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Main Street Reimagined Podcast
This is a podcast for dreamers, creators, developers, and entrepreneurs to learn, share, and be inspired to change your community through small business.
Main Street Reimagined Podcast
Episode 41: From Farm Boy to Banking Innovator: Chad Hoffman's Leadership Journey
What happens when a community bank thinks beyond deposits and loans? Chad Hoffman, President of Richwood Bank, reveals the unexpected journey from traditional banking to becoming a true community cornerstone and industry disruptor.
Growing up a farm boy who scraped hog barns in northern Union County, Chad never imagined leading a financial institution. Yet when tragedy struck his family in 1993, he found himself stepping into banking, eventually transforming a modest $68 million bank with 24 employees into a thriving $1.2 billion institution employing 210 people across nine locations.
Chad explains how Richwood Bank pioneered an innovative in-branch coffee shop concept. Unable to sell products due to banking regulations, they created a donation model that benefits local nonprofits while attracting community members who might never otherwise enter a bank. This creative solution has generated nearly $1 million for community organizations while completely reimagining what a bank lobby can be.
But the innovation didn't stop with coffee. Recognizing the varying needs of their small business clients, Richwood expanded into marketing services, payroll processing, and business consulting – all stemming from their deep commitment to helping local entrepreneurs succeed. As Chad puts it, "Stronger community businesses make stronger community banks."
Throughout the conversation, Chad shares profound leadership insights gained over his 31-year banking career. From the importance of finding mentors to the transformative power of team recognition, he explains how his leadership philosophy evolved from numbers-focused to people-centered. His recommended reading list includes Patrick Lencioni, Simon Sinek, and Jocko Willink – authors who have shaped his understanding of purpose-driven leadership.
Whether you're a small business owner, an aspiring leader, or simply someone who cares about community development, this episode offers a refreshing perspective on how innovative thinking can revitalize traditional institutions. Ready to reimagine what's possible in your community? Listen now and be inspired to think differently about your own business challenges.
Guest Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richwoodbank
Main Street Reimagined:
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The Main Street Reimagined Podcast, Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqfkmF5bRH0od1d3iiYKs3oEn_gvMYk7N
Henry Development Group:
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Developing News Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/33110524eb5c/developing-news
Luke Henry:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/luhenry
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You do have to have a thick skin, okay, because, yeah, it sits on you. At the end of the day. You're going to make some calls and not every one of them are going to be right, and not everybody is going to agree with you all the time. That is sure as heck. The truth as well. But if you've got a vision and you can sell it to others, you know, hopefully the ones that believe in you, you know, will ride along with you.
Speaker 2:And those that's not. Go find your thing right, whatever that may be. This is the Main Street Reimagined podcast, a show for people ready to turn visions into realities and ideas into businesses. Hey, I'm Luke Henry and each week I lead conversations with Main Street Dreamers who took the leap to launch a business, renovate a building or start a movement, their ideas, their mindsets and their inspirations, as well as some of the highs and lows along the way. This is a place for dreamers, creators, developers and entrepreneurs to learn, share and be inspired to change your community through small business. Enjoy the show.
Speaker 2:Hey friends, luke Henry here, this is the Main Street Reimagined Podcast and we are back with another week of great conversation and talking with dreamers, doers, entrepreneurs, innovators and hopefully pulling out some stuff that resonates with those of you that are watching and listening. We sure appreciate you tuning in again. I will make sure that the next 40, 45 minutes here are well worth your investment of time, and I'm excited to have with me today Chad Hoffman from Richwood Bank. Chad, thank you for being here, it's an honor to be here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I'm really looking forward to the conversation, before you turn this off and say, oh, it's another one about banking. Oh no, we're not going to talk too much about banking today. We've got a whole suite of other things that Chad is, I'd say, a darn near an expert on at least well-experienced, and we're going to pull some of the gold out of his brain here as he talks about some of the creative and innovative things they've done, not just with banking but beyond through his organization. And so if somebody is listening and they're in a place far away and they've never heard of Richwood, ohio or Richwood Bank, tell them a little bit about what you do and just kind of in 30 seconds what all grounds you're covering down there in.
Speaker 1:Richwood. No, understood, I appreciate it, Luke. Yeah, we started in 1867 there in Richwood and Richwood's a town of about 2,500 people. There in the very northern tip of Union County. We operate in Plain City. We operate in Marysville, LaRue, so that's our Marion County piece there.
Speaker 1:We picked that up back in 1998. We're in Delaware, we're in Bell Fountain, Springfield and Plain oh, I said Plain City already. I think I covered all of them, but there's nine offices in total and again we just we're about a $1.2 billion bank and again we just were about a $1.2 billion bank. So we're what you would consider kind of mid-tier on the banking front. But at the same time our focus is communities. Our whole vision is to inspire, protect and celebrate anything that helps communities thrive, Because, again, that's where we live, it's where we work, it's where we play. We want it to be a stronger place. When I was younger I wanted to go to wall street, I wanted to be in New York and then all of a sudden I got engaged and married and that didn't seem as attractive Then you have kids Luke and now New York is not interesting at all anymore.
Speaker 1:So to move back where I grew up, uh, was not something that was in my original plan, so but but to uh, to, to build communities and to make them stronger, you know, across the board, and that's what your entrepreneurs do, right, that's where their businesses are located, and we just enjoy working with them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to get into some of the growth you've experienced and some of the innovations that you've created there, as you've been involved with that organization and really done some cool stuff that organization and really done some cool stuff. But before we jump into that, tell me a little bit about growing up and how you landed yourself as a bank president. It's been, I know, part of the story, but it's an interesting road to get there.
Speaker 1:I mean, I grew up, my father's family were farmers. We farm about 3,000 acres is what we do there in the northern part of Union County and so I was a farmhand. That's what I did. I scraped hog barns when I was in junior high. I had a hogs, we had cattle. Sheep were the first things to go. I did find out that sheep are the dumbest animal on the face of the earth. If you didn't know that, I always say there's a reason why the Bible refers to humans as sheep. Right, for that very reason, luke. So then we kept the hogs all the way through me being through school. So I would come back from high school every summer and that's what we would do. Work through school. So you know, I would come back from high school every summer and that's what we would do. Worked a lot of ground. I thought I would always fall asleep in the tractor because I'm like what does your brain do when you're driving? But found out that you keep yourself entertained and you just sit there and think.
Speaker 1:But my mother's family was in banking and my grandfather was president of Richwood Bank and in 1976 handed it over to my uncle, who then sadly in 1993. He was 47 and died of a heart attack in his sleep and that was unexpected and my mother took over. At that time she was cashier at the bank. There were 24 employees and it was about 68 million in assets. I started the next month, so that had been January of 1994. I had worked here in Marion at Holbrook Manor. Nichols and Rogers at the time is what it was called Love what you've done with that office by the way, it's a beautiful place.
Speaker 2:We just left there. We had a great trip down memory lane for Chad and I, comparing notes to what the building was and now that is the home of Connect Coworks, as well as still the offices, in a different fashion, for Holbrook and Manor accountants.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, if you haven't seen that space, I encourage you to get in there. If you need co-working space, that's the place to go. That's just that center part of Marion, plenty of parking and you're just right in the downtown of Marion area. So I appreciate a chance to, 30 years later, getting to see a beautiful building like that.
Speaker 2:That was fun for me too, so thank you.
Speaker 1:But, like you said, the fact that they covered in all the windows. I didn't get to see any windows when I was there, luke, so I appreciate the fact that you got some windows back there again.
Speaker 1:But no, after I got my CPA license, after two years of working at the accounting firm, I actually had accepted a job at the Marion Bank, a gentleman by the name of Michael Steen who had started the Marion Bank. Gary Pendleton was his vice president and I met with both of them and I accepted a job from them. And in my two week notice period to the accounting firm my uncle passed away. So I ended up not working for Marion Bank. I called Mike and I apologized but ended up starting working for Richwood on January 24th of 94.
Speaker 2:So it's been over 31 years now that's incredible and what a ride. Yeah, you took over and it was a very small bank. Yeah, 68 million, yes, even, in that day terms, that was a pretty small bank, that was a pretty small bank.
Speaker 1:We were in Richwood and we were in Plain City. We'd started in Plain City in 76. That was one of the last things my grandfather and uncle kind of did together Grandfather started it, uncle finished it, but we had the office in Plain City and those are the only two branches we had and I was employee number 24 when I came on. So you know, 68 million, 24 employees. Today, like I said, we're about 1.2 billion and we have about 210 employees in total and I've just got to work with some great people over the last 30 years. They've taught me a lot about banking and just kind of about entrepreneurship. I mean, I've seen a lot of great entrepreneurs, you know, working with them from a lending perspective as well as an account perspective, and to learn from them and some of the things that they're doing is pretty incredible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, entrepreneurs are great people to hang around. I mean, that tends to be the flock that I fly with, I guess, and just inspirational hardworking.
Speaker 2:Oh my and it's great. So it's awesome that you've been able to spend time with those, and I think that you've. You certainly are one as well. You know an entrepreneur and have done some really creative things. So, starting with Richwood Coffee, tell a little bit about that venture. And then you've also had some other pop-up departments, or whatever we call those, that again are kind of a non-traditional in the banking world.
Speaker 1:Well, I think the entrepreneurs that are listening and that are watching understand just the needs change, right, you want to stay relevant. Whatever you're doing, whatever your business model is, you want to stay relevant. Well, if you look at the number of banks, in the last I mean in Ohio, in the year 2000, there were 300 banks and savings and loans in the state. Today there's less than 160. So you're saying in 25 years half of them are gone. I mean you look at that, luke, and you say okay, and you're starting to feel a little bit like Blockbuster, right, I mean, fewer and fewer people are starting to rent your videos. But hey, everything's okay, maybe not.
Speaker 1:Maybe we need to be looking at our model and trying to figure out what else we can do besides just accounts and loans. So Richwood Coffee was developed 10 years ago and our whole concept we wanted to try to get more talent into the bank, bring people there that kind of were entrepreneurs themselves and see if we couldn't hire them in, have them work for us, come up with some new ideas. But the problem was when they walked into my lobby it looked like the 1950s. That doesn't necessarily inspire entrepreneurship, right.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's not that you can't take advantage of some things that look really cool, but just overall it looked old and so we needed to revamp it and uh, but to put all that money into it? Today you don't have to come into the bank to do your banking anymore. You can do it in your underwear, at home, on your computer, on your phone, 24 seven. So we said, okay, if we're going to put all this money into the remodel, what else can we do that makes people come into the building that we have here? How can we leverage the building so we have some meeting space in there as well as a full-blown coffee shop? We actually use Crimson Cup out of Columbus. A guy by the name of Greg Hubert is a friend and he allows us to buy his coffee and since I don't sell it, he allows me to brand it Richwood Coffee, his coffee. And since I don't sell it, he allows me to brand it Richwood coffee, and so it's legitimate. You know, starbucks style coffee. I mean we're right there competing with Luke, and and so when I say competing, it's it's that style, but we're not allowed to sell coffee.
Speaker 1:Federal Reserve, there's a little act out there called Glass-Steagall and it says you can't mix commerce and banking. That's why Walmart doesn't have a bank. That's why Apple doesn't have its own bank is because they sell products, which means they can't do financial services. So with that it became a donation model. So when I called the fed they said well, if you sell coffee, you pretty much can't do it, but if you don't sell coffee, you can do anything you want. So we said, all right, we're not going to sell coffee, we're just going to do it through a donation model. You come in, you make a donation to one of our beneficiaries, which is about seven places per office. Each office has different ones. Like I said, we have six out of our nine offices have these coffee shops and there's about seven or eight donation spots.
Speaker 1:You make a donation. For instance, a $20 donation gets you six cups at our coffee shop. What you decide to put in the cup is up to you, so there's no pricing to it. It's just a number of drinks that you've got on your card or in your name. They know your name as well as you know. You can pull up a card number if you need to, but they know exactly how many drinks you have. You can refill it, you do not have to be a customer to join, but this year we're hoping to hit a million dollars in donations to nonprofits, and that's all through cups of coffee. So it's something that we would have never dreamed would be this big it has turned out. It just continues to grow every month.
Speaker 1:So we're offering these great drinks, but they also are giving to something that they want to give to, and what's really fun is when the beneficiaries have started sending their people to us. So, in other words, people that you love the Humane Society. The Humane Society says, hey, don't go get your drink and don't pay for it If you don't have to go and make a deposit or, you know, make a donation to union County humane society and get your drinks that way. And so when they're starting to send people to us, these are people that probably aren't our customers and we have a chance to then build a relationship. So I'm not trying to compete with other coffee shops in the area. That's not the goal.
Speaker 1:The goal is to get people to walk in that have never seen our bank before, build relationships with our teams. That's why I don't have drive-thrus on the sides of a bank, for coffee is I'm really not trying to make it easier for you to get coffee. I'm trying to get you to build a relationship. Come and use our bank for a third space, right. Come and use our bank for a you know, a third space, right, that, that place in between home and work that you can come in. We've got seating for like 20 or 30. We have music that plays, it's a free wifi bar. We open at seven in the morning to try to get people before they go to work, before they go to school, and the bank is open all during that period as well. So it's just, it's the relationship. That's where community banks kind of excel and we just really need to be able to leverage that.
Speaker 2:How has that transformed? If you can think about before and after a coffee shop has went into one of your bank lobbies, what has it done? Not only for the traffic but for the culture of the bank and just the feel, the vibe when you walk in? I have to think that it makes a significant difference?
Speaker 1:It absolutely does. I mean to have people. It's always fun to see somebody walk in at the first time, right? Because, again, the first thing they see is a coffee shop when they walk into a bank, so they're kind of shocked by that. So it's always fun to have the first person, or you know that person that's never seen it before, because my staff gets to talk to them about it and about the concept and they get a free drink Anytime you come in and if you've never used it before, you've never been in there. The first drink's on us, just so you get the experience and what that's supposed to be. But then you know my team, just they don't. You don't want them to wait for 20 minutes in between customers, right? You want that lobby to be busy. People are attracted by energy.
Speaker 1:A great book out there called Fish, you know. That talks about the Pikes fish market, you know. And in Seattle, where they're throwing these fish around, I mean they're literally just throwing fish around, but they do it in a fun way. They get a crowd that stands around watching these guys sell fish. Same thing in the banking right, if we can get a room full of people that are talking and communicating, we have celebrity baristas sometimes. So you know like the superintendent of schools might come and be a barista for an hour.
Speaker 1:Well, during that period, you know, if we can get more people to come in. What was needed in Richwood here recently, we had two past retired VOAG teachers. Okay, so everybody that had had them as a student came into the bank during the period that they were. I think it was a three-hour period that they were going to be the guest baristas and we had a great big full lobby. I mean we became the place in town to be and you know how many banks get to say that so that it just it invigorates our team. Yes, it's stressful for them, but they wouldn't have it any other way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's very cool. And then, really, that was kind of the the initial sort of innovative thing that you did. And then, as entrepreneurs do, as innovators do, you saw another need based on the customers that you were serving, and that led to another offshoot.
Speaker 1:It did, luke. You know, when you go back to 2013 and 14, and Pandora was just becoming popular right, I mean, this was a new thing right, everybody's listening to Pandora.
Speaker 1:Well, if you remember, you could get ads on Pandora. You'd be listening to it and when it first came out there were ads. Now, of course you can pay, you don't need it but at the same time you could geofence those ads. Real innovative person and she says, hey, we need to get on Pandora. That would be something that would just open us up. So it only hit people around Richwood and around plain city where we were operating in Marysville at the time, so pretty much all of union County.
Speaker 1:But I didn't have to advertise to Columbus where I don't have banks or you know it's not like being on TV or on radio stations where you're hitting so many areas that you're not this was very targeted.
Speaker 1:So people that were in our area that were listening to Pandora, all of a sudden they're hearing a Richwood bank ad and they were so impressed I mean we'd hit the big time right. It was like we were in the movies or something. But you know, they came and asked how we were doing it. Well, she was my marketing director was so kind of innovative. She used the opportunity. She started doing some shout outs to some of the companies that we worked with some of our best clients in our ads she would say their names and just get their names out there. All of a sudden I'm getting thank you cards and flower planters to my office thanking me for them hearing their own names on Pandora. We started thinking about saying, you know, we could monetize this. I mean, this is something we can help them do. So we actually helped them start creating, you know, commercials of their own.
Speaker 1:We started what we call Richwood marketing. I now have eight people that work. We do graphics design, we do websites, we do videography, we do a social media, but things that help small businesses. These are things that they don't necessarily know how to do and we can help them do that because, again, the stronger the community businesses, the stronger the community banks. So if we can help them, you know, with these kinds of things and getting better exposure to them, we believed it helped us too. So we love the win-win situations, and there it was. So Richwood marketing started back in 2015 and we now gross it grosses over a million dollars a year through through that business alone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and, and then has led to a couple other. Payroll is another one we do at.
Speaker 1:Ridgewood payroll, we saw a lot of people that were getting penalties on their payroll or we found out. You know, we were kind of looking into their accounts sometimes and you could tell this is not going well. They're hitting, getting hit with some penalties or some things they don't understand about payroll. We had everything we needed internally with a bank. You know the way that we can send and receive money. We actually used QuickBooks to start and we were helping companies do their own payroll. Now we use another company and we are kind of our pass-through. So it makes it a little bit easier and we can do.
Speaker 1:We do up right at 200 companies payrolls today, anywhere from one to to about 40 to 50, our sweet's kind of in between five and 50 employees. You know that's where it's great, but we're really just targeting those small businesses that we work with that just don't have a payroll person on hand. They were paying somebody in Columbus. You know they're paying somebody else. I mean, if you're using a local accountant, we're happy with that right, but if you're trying to use some kind of online service for your payroll or do it yourself, it's something that we could, uh, that we could help them with and so, uh, like I said, we're doing about 200 companies payrolls right now.
Speaker 1:Richwood consulting is one that we're just starting this year. It's a new one that we use for, uh, we found out that companies aren't great hiring for themselves, so we help them kind of advertise, you know, source team members and then how to interview to get the team member that you want and to kind of help them out with that process and some HR things. When it comes to training, management skills, leadership skills, we even have a customer de-escalation class. You know how do you talk a customer off the ledge, right, if they're really upset on the phone or in person, how do you talk to them in a way that kind of brings them down? And but the strategic planning is another one, delegation's one that we just developed. We're teaching our people internally these things, luke, so you know to share it with our customers. Why wouldn't we do that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You've hosted workshops, different gatherings and trainings, really all centered around this concept of trying to build stronger businesses, stronger leaders in the community, and that's, in turn, the whole concept of a rising tide. Absolutely, you know, you're helping create that rising tide and, yes, I mean, these are for profit services that you're providing, but people would be paying for them elsewhere anyway, and so I just think this is, you know, very innovative and a great lesson and takeaway for other businesses that are saying, you know that maybe are thinking or should be thinking, hey, we have this group of customers, we have this group of people we're serving. Do they have other needs that we can meet, maybe better than the next guy? Do we just need to go and talk with them?
Speaker 2:I mean, it sounds like these were really sort of organically. These didn't necessarily come out of some think tank session. This was like just customers coming to you and say, hey, could you? And then you're like wait a minute, yeah, we could. I mean, tell a little bit more, I'm guessing, but no, no that's exactly I mean.
Speaker 1:Again a great book out there, the E-Myth Revisited.
Speaker 2:I think I talked to you about it.
Speaker 1:You know Michael Gerber. He says you they don't necessarily know all the other parts of business and part of it's marketing yourself. Part of it's just getting your payroll done right If you start getting employees. Part of it's about education and how do you learn more yourself as well, as you know, teach your employees things as it goes forward, because as you just started to get bigger, you're going to need managers now and managing people is a whole new thing today. And you know how do you learn these things? It doesn't doesn't magically happen through osmosis.
Speaker 1:So you know how can we help that small business kind of Excel? I'm never going to have the Walmart account. I'm never going to have Apple's account. Okay, these are big boxes, that's not going to be me. But if you know it's a business on the street, that's one that I want. I mean the entrepreneurs. If you want the community to be, you know, visiting your business or using you as a business, we want that to happen as well.
Speaker 1:Like I said, a small, stronger community businesses make stronger community banks. My team has heard me say repeatedly if the only human being you see is the UPS driver, they deliver your Amazon order. You don't need a community and you don't need a community bank. We're looking for those people that really you know they're involved in in the business. You know the chambers of commerce, you know in the counties that are involved with other entrepreneurs in some way the good grief or just coaching, you know, as they might be coaching baseball or coaching softball or just involved with the teams, but these are people that are kind of vested in the community. That's why our vision is what it is to inspire, protect and celebrate, and it's just simply because the communities are so important and the community bank won't thrive unless it thrives too.
Speaker 1:So it gets right back what you said about the rising tide it helps us all. So when we see people struggling, it's like well, can we do that service? Richwood Financial is there. You know that's the wealth management. A lot of banks have that, but that's an important one because you're setting up 401ks, understanding your future. Everybody wants to retire someday. How do we help them achieve that goal and what does that look like? So, bankers, just we've had the same model for a lot of years and I think it's time that we kind of look at the model and say how can we tweak it? To stay, the word we use at the bank is relevant. You know how do we stay relevant to our customers across the board?
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I know in having some conversations with you, which are always so engaging, you've had to learn these things yourself, and this is consulting that you're providing for small businesses. Those have been really hard fought lessons that you've worked through, as you have been on this journey for 31 years and I know we've had some great conversations about learning and leadership and talk a little bit to the young leader that is maybe there where you were at 30 years ago and they've got a little bit of a team and they're trying to grow themselves. They're working in the business, they'd like to work on the business, they'd like to invest in people, but they're so caught up sometimes in the firefighting and how do they get out of that and how do they become a leader?
Speaker 1:The biggest one, for me, luke I think that I learned early was to get mentors right. Work with people that have been there and done that. It might not be exactly the way you would do it, but the leaders that I see struggle the most are the ones that think that they're not allowed to ask others. They think they have to know the answer.
Speaker 1:They think they have to know everything and, luke, none of us are gonna know everything, right? So we have to leverage each other's abilities and that's why hiring at the bank, I try to hire people that are smarter than I am in in all different aspects of the bank as well as in entrepreneurship. So, like I said, that marketing director, if she hadn't have been there, there's no way Richwood marketing ever would have started. But when we saw it, it was like, okay, the kind of the light bulb went on. It's like how do we leverage this? How do we move this forward? So, doing the business plan, that's great, but that idea it's going to come from some other place. But once you get rolling, it's leveraging people. You don't need to have all the answers.
Speaker 1:I read a lot of books and there's some books I admit I don't make it to the end of right. It's like, okay, I get that one, I'm going to put that one away, but there's some that I read more than once, just simply because of its lessons. There's a lot of great authors out there, there's a lot of great ideas and people that have been there done that and show you that other people have been there, right? Sometimes the entrepreneur feels like I'm on an Island, I'm by myself. Nobody's ever been in my position before and it's like, well, if you read around, it's actually a lot of people have been there and you know. So you can kind of have that settling of your soul, right, you? Cause you do have to have a thick skin, okay, cause, yeah, it sits on you at the end of the day. You're going to make some calls and not every one of them are going to be right and not everybody's going to agree with you all the time. That is sure as heck. The truth as well.
Speaker 1:But if you've got a vision and you can sell it to others, you know, hopefully, the ones that believe in you, you know, will ride along with you, and those that don't, yeah, you might part ways and that's okay. Everybody needs to find their thing. If this is your thing, great, and if it's not, go find your thing, right, whatever that may be. But, um, you know you and I have talked before about vision and, and you know some people say it's a great. You know things that bring people together. You and I both kind of agree it's kind of things that set people apart as well. You know that. Hey, if I don't agree with the vision of the direction you're headed, where it's probably time for us to part ways, whatever that looks like.
Speaker 1:But from a leader and from that entrepreneur, you just gotta be able what you say no to is just as important as what you say yes to, you know. But but just have have that vision, have that that comfort. But learn from others, ask, ask mentors, you know, ask them, uh, so you can avoid some of the pitfalls that they have found. Uh, to avoid a, to avoid a mistake before you make. It's always a great one, right, so, uh, and, and the best way you do that is is learn from somebody else. So just just ask questions, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean so much. Go back and listen to the last couple of minutes there. He he dropped several books worth of leadership gold there. But you know, starting with mentors, and you know we've talked a lot about books, we had a meeting recently where we just geeked out about books for about an hour and a half and you gave me a couple which is my love language, which I super appreciated, and we're comparing notes again today on some of those. But you know you said it that there's really nothing to be done that hasn't been done before and probably written about Agreed, and there's so many great books out there to read. Leaders are readers. I think we both believe that wholeheartedly and you can have the very best mentoring minds in the entire world for like $17.99.
Speaker 1:Yeah it's absolutely true.
Speaker 2:I mean, somebody invested a lot of hours in a book to share literally everything they know on a topic, whether it's leadership, or you know the technical aspect of a job or whatever and it's out there for the taking it. I mean, the information has never been more readily available and consumable than it is right now.
Speaker 1:It started with me in 2006. They named me president about nine months before I actually took over, so the succession plan was there. We knew what was happening on January 1. I was going to take over in 2007. And in the summer of 2006, I realized, oh no, I don't know everything that I need to know by far to be the leader of this organization and that we were about 180.
Speaker 2:Which is step one, yeah, that's step one. Having that awareness, yes, that awareness was huge.
Speaker 1:But we were about 180 million, we probably had 50 employees, and I'm like I have no idea what I'm doing. So I started looking. I'd only read for entertainment up to that point, read novels all the time, but that was it Found a book on banking and it was funny. I read it. It was actually called oh shoot, can't think. Oh, extraordinary Bank. So I'm reading it and I'm like, okay, I need more of these. So I looked it up and here this person was a. She actually taught bankers how to do better banking, so ended up engaging. It was was a. She actually taught bankers how to how to do better banking, so ended up engaging. It wasn't. A 20 year engagement with this person as my mentor helped our organization to kind of understand what was possible and you know, as an extraordinary bank. And it was just it was. It was great.
Speaker 1:So just a little simple thing like and then I've been reading probably two business books a month ever since, and so it's been a lot of fun. That was back in 2007. So you know there's been a lot of them. I had a lot of great authors, but the very first one was just one simply read about a bank. And if the first one I had read was kind of dull or I didn't like it, I impressed with. Try another please, because there's some great ones out there. And I have people ask me all the time like what am I reading now, or what's my favorite book this year? And I love to share those things because there's some great material out there.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, About 15 years ago, I've shared. I think I've shared the story, maybe on here, If not. If so, I'll share it again, but and that is that. About 15 years ago I heard this quote and it was in five years you'll be the same person you are today, except for the people you meet and the books you read, and that really stuck with me.
Speaker 2:It really resonated and I took action based on that and started going out of my way to meet new people of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds, walks of life and reading in the same way that you described, and it's changed my life. I mean, you know, and it's not that hard and it's not that expensive, but it's really, really impactful.
Speaker 1:It really is, and I'm always disappointed with people that take positions like leadership positions and think they're done learning Right, hey, I've hit the top chair, I'm done. It's like, oh no, now's the time to start. Now's the time I mean. Now it all falls on your shoulders. You need to learn even more than what you knew before, and some people think that that leadership position is kind of like the finish line. Right, the checkered flag is down, I'm done and I view it as the green flag. You know this is the time to start and learn, and so I encourage my entire leadership team. They get incentivized. We are constantly trying to learn new things, and I encourage them to read books. We share books. You know. Books isn't always the thing you can do.
Speaker 1:Podcasts I mean, you're doing one here where people can learn, so some people you know are more you know audio than visual when it when it comes to learning. But just just keep learning. Learn from people that have been there, have done other things. It just people. I think they feel like they're on an Island, like I mentioned before, and that being alone is not a great field for humans and many times we put ourselves there. We just we haven't kind of exposed ourselves to what's out there and there's a lot of people trying to help. I mean what you're trying to do for entrepreneurs, and we've both got friends that are constantly trying to help others. You know, become better business people and you don't need to have all the answers, but you know, if you're diligent and you're persistent and you know you follow through, a lot of things are going to be successful for you. But learn from others that have been there.
Speaker 2:Patrick Lencioni has a saying that I've heard him talk about, and that is that he doesn't like the term servant leadership because it implies that there's any other kind Agreed Right. So I know that you've taken that position and you are working to serve through leadership, as you said. You know, getting to that top position, you realize, a, how much you don't know, b, how much you have to learn and, c, that you've got a lot of people now relying on you and looking to you and you've got to serve well to get and keep their trust. Get and keep their trust. How have you, you know, done that tact, tactfully and tactically? Through your tenure that you're, you're teaching others, you're investing in others. You're also advancing the, the organization. Sometimes people, you know, feel a tension between investing in people and investing in the growth of the organization.
Speaker 1:It is not natural for me. I don't know if you've ever taken the colors test where you are a specific color. No, not that one Blue. You're kind of what I call the touchy-feelys. They're the people that are really emotional, right.
Speaker 2:Okay, there's the greens.
Speaker 1:The greens are your think Big Bang Theory, okay, think Sheldon right, not a lot, just very problem solvers, right, but not necessarily connectors with humans. Oranges are your adventurous people and then your golds are what I would call your rule followers. They're going to be a lot of times, your military people. You know that B follows A, c follows B. They like their rules, they like their checklists, those four colors. I am green, so I love to problem solve, you know.
Speaker 1:And building relationships with people is not my natural state, but you have to get outside of your natural state to learn. So, again, I'm a CPA always about the numbers. When I first started at my job at the bank, I didn't care whether people enjoyed their jobs or not, just get it done. Well, I learned from my mentor that I talked about there with the book that you know what, if people actually enjoy their jobs, their productivity is out of this world and there's nothing they won't do for you. So if you start to work on that and you start to see them enjoying it, you start to see their productivity.
Speaker 1:So now, when we put the celebrate in our vision, we actually mean celebrate, I mean we have, we've got one that Thursday night this week, it's it, uh, our entire bank comes together. It's a voluntary event and I usually get 75% of the people that come and we we go over awards. Um, there, there's awards that people get for numbers that they've hit. There's awards that people get voted for. We have an attitude award that we call our Joy Lee award.
Speaker 1:It's a it's a girl that worked with this and she sadly lost her fight with cancer the third time, but her name was Joy and she just was a joy to all of us.
Speaker 1:Her attitude was so awesome all the way through her experience and she could have been a person that was just depressed all the time for what she was experiencing, but she wasn't. So we name a a an award after it's called the joy Lee award. It's my favorite one, but it's all about somebody that was recognized for having an awesome attitude. And when they get that award on that night you know we call them up on stage, we take pictures, we celebrate them. But um, it's just that recognition that other team members have recognized you as being kind of an awesome person. And when you see that you know now their productivity is going to be out of this world. You know there's nothing they won't do for the rest of the organization. They're being appreciated. Right. And you mentioned Patrick Lencioni had a great book out there called the Three Signs of a Miserable Job and I think it's been retitled the Three Signs of Employee Engagement now. But you know the first one was anonymity, meaning nobody knows who I am.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, okay, I'm at work. Nobody knows my name, nobody knows if I'm married, have kids. They don't care. The second one is irrelevant, meaning that what I do doesn't matter to the organization. Right, I'm just, I'm just here. What I do isn't very important. And the last, it's a word he made up called a measurement. I don't know whether I'm a good performer or a bad one. Nobody ever tells me am.
Speaker 1:I doing a good job or not doing a good job, and if you don't get those three things at work, it's considered a miserable job, right. And so we focus on all three of those things to make sure We've got over 200 employees in the bank. I make sure I know every one of their names. I don't know every one of their spouse's names. I don't know every one of their spouses names. I'll admit that openly. I try as hard as I can, but I, you know I don't.
Speaker 1:But it's just. I realize it's just Chad, it's just me. And if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, somebody is going to be the president tomorrow, but it is the president of the organization. And if it's a brand new person and the president, you know, knows who you are and can call you by name, I just I have found that that that just is a little bit inspiring for them, and you know whether I take it as important or not, I'm kind of flipping with it. It's like it's just me, but for them it's, it's something important. So to focus on things like that, luke, and and to acknowledge people and appreciate them for what they are is has been huge in my experience. So that's the path that I've been down and it's been a fun one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is so good, and some of the things you talk about took me a long time. I'm a slow learner.
Speaker 1:It took me a long time to learn some of those things.
Speaker 2:I'm still falling on my face sometimes in getting it right as a leader and showing appreciation and recognition for people. But if you're somebody out there that's listening, you have a team of two or 200. It doesn't matter it. It matters how you treat people and if they feel appreciated, and it's going to just matter so much with engagement. You know I talk with people. They're like oh, I get, you know, I'm paying them. Well, I'm giving them a bonus, like I gave them a company truck or this or that, and of course they know that I appreciate it. Well, it's like no, I bet that they would rather get the Joy Lee award than a $3 raise.
Speaker 2:Most people you know I mean to an extent, you know, you, you've seen the same studies that I have that money only matters to the point that it allows someone to be stable, and then after that it doesn't matter anymore. Really, um, we think that it does, our ego thinks it does, and some things. After that it doesn't matter anymore. Really, we think that it does, our ego thinks it does, and some things like that. But really, what's going to matter to people is not being anonymous, not feeling like their work doesn't matter, and to the extent that as leaders, we can do that for people and help them see how their work matters, that they're appreciated, that they're cared about. You know whether they're there or not or how their life is going. Because people bring their whole selves to work, not just their work self. And if we can care for that whole person, man, we're going to have engagement, we're going to have longevity and tenure and all of those things that we all want. But sometimes we overcomplicate it, don't we?
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:No, we do. We put all these bonus structures and this and that and carrots and sticks and policies.
Speaker 1:Sometimes it's just a thank you, it is Well done. Yes, sometimes it's as easy as saying you are awesome, you just did an incredible job with that, and just that acknowledgement can go so much further than some of the other things that we try to do and make a detailed, you know, incentive compensation plan and all this. And I'm not saying, like you said, those things are important, they have their place but man, just that human to human connection.
Speaker 1:When you say you were awesome, you know you just you just acknowledge their existence and what they did. It goes a long way. It does. Simon Sinek wrote a great book called Leaders Eat Last, and it's a great book and he mentions right in there I mean in the military, the generals eat last. I mean they make sure that their troops are the first ones fed, right, because they're the ones getting the job done. And leaders should think the same way they always know when I'm in a meeting. Sadly I did this before I read the book, but it just made the book stronger. I always make sure everybody else is eaten before I'm going to go through. I'm not going to be the first one through that line, and so you know, don't take your leadership position. I mean it's a position that, if I mentioned it before, if one of the people at work say we win the lottery, as opposed to getting hit by a bus.
Speaker 2:But let's say we're not the bank anymore, for whatever reason.
Speaker 1:Okay, whether you win the lottery or you're getting hit by the bus, somebody is going to replace us tomorrow, but it's going to be the feelings of those people that we leave behind. That's where your legacy lives. Right Is is how you influenced people, how you touched them, and would you want to be remembered as that person that ignored them, that you know? As soon as you're gone, you're pretty much forgotten? Or do you want to be that person that said, hey, you know what? I influenced an entire generation of bankers that, uh, you know, want to do a better job tomorrow than they did today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, such an inspiration and I think that you know a sign of that we're, uh, getting not just older but also a little wiser is seeing some of those things and realizing, as we no-transcript People don't remember you fondly when you're gone. You know, I mean those types of things. It's so easy to get fixated on the wrong metrics and the wrong things in business and life and you know what you're sharing and I think that you might agree that being engaged with great thinkers, great leadership, books and teachings and YouTube videos and podcasts and all of that is what keeps me grounded and keeps me from getting too far off the tracks. Agreed that I can make little adjustments. Oh, okay, yep, old Luke showed up. I need to put him on the bus and you know I said I wasn't going to do that and I was reminded because I was, you know, listening to this thing today on my trip in between stops, or I, you know, read a few pages of a book this morning or whatever, to keep my head on straight and keep calibrated.
Speaker 1:I think that's a great way of seeing it and again, I go back to not only not only calibrated, but just knowing that other people have been in your shoes. Right Again, you're not alone. There's there's people out there ready to help and and uh, uh, that's huge for an entrepreneur, because there are some lonely days and you know it's going to happen, but just to know that other people have been there and done that and have gotten through it is, is, is huge. And I just think you know, keep exposing yourself to those ideas, those, like you said, whatever it is, whether it's reading podcasts, you know, videos, whatever that is. If you're, if you're growing your mind, don't just watch, don't just binge Netflix, okay, I mean, you know, go out there and learn something, you know, grow your brain and and, uh, you'll be amazed at what it can actually do. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:You've alluded to this a little bit, but as we kind of wind down I mean I literally, you know, could talk about this stuff for hours with you and we'll we'll continue doing that.
Speaker 2:Maybe we'll turn the mics on the next time again but, uh, but uh, I I love to ask the question of guests because I'm always trying to learn from them as well, and that is do you have a favorite inspirational or educational resource? And again, I know you're so well read and I won't make you limit it to one, but I want to give you a little bit of time to riff on maybe some of your top books that you're recommending or that have really made a difference to you in the last few years. What are some of those titles that come to mind?
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a great one Again. You've already mentioned him and he's written so many great ones, but his most recent book is called the Six Types of Working Genius and it's Patrick. Lencioni and he just in this book he really nails kind of the things that are. You know, there's six different working geniuses. He calls them. It's basically types of work, right, and it spells the word widget and it's. You know, you're a wanderer, you're an inventor, you're a discerner, you're a galvanizer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're an enabler, you're tenacious, right. So you know you're one of these six and two of them usually give you strength, they give you power. When you do those things you just get energized, right. Two of them you're just kind of competent at. You can do them for a period of time but you know you eventually kind of wear out. And then two of them are what he calls your frustrations. If you've got to spend very much time doing it, it's going to kind of drive you nuts doing it it's going to kind of drive you nuts. And to know what kind of a person you are and especially if you're on a team, to know what your team's strengths and weaknesses are, because if you find out, you all have the same strengths but you also all have the same frustrations. Some things are getting missed, because all six are important in an organization. And to at least know where your strengths and weaknesses lie, I think can help on communication and how to get some things. You know, it's kind of that aha moment.
Speaker 1:And you said the self-awareness earlier. Right, a little bit of self-awareness. And to recognize so Patrick's just one of my favorite writers. He's written a lot. You mentioned kind of the motive earlier about the motive of being a leader and he only believes in one, even though there's two that are stated but only one of them's legitimate. But Simon Sinek again I mentioned him earlier. He's one of my greatest reads when it just comes to just thinkers. The way he does things to start with, why book is really good. That's how we came up with our our inspire, protect and celebrate was kind of a walk through that exercise and we really appreciated that and didn't realize how important that was. But it kind of is our true North. So you know, it helps us do some of the things that we say no to is because it doesn't meet that standard. So you know, patrick and Simon are probably two of my biggest.
Speaker 1:Seth Godin's a great marketing mind. He's always fun to read. It's just it's usually little snippets, little thoughts that he has and he throws them out there. But it's very good to to learn and see a marketing, you know, from a whole different aspect. So yeah, those, those are probably the three biggest ones. Jocko Willick is a really good inspirational person.
Speaker 1:When you read his stuff military background, you know leader background but he's so disciplined, right, I mean he's all about getting up at four.30 in the morning and I mean it's tough to live his life. But if you did that, I mean the discipline of your mind, the discipline of your body and even your soul, is huge. Maxwell, you know you mentioned him earlier and he he just to have that faith-based part, because I think we all have to. I have that, I think you know. I think that's an important part of being a leader. You know, I'm obviously a highly regulated industry so I'm not allowed to have my Bible necessarily out on my desk all the time for human resource purposes. But at the same time, if you lead correctly, I think they can see it in your leadership and the way you behave and I think that faith-based that we're all equal in the eyes of God, is huge to me. Now, sadly, in the eyes of the workplace not so much.
Speaker 1:But we always treat people with respect, even if it's letting them go, because I don't want to say we never let somebody go If it's not working out. They need to go find their thing. But we don't yell at people. We don't treat you with disrespect If it doesn't work out, that's a calm conversation. People, we don't treat you with disrespect If it doesn't work out, that's a, that's a calm conversation. Um, and that's how my managers are. That's how my leaders are. So you know it's. It's to treat people like humans, no matter what. The situation to me is very important. Yeah, so you know it's, it's those types of things. Uh, Luke, that, uh again. I can go on with a bunch of others, but just start somewhere.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, yeah, start reading, start leading. You know you learn as you go. You and I have both experienced that You're farther down the road and have had some incredible experiences that you've learned from. And yeah, if somebody's out there listening and they're not engaging, not learning the leadership aspect again, even if you have one team member and that's it?
Speaker 2:Absolutely no, it doesn't matter how many you are on the journey and somebody is relying on you and you are a leader, you are leading and you have a great opportunity to impact that individual, your customer. I believe everyone is leading someone. It starts with leading yourself and then radiates out from there. That's the toughest one, by the way. Yourself and then radiates out from there. But that's the toughest one, by the way. Yeah, it sure is. But you know you mentioned five or six great. You know fantastic authors. You know search them on YouTube, listen and you know there's. There's a five minute video, there's a 20 minute video, there's an hour video for many of those guys and you're going to be inspired, you're going to be educated and I think you're going to get better so that's what we're here for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's right, chad. Thanks once again, you know, for this, this conversation again, our, our time has went super quickly and I I always enjoy, uh, great leadership, minds and conversations and just being able to to learn from one another and courage, because we're all on this journey and it's can be challenging, sometimes lonely, and uh, and it's important that we have this, this community, and that we're we're all working for a purpose that's greater than ourselves.
Speaker 1:Well, Luke, I appreciate the opportunity and please keep doing the things you're doing, because some of you are doing some amazing things in here, and Mary and I know specifically and just yeah, keep being that leader, keep being that point of inspiration, because other people are watching and hopefully they will emulate some of the things that you're doing and, like you said, that future vision of the city can come to fruition right.
Speaker 2:Yep, Yep, that's what we're working towards. So thank you again to our listeners and viewers here. We so appreciate you tuning in, we appreciate you sharing on social media and leaving your reviews and likes and all of that just really mean the world to us. I want to bring value and continue to seek out great guests like Chad today and others that we've had on to hopefully help you in your journey so that it is a little less lonely and a little less challenging as we share some of the things we've learned. So hope you'll tune in again next week and we will see you then. Thanks for listening to the Main Street Reimagined podcast. To learn more about Main Street Reimagined Henry Development Group or our work in downtown Marion, Ohio, please visit MainStreetReimaginedcom. If you want to connect or if you know someone who we need to interview, shoot us an email at info at mainstreetreimaginecom. Until next time, keep dreaming and don't be afraid to take the leap.