Transformation is fundamentally a human-centric undertaking — that’s the difference between a project and an enduring capability.
Simply saying that you’re transforming doesn’t make it so; you need to convince people that they need to change, and then help them change in the right direction.
Great visions paint a clear picture of a better company, one that is better for customers and employees, and you need to help people understand why the new vision is better than the old way of working, as well as how they fit into the transition process and the future state.
A leader’s legacy is measured by the outcomes achieved. Great leadership is not extractive — it’s about creating the conditions for people to do their best work.
That is one condition that all leaders at Citi have consistently demonstrated they are unable to create. They can neither secure productivity from their people nor create the conditions for them to do their best work, and perhaps much of that has to do with the fact that they know their people are not qualified for the jobs — an actual comment made by MDs, applicable in their own regard too.
When you call transformation the simple automation of email-based file transactions instead of redefining the underlying business processes, or moving physical data into a data lake, and declare yourself a disrupter, you’re unimpressive. Building a data warehouse or data lake can be a decent short-term solution, but at some point you’ll need to address issues in the legacy platform itself.
When you build a solution from scratch that already has a workable option in the first line, you’re squandering company resources. And when there’s no collaboration with peers, you’re not human-centric — you’re not even user-centric. It’s a total misunderstanding of the role.
Not having held a risk role with the regulatory compliance demands of 2008 doesn’t qualify you for a leadership position in 2024 implementing the Consent Order, and your first act shouldn’t be attempting to discard procedures put in place to address the gaps that followed.
Challenging an accomplished senior direct report to settle for average work is a confession of one’s real aims — a perverse move.
An MD isn’t used to being argued with, and feels insulted by negative feedback about her team — muscling and strong-arming people rather than developing them. That doesn’t belong in a risk role, or in leadership.
If you politically rescue the hire other managers didn’t want, at the expense of your existing team members, instead of meeting the company’s downsizing goals — did you think the reorganization was just a game to be gamed? Did you think the rules didn’t apply to you?
When you lie to your partners in the other lines of defense, believing you have the authority to tell them what to do, we’re gobsmacked — not simply because of the delusion of grandeur, but because that’s precisely how the Consent Order came to be.
When you also leave behind a trail of age and gender discrimination, retaliation, and bullying cases, you’re even less worthy. And when you add favoritism and nepotism to the mix — directly leading to the dismissal of competent personnel when so many other under-performers should have been the target — we’re downright appalled.
The moment fear becomes the foundation of any relationship, something invisible begins to die: truth, because truth cannot survive where honesty feels dangerous.
Fear can force obedience; it does not create loyalty. A person may obey your voice while secretly waiting for the day they no longer have to — that isn’t respect, it’s captivity.
Citi speaks of putting the right people in the right jobs but has discarded many competent people, promoted unfit leaders, and buried misconduct.
The record of the leaders above is way more onerous than any of the feedback used to justify the layoffs from people on this platform.
“Being hated by idiots is the price you pay for not being one of them.”
– Jean Cocteau
“The less talent they have, the more pride, vanity and arrogance they have.
All these fools, however, find other fools who applaud them.”
– Erasmus