Even at the top of the business ladder, CEOs are still learning how to lead more effectively—and often turning to their peers for guidance. For Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, that guidance came from legendary investor and former Berkshire Hathaway head Warren Buffett, who once shared with her two pieces of advice for handling difficult people and tense workplace situations.
The first? “He said, ‘You can always call them an asshole tomorrow.’ Really good piece of advice,” Fraser recalled at an event at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business last month. “So, never in anger, respond to that email.”
Buffett also taught her the value of criticizing by category and praising by name—meaning leaders should recognize individual employees for good work but avoid singling out people when something goes wrong.
“You’re always going to regret it if you criticize someone by name; it’s going to come back and bite you,” Fraser said.
Fraser recalled one moment Buffett’s lesson proved especially helpful: when an activist investor began putting pressure on the bank. At first, she said she had a self-described “very rude response” to the idea of being empathetic toward someone causing her problems. But stepping back and viewing the situation from the investor’s perspective, she said, ultimately led to a breakthrough.
“I think empathy gives you a competitive edge because there’s far too many people that don’t try and understand the other perspective,” Fraser added.
Ultimately, Fraser said putting Buffett’s mantra into practice isn’t too complicated: “Just don’t be a jerk to people.”
Being an “asshole” at work could lead to a pink slip—and it might be a wake-up call for Gen Z
Fraser has spent her entire career working her way up the banking world. She started as a mergers and acquisitions analyst in 1988 after graduating from the University of Cambridge. She eventually returned to school to get her MBA at Harvard Business School and later spent 10 years at McKinsey. She joined Citi in 2004 and became CEO in 2021—the first woman to lead a major Wall Street bank.
Over the years, she said she’s worked with all kinds of personalities—but some simply aren’t a good fit. As Citi has undergone a multiyear restructuring, one of her priorities has been straightforward: remove toxic employees from the organization.
“Good people in a bad culture, they’ll go back to being good people again and fix the culture,” she said. “But if an asshole’s always an asshole, and it’s amazing how that just drains energy.”
The emphasis on attitude and workplace behavior may resonate with Gen Z workers as they enter the corporate world and adjust to professional norms. So far, that transition hasn’t always been smooth. Some six in 10 companies have already fired some of their new young hires, citing a lack of professionalism, organization, and communication.
Fortune reached out to Citi, and the company had no further comment.
The right attitude may be Gen Z’s biggest career advantage
Fraser’s emphasis on attitude is echoed by other CEOs who say mindset can make an outsized difference early in a career.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has admitted that attitude—something largely within a young worker’s control—can have an enormous impact on long-term success.
“An embarrassing amount of how well you do, particularly in your twenties, has to do with attitude,” Jassy said in a conversation with LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky.
Former Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach has offered similar advice, drawing on his own path from competitive wrestler to the C-suite.
“The attitude that you bring to the office—and to your employees, your peers, and the people you serve alongside every day—is what ultimately will determine a lot of your success,” Eschenbach said on McKinsey’s Inside the Strategy Room podcast last year.
“I often say your altitude in life is completely determined by your attitude in life.”
