DEI + Leadership | Jane Fraser, CEO of Citi (ft. David Rubenstein)

Hi All,

Here is another blog post in honor of #WomensHistoryMonth. I am excited to share with you a new blog post as part of our series on inspiring interviews, podcasts, and books featuring remarkable women. As always, feel free to share your suggestions for female heroes to study or contribute to this blog!

🏆 Description: The Economic Club of Washington, D.C. recently hosted an interview with Jane Fraser, the CEO of Citigroup, conducted by David Rubenstein on March 22, 2023. In this video, Fraser shares her insights on the current state of the financial industry in the US, discussing recent troubles at Silicon Valley Bank and inflation. She also emphasizes the importance of empathy and personal connections in business, and the power of disclosure in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.

📝 Summary: Fraser talks about her background and career, and then discusses the current state of the financial industry in the US. She mentions the recent troubles at Silicon Valley Bank and the response from regulators and the banking community. Fraser emphasizes that the US financial system is still strong and competitive, despite occasional isolated problems. She also discusses inflation and the possibility of a recession, but does not see evidence of a recession at this time.

Jane Fraser's remarkable career path includes working at Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, and holding several high-level positions at Citi before becoming the first woman to lead a major commercial bank in the US. She highlights the importance of maintaining a human touch in business, trying new approaches, and making a positive impact. She also emphasizes the need for CEOs to speak out on public policy matters important to their business model, progress around the world, and the communities they are in. Fraser's leadership style includes personal connections with employees, and she is referred to by her first name at Citi. The bank has three-year targets on representation, recruiting, retention, promoting, and pay equity, with results disclosed every year.

I must add - in the interview, I found the below exchange between Jane Fraser and David Rubenstein quite interesting. :)

Jane Fraser: ... One day, private equity will have a woman running.

David Rubenstein: Yeah maybe. At the rate we're going, it'll take a while probably. I haven't seen that many firms that are moving in that direction, but they're trying and we're trying but we're not as far ahead as the commercial banks yet probably.

💯 Key takeaways

1. Jane Fraser hails from Edinburgh, Scotland. She completed her undergraduate (economics major) at Cambridge University. She began her career at Goldman Sachs (M&A investment banking) and worked there for two years before moving to Spain for a few years. Later, she attended Harvard Business School and then joined McKinsey, where she eventually became a partner. After some time at McKinsey, she joined Citi and held several high-level positions, including CEO of its private bank, CEO of its Latin American Business, CEO of its consumer and commercial mortgage business, and ultimately CEO of its Global consumer bank. Two years ago this month, she made history by becoming the first woman to lead a major commercial bank in the United States.
2. Jane Fraser believes empathy can be a critical source of competitive advantage in business. Understanding clients' concerns and employees' motivations can help create a strong value proposition. Maintaining a human touch in business is important. Communicating with employees in a personal and relatable way can lead to greater engagement and better results. All in all, leaders should try new approaches and make a positive impact.
3. Jane Fraser emphasizes the importance of personal connections with employees. “I first started in COVID every Thursday night, I would write a note just letting everyone know what was going on, because it was so important to feel you're connected to something. We're all in our little home microcosm and you wanted to give people a sense of purpose and I'm really proud of what our bank and many other Banks did during COVID where there's a huge amount of support to the communities to our clients who are suffering and going through a very challenging time if they're an owner of a small business or if they're an individual and that human touch was really important and it was an opportunity as a leader to try things that are very different also frankly as a woman I think it made it easier to have a different way of connecting with people and having a conversation with them so I complain about the fact my son didn't know how to stack a dishwasher.” Employees at Citigroup call Jane Fraser by her first name.
4. Re: DEI, Jane Fraser believes in the power of disclosure. She mentioned that they have three-year targets on the representation that they disclose every year. They make sure to disclose these targets to ensure that everyone pays attention to them. They also have targets on recruiting, retention, and promoting, which are in everyone's scorecard. Furthermore, they measure pay equity every year, with a third party coming in to ensure that every woman is paid the same as a man in the same job performing at the same level. The results of this measurement are also disclosed.
5. She also believes CEOs should speak out on public policy matters that are important to their business model, progress around the world, and their people and the communities they are in. They do not view this as being political but as what they stand for as a bank. Therefore, it is essential to speak out on topics that matter to them.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Jane Fraser's interview provides valuable insights into leadership, business, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. It is quite exciting to see a Scottish origin being the CEO of an American bank. In fact, it never occurred to me that Citi bank is an American enterprise until I heard Fraser describe the bank in that way, which is a fact, but I just had my a-ha moment, perhaps because I've been working at a US company all my life and I never thought of myself as non-American (this is a long story/separate blog post; I grew up in the US and lived in NYC for 10 years but I don't have an American passport - does this make me American or non-American? lol). As we celebrate Women's History Month, I hope you are taking inspiration from Fraser's career and leadership style, and striving to make a positive impact in our own workplaces and communities. I encourage you to continue to suggest remarkable women to study, contribute to this blog, and share your own experiences and insights on leadership and DEI. Look forward to hearing from you all!