at Diageo, Susan Jones, Chief Marketing Officer at Autodesk Dara Treseder, and Chief Digital Officer at E.L.F Beauty Ekta Chopra.

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