Part Of The Reason Some

At Travelers, We Were Much More Opportunistic. It Was Very Successful, But It Wasn't An Integrated Financial Services Company. We Had A Property Casualty Company, A Life Company, A Brokerage Company. We Were A Financial Conglomerate. It Wasn't A Unified, Coordinated Strategy Of Any Sort. When It Merged With Citi, That Became A Big Issue; Citi, At That Time, Wasn't Yet A Fully Integrated, Coordinated Company.

If You Have The Choice, It's Far Better To Say, "that Person Has The Job, And They Really Don't Need That Much Of My Oversight." Maybe They Don't Need Any Of It.

I Always Tell People, "there's A Book On Everyone." I Get Some Of That Book Before I Do Anything. If I Want To Deeply Understand Someone's Reputation, I'll Talk To Their Friends, Their Former Bosses, Their Peers, And I'll Learn A Lot About Them. I Want Them To Be Trusted. I Want Them To Be Respected. I Want Them To Give A S - -. Then There Are The Intangibles: Physical And Emotional Stamina, The Ability To Confront Issues. I Can Ask All I Want About Those Things, But I Also Have To See A Lot Of It.

If Business Doesn't Thrive, It Hurts America. We Need Improved Relations, More Collaboration, More Thought And More Consistency As We Go About Trying To Make Sure We Have The Best Country In The World. Not Scapegoating And Finger-pointing.

If You Talk To Anyone Involved In Business - Forget Banks And Big Business - Talk To Small Businesses - Do It Yourself, Don't Ask Me - They'll Tell You It's Crippling. Small-business Formation Is The Lowest It Has Ever Been In A Recovery, And It's Really For Two Reasons. One Is Regulations And The Second Is Access To Capital For People Starting New Businesses.