David Widener’s piece from Market Watch Weekend on Citigroup doesn’t say it all. Quite frankly, he glosses over the reason why Citi is struggling. Their culture is ripe for the problems it faces today. The story around Todd Thompson’s departure is ironic sense he was a key leader charting the future for the organization. Wow, do you really need a wood burning fireplace in your office?
Certainly Mr. Thompson’s age and the power granted was the issue. If anybody new the importance of managing the P&L it would have been him. Sadly, power has a way of corrupting our best intentions…even average intentions.
So few executives no how to handle the power they’ve been given. Ask the majority of Fortune 500 companies how they prepare their top leaders for the power given and you’ll most likely get an awkward pause. It’s not that they don’t want leaders that handle power well, they just trample the issue on their way to the analyst conference call.
Maybe Citigroup should invest in a development program that address "power management." If they already have one, then maybe they need to evaluate how effective the program is…in delivering results.