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In 1946, fresh out of the Army, Walter Wriston went to work for what was then First National City Bank and began a career that would last almost 30 years. In the process he transformed banking and created the giant now called Citigroup.

Along the way he made memorable and successful bets on businesses other bankers shunned. He loaned Aristotle Onassis the money to buy the second-hand ships that were the foundation of his empire. He loaned Malcolm McLean the money to turn his concept of containerized shipping into Sea-Land.

As CEO, from 1967 to 1984, he was responsible, as much as anyone, for breaking down the barriers to interstate banking in the US. The innovations he pioneered include certificates of deposits, swaps, ATMs, and aggressive marketing of credit cards

He was fascinated by the opportunities of both a global economy and technology. He was talking about global networks and saying that "money is just another form of information" while other bankers refused to have computers on their desks.

He was the first to talk about banking as a business. In the 1970s when he suggested that banks should be measured on returns like any other business, it was scandalous to older bankers. For them, banking was a preppie club lolling in the shade of regulation.

Today, his shadow still falls across banking. Part of that is through people like Rich Kovacevich of Wells Fargo, whom Wriston brought to Citi in 1972. You can see his influence in bankers like Jamie Dimon, who passed through Citi and never worked for Wriston, but share the same attitude about banking and business.

You have to wonder what Walter Wriston would think about all the help Citi has been getting. You have to wonder what an innovator like him would think of the securitized debt and liar-loan mortgages that are among the causes of our current crisis.

I think Walter Wriston would be angry but philosophical about Citi's troubles. He always opposed bailouts of any kind. And he always took his own losses without a whimper when they came.

He'd be most angry because he'd see the problems stemming from bad business and bad dealing. He hated both. He would probably agree with Sheila Bair that "there's a difference between free markets and free-for-all markets."

So what would Walter do? I think he'd do what he could to set the system right. But I think he'd stay true to his principles and let Citi go without a bailout.

Resources

There's an abundance of material at the Walter Wriston Archives, housed at Tufts University.

Wriston's book Risk and Other Four Letter Words includes the piece where he defines money as another form of information.

Even though it came out in 1992, before the web made the internet a household word, his book, The Twilight of Sovereignty, is an excellent analysis of how a convergence of computers and communication would transform the world.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.

Request your free copy of Wally's Special Report: Managing Headcount in a Downturn.

Request your free copy of "Meeting the Challenges of the Boomer Brain Drain: An integrated approach."

Wally Bock has helped people learn to be great bosses for more than a quarter century. His latest book, Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership, makes learning key leadership principles almost effortless by teaching through a story and providing lists of resources for further growth.

Click here to find out more about Wally's coaching services.

For weekly tips and resources pointers, check our Wally Bock's Three Star Leadership Letter.

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