Behind every woman: A piece of advice from Tiina Lee

Celebrating our renowned Behind Every Woman instalment, we welcomed Tiina Lee who became Citi’s Chief Executive Officer in the UK in October 2023. She was also appointed the UK Cluster & Banking Head and the CEO of Citigroup Global Markets Ltd. She is responsible for the UK Investment Banking, Corporate Banking and Commercial Banking businesses and chairs the UK Executive Committee. Amongst her visits with politicians and upcoming visit to 10 Downing St, we had the pleasure of talking to Tiina about her career so far and advice for women.Prior to joining Citi, Tiina was at Deutsche Bank where she was the Chief Executive Officer for the UK & Ireland. In her time at Deutsche, she led trading and capital markets businesses within Markets and held a number of leadership roles as Head of UK Strategy, UK Chief Operating Officer and Head of Global Markets, UK. Tiina began her 34-year career in investment banking at Hill Samuel Bank and Lehman Brothers in fixed income trading. Tiina sits on the Leadership Council of TheCityUK, a leading industry body and the board of UK Finance. She has been involved in many philanthropic endeavours, currently serving on the Board of Trustees of Donmar Warehouse Projects. Tiina Lee attended King’s College London in 1990 where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Food Science, specialising in Management Studies. Looking back on her childhood with Chinese parents, she addressed the path that was commonly predetermined for her; studying biology, chemistry and physics at A level in order to pursue a career as a doctor. It wasn’t until she had her first work experience in a surgery that she realised - with horror - that at the end of seven years, it wasn’t the vocation that was meant for her. Confused by this realisation, she was unsure of what to do until her mother suggested looking into banking. It was in the late 80s, following a period of great deregulation in Thatcher’s era, that Tiina’s journey truly began.

From her studies at King’s, she soon realised how much she loved the multifaceted nature of finance. Though daunting at the time, given how vast the industry is, she knew finance was for her. At a graduate event, she remembers so clearly being set on pursing a role in M&A to which she was shocked to be asked ‘why would you want to do that for?’. She was then toured around the trading floor of Leehman Brothers, marvelling at the trading desks despite having no idea at the time what trading really was, and it was at that moment she decided - ‘I want to trade.’

So Tiina began trading for twelve years, recommending it as a brilliant place to start as it gives a good grounding for a long-term career in investment banking, teaching you risk management from a very early point. Throughout her career expanding roles in trading, debt capital markets, equity capital markets, strategy and then broader leadership roles, she claims all thirty-four years of experience combine at any one time to help her make decisions in her current role. For her progression to the top of Deutche and then recently Citi, it was more about taking lateral moves in order to ensure she had a broad experience to have the skill-set suited towards CEO. “I don’t think anyone starts their career thinking I’m a good leader, it doesn't really happen that way”, instead, she explained, it’s more of a slow burn. In fact, any responsibility, such as managing only one person is an experience of leading. Yet, Tiina recognises that it takes a very different skill set to lead 15,000 people instead of 1. Despite the cliche, she noted the importance of authenticity when leading, explaining that a good leader will be the same on TV and in front of crowds as they will 1-on-1. When asked if she had any bad experiences being a woman in finance, Tiina laughed exclaiming that she wished she could tell some horror stories but she’s had a brilliant time throughout her career. Throughout her progression, she’d been surrounded by men who had taken her under their wing, supporting her along the way. In finance - trading specifically - she explained that it’s really all about the scoresheet at the end of the day. Whether you’re ‘up’ or ‘down’ is what really matters. Though there were few women in trading at the time, Tiina noted one of her many mentors who, despite her small blonde petite frame, was a powerhouse on the trading floor at Deutsche.

Watching her in a room full of men, with everyone listening when she spoke, Tiina “was  convince she could rule the world”. Tiina highlights that it’s when you’re being yourself that people will follow you. ‘It’s not about being a good leader if you turn around and no one’s behind you”. In fact, Tiina explored the idea that women tend to positively stick out as people tend to remember you more in male-dominated industries. She recalled recently pulling out her own school report cards to show her 16-year-old daughter. Year on year, her teachers praised her for her work but consistently commented ‘Tiina needs to talk up, Tiina never contributes’. She learnt that she didn’t have to be the loudest person in the room, but being a good listener and making sure everyone’s heard positioned her to be suited towards the esteemed leaderships roles she has had throughout her impressive career. As the only Wall Street bank with a female CEO, Tiina commented on the gender diversity within the company. Though not quite 50/50, they are quickly approaching an increasingly equitable split. The biggest problem? Getting Gen Z to stay in jobs. Internal development programmes are focusing on how to retain young talent within companies. Finance used to be the ‘go-to’ industry for top graduate talent, but with increasing options such as technology and consultancy and a million different graduate pathways available, financial service companies are figuring out how to make the case that finance is better. For Tiina, she explained that investment banking training is second-to-none, setting you up in the right way to navigate your war around a balance sheet, financing your company and how to manage risk which provides an excellent jumping-off point, even if a career in finance isn’t the end goal. Many, however, go in with the ‘I’ll do it for a few years’ mindset and end up falling in love with finance as a lifelong career. Tiina told our audience not to be shy to ask for things you want. Don’t sit there thinking if you work hard that someone will tap you on the back and discover you. You have to grab and ask for the opportunities you want. When it comes to regrets, she doesn’t have any. When working in large organisations, it can be easy to get obsessed by the promotion angle, but often, the true moments of acceleration occur when accepting a lateral move. These lateral moves can open a whole new series of difference options for vertical progression as well as perspective. “Sometimes you need to move to the side to move up” she advised.

Her advice to her younger self echoes that of the other women we have had from our Behind Every Woman series. Tiina advised young aspiring women to find a subject niche and become an expert at it. Embrace the intellectual curiosity and if you’re bored, then do something else. For her, the day she gets bored and thinks ‘I’ve got this’ is when things will start to go wrong. She embraces the ‘fake it til you make it’ approach to get over imposter syndrome. If you’re nervous or daunted, prepare thoroughly and commit your points to memory. But, she says, a bit of nervousness is good for the soul. For those aspiring CEOs and senior level managers, she advised to practise absorbing and distilling information quickly as being able to make quick decisions is imperative. Tiina closed on an important note, highlighting that she rarely makes decisions on her own and believes in having a supportive network both personally and professionally to empower her.