| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JUNE 7, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
| ||||||||
 | ||||||||
| COVER STORY
Reed: 'The Culture Will Take Care of Itself' Q: Have there been any surprises in the merger? A: The business promise is greater than we expected. It really turns out to be an amazingly attractive business system and our customers are saying that, too.... I think the human part of making it happen has been more difficult than I might have imagined. Q: Looking back, were there good reasons not to merge? A: You could have said, gee, instead of merging with Travelers, why didn't you go out and buy or merge with somebody else, in other words take a step toward an electronic distribution system, which we don't have in the company. I thought about that. That was a legitimate reason to say no, not this one, but maybe something else. The thing that persuaded me is I didn't see anything about doing this merger that would preclude you from taking that second step. And in fact, you might be a more powerful partner if you chose to. Q: Are you looking for such a deal? A: What we are trying to do right now is make sure we can run the company effectively. Q: Is a common culture really necessary? A: I think it helps. What is culture? Culture is unwritten rules and values. And the benefit of them is you don't need to be explicit. It's automatic. If you have a culture that says you wear a tie to work you don't have to write a rule saying, hey guys, wear a tie. You know that people will. The benefit of having a strong culture is it's binding. You probably feel that with regard to your family. Q: What about corporate cultures specifically? A: If you can get a culture that is a healthy one, it makes people feel more comfortable because they are at ease with the environment, they feel like they fit in. Q: Are people in Citigroup having to adjust? A: If you're a guy from Smith Barney and you go on a trip to Europe to talk to the Citibank people about how to get in the brokerage business in Europe, you probably feel a little strange. Q: Did Citicorp and Travelers have different cultures? A: The companies did have very different cultures. But I will tell you that Travelers wasn't one culture. And Citi wasn't really one culture. There was a big difference between the New York Citi and the Philippines Citi. Q: Do you worry about these issues in the longer term? A: The culture will take care of itself. People ultimately learn how to work together. They may not like it. They may complain a lot. But you know what? Five years from now, they will be quite surprised at how they have learned to get along. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
|  |
 | |
 RELATED ITEMS Citigroup: Is This Marriage Working? COVER IMAGE: Citigroup: Is This Marriage Working? TABLE: How Reed Thinks Citigroup Is Doing CHART: The Synthetic Citigroup TABLE: Weill's Management Rules CHART: The New Citi: How the Numbers Shape Up Weill: ``I Have No Problem Being a Partner with John'' Reed: ``The Culture Will Take Care of Itself'' ONLINE ORIGINAL: A Financial Powerhouse -- But for Your Portfolio? INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
