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| WHAT QUOTATIONS, MOTTOES, ETC., DO YOU KEEP BY YOUR DESK? |
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The Headache: The demands of the banker's day just keep growing. Life is busy on all fronts and you have to take care of your customers, be they the public or, for those on support staff, your fellow bankers. It can be tough to keep your chin up, your shoulder to wheel, and all that. It helps to have reminders of good advice, good attitude, good ideas. Our Question: What advice, quotations, slogans, or other helpful messages do you keep on your desk, on your bulletin board, or under your glass desktop? Come see what other bankers think, and add your own views * * *
What reminders, words of wisdom, or inspiration do you keep around your desk? In 33 years of financial journalism, I've visited many bankers and financial officials in their offices, from chieftains of major institutions to community bankers to people very junior in their banks. One commonality is that most put something in their office to remind themselves of their moral touchstones; their goals and aspirations; or perspectives that help them keep on track, keep a sense of humor, or, sometimes, keep their sanity. Sometimes these reminders go on cards on a bulletin board. Some go on little plaques, or even screen savers.
• • • Winner of the $50 Amazon card drawing is Marcia Cody, Farmers and Merchants Bank, Archbold, Ohio
Winner of the $50 Amazon card drawing for the second part of the year is Brenda Schauer, Security State Bank, Wishek, N.D. • • •
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Comments (49)
Megan Morris, Citizens National Bank
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"How often we fail to realize our good fortune in living in a country where happiness is more than a lack of tragedy." - Paul Sweeney It reminds me that no matter how hard or rough my work day or life is, there is a bigger world out there with far more serious concerns than what I have going on in my life. |
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Pam Clifton, Conway National Bank
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| Quote from a 2011 Wall Street Journal cartoon ?There?s a thin line between thinking outside the box and a caffeine induced wacko idea.? | |
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Sarah Hamlin, Hamilton Bank
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| "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted" (Aesop) | |
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Nichole Bahn, First National Bank
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| "The revered 40 hour workweek is for losers. Forty hours should be considered the minimum, not the maximum. You don't see highly successful people closing out of the office every afternoon at five. The losers are the ones caught up in the afternoon rush hour. The winners drive home in the dark." | |
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Laura Rowe, Stephenson National Bank
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"A year from now you may wish you had started today.? - Carolyn Lamb "The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity." "What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal." - Albert Pine |
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Paul J. Jarosz, Oxford Bank & Trust
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"You have to continue to learn your whole life. You have to be responsible for your own actions. You have to give back something to society." From an article about Investment Guru Richard Driehaus, referring to what he learned from the nuns who taught him in grammar school. |
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Karen Stephenson, The Stock Exchange Bank
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A two-panel cartoon. First panel shows woman with hair on end, eyes wide, obviously shouting. Second panel shows her feeling and looking all back together. She says, "I feel a lot better now!" * I have had it since the early 90s. I laminated it and have it taped to the top of my calculator. It has travelled with me to each job I have had ever since. And it is now more fitting than ever since I work in compliance! |
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Marcia Cody, Farmers & Merchants
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"Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected."--Steve Jobs This quote was shared by our CFO at a bank-wide training meeting last fall, and each employee was given a ruler as a tangible reminder of its meaning. I have long admired (the late) Steve Jobs for the way he changed our world with his "outside-the-box creativity," and his commitment to make high quality products available to consumers. Both the ruler and the quote hang on my cubicle wall to remind me to work hard to be that yardstick by which excellence can be measured |
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leslie montano
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The MBA oath Our bank's mission statement & the key stratagies "Never let the fear of striking out get in your way." Babe Ruth "Pay attention to your thoughts because your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your character, and your character becomes your destiny." And most important - The six lessons of a satifying, productive career 1. There is no plan 2. Think strengths not weaknesses 3. It's not about you 4. Persistance trumps talent 5. Make excellent mistakes 6. Leave an imprint |
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Pamela
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| You may have to live out another person's bad decision; but how you live it out is "your" decision. | |
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Kathy Schwerdtfager, The Bank of Tescott
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"Work for a cause, not for applause. Live life to express, not to impress. Don't strive to make your presence noticed, just make your absence felt" ~ Unknown |
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Bill Van Damme
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"It's not the hours you put in the work that counts, its the work you put in the hours" This quote keeps me reminded to work hard whan you have work to do, and not waste time. |
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Margaret Smeeding
said:
| "When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on." Franklin D. Roosevelt | |
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Jon K.
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| Hey, you are in the United States, you have the right to be wrong. | |
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James McCall, Columbia State Bank, The Dalles, Oregon
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It is not that you lied to me that bothers me. It is that I may never trust you again. A. Lincoln |
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Rebecca Svingen
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"The Past is past, the Future is not yet risen, and even the Present thought, once experienced, becomes the Past. All we have is Nowness, is Now." -Sogyal Rinpoche It reminds me that nothing is forever: a failure isn't permanent and a success is a stepping stone. |
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Valerie Lewis
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My plate may be full, but everything is quite delicious. ? Unknown The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. - Dorothy Nevill |
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Brenda Schauer, Security State Bank, Wishek, ND
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I took these from a Mary Engelbriet day calendar a few years ago. "Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its troubles, it empties today of its strength." "Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings" (This is supposedly from Samuel Johnson.) |
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Laurie Stewart, president and CEO, Sound Community Bank, $355.1 million-assets, Seattle, Wash
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I keep two things very close at hand. The first is a signed cartoon by Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Auth. It appeared in the Washington post in January 1983. It depicts two male lawmakers leaving the capital. We see their backs. In the foreground a women is on her knees scrubbing the floor. Above one lawmaker is the bubble: "My God, they?ve introduced the ERA again." In his companions's bubble: "Aren?t they tired?" Tony inscribed the cartoon "The victory goes to the tireless." For those who have forgotten that ERA stood for the Equal Rights Amendment it is likely you may also have forgotten we came close to ratifying it but it was never passed. However, I am a testament to the fact that just the process, and the tireless march for equality, has made women's access to equal opportunity and pay much better than it was in 1983! So, I look at my treasured, autographed cartoon . .. especially on long, dark days, and I draw encouragement and inspiration from my belief that victory is a journey. The second item is a picture of my nephew Jeff in his Marine Corps blue dress uniform, saluting with tears rolling down his face. On the frame is inscribed ?Be strong.? The photo was taken at his uncle--my husband's--interment at Punchbowl, the military cemetery in Hawaii. This inspires me because it helps me remember that if you can show your emotions and weaknesses--and most marines would tell you tears are a weakness-- you can face them and become even stronger. I am a better leader because I can honestly tell people when a decision or course of action is difficult and I can share the difficulty. |
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Thomas Combs, president and CEO, Union Bank and Trust Co., Oxford, N.C.
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Here are two quotes we live by at Union Bank. 1. "If you are not busy being born, you're busy dying." Bob Dylan 2. "People are unwilling to do the work it takes to build a real company, which is the hardest work in business." Steve Jobs |
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Daniel C. Yates, president and CEO, Brattleboro Savings & Loan, $179.2 million-assets, Brattleboro, Vt.
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"If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near." (Jack Welch) "Never do anything when you are in a temper, for you will do everything wrong" (Baltasar Gracián) "A leader should be slow to punish and swift to reward" (Ovid?original quote used ?ruler?) |
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George Marx, chairman, president, and CEO, Copiah Bank NA, Hazelhurst, Miss.
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I have quite a few quotes, sayings, thoughts that I keep at my fingertips in my desk. My three favorites that I find energy and inspiration from are as follows: "Be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble." Frank Tyger "You don't manage people: you manage things. You lead people." Admiral Grace Hooper "When a man is wrapped up in himself he makes a pretty small package." John Ruskin |
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Charles Funk, president and CEO, MidWestOne Bank, $1.7 billion-assets, Iowa City, Iowa
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"You choose whether to lead or manage. The more you manage, the less you lead. The more you lead, the less you have to manage." (Anonymous) "To be successful is to be helpful, caring and constructive, to make everything and everyone you touch a little bit better. The best thing you have to give is yourself." (Norman Vincent Peale) |
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Paul Siebernmorgen, president and CEO, Farmers and Merchants State Bank, Archbold, Ohio, $923 million-assets
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I have 4 sayings that I find myself looking at from time to time (besides picture of my family and granddaughter). First is a poem a have kept on my desk for about 38 years (longer than I have been a banker). It is called "The Man In The Glass," author anonymous. When you get what you want in your struggle for self And the world makes you king for a day, Just go to a mirror and look at yourself, And see what THAT man has to say. For it isn't your father or mother or wife Whose judgment upon you must pass; The Fellow whose verdict counts most in your life Is the one staring back from the glass. You may be like Jack Horner and chisel a plum And think you're a wonderful guy. But the man in the glass says you're only a bum If you can't look him straight in the eye. He's the fellow to please, never mind all the rest, For he's with you clear up to the end, And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test If the man in the glass is your friend. You may fool the whole word down the pathway of years And get pats on the back as you pass, But your final reward will be heartaches and tears If you've cheated the man in the glass. ? Then when I started lending I put a paper under the glass titled BASIC CREDIT FACTORS The MAN-Management Financial Position & Progress Repayment Capacity Purpose Security In that order, and I still find myself looking at that on a tough lending decision. ? When I became president of the bank, I added another under the glass. A quote from Henry Ford. "Coming together is a beginning Keeping together is progress Working together is success." Recently I added another quote from Malcolm Forbes "As you get older, don't slow down; Speed up. There?s less time left." |
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Stacey Bentley, Cedar Valley Market President, Community National Bank, Waterloo, Iowa-Cedar Falls, Iowa
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I love quotes and save many. Here are just few of my favorites that I keep around my desk: Under the glass on my desk "Life is not made by the dreams you dream, but by the choices you make." Coffee cup "In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths." -Proverbs 3:6 By my computer "In a world where you can be anything, be yourself." -Author Unknown "Contentment is not having everything you want. True contentment is wanting only what you have." -Author Unknown |
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Sharon Burran, president and COO, Woodhaven National Bank, Fort Worth, Texas
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I keep this where I can see and read it daily: "Lord, help me to remember that nothing is going to happen to me today that You and I together cannot handle." |
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Fred Brashear, Hyden Citizens Bank, Inc., Hyden, Ky.
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I use this with my collection staff. I learned it from our past chairman, R.B. Campbell, owner of the local drug store: "Better for the customer to be mad and me have my money, than me be mad and the customer have my money." |
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