General Management

Our industry has always suffered from too many meetings. Plus, the meetings weren’t always an effective use of time. COVID meaningfully aggravated this problem because in-person exchanges, planned, impromptu or ad-hoc, were not possible. In fact, now that many of us are back in the office, we still spend much of our time interacting through screens in more meetings. Park National Bank is an unusual bank headquartered in Ohio, just shy of $10B in assets.…

The community banking sector, long defined by its deep-rooted customer relationships and localized decision-making, is at a transformational crossroads. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a distant concept or the exclusive domain of large financial institutions. It is here, rapidly reshaping how banks—big and small—operate, compete, and serve their customers. For sub-$10 billion regional and community banks, AI represents both an existential challenge and an unprecedented opportunity. And let’s be honest—nothing says ‘existential crisis’ quite…

There is no better way to start the year than to revisit tried-and-true principles that have led to repeated success. John Wooden, the legendary coach, created “The Pyramid of Success” after years of outstanding performance. Wooden is “old news,” and many more success paradigms have been created since he put together this pyramid. And yet, I find his tenets to be eternal and always relevant. His definition of success resonated with me: “Success is the…