If you made a business plan for 2020 that was shelved by the middle of March, you might think about dusting it off for 2021. With vaccines becoming available, one can reasonably hope for a return to normal activity later this year. [Continue]
As a director serving two boards, I can tell you that 2020 reinforced its no-star rating by the challenges it afforded leadership in banks large and small. In both cases, for me, dealing with substantive and emotional issues under significant time constraints made me grateful that both of my boards are strategically focused and functionally practical. But that’s not always the case. [Continue]
I have a friend named Steve with whom I share a monthly dinner out with our respective spouses. Steve is a predictable sort with simple tastes. He likes pizza, chow mein, or a well-done(!) steak, but will set aside any of these options whenever he spies fish-and-chips on a menu. If I gently tease that he’s missing an opportunity to try something new by always ordering the same food, he shrugs his shoulders and says: “I know what I like.” I would like to tell Steve he has it backward. He doesn’t “know what he likes.” He “likes what he knows,” choosing it again and again and again. [Continue]
Specific to lending, numerous reports show that small, Black-owned businesses were largely shut out of the Paycheck Protection Program. The unfortunate fallout over PPP lending provides a recent example of the economic inequity too often experienced by African-Americans. Now legislators and organizations are pushing for set-asides in potential future funding rounds to ensure minority entrepreneurs gain access to PPP funds that were intended for all entrepreneurs in the first place. [Continue]
Sometimes the way forward is unclear and I think now is one of those times. The demonstrations and riots over injustice in our law enforcement tell us something is gravely wrong, but any answers about how to fix this remain mercurial at best. [Continue]
All over my social media feeds, I’ve seen chronicles of outsized efforts by dozens of other community banks to process PPP loans. I congratulate all of these banking teams for stepping up to help customers and non-customers alike. Millions of business owners are breathing a bit easier because of your efforts — kudos to you and your teams. [Continue]
“Diversity is inviting people to the dance; inclusion is asking them to dance,” said Shirley Davis, president of SDS Global Enterprises. Davis believes bank leaders should engage in self-assessment, asking themselves if they are the kind of leaders who build more leaders through vision, inspiration and inclusiveness, because inclusive cultures will attract top talent. [Continue]
Maybe some good came out of the financial crisis of 2008 — that is, lessons about how to handle another crisis. Congress and the U.S. Treasury have responded to the economic trouble that has followed the nation’s response to COVID-19 in an unprecedented and impressive way. [Continue]
The staff at Cross Financial has migrated to working remotely and the change is providing a significant learning opportunity. While I have enjoyed working from my home office with the sounds of our neighborhood and spring breezes streaming through my open window, I have discovered why so many years ago, businesses used paperweights. [Continue]
What we didn’t expect when we put our April architecture issue together was that in the week-long stretch between going into production and sending the issue to the printer, we’d all become bit players in an unfolding calamity of a different sort: The coronavirus pandemic. [Continue]