Deutsche Bank could be first big client.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Former CitiGroup CEO Vikram Pandit is launching a new company with “Freakonomics” author Steven Levitt and Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman, the latest attempt on his part to re-enter corporate relevancy after being ousted from the banking giant in 2012.
Pandit and his two partners have created TGG, a consultancy company that offers large-scale banking companies the help they need in reshaping and improving their internal cultures, as well as their use of cutting-edge new technology. The firm has already sent out pitch emails to several high-profile corporations it hopes to do business with, including the Deutsche Bank, who shared their email with The Wall Street Journal.
What TGG proposes to do is use technology to track human behavior, large-scale data, and good old economics in an effort to synthesize all of that and use it to help management increase the efficiency of its employees, create more effective business strategies, and improve the overall image and work ethic of a company. The pitch emails being sent to various companies are said to highlight Pandit’s experience at the head of Citigroup as a main reason why TGG can be trusted to bring results.
Pandit’s involvement in such a company is somewhat ironic, considering that the main reasons given for his departure from Citigroup almost one-and-a-half years ago were his unapproachable managerial style and his inability to mesh well with his colleagues, underlings, and even federal regulators. The company has not yet secured any clients, but is hoping to get off the ground soon, a move that Pandit apparently hopes will help restore his legitimacy in the corporate world.
In fact, Pandit is apparently so eager to lock down Deutsche Bank as TGG’s first big client that he offered to fly all the way to London or Frankfurt just to have lunch with the bank’s head honchos. The reticence of any big fish to bite on what Pandit has been selling so far could be seen as affirmation of the theory that Pandit simply isn’t the right guy when it comes to shaking up corporate culture. Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg may have been able to do it, but can Pandit?
TGG offers “a novel approach to address the challenges that large complex organizations face in compliance, fraud, corruption, and culture and reputation,” according to the Deutsche Bank pitch shared with the Journal. It remains to be seen, however. if Pandit can get anyone to buy what he’s selling.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com