Twelve Dollars and the Courage to Decide
The most important thing I learned at the bank wasn’t about money. It was about me. And it came over twelve dollars.
I was early in my time at Planters Bank. They’d named me operations officer, and my office looked right out on the lobby, the tellers and the customer service desks. I was probably still the youngest person in the building.
One of our customer service reps had been at that bank about thirty years.
One afternoon an elderly lady came in, upset. Her Social Security check had come late that month, and she’d bounced a check because of it. She lived on a very small monthly income. Every dime mattered. She’d banked with us her whole life, and this just wasn’t something that happened to her. As far as I know, it never had. The overdraft cost her a twelve-dollar fee, and she asked if she could get it back.
A lifelong, good customer. Twelve dollars.
And that thirty-year veteran was scared to make the call. She walked over to me, the youngest and greenest person in the place, and asked what to do.
I told her right away. Refund it. It was a no-brainer.
That’s when it hit me. I wasn’t afraid to decide.
Now, I didn’t always pick right. Not even close. I’d like to think about eighty percent of my decisions were good ones, and I was willing to risk the other twenty to move the needle and get something done. I think that’s part of what makes a person an entrepreneur. It’s sure part of what eventually got me out of that bank and into business for myself.
I’ve got another story that proves the other side of it.
The State of Georgia was about to start licensing appraisers. Our CEO then, Tommy Thompson, cornered me one day. He’d done some appraisals for the bank, and so had I. “Let’s fill out an application and get licensed,” he said.
I agreed. He mailed his the next day. I waited one extra day to mail mine.
He became appraiser number 7 in Georgia. I became number 577.
All for waiting one day.
I laugh about that now. But it’s the same lesson turned around. Not deciding is a decision too, and sometimes it costs you 570 places in line.
Here’s what I’ve come to believe after a lot of years in banking, appraising and city government. Most of the time the hard part isn’t knowing the right answer. That customer service rep knew the right answer. Anybody would have. What she didn’t have was permission, or the nerve, to say it out loud.
A lot of good people are stuck right there. Waiting for somebody to tell them it’s OK.
So if you’re the boss, give your people room to decide, and back them up when they get one wrong. A twelve-dollar mistake won’t sink you. A whole office full of folks afraid to move will.
And if you’re the one standing at the desk, holding the call? Make it. You’ll be right more often than you think. When you’re wrong, fix it and keep going.
Just don’t wait an extra day to mail it.
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