Fortune - USA (2021-02 & 2021-03)

56 FORTUNE FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021

inequality, she said, were near their highest levels in the

past 100 years, and the trend concerned her. And then, in

an un–Fed chair (and un-Yellen) way, she editorialized just

a little. “I think it is appropriate to ask whether this trend

is compatible with values rooted in our nation’s history,

among them the high value Americans have traditionally

placed on equality of opportunity,” she said.

Yellen knew that reporters were there to cover the talk,

but she believed her remarks were relatively benign.

Apparently, she misjudged. Neil Irwin of the New York

Times called her words “downright radical.”

“No, that wasn’t Elizabeth Warren, or the editor of The

Nation, or Paul Krugman,” began the New Yorker story

more times than he can count. He describes her unique

procedure for answering audience questions. First, she

writes out her response and commits it to memory. Next,

she rips up the paper. And finally she speaks.

But Yellen also possesses a rare charisma. Mary C. Daly,

president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco,

says Yellen is especially skilled at making people feel seen.

“I feel like we’ve met another Eleanor Roosevelt in Janet,”

says Daly, who calls Yellen a mentor and a friend. “There

can be a room of thousands of people, but when she walks

up to the stage, everybody goes quiet, and all eyes are on

her. I’ve never seen that happen with anybody else.”

She also makes a habit of asking colleagues for their

opinions, even when it’s likely that she already knows

what she’s going to do, says Wessel. Yellen may be genu-

inely curious, but soliciting input also offers colleagues a

quick ego rub. And massaging egos is a skill that certainly

doesn’t hurt Yellen, who has made a career of being the

only woman in rooms full of well-venerated men.

The people sitting around the tables at the G7 and G20

and the IMF like Yellen but also respect her, says Wes-

sel. “Her stature will give her substantial influence in the

administration.” That influence will extend to the Oval

Office, he predicts. “When she chooses to use it, she’ll have

something close to veto power over big economic policies.”

But how exactly she wields that power remains to be

seen. Yellen has spent the majority of her Washington

career working at the Federal Reserve, an independent

agency charged with keeping monetary policy decisions

at arm’s length from political influence. As a result, she

has been careful about revealing her personal leanings, or

much about herself at all.

One event sticks out in Wessel’s mind as a

moment when Yellen gave a rare glimpse of her political

stripes. It was 2014 and Yellen was nearly a year into her

role as Fed chair when she gave a speech on the inequal-

ity of economic opportunity to a room full of her peers at

the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Income and wealth

ECONOMIC HARDSHIP DURING THE PANDEMIC

10%

31%

26%

16%

38%

49%

People who say they were unable to pay for basic necessities like food,

heat, or rent

WHITE

BLACK*

LATINO

WHITE

BLACK*

LATINO

People who say they used up all or most of their savings**

• WHITE AND BLACK DATA DO NOT INCLUDE LATINOS
  ** EXCLUDES THOSE WHO REPORTED NEVER HAVING HAD SAVINGS

SOURCE:

THE COMMONWEALTH FUND

As director of the National Economic Council,

Brian Deese, 42, will help set the agenda.

ALONG WITH TREASURY SECRETARY YELLEN,

THESE KEY BIDEN APPOINTEES WILL HAVE A

MAJOR IMPACT ON DRIVING POLICY.

BY GEOFF COLVIN

Meet the

Economy’s

New Power

Players

KEN CEDENO—CNP/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES