Banking

Is anyone else getting tired of all the talk about differences in leadership qualities between the Baby Boomer, Gen X and Millennial generations? So many people/media/illustrations/etc. oversimplify descriptions of Millennials. I’m not even a member of this generation, and I find it offensive.

Does gender matter in banking? We recently posed that question, and shared insights from some of the most powerful women in banking who say you’d better believe it matters, and today is just the beginning!

American Banker recently released their list of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking. In connection with the release of that annual ranking, they posed the question, “Does gender matter in banking?”

Do you want to have one of those awkward board room discussions? If so, bring up the topic of board member term limits. As I type this I can hear my two girls in their high pitch voices saying…awkward!

We have discussed five key components to consider in an incentive compensation plan. The viewpoints addressed in that blog and the increased scrutiny placed on bank executive compensation made in an article in the Wall Street Journal really stand out in its contrast. It pointed out that, on average, bank regulators make more than bankers. Not just a little more. The average bank regulator earns 2.7 times more than the average private banker.  And this multiple has been increasing since the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010. 

I was recently heading home on I-40 from Nashville and couldn’t believe all the potholes. The cold winter in middle and west Tennessee has wreaked havoc on the roads, and I found myself continuously dodging potholes so I could have a smooth, comfortable ride home. 

About 50 miles from my exit, traffic came to a screeching halt. After sitting in what had become a huge parking lot for about 10 minutes, traffic began to move very slowly for the next few miles. I was anxious to get home and was seriously annoyed. 

When I finally got close enough to see what caused the delay, I realized it was a road crew working on the potholes. I immediately thought, “Why can’t they do this at night when nobody is on the roads?” That’s when it hit me – I didn’t want the potholes on the road, but I selfishly didn’t want them fixed at a time that might inconvenience me.

In Part One of our look at bank board leadership, we examined the merits and criticisms of the “Jeopardy Jerk,” Arthur Chu. He bucked the traditional game show system by board hopping with no apparent process logic. Chu deployed a perfectly allowable and extremely effective technique, yet it was criticized as a system hack because it was different, and (more to the point) other players were nearly defenseless against the strategy. 

As we think about the banking industry, “hacking the system” is a very relevant leadership strategy. 

Have you heard of Arthur Chu? Perhaps you know him better by his nickname, The Jeopardy Jerk. Debating Chu as hero or villain is currently trending on news outlets and social media. He “hacked” the Jeopardy! game show with a unique strategy of bouncing from category to category, using no apparent process logic. It keeps his opponents a step behind and uncovers coveted Daily Doubles.