Hang In There!

I was talking the other day to someone who, like me, has left the banking industry after many years for another area of employment. But for a much different reason.

I left my financial institution because I thought there was a need for the kind of training that I specialize in, and I just had to try working for ALL the financial institutions in this country, on my own, and see if it would work.

My friend left his financial institution because, as he so simply put it, "I just couldn't face another day there-banking is not as much fun as it used to be. And my job was ruining my health." He is now employed as a financial manager in a hotel. About as far from banking as he could get.

As Hurst Associates, Inc., I have been working as a consultant and giving seminars for the financial industry for the last four years. During that time, I have accumulated responses of a survey from the over 35,000 bankers I have talked to. The comments in my file bear out what my friend stated-banking is not as much fun as it used to be.

But human nature being what it is, we will just not stay "down" much longer. This industry has survived crisis in the past, and it will survive the latest disasters.

I have maintained for years, and will continue to do so, that the people in this industry are among the most special, caring, customer oriented people in the United States.

No matter what Congress, or the regulators, or the examiners do, this industry will survive, and prosper. Not because of our assets, or our investments, or our competitive edge-but because of our people.

You, holding this page in your hand reading this sentence, are the most important product your institution can possibly market. You have made the difference in the past, and you will continue to do so in the future. Which, because of you, looks brighter every day.

Banking may not today be "as much fun as it used to be." But because we know you and people like you, we have every faith that tomorrow it will be again.

Copyright © 1990 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 1, No. 5, 5/90