TOO STUPID TO QUIT

A compelling story about the author’s banking career in Atlanta, Georgia from the late sixties to the early nineties and the forces or destiny that ultimately directed his business judgements.

Leaving the Marine Corps, after returning from Vietnam in 1968, he ultimately enters the financial services industry almost accidentally.

Without any prior experience or education in the banking field, he relies on his past military experience as a Marine Officer to apply unorthodox thinking and methodology, while president of two banks, to a highly conventional and regulated industry.

Through his experiences as a business leader, learn about the changes in banking during his career, the history of new financial products, the banking scene in Atlanta, prominent business people who impacted his life, and the failures in the Savings and Loan industry.

 This is a unique and creative treatise on the management process. Combing military tactics with business practices, the author provides an in-depth discussion and analysis of the principles, techniques, and lessons learned the hard way that were later utilized to build two successful financial organizations with unconventional and “out of the normal banking box” practices.

He was called the “Rambo” banker by business writers in Atlanta, because of the “take no prisoners” approach in the sales culture, and for requiring his officers to participate in grueling wilderness management training programs.  Frequently referred to as the “bankers who swing from trees” by the press, caused many of his customers and associates to remark that he was the most unlikely banker they had ever seen.

Reflection and review on progress or failures should be conducted on a regular basis by management after they have initiated their programs. Follow-through and monitoring of action plans is critical and must be a priority if the objectives are to be achieved. This facet of management is overlooked too many times.

After nearly three years of dedication and effort in bringing about a change in direction with Georgia Federal, it was apparent that progress had been made, albeit, it had come with pain and staff turnover.

It was emphasized in athletics and the Marine Corps that pain can and must be tolerated, as long as the results are positive and the struggle reaps the desired benefits.  Also, any worthy effort will result in some number of casualties. These limitations, although never fully acceptable, are the price that is extracted when risks are taken to achieve the desired goal.

The most important objectives attained annually at Georgia Federal were profit and asset growth.

Throughout these years the company, even with problems in the economy and industry, had established new highs in growth, revenues, and net income. When all is said and done, these are the ultimate standards of measurement denoting success in most corporations.

The programs initiated by our management team were not revolutionary in nature, but they were aggressive and critical to the accomplishment of our objectives.

 As I review them in 2003, some 10 years later with more knowledge about the business world, it is apparent that our business strategy and tactics at that time were sound, creative, and timely.

Perhaps, some of those plans could possibly be more significant in today’s highly scrutinized business environment than they were in the eighties and nineties.  Ours follow:

1)         To be a sales and customer driven company. Absolute buy-in by the entire staff was essential.

2)         To become highly competitive in our markets by offering more product opportunities, combined with an aggressive sales mentality.

3)         To achieve excellence in all of our endeavors including sales, customer service, general business transactions, and employee training.

4)         To establish high performance goals and gain commitment from all the staff members to reach these objectives.

5)         To improve our branch system locations and make them more user-friendly for our customers.

6)         To implement sales and production incentive programs to facilitate recognition and reward for those employees, who make superior contributions to the company.

7)         To create a youthful, aggressive, and creative image for the bank with our advertising, public relations and marketing programs.

8)         To create an environment which promotes fun and excitement in our work place for both our customers and employees.

9)         To be a low-cost producer by fostering a bank-wide expense control culture.

 10) Finally, to be a good corporate citizen in our community and emphasize integrity in all of our relationships within and outside our institution.

Although we were required to make many mid-course adjustments over the years, due to the ever-changing economic and volatile thrift industry environments, we never deviated from these basic objectives.

Just as a football halfback runs for the goal line, maneuvers around would-be tacklers, reverses his field, slows his step, then picks-up speed and hurdles the opposing tacklers as he runs his course, we made the same kind of effort with our company. And as the running back does, we always kept our eyes on the goal line.