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Back to School
By Chris Williston, IBAT President and CEO
The Texas Independent Banker
Volume XXXIII No. 5 September/October 2007 |
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It took me back 47 years. Having stopped at the school crossing I watched what seemed like an endless parade of young first graders, each clutching the hand of mom or dad as they made their way across the busy street to the school building.
Some had tears in their eyes. Some of the children too. Others danced across the street with excitement and anticipation of a new beginning, the first day of school.
I had literally made myself sick the day I walked into Sister Lauren’s first grade classroom. The thought of leaving the safety of my home for a whole day was enough to keep me awake trembling the night before. My khaki uniform, which had been previously neatly pressed, looked as though it had been wadded up in a corner for all the nervous tugging I was doing on the shirt and pant legs. Now you know of my aversion to uniforms.
Sister Lauren rushed to the door to meet me. Tears began streaming across my face as I watched my mother slip out the door behind me, afraid to look back for fear of what she might see.
The entire first week produced the exact same scenario until I finally settled in to my new surroundings. I wonder now what I was so afraid of.
Fact is I haven’t stopped learning since that first horrible day. Every day I learn something new about this big beautiful world and industry I am so fortunate to represent. For 32 years now I have opened my mind to learning as much as I possibly can, knowing full well that experience alone, although valuable, is not enough to carry the day when knowledge can make the difference between good and bad decisions.
I wonder too how so many can seemingly dismiss the opportunity to better themselves and their company through education.
One of my first charges when I was hired by IBAT in 1989 was to create an education program that would rival any association in the industry. Through the years we have discovered that quality and convenience, not quantity, would segregate IBAT from all others. And our record speaks for itself.
Attendance at IBAT programs has grown a whopping ten percent for each of the last ten years. We attribute the growth to quality programs, discriminately selected based on member need identified for us, and programs convenient and affordable for all bank personnel.
Our telephone seminar offerings (about three or four per month) provide a convenient and cost effective way for bank personnel to attend and receive important information and training without ever leaving the bank. IBAT’s cluster offerings, which involve three to six banks in a region going together to provide specific training such as BSA or other compliance topics, continue to grow in size and number. Daily learning opportunities are available to all personnel in an online sharing environment through several IBAT forums. IBAT’s compliance forum alone is a trusted resource for hundreds of community bank compliance officers.
The convenience of technology can never substitute for the value one can receive from attending one of IBAT’s flagship summit programs or our convention and tradeshow. True, the IBAT Leadership Conference, the IBAT convention and TechMecca are all packed with dozens of mini-seminar opportunities, but more importantly, these venues provide an opportunity to network and learn from other leaders in the industry. As one past Chair of IBAT told me recently, I make money every time I have the opportunity to mix it up with CEO’s from across the state.
The reality of our new financial world is that you and I can not afford to stop learning. Whether it is from a seminar leader or a peer across the state, keeping our own knife sharp is a strategic advantage for us that adds stakeholder or shareholder value.
So what are you afraid of? Isn’t it time you recommitted yourself and provided the necessary leadership to take advantage of all the incredible offerings available to you and your officer, director and employee team through IBAT’s education offerings?
Commit yourself to get back to school. And forget about all your scary memories.
Heck, we won’t even make you wear a uniform.
Editor’s Note: For further information about IBAT educational offerings, or creating a cluster program for learning in your region, contact Julie Courtney at IBAT, 512.474.6889 or via e-mail at jcourtney@ibat.org.
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