‘Have big ears and thick skin’: Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser on leadership as she drives the bank’s biggest overhaul 

SINGAPORE: Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser is leading her firm through its biggest transformation in more than two decades, and she is ready to dish out brutal honesty and receive equally brutal feedback.

“One of the pieces of advice I was given when I became CEO is (to) ‘have big ears and thick skin’”, she said.

“I strongly believe in excellence and empathy, and empathy to me is the big ears. It’s listening. It’s putting yourself in somebody else’s shoes. And if I was in their shoes, how would I want to hear bad news or good news?”

At the same time, transformation requires honesty, Ms Fraser said in an interview with CNA’s Dawn Tan on Oct 20 while in Singapore for a Citigroup board meeting.

“You have to be completely honest about (it) and dispassionate. Where are we? What’s working, what’s not working? If you’ve made a bad decision on something, there’s another decision (to make) and own it,” she said. 

Being a leader requires her to be decisive and bold, both of which she has shown to be in the recent announcement of an unprecedented shake-up, which includes removing a layer of top management, cutting jobs – reportedly at least 10 per cent – and taking more control of key businesses.