• Silicon Valley veteran and the new Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into Chinese companies, Reuters reported. Some of the Chinese companies Tan backed have links to the Chinese military. Tan has invested in hundreds of Chinese companies through Walden International and holding companies Seine and Sakaytra. 

Intel’s new CEO Lip-Bu Tan invested at least $200 million into Chinese businesses between 2012 and 2024, including at least eight tied to the People’s Liberation Army, according to a Reuters report.

Tan leads a company that has a $3 billion contract with the Department of Defense to manufacture chips, along with two other DoD contracts. His previous investments have raised concerns amid souring U.S.-China relations. 

“The simple fact is that Mr. Tan is unqualified to serve as the head of any company competing against China, let alone one with actual intelligence and national security ramifications like Intel and its tremendous legacy connection to all areas of America’s intelligence and the defense ecosystem,” Bastille Ventures partner Andrew King told Reuters.

Intel did not return Fortune’s request for comment. But a spokesperson for Tan told Reuters that he completed a questionnaire that requires disclosure of any potential conflicts of interest.

During the first few months of the Trump administration, President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have exchanged jabs in the form of tariffs: U.S. tariffs on China now stand at 145%, while China’s tariffs on the U.S. are currently 125%.

Intel is the only U.S.-based manufacturer of the most advanced computer chips. And Tan is one of Silicon Valley’s most tenured investors in Chinese tech.

He was also considered a Goldilocks pick to revive the company, and initially cheered by investors when he was named as Intel’s new CEO.

While having Intel helmed by someone investing in Chinese companies might ring alarm bells for some, Elon Musk has his hands in both tech and the government as Tesla CEO and an adviser to President Donald Trump. In fact, Tesla has its largest factory in China, which is responsible for producing half of the company’s cars globally. 

“Of course there may be some national-security concerns here, but it does not seem to bother the U.S. that Elon Musk, a key player in the current administration, has a major investment in China,” Santa Clara law school professor Stephen Diamond told Fortune.

For his part, Tan made investments through Walden International, a San Francisco-based venture-capital firm he founded in the 1980s, along with Sakarya Limited and Seine Limited, two holdings companies in Hong Kong. 

Between March 2012 and December 2024, Tan injected at $200 million into hundreds of Chinese advanced manufacturing and chips companies, some of which were contractors and suppliers for the People’s Liberation Army, according to Reuters.

Tan also controls more than 40 Chinese companies and funds while holding a minority stake in over 600 others. In many cases, his minority ownership comes alongside stakes held by Chinese government entities, eight of which are tied to Beijing’s military, according to Reuters. 

Walden International, meanwhile, is currently a joint owner in 20 investment funds and companies with Chinese government funds or state-owned enterprises, according to Chinese corporate records. 

Walden has also jointly invested in six Chinese tech firms alongside Chinese military supplier China Electronics Corporation (CEC). During his first administration, Trump signed an executive order in 2020 that banned any purchasing or investing in “Chinese military companies,” with CEC on the list.

According to another Reuters report, Walden and CEC have a joint 2% stake in surveillance company Intellifusion, which is listed on the U.S. Department of Commerce trade blacklist in 2020 for alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang. 

Walden International did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment. An unnamed source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that Tan had divested from his positions in entities from China, but the outlet was unable to confirm that claim. 

“In this political climate, (China ties) would be something that responsible business leadership at a company like Intel would at least have a serious conversation about how to try and manage,” Diamond told Reuters. “It’s obviously politically sensitive and the board would certainly want to know about it.”

The Department of Commerce’s Entity List bans U.S. firms from exporting sensitive technologies to Chinese companies, but doesn’t block investment.

The Pentagon prohibits companies tied to the Chinese military from the U.S. military supply chain. But unless a company is added to the U.S. Treasury’s Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List, it’s legal for U.S. citizens to hold stakes in Chinese companies, even those that have ties to the Chinese military.

There is no evidence that Tan currently invests directly in companies on the U.S. Treasury’s list, according to Reuters. 

“The only point at which a corporate governance issue might rise is if Tan found himself on both sides of a transaction,” Diamond said, “where Intel might be negotiating with a company where he is a director or shareholder.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

• Paradigm CEO Matt Huang feels like he’s “running the X-Men Academy”. While other leaders complain about their Gen Z new hires, the $12 billion crypto company chief is going against the grain and promoting them into the C-suite.

It’s no secret that Gen Z often gets flak for showing up late to work, ghosting job interviews, refusing to do put in any overtime for free, and demanding senior titles and work-life balance before they’ve really earned it.  

Some bosses are fed up—firing fresh-faced Gen Z grads just months in and branding the whole cohort “unprofessional.”

Even Gen Z workers have described themselves as the hardest generation to work with. 

“They create an absurd amount of chaos sometimes and you want to pull your hair out,” echoes Matt Huang, the cofounder of the $12 billion crypto investment firm Paradigm. 

“But then you see what they can do and it’s like, holy crap,” he told Colossus Review. “Nobody else in the world could do that.”

Case in point: Paradigm’s first hire, Charlie Noyes, was a 19-year-old MIT dropout who walked into his first 10 a.m. meeting five hours late. Fast forward to today, and Noyes is a general partner at the crypto company at just 25.

In 2020, Noyes was the one who saw MEV as a critical blockchain issue, leading Paradigm to become the lead investor in Flashbots—a company whose infrastructure now touches nearly every transaction on Ethereum and has established key market rules in the $450 billion ecosystem.

And Noyes isn’t the only bright young mind making waves at Paradigm. 

Georgios Konstantopoulos, the firm’s CTO,  joined the company just two years after graduating college in 2018 and has since become one of crypto’s most prolific engineers. Then there’s the developer known only by his Discord handle, transmissions11, whom Paradigm reportedly found while he was still in high school.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m running the X-Men Academy,” Huang jokes, referencing the eccentric minds on his team—young mutants whose exceptional skills make all the chaos worth it.

Fortune has reached out to Huang for comment.

Gen Z may be hard to work with—but they’re vital 

Like most generations did before them—millennials will remember being labeled work-shy snowflakes before climbing the corporate ranks into management—Gen Zers have gained a reputation for being difficult to work with. 

A survey of more than 960 employers from Intelligent revealed that one in six companies were hesitant to hire a Gen Z worker. 

But the same research that describes the youngest generation of workers as the hardest to work with, also notes that much is to be learned from them—and that perhaps the corporate world is long overdue a shakeup.

“They bring a unique blend of talent and bold ideas that can rejuvenate any workforce,” wrote Geoffrey Scott, senior hiring manager at Resume Genius. “Gen Zers might have a bad rep, but they have the power to transform workplaces for the better.” 

Because if companies don’t adapt, they risk getting left behind. 

Tobba Vigfusdottir, a psychologist and the CEO of Kara Connect, a workplace well-being platform, recently told Fortune that employers need to bend to Gen Z’s desires (read: flexible work policies, sustainability pledges and purpose-driven work) if they want to stay competitive after the baby boomers retire.

“Companies really need to wake up and smell the coffee,” Vigfusdottir warned. “The companies that will survive are listening and letting them in, because they’re changing things.” 

Will.i.am and Josh Kushner are betting on Gen Z too

Huang’s not the only future-thinking leader betting on the disruptive energy of Gen Z. The multimillionaire rapper and songwriter Will.i.am and Thrive Capital’s founder Josh Kushner are betting on the bright young minds of tomorrow too.

In fact, Kushner previously told Fortune he specifically likes to hire people with less than 4 years of industry experience.

When he launched the venture capital firm at just 26, he faced pressure to bring in older, more seasoned hires. But, as he put it, “anyone who has experience that is talented will never want to work with a 26-year-old.” So, instead, he recruited the “smartest people that we knew who were our ages.”

And that bet paid off: His firm made early investments in startups worth billions, including OpenAI, which was recently valued at $300 billion.

These days, Kushner could easily hire industry veterans with glowing résumés—but he’d still rather “find that young, hungry person who’s willing to run through walls like we were ten years ago.”

Will.i.am has reached a similar conclusion. The Grammy-winning Black Eyed Peas frontman might be best known for his chart-topping hits, but behind the scenes, he’s a serious investor too. He backed Tesla, OpenAI, and Pinterest before they became household names—and now, he’s betting on Gen Z for his next investment. 

Why? He believes the next big breakthroughs in tech will come from young innovators at MIT and Stanford.  “They’re young kids, and they’re native to this,” Will.i.am told Fortune. “So you want to hunt for that. That’s the only thing I’m focused on.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

You scoffed at your boss in a rush, dismissed your employee’s ideas at a meeting, or snapped at a colleague unfairly.

Workplace stress can cause people to take out their frustrations on others, especially colleagues who are by their side for hours each day. We are also facing unprecedented economic turmoil, with whispers of a recession running down the halls. The bottom line? Tensions are running high from the corner office down. One recent survey reports that 61% of employees are feeling thrown under the bus by colleagues, as RTO mandates bring people back together and force them to remember conflict resolution.

We all make mistakes or say something we later regret. Instead of retreating solemnly and berating ourselves at home (on the couch with a pint of mint chip and an episode of Severance), we can reframe how we manage relational mishaps and move forward faster. It’s how we deal with these moments in the context of protecting our relationships that matters most. It’s essential when that person is a core part of our work-life community.  

Becky Kennedy, a clinical psychologist and parenting expert known to her over three million Instagram followers as “Dr. Becky,” calls out the single most important strategy in strengthening our relationships at last week’s BetterUp Summit “Uplift” in New York City’s midtown. 

“There is really no more important relationship strategy than repair,” Kennedy told Fortune Well Editor Jennifer Fields, who moderated the discussion. “Nothing builds a relationship like a good repair.” 

Often we run away from repair because it means we did something wrong and that we weren’t perfect. But, Kennedy says it’s important to recognize that we cannot walk through life and never ruffle any feathers. It’s simply not human. “Recognizing that is powerful,” Kennedy said. “We have this opportunity to do things a little differently.” 

Kennedy shares that it’s important to challenge ourselves to be uncomfortable by taking a beat to understand where someone was coming from, even if we disagreed initially. “Can I build my muscle by seeing and believing what’s going on for the other person? That’s as relevant at home as it is at work,” she said.

Repairing starts with looking at the moment that felt uncomfortable in the relationship. “It’s really about acknowledging what didn’t feel good and taking responsibility for your part,” she said. “It’s very similar at home and at work. For me, it’s often a version of, ‘I’m sorry I yelled,’ or ‘I’m sorry I was so short’ or ‘I jumped to conclusions. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to your side of the story.’” 

The power of authentically repairing goes under-recognized because the event takes up so much brain power in the moments following. But, ironically, repairing can free up some of that rumination. 

“If you think about a moment that felt bad and then you berate yourself, like ‘I yelled at my kid.’ ‘I was so short in that meeting.’ ‘I’m such a bad manager’ … We’re focusing on the event,” she said. “The thing that’s going to impact the other person isn’t actually the event as much as us not talking to the person after the event.” 

The trickiest part of repair is ensuring you don’t go into the conversation looking to be wooed back by the other person or to check it off the box by brushing the incident under the rug. “It’s going to come off as something you ask of the person, not something you give to that person,” Kennedy said. As with many leadership and self-improvement techniques, you must focus on repairing yourself before you can repair your relationship.

“That repair really looks like saying to yourself some version of ‘I’m a good person who did something I’m not proud of.’ ‘That moment doesn’t define me,’ and ‘I’m rejecting this idea as of [insert today’s date],’” Kennedy says. “Then you can go to the other person and say something like, ‘I’m sorry I yelled. I’m sure that felt scary.’”

Then find connection. Grab a coffee with that individual and listen to their perspective, too. The repair might just make that relationship stronger. 

For more on parenting and leadership: 

• Want to be a good parent? Experts boil it down to 4 things you should do
• Modern parenting is hurting kids and adults, ‘Anxious Generation’ author warns
• Why moms rejecting the ‘tiger’ approach turn to ‘panda’ parenting instead

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com