Jeff Judy and Associates

JEFF’S THOUGHTS ARCHIVES

The articles below have all appeared in Jeff's Thoughts, and they are simply listed in reverse chronological order, with the most recent articles at the top. Each title has a brief summary description to help you browse the articles of most interest to you.

These articles make great discussion starters, whether for the members of your association, the participants in your internal training program, or the employees at your next staff meeting. Use one of these reprints to stimulate questions, to bring an outside voice to issues that concern you, your staff, or your membership, or as an ice breaker to get people talking at your meeting or workshop.

I invite you to reprint any of these articles for use with your staff or association membership, whether as handouts or in a newsletter, free of charge as long as you meet the following requirements:

Keep the article intact, as is. Please do not edit what I said in the article in any way.
Acknowledge the source, with words similar to the following: "By Jeff Judy, reprinted from the Jeff's Thoughts newsletter".
Include a link to my web site at www.jeffjudy.com.

The easiest way to meet those requirements and save yourself some time and effort is to put the following introduction at the top of each reprint you distribute to your staff or members:

The article below is reprinted from Jeff Judy's biweekly banking e-newsletter, Jeff's Thoughts. Principal of Jeff Judy & Associates, Jeff has more than thirty years' experience as a banker, trainer, and consultant. His conversations with hundreds of bankers, support staff, board members, and bank managers every year reveal what is really going on in everyday financial services practices. A nationally known trainer serving individual banks, bank holding companies, major banking schools, and trade associations at state and national levels, Jeff also consults with bank leadership on policy, process, and culture. Visit www.JeffJudy.com or e-mail Jeff at jeff@jeffjudy.com.

You may want to visit my Press Kit for standard "author's bio" blurbs and photos.

If you want to reprint my content in trade journal, or as a handout at a workshop or convention, please contact me with details.

Articles from Past Issues of Jeff's Thoughts

Is "Advisor" a Dirty Word?
Are You Giving Up Competitive Advantage Because You Are Afraid To Give Advice?
The Art of the Applicant Interview: Part I
Guest Columnist Charlie Dickerson Examines Crucial Role of Applicant Interview
Why NOW Is the Time to Talk to Your Borrowers
Year End/Start is a Crucial Time to be Engaged with Customers
Invest in Your Talent Strategy
Guest columnist John Marston with Tips on Investing in Talent
Why Are You Making That Loan?
"Purpose" Is Not Enough
Speaking of Character ...
"Character" Is Evaluated by Both Sides of the Banking Relationship
Why Character Matters
"Character" is Still One of the C's of Credit, and for Good Reason
Why "Compromise" Is Not A Dirty Word
A Good Credit Transaction Finds the "Sweet Spot" Between Bank and Borrower
The (Unfortunate) Evolution of Risk Rating Systems
Risk Rating Systems Change Over Time, Not Always for the Better
The Perils of Inventory
Charlie Dickerson: Cautionary Tales About Inventory as Collateral
Repayment, Loss Mitigation, and Priorities
Repayment Strategies Are About the Bank, Not the Borrower
My Collateral Philosophy
My Philosophy Of Repayment Goes Way Beyond Collateral and Guarantees
Rethinking Sources of Repayment
There's a Lot More to Repayment Than "Primary" and "Secondary"
Summer Bugs
Summer, Fishing ... and Some Phrases That Really Bug Me!
Are You Ready For A Recovery?
Guest Columnist Nan Gesche Larsen on How to Capture Lessons Learned During the Recession
Core Values: In Action, or Inaction?
Does Your Institution Really Have Core Values?
"Watch" Is Not a Risk Rating"
Why Watch Lists and Risk Ratings Are Separate Issues
Opportunity? Or Temptation?
When Opportunity Knocks, Should You Answer the Door?
This Ain't No Reality Show
Work with the Reality You Have, Rather Than Expecting the Reality You Wish You Had
Ice Bubbles, Financial Bubbles
"Bottle" Today's Culture, You're Going to Need It Later
What Do Your Customers See When Employees Change?
With Higher Employee Turnover in Your Bank's Future, You Have a Customer Loyalty Challenge
Succession Planning Revisited
There's a Lot More to "Succession Planning" Than Just Naming a Replacement
Now You See Them, Now You Don't
Your Employee Turnover Is About to Spike, and That Could Seriously Impact Customer Loyalty
Threat? Opportunity? Irrelevant?
Every Bank Can, and Should, Offer International Services to its Customers
Would You Hire the Crew from the Titanic?
Employees with Experience in Difficult Conditions Can Strengthen your Culture
Keeping Score
Are You Ovelooking a Crucial Tool in Evaluating your Bank's Performance?
Hire Versus Re-hire
Hire for your Future, Not from your Past
Betting on the Next Sure Thing?
It's Time to Manage Continual Change
Simple To Say, Hard To Do
For Your Board, Charting the Course Is Just the First Step
Learning a New Language Can Be Good For You
Now Is the Time to Learn to "Speak" ERM
Mind the Gap!
Close the Culture Gaps in Your Institution
The Right Way to Train Business Lending Supervisors
Supervising Business Lenders Takes Different Skills, Knowledge, and Training Than Does Being a Business Lender
How to Make a Boring Topic Way Too Lively
Documentation Says a Lot about Your Culture and your Approach to Risk Management
Leaders Take Action
Don't Talk Like a Leader and Act Like a Follower
Customer Conversations and Financial Reform
Where Will Your Customers Learn about the Financial Reform Act?
Bank Be Nimble, Bank Be Quick . . .
A Bank That Nurtures a "Tight" Culture Will Be More Nimble Than Its Competition
Chatting About ALLL/Capital with your Regulators
Know What You Are Talking About When Discussing ALLL/Capital with Regulators
Who is Talking to your Customers?
Are You Lending These Days? Don't Let the Media Answer That Question For You
Culture Definitely Matters
Why Culture Truly Makes a Difference to your Business Success
Trust vs. Avoidance
Why Are So Many of Us Keeping Mum About the Recession?
Preparing to See Where Your Portfolio is Going
First Steps to Help You Determine Your Portfolio's Future Risk Profile
KISS Your Staff
Lessons Are Not Learned Until They Live Inside Your Head
Problem Loan Workout: A Team Project
Guest Column by Brad Stevens: Building the Right Workout Team
The End of the Story
Every Loan is a Story, and You Have to Know How It Will End
You and Who Else?
You Can Serve Customers Better by Finding Natural Allies in your Marketplace

Simple Democracy, Or Thoughtful Leadership?
True Leaders Know the Difference Between What Shareholders Want and What They Need
Are You Doing More Unsecured Lending Than You Think?
If You Are Not Monitoring And Managing Secondary Exposure, You Really Are Not Managing Risk
ALLL: Are You Post- or Pre-Cyclical?
Timing is Everything, Especially When It Comes to ALLL
Banking in the Next Decade: Are You Building Your Response Infrastructure Now?
How Will your Processes, Systems, and People Adapt to Banking Conditions in the Next Decade?
Why Not Why?
Why Asking "Why?" Won't Get You the Answers You Need
Social Media Revisited
Facebook? Twitter? Social media? Make your own decision . . .
Is ALLL Well with You?
A Number Unlike Any Other in Your Financial Statements
New Year's Resolutions
Is It Time for You to Make a "Credit Style Change"?
Risk and Response: Avoiding Potholes or Adapting to Conditions?
It's Time to Broaden the Horizons You Scan for Risk
Of Measurement and Management
How Precise? Or How Often?
The New World of Legal Risk
A New Legal Landscape Means Greater Legal Risk
Building On Recession Lessons
Secure the Benefits of What You Have Learned in Tough Times
Seeing Culture
Former Skeptics About "Culture" Converted by the Recession
Are You Competitive?
Make Sure Staff Who Go to Training Bring Something of Value Back to the Bank
Your Job Description
Manage Risk at Every Level of Your Organization
Idle Hands are an Angel's Tools?
Could "When We Have Time" Be Right Now?
Too Big to Succeed
Tough Times Open Opportunities in your Small Business Market
The Lowest Number, or the Right Number?
Your Approach to Efficiency May Be Too Simplistic
Pick a Number
Numbers Are Important, But They Don't Replace Thinking
Cross . . .
Selling? Solving? Customers?
I Take Exception . . .
"Zero Tolerance" for Loan Exceptions may NOT be your Best Option
Congratulations?
Stability . . . Experience . . . big advantage, or big risk?
Let Me Ask You a Trick Question
Defining your Stakeholders Broadly Can Head Off a Lot of Trouble
Are You Two-Faced? Good!
What about your customers who are doing well in the downturn?
Ever Have a Number Pay You Back?
Creditworthiness? Or merely "financialworthiness"?
We Pause for a Message from this Virus . . .
Appearance of swine flu reinforces recent discussions on preparing for disaster
Disaster Recovery: Treat the Symptoms!
Prepare for a variety of catastrophes by looking for common leverage points in your operations
Are You Prepared to Be Prepared?
Disaster recovery plans can save the day. Will yours?
Is Your "Green" Only Skin Deep?
Customers are smart enough to see if you really mean it
Your Customers Know How The Wind Blows
Your customers watch the "telltales" that show how well you're doing, even if you don't
Invest Time in Educating Your Business Customers Now!
EEC: Customers need realistic Expectations, financial Education, and ongoing Communication
Responding To Risk
Think more about the impact and less about the probability of negative events
Everybody Knows . . . or Should!
Do your staff and your customers know where you see challenges ahead?
Probability or Consequences?
"How Likely?" is not enough to define "risk", and can lead you to catastrophic results
Another Year Gone, Another Year Coming . . .
A look back at what I heard, in the classroom and boardroom, and learned, in 2008
Challenges To Repayment
How recognizing "covariance" helps you uncover hidden risks in your portfolio
Serving Your Senior Customers Better: Life Settlements
Bob Cohen: A valuable tool for the financial benefit of your older customers
Your Diverse Portfolio: Fact or Fiction?
"Covariance:" if all your customers are joined at the hip, you have a "hidden concentration"
Your Pricing Model
Phil S. Rowley: The key considerations every pricing model must address
What I've Learned:The Generations (II)
Gen X, Gen Y, etc.: Insight or stereotype?
What I've Learned:The Generations (I)
Effective communication with younger employees is a two-way street
What I've Learned: "Best Practices"
Why "best practices" can be dangerous!
Dealing with Un-Banks: Ostrich, Skeptic, Copycat, or Realist?
Peer-to-peer lending is here. How are you responding?
Planning Your Future, or More of your Present?
Are you building a better future, or just extending the present?
Financial Literacy III: Call a Friend in Marketing
Different customers have different literacy needs, and your marketing people probably already know about them
Fail? Survive? Thrive?
If all your planning is "getting through" tough conditions, prepare to be lose out when times improve
Financial Literacy, Part II: Confidence, Comfort, Conversation
Customers are grateful to bankers who actually help them see what they need to learn
Unique? Are You Joking?
You can't become a market leader by constantly aping the competition
Financial Literacy, Part I: Not "One Size Fits All"
Does "literacy" always mean the same thing? Should it?
You Need a Crash!
Maybe if you couldn't get to your spreadsheets, you'd make beter decisions
How Do You Know?
You give great customer service? Says who?
Who Knows What Makes You Different?
Just claiming to be different or unique is not enough
Do You Have the Youth Vote?
Are you starting too late to start helping your future customers?
How Do You Handle Customer Tax Returns?
Mike Jellison: the quick first steps that help you find out what tax returns really say
Doing More With More . . .
You have a lot of information on your long term customers. Are you using it?
It's All My Fault
Pointing the finger at your colleagues does nothing for your customers or for your bank
Competitive Advantage, or Suicide Pill?
You bank has low turnover, highly experienced staff. Uh-oh!
Take the Heat, You Can't Get Out of This Kitchen
Bill Stansifer: Provision and reserve are back on the front burner
Information vs. Action
Small business survey, and how to apply its findings
Market or Markets?
Smart businesses in other industries understand niches, as should you
What I Learned This Year
Looking back at what I learned in the classroom and the boardroom during 2007
Taking Your Eye Off The Next Ball . . .
Focusing on one type of credit problem at a time will cost you in the end
Assessing Leadership From Afar
You can learn a lot about abank's leadership long before you meet them
Do Your Small Business Customers Feel Like Business Customers?
There are few things that mean more to the small business owner than respect
Can You Handle Something Really Scary?
When problems get media coverage, don't wait for your customers to ask about them
Get Smart About Credit Day . . . For Bankers
What do you need to know about your customers to help them learn about financial management?
Like Museums?
Is your strategic plan a relic on a shelf, or an active element in your business?
Who Sets Your Standards for Customer Service?
Hint: It isn't your direct competition!
Educating the Rest . . .
You can make credit education a part of every customer interaction
Pet Peeve: Striving for Mediocrity II
What do you have to do to be better than a "typical bank" in your market?
Pet Peeve: Striving for Mediocrity I
"We'd like to do that, but we have to match the competition."
Ripples in Your Pond from Distant Stones . . .
New rules of the game can be established almost overnight, in practically any business
Comfortable? That's too bad . . .
Why, at seminars and banking schools, do so many people sign up for more of what they already know?
Relationships: Your Idea, or the Customer's?
Customer loyalty comes from working with customers the way they want
Is Culture Dead?
Culture makes a difference, whatever we call it
Is Your Worst Case Scenario Bad enough?
A "worst case" is more useful than a "bad case that is reasonably probable"

JEFF’S THOUGHTS ARCHIVES

Articles from Past Issues of Jeff's Thoughts

Copyright © 2009 Jeff Judy and Associates