The Voice in the Conversations

We see now that Chuck Prince (NYT registration required) wants, in his words, to have "conversations" about the kind of culture Citigroup will need if it is to avoid another debacle like being escorted out of Japan's private banking business because of being judged, as Prince put it, "not fit to run that kind of business" in the country. The lengthy article makes many references to the kind of "macho culture" Sandy Weill (who handpicked Mr. Prince as his successor when he "retired" to his present Chairman of the Board position last year) built while at Citigroup. Interestingly, though, the article never connected the dots between those two circumstances. How is it that Mr. Weill is not accountable for the culture that encouraged (my interpretation, of course) senior executives to engage in the kind of behavior that led to them being thrown out of a country as notoriously decorous as Japan?

Whatever.

Now, however, Mr. Prince is apparently asking employees to step up to the mike and have open conversations about what might transform this culture into something less, in his words, "embarassing."

Well, good luck.

Because, we also find another article in the November 7 NYT Business section that appears relevant. This one brietly discusses Stephen Covey's new book, The 8th Habit. Covey fans worldwide (and there are apparently at least 15 million of us) will recall the impact The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People had on us 15 years ago. The 8th Habit, it turns out is, "finding your own voice." This means, discovering one's "talents, passions, need and conscience."

This could be a huge synchronous moment! Helping people to discover their voice AND encouraging them to use that voice to tell the truth to the CEO at the same time!

Pardon me if I'm skeptical. Covey's book fills a void in today's (business) world because the cultures we've built, from the family to elementary school to college to the workplace, have taught us to suppress our voices. And now, they've largely atropohied. We've become a nation of doubletalkers.

Thanks to this medium, we are hearing lots of very diverse people are vocalizing about lots of divergent issues, in lots of weird registers. Hey, it's a start!

But to ask people (big company corporate people, no less) to turn on a dime, after seeing the consequences that befell others who did so in highly analogous circumstances, is just plain silly.

A friend of mine once said, "you can't talk yourself out of something you behaved yourself in to." Prince and his fellow Citigroup leaders have a lot of behaving to do before his colleagues are likely to believe he really means what he says.

Not that he doesn't, but, I'm just sayin'...

What do you think, how could Chuck really pull this off?

Comments

[Jim Biolos]

Yes, Tom, Chuck is really in the hot seat.

Oddly enough, Sandy Weill is probably not to blame for Citigroup's misadventures in Japan. Citibank Private Banking has had a rich history as money launderers to the international elite. Think Carlos Salinas de Gortari in Mexico in the 90s. If anyone is responsible for perpetuating the behavior in Japan, it is Derryck Maughan. Yes, the same Derryck Maughan who presided over scandal-ridden Salomon Brothers and who became the figure head for Citigroup's Japan operations post-merger.

The real question is whether after studying as a baritone for years and years and years, can you simply decide that what you really need to do is sing mezzo-soprano? I think not on Chuck Prince's watch...and it makes you wonder -- given Citibank/Citigroup's rich history of near self-destructiveness, whether we can only expect them to hum more of the same tune?

[Tom Guarriello]

Thanks for your insights, Jim.

I know individuals are responsible for their own behavior and that leaders can't control everything. Perhaps Mr. Weill isn't "to blame" for the Japanese misadventures, but apparently the behavior of Mr. Maughan, and others, didn't trouble him enough to do anything about it.

As for Mr. Prince's switch from baritone to mezzo, what's more likely is that his voice will crack when the arias become too taxing, and it's the high notes that really matter when you're center stage.

[Connie Sartain]

How could Prince pull it off?

Well, he could chuck his name and MO todate as well as his association w/ Sandy Weill. That might indicate he's up for some change. He could invite Harrison to conduct an Open Space, but he wouldn't pass the smell test. He could read William Boyd for examples of and reasons for engendering trust. Also, Lord Nelson was revered by his men, for providing excellent food and drink and literally leading them into battle. (In my experience, businessmen love military parallels to absurdity, i.e. cola wars, cookie wars. What self-respecting sales department isn't at war with the marketing department, etc?)

Demonstrating openness to change is one thing, demonstrating integrity or trustworthiness overnight is another matter

If he wants employees to be open, obviously he needs to do the same and frankly, to paraphrase "Jack", there is reason to believe "Prince can't handle the truth."

In true C&C mode, he has already decided what the problem is (short-term thinking) and the solution (long-term thinking). Old framing if ever I heard it. Narrow to boot. Not an invitation to converse. Nothing like you or I might frame the problem. Who knows how employees might frame it.

Mirroring the leadership of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib (Bush,Cheney,Rumsfeld,Gonzales et al) he claims to take responsibility for the bad behavior of a few bad apples. Stinks to high heaven. That's not true and that's not taking responsibility.

Firing friends is de riguer(sp), although it's usually done in a clandestine fashion. He probably needed to cut the legal liability of the company, not to mention severance agreements.

His objective seems to be avoiding further embarrassment, a far cry from conversation.

His chief challenge seems to be managing his reputation vis a vis his predecessor, a far cry from changing the culture.

Chuck Prince.
And the horse he rode in on.
That is if you really want to set the culture free.

[Tom Guarriello]

Well, that's an awful lot to chew on when leaving for Paris in an hour!

I'll get to it, though, promise.

[J. A. MORGAN]

although my plight with citi bank is small for such a mega corporation the principle is the same /THEY only understand numbers and are blind to people./ i lost my job as a customer rep because i would not sacriface what was truely best for clients & customers >>my boss's found out i had a SWAMI and because they were all christian fundelmentalist they THREW OUT corporate policy to get rid of me besides >>i had a morale objection to helping process third party checks that they openly knowingly & willlingly cashed just because they are a bank does not give them the right to undermined the whole checking system/ this was also a great way to launder money / now you have large payments & debts instead of reporting deposits & withdraws over $10,000.00/ mr prince should go to hagerstown to investigate how there managers leave people in roadside distress while cust. serv. rep are off the phones doing un-realAted data processing so the director can hide true $ loss's // MR PRINCE MAY CALL 301-432-4708 FOR THE WHOLE STORY OR ANY LAWYER WHO KNOWS CIVIL RIGHT'S LAW AS WELL AS BANKING LAWS / EVEN THERE OWN DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCESS WAS IGNORED AS WELL AS PHONE CALLS TO THEIR OWN ETHICS HOTLINE / MR PRINCE CAN NOT RUN THE COMPANY AND FIX THERE CULTURE TOO!!!! OF COURSE CITI SEZ THE RIGHT THINGS BUT IN TRUTH ACTS DIFFERENTLY BEHIND THE SCENES