Citigroup
managed to stay together, despite equally titanic initial clashes among Weill,
Citibank chief Reed and Dimon—both of whom were eventually forced out. But even
with Weill’s trusted lieutenants in charge, Citigroup has been fraught with
management and control problems. Its nadir came in 2004, when its private bank
was thrown out of Japan for regulatory infractions and its London-based prop
desk roiled the markets and drew European regulators’ ire with its “Dr. Evil”
bond trade.
Concerns about the effectiveness of the firm’s internal controls
led to an unprecedented setback the following year, when the Federal Reserve
barred Citigroup from further acquisitions until it cleaned up its act. But
perhaps justifying Weill’s faith that the leviathan is, in fact, governable,
Prince’s efforts at reform satisfied the Fed, which lifted the ban earlier this
year.
Worth: Why did you write the book?
Weill: A lot of people have told me for a long time that there could be a lot
of good lessons for young people, or people in business, fr om what I was
fortunate enough to have happen to me during my career. And I also thought that
it would be a good thing for me to tell my story in a way that I remember it
happening rather than how other third parties had written about it.
We
wanted to do something that would be factual, balanced and, hopefully, with a
lot of lessons. We also wanted to talk about the importance of partnerships and
relationships, and my relationship with my wife, who is a very important partner
in the whole story of what happened and, I think, important in the success.
Worth: In your book, you discuss your efforts to identify, hire and retain
the best minds. What are some of the important lessons you’ve learned?
Weill: Well I’ve never been afraid of hiring people smarter than myself. I
think that the person who is afraid of hiring somebody because that person may
take his job will never be very successful. I think a great example of that was
when Travelers merged with Citicorp to form Citigroup. John Reed and I were
trying to work together, and it was not easy. John suggested bringing Bob Rubin
in; I thought it was a phenomenal idea—no one knew global markets as well as
Rubin, and it was a pretty good thing for Citigroup to have done at that time.
We also tried to build a company in which family was important; spouses were
important and were included at important events. We’re in a volatile business;
we’re in a business where one day you can feel very good and another day you can
feel terrible. And if the spouse understands why these emotions go so high,
high, high and low, low, low, that spouse will end up being a better partner to
that person, and they would be a lot more understanding at home.
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