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I’m the Deloitte chair and I’m mindful of boardroom burnout: Here’s how to optimize bandwidth for resilient, future-ready organizations

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Today’s business landscape is evolving faster than ever. Shifting regulatory expectations, heightened demands for transparency, economic volatility, and intensifying global competition are all contributing to unprecedented complexity and pressure in the boardroom. Breakthroughs in technology—especially AI—are helping organizations and the people within them expand what they can achieve, but not without hurdles to overcome. With no playbook for this era, boards must rise to the challenge to navigate uncertainty and chart a path for the future in real time.

But as expectations rise and the pace of change accelerates, a critical question emerges: at what cost? The drive to keep up with innovation and deliver results can stretch leaders and teams to their limits, putting their well-being and resilience at risk. Burnout is not a distant concern—it’s a real and pressing challenge in today’s boardrooms and beyond.

The forces at play

The modern boardroom is being called to step up with agility and foresight. Directors’ roles are growing in scope and complexity—no longer limited to monitoring and compliance, but demanding decisive, visionary leadership in the face of uncertainty. Their bandwidth to focus on consequential decisions, rather than being consumed by reactive decision-making, is under pressure. 

Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than with the rise of AI, which exemplifies both the opportunity and complexity boards must navigate. Deloitte’s latest survey reveals AI’s rapid rise is fueling a readiness to evolve: 53% of C-suite leaders want to accelerate AI adoption—but 66% say their boards lack sufficient knowledge or experience. The board’s challenge lies in deepening their expertise while being intentional about protecting their bandwidth given the sheer volume of information and pace of change. 

But technology is only part of the story. The future of work is evolving on multiple fronts, and boards must also balance the drive for innovation with the workforce’s desire for stability. Deloitte’s 2025 Global Human Capital Trends report introduces “stagility”—stability and agility—as an essential leadership capability. While 75% of workers hope for more stability, 85% of executives are willing to embrace change and focus on becoming agile as they adapt to rapid transformations. It’s the board’s responsibility to be aware of this tension and provide thoughtful oversight to help organizations strike the right balance. 

The strain and pressures directors are experiencing in the boardroom mirror the broader societal and systemic forces shaping today’s environment. While many factors are outside the board’s control, the opportunity to set the tone for well-being as an imperative—not a nice to have—can start with us. Modern leadership means championing both business and human outcomes. By prioritizing purposeful, resilient governance, we can help safeguard our bandwidth, inspire broader organizational well-being, and enable high-impact decision-making at scale. 

Intent over habit: governing at scale

You may be thinking, “yes, but how?” The answer may lie in anchoring board practices in clear purpose and adaptable structures. Too often, boards fall into the trap of doing things “the way they’ve always been done.” As stewards of the organization, directors often equate tradition with stability—especially when pressure and stakes are high. But many of today’s organizations look very different than at their inception—and governance practices should reflect that evolution.

To unlock the art of the possible, it’s important to commit to governance at scale, moving beyond traditional practices to meet the complexities of modern business. This means zeroing in on what truly drives value: establishing clear priorities. Leveraging technology and streamlining processes can enable boards to run efficient meetings and direct their attention to consequential issues—protecting bandwidth and empowering leaders to embrace “stagility.”

Governing at scale doesn’t require complicated solutions. Streamlining agendas and providing concise pre-read materials can allow directors to prepare thoughtfully and focus on strategic issues. Maximizing schedules by incorporating virtual or hybrid meeting formats can enable directors to stay refreshed and attentive, so they can contribute meaningfully. Bringing in outside experts for focused education sessions can expose directors to fresh perspectives and equip them to navigate emerging challenges with greater confidence. With the right guardrails, integrating AI and other emerging technologies can help boards decode complex issues faster, accelerate upskilling, and enhance decision-making. When directors are supported by intentional, streamlined board processes, they can gain the clarity and confidence to stay engaged and energized—enabling high-impact governance that inspires innovation, nurtures resilience, and drives sustainable growth.

The path forward

Prioritizing these practices at the highest levels is about more than just wellness; it can be a strategic advantage. The health of the boardroom is intrinsically linked to the health of the organization. Especially as AI and other forces reshape the landscape, organizations that invest in their board’s capacity to adapt and govern at scale can be better equipped to navigate disruption and shape the future with decisive, agile oversight.

Let’s commit to showing up authentically, supporting one another, and governing with intention and care. By embracing new ways of working and optimizing bandwidth, boardrooms and organizations can not only endure disruption, but capitalize on change. And while the path to resilience is ongoing, finding ways to track and evaluate it—just as we do with other key performance indicators—may be an essential step toward true accountability and sustained performance. Turn today’s challenges into tomorrow’s opportunities and help ensure your organizations remain resilient, innovative, and ready for whatever comes next. 

This publication contains general information only and Deloitte is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor. Deloitte shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person who relies on this publication.

Copyright © 2025 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.

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.

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Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi says company will be worth $1 trillion by doing these three things

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December 9, 2025

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Ali Ghodsi, the CEO and cofounder of data intelligence company Databricks, is betting his privately held startup can be the latest addition to the trillion-dollar valuation club.

In August, Ghodsi told the Wall Street Journalthat he believed Databricks, which is reportedly in talks toraise funding at a $134 billion valuation, had “a shot to be a trillion-dollar company.” At Fortune’s Brainstorm AI conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, he explained how it would happen, laying out a “trifecta” of growth areas to ignite the company’s next leg of growth.

The first is entering the transactional database market, the traditional territory of large enterprise players like Oracle, which Ghodsi said has remained largely “the same for 40 years.” Earlier this year, Databricks launched a link-based offering called Lakehouse, which aims to combine the capabilities of traditional databases with modern data lake storage, in an attempt to capture some of this market.

The company is also seeing growth driven by the rise of AI-powered coding. “Over 80% of the databases that are being launched on Databricks are not being launched by humans, but by AI agents,” Ghodsi said. As developers use AI tools for “vibe coding”—rapidly building software with natural language commands—those applications automatically need databases, and Ghodsi they’re defaulting to Databricks’ platform.

“That’s just a huge growth factor for us. I think if we just did that, we could maybe get all the way to a trillion,” he said.

The second growth area is Agentbricks, Databricks’ platform for building AI agents that work with proprietary enterprise data.

“It’s a commodity now to have AI that has general knowledge,” Ghodsi said, but “it’s very elusive to get AI that really works and understands that proprietary data that’s inside enterprise.” He pointed to the Royal Bank of Canada, which built AI agents for equity research analysts, as an example. Ghodsi said these agents were able to automatically gather earnings calls and company information to assemble research reports, reducing “many days’ worth of work down to minutes.”

And finally, the third piece to Ghodsi’s puzzle involves building applications on top of this infrastructure, with developers using AI tools to quickly build applications that run on Lakehouse and which are then powered by AI agents. “To get the trifecta is also to have apps on top of this. Now you have apps that are vibe coded with the database, Lakehouse, and with agents,” Ghodsi said. “Those are three new vectors for us.”

Ghodsi did not provide a timeframe for attaining the trillion-dollar goal. Currently, only a handful of companies have achieved the milestone, all of them as publicly traded companies. In the tech industry, only big tech giants like Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta have managed to cross the trillion-dollar threshold.

To reach this level would require Databricks, which is widely expected to go public sometime in early 2026, to grow its valuation roughly sevenfold from its current reported level. Part of this journey will likely also include the expected IPO, Ghodsi said.

“There are huge advantages and pros and cons. That’s why we’re not super religious about it,” Ghodsi said when asked about a potential IPO. “We will go public at some point. But to us, it’s not a really big deal.”

Could the company IPO next year? Maybe, replied Ghodsi.



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New contract shows Palantir working on tech platform for another federal agency that works with ICE

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6 hours ago

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December 9, 2025

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Palantir, the artificial intelligence and data analytics company, has quietly started working on a tech platform for a federal immigration agency that has referred dozens of individuals to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for potential enforcement since September.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency—which handles services including citizenship applications, family immigration, adoptions, and work permits for non-citizens—started the contract with Palantir at the end of October, and is paying the data analytics company to implement “Phase 0” of a “vetting of wedding-based schemes,” or “VOWS” platform, according to the federal contract, which was posted to the U.S. government website and reviewed by Fortune.

The contract is small—less than $100,000—and details of what exactly the new platform entails are thin. The contract itself offers few details, apart from the general description of the platform (“vetting of wedding-based schemes”) and an estimate that the completion of the contract would be Dec. 9.Palantir declined to comment on the contract or nature of the work, and USCIS did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

But the contract is notable, nonetheless, as it marks the beginning of a new relationship between USCIS and Palantir, which has had longstanding contracts with ICE, another agency of the Department of Homeland Security, since at least 2011. The description of the contract suggests that the “VOWS” platform may very well be focused on marriage fraud and related to USCIS’ recent stated effort to drill down on duplicity in applications for marriage and family-based petitions, employment authorizations, and parole-related requests.

USCIS has been outspoken about its recent collaboration with ICE. Over nine days in September, USCIS announced that it worked with ICE and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to conduct what it called “Operation Twin Shield” in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, where immigration officials investigated potential cases of fraud in immigration benefit applications the agency had received. The agency reported that its officers referred 42 cases to ICE over the period. In a statement published to the USCIS website shortly after the operation, USCIS director Joseph Edlow said his agency was “declaring an all-out war on immigration fraud” and that it would “relentlessly pursue everyone involved in undermining the integrity of our immigration system and laws.” 

“Under President Trump, we will leave no stone unturned,” he said.

Earlier this year, USCIS rolled out updates to its policy requirements for marriage-based green cards, which have included more details of relationship evidence and stricter interview requirements.

While Palantir has always been a controversial company—and one that tends to lean into that reputation no less—the new contract with USCIS is likely to lead to more public scrutiny. Backlash over Palantir’s contracts with ICE have intensified this year amid the Trump Administration’s crackdown on immigration and aggressive tactics used by ICE to detain immigrants that have gone viral on social media. Not to mention, Palantir inked a $30 million contract with ICE earlier this year to pilot a system that will track individuals who have elected to self-deport and help ICE with targeting and enforcement prioritization. There has been pushback from current and former employees of the company alike over contracts the company has with ICE and Israel.

In a recent interview at the New York Times DealBook Summit, Karp was asked on stage about Palantir’s work with ICE and later what Karp thought, from a moral standpoint, about families getting separated by ICE. “Of course I don’t like that, right? No one likes that. No American. This is the fairest, least bigoted, most open-minded culture in the world,” Karp said. But he said he cared about two issues politically: immigration and “re-establishing the deterrent capacity of America without being a colonialist neocon view. On those two issues, this president has performed.”



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CoreWeave CEO: Despite see-sawing stock, IPO was ‘incredibly successful’ amid challenges of tariff timing

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December 9, 2025

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CoreWeave has been rocked by dizzying stock swings—with its stock currently trading 52% below its post-IPO high—and a frequent target of market commentators, but CEO Michael Intrator says the company’s move to the public markets has been “incredibly successful. And he takes the public’s mixed reaction in stride, given the novelty of CoreWeave’s “neocloud” business which competes with established cloud providers like Amazon AWS and Google Cloud.

“When you introduce new models, introduce a new way of doing business, disrupt what has been a static environment, it’s going to take some people some time,” Intrator said Tuesday at Fortune’s Brainstorm AI conference in San Francisco. But, he added, more people are beginning to understand the CoreWeave’s business model.

“We came out into one of the most challenging environments,” Intrator said of CoreWeave’s March IPO, which occurred very close to President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs in April. “In spite of the incredible headwinds, we’re able to launch a successful IPO.”

CoreWeave, which priced its IPO at $40 per share, has experienced frequent severe up-and-down price swings in the eight months since its public market debut. At its closing price of $90.66 on Tuesday, the stock remains well above its IPO price.

As Fortune reported last month, CoreWeave’s rapid rise has been fueled by an aggressive, debt-heavy strategy to stand up data centers at unprecedented speed for AI customers. And for now, the bet is still paying off. In its third-quarter results released in November, the company said its revenue backlog nearly doubled in a single quarter—to $55.6 billion from $30 billion—reflecting long-term commitments from marquee clients including Meta, OpenAI, and French AI startup Poolside. Both earnings and revenue came in ahead of Wall Street expectations.

But the numbers were not all celebratory. CoreWeave disclosed a further increase in the debt it has taken on to finance its expansion, and it revised its full-year revenue outlook downward—suggesting that, even with historic demand in the pipeline.

With media headlines calling CoreWeave a “ticking time bomb,” with critics calling out insider stock sales, circular financing accusations and an overreliance on Nvidia, Intrator was asked whether he felt CoreWeave was misunderstood.

“Look, we built a company that is challenging one of the most stable businesses that exist—that cloud business, these three massive players,” he said, referring to AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.  I feel like it’s incumbent on CoreWeave to introduce a new business model on how the cloud is going to be built and run. And that’s what we’re doing.” 

He repeatedly framed CoreWeave not as a GPU reseller or traditional data-center operator but as a company purpose-built from scratch to deliver high-performance, parallelized computing for AI workloads. That focus, he said, means designing proprietary software that orchestrates GPUs, building and colocating its own infrastructure, and moving “up the stack” through acquisitions such as Weights & Biases and OpenPipe.

Intrator also defended the company’s debt strategy, saying CoreWeave is effectively inventing a new financing model for AI infrastructure. He pointed to the company’s ability to repurpose power sources, rapidly deploy capacity, and finance large-scale clusters as proof it is solving problems incumbents never had to face.

“When I look back at history of the company, it took us a year with with a company investor like Fidelity, before they were like, ‘Oh, I get it,’” he said. “So look, we’ve been public for eight months. I couldn’t be prouder of what the company has accomplished.” 



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