Greetings, my friends!
I am thrilled to be looking out the window and seeing snow on the ground and in the mountains as I write this winter edition article for the Community Banker. “The Browns Go to Washington, D.C.” and “Finding Joy in a Storm” were two intertwined themes that I thought about as I prepared to write this President’s Message to all of you.
Last summer, the Council of Community Bank Associations (CCBA) let the Montana Independent Bankers know that they would be hosting a Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., in December, and they wanted the executive director, president and the next president to attend. If you are like me, you might not have known that there is an association of all of the state banking associations just for community banks. That is the CCBA. Not every state has a banking trade association just for community banks like we are so privileged to have in Montana with the Montana Independent Bankers. The CCBA works to help share ideas and resources between the different state associations. So, Executive Director Jim Brown, Vice President Amber Brown and I flew to D.C. to share what was working for the MIB and what we were struggling with and to hear the same from other state associations. We got really good at telling everyone that we were in no way related and that it was not a requirement to have the last name Brown to be part of the MIB leadership!
Our time at the CCBA Leadership Conference was incredibly valuable and insightful! We already believed, but we got the resounding feedback that all of the state community banking associations wholeheartedly realize the difference between a community bank and a regional or national bank. All the associations are working very hard to protect community banking and everything that it does for our great country. However, some of the ways that the different leadership teams are going about supporting and maintaining our associations are different. There are a lot of different dues structures and methods used throughout the country, and there are differences in membership requirements for different state associations. Some associations are good at providing lots of member benefits to their banks as part of their dues, and others generate lots of income to help the associations thrive from the services they offer to their members. We heard about associations that have 100% membership of every community bank in their state and others that are struggling to keep enough membership just to continue to be an association. Association bylaws, board membership and professional leadership all play an important role in the success of state associations. I think the really important thing for all of you to know is that your association is doing well in all of the areas we reviewed, but we also got some great feedback and ideas for ways we can do even better! Amber, Jim and I are thankful the ICBA and the CCBA put this conference together and allowed us to meet with other folks from around the country who know how critical community banking is and want to ensure its continued success!
The conference gave me some time on two long airplane trips to reflect on something important I have found in life. It is easy to get bogged down in negativity when things get rough or they aren’t going our way. However, challenging times also present one of the greatest opportunities for growth and to learn and try new things.
To that point, one of my favorite camping trips as a youth growing up in Boy Scouts was a winter camporee when a blizzard came in and dropped a ton of snow coupled with wind and temperatures around 20° below zero. At first, we younger Scouts all complained about how cold and miserable it was and asked if we could go home. We ended up learning how to build snow shelters from the older boys that turned out to be far warmer than our tents to sleep in. We got to have more fun working as a team with the senior youth to accomplish things in the snow than I had ever had at a camp. That camp sticks out in my mind as one of my favorite childhood memories.
This past summer, I took two new skydivers under my wing and convinced them to go on a cross-country (jumping a few miles from the landing area rather than over the top of it) sunset skydive. While we were in the plane, a storm blew in and brought with it wind and pouring rain. We still decided to make the jump, and I nervously watched my two baby birds get blown around in the wind, hoping they would make it back safely and regretting my decision to take them on the jump. When they landed, completely drenched, not only were they totally fine, but they had learned new skills and were thrilled with the fun they had on the new experience! It turns out I had nothing to regret!
I think about life experiences like that and how the same thing can happen in banking. We have had a wild few years with a pandemic and the end of historically low rates coupled with the fastest increase in overnight rates in history — topped off with all kinds of political and economic noise and challenges such as inflation and staffing shortages. I realized that we can either focus on the obstacles that are put in our way as community bankers, or we can use these as learning opportunities to make our banks better! Every new regulation, fintech or economic hiccup presents us with a way to adapt and provide better service to our customers, more resources for our communities and better places to work for our staff if we are willing to change and grow. We just have to look to each other for support, ideas and new ways of doing things. That is what the Montana Independent Bankers Association is all about. The CCBA and ICBA are there to help all of our state community banking associations in the same way. I hope that each of you can find joy in a storm, whether that is personally or professionally, in your bank, your family, an organization you are part of or some other part of your life. If I can be part of helping find that joy, I would love to do so!
