The Bull Whisperer

On a slushy January morning in New York City, Sallie Krawcheck sits at a marble-top table in her corner office on the 50th floor of the Bank of America tower, the second-tallest skyscraper in town. Although pedestrians far below are dodging icy splashes from passing cabs and buses, the head of Bank of America's (BAC) Global Wealth and Investment Management division isn't dressed for stormy weather. Her cream cardigan is thrown over a light print dress, and her chin-length hair is tucked behind one ear, exposing a large diamond earring. In a few hours, she'll be hosting a charity fundraiser on Park Avenue; for now, she's arguing that there's no better place for the clients and advisers of Merrill Lynch—the world's most profitable brokerage—than Bank of America, the embattled retail giant that swallowed Merrill during the crisis of September 2008.

"In the days and weeks after I got here, it hit me like a blast furnace: The client comes first," says Krawcheck, who's been running the wealth unit for nearly two years. "We operate in the client's interest. We measure client satisfaction down to the adviser level." She's so on-message that you have to remind yourself that this is the same person who, as an analyst covering Wall Street a decade ago, told a reporter she could tell when management was lying because "their lips move."