Rasmus Ekman: How international diversity shapes global tech leadership

Rasmus Ekman is Oracle's Vice President of Cloud Engineering. He manages key partners like Uber and NVIDIA using his wealth of global leadership experience in Europe, Japan, and the United States.

Through his successful 20-year track record, he's become the go-to leader at companies like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, and IBM. Fellow executives call him a tech leader who produces outstanding results. His peers and reports recognize his passion for international diversity and inclusive, empathetic, and down-to-earth leadership style.

His resume might surprise you, considering he tried to avoid the tech sector in college. Ekman double-majored in Statistics and Econometrics / Mathematics and Japanese Linguistics. He planned a career in finance, but he was instead recruited by IT companies in Japan to work with engineers. As he puts it, "I didn't choose engineering. It chose me." This unexpected journey is a testament to his versatility and adaptability.

In this episode of Wolfed, host Chris Cohen interviews Ekman to learn about:

• His career journey, starting abroad in Japan and joining major U.S. companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle.
• Transitioning into engineering from a non-traditional background in mathematics and Japanese linguistics.
• How different cultures affect the way engineers work in each country.
• Why curiosity is an essential value for aspiring engineering leaders.
• The role customer feedback should play in developing a new product.