Story 73

The Machiavellian Operator 1. The Shadow Structure: Empire-Building as Self-Promotion Within what was formerly US Personal Banking (USPB) at Citi, the Head of Enterprise Risk and Balance Sheet Management built an internal replica of the Second Line of Defense Enterprise Risk Management team. No other business unit at Citi operates this way. Having come from…

I exited my role in Citi’s private wealth management due to a fundamental misalignment with leadership practices, organizational values, and the absence of meaningful opportunities for advancement. Despite receiving consistently top performance evaluations over multiple years, advancement opportunities were repeatedly denied (with a new made up reason every year) and instead given to men who…

As a manager I saw the termination for more than 10 women in wealth business director level or above and no men were considered for the restructuring. This was not result based. When they send the JOB Restructuring package they include age but not gender as most women are being laid off.

As a longtime Citi private bank employee, who cannot believe what I’ve witnessed over the past five+ years, I’d like to share a little story: In 2020, as Jane Fraser was being named CEO, she moved quickly to reshape the firm. One of her earliest calls was to merge two internal wealth businesses into a…

As an early contributor to this site, I’ll take a guess that Citi’s C-suite is at least aware of it by now. I don’t believe for a second that any of them care in terms of culture, employees, or even customers. These are Careless People, focused on their own compensation and that of their cronies….

I was about to share this when Story 324 dropped in. They dovetail together. The Euphemisms of Toxicity There is a particular kind of institutional violence that leaves no bruises. It operates entirely through language. Retaliation becomes “performance concerns.” Harassment becomes “interpersonal conflict.” Bullying becomes “high standards.” Exclusion becomes “cultural fit.” Coercion becomes “managing expectations.”…