It isn’t quite Teddy Roosevelt’s “speak softly and carry a big stick,” but Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser has her own aphorism: “Have big ears and thick skin.”

And just as T.R.’s credo made sense for his world, Fraser’s seems apt for hers. Still relatively new on the job and with literally millions of constituents, she has done much listening, and faced slings, arrows, and brickbats since the day she became head of the giant, underperforming bank.