Main Street Banking: A Podcast for Community Bankers

“Strategy” is a term that we hear a good deal about but, let’s be honest, we don’t often have a good working definition for. When we really sit down to think about it, there’s so much more to strategy than running a SWOT. We have to think about other areas...so, let’s talk about those “others”.

Michael Synk is the founder and dean of the School of Rock & Sand, an executive coaching system he developed that “serves as ‘The Bridge Between Strategy and Action’ for an organization.” Michael will be serving as our guest during the month of June during our Graduate School of Banking program and you won’t want to miss any of the episodes we have in store for you this month.

To find out more about Michael and his practice, check out his website at https://rocknsand.com/ and to learn more about the school, check out https://classes.schoolrocknsand.com/

Michael Fielding is back to take his "Hinge Points" concept and applying it to ag lending. Great insights!

We have the materials he references on the episode page at https://barretbanking.org/msbpodcasts/hinge-points-and-ag-loans-distressed-ag-loans-with-michael-fielding-from-husch-blackwell/

If you'd like to learn more about Husch Blackwell, check them out at https://www.huschblackwell.com/

and don't forget our sponsor, ICBA Securities at https://www.icbasecurities.com/

Michael Fielding, with Husch Blackwell, is a returning guest to Main Street Banking. He's developed a really nice rubric for thinking about distressed loans that might help to clarify some of the "what do we do next?" aspect of this part of banking.

You'll want to check out the episode page to get the materials he references. You can find a digital eBook to read and/or download at https://barretbanking.org/msbpodcasts/hinge-points-distressed-loan-management-with-michael-fielding-with-husch-blackwell/

To learn more about Husch Blackwell, check out their website at https://www.huschblackwell.com/

and don't forget our sponsor, ICBA Securities at https://www.icbasecurities.com/

I think it is probably time we admit that Zoom (or WebEx, Microsoft Teams, etc.) isn't going anywhere any time soon...like it or not.

So...what do we do with that? What does that mean for the local community banker? How can we adapt those changes we implemented in 2020 into our "forever normal" (we are NOT saying "new normal" here! HA!)?

Jack Hubbard, with St. Meyer and Hubbard, comes on to Main Street Banking today to give us some insight into how we can adapt what we've learned in the last 14 months into new and productive habits.

To learn more about Jack, check out https://www.smandh.com/

And don't forget our sponsor, ICBA Securities, at https://www.icbasecurities.com/

Any type of lending is risky...and so much more with ag loans. However, for many of our communities, ag lending is a HUGE part of the local economy. How can we mitigate that risk? How can we partner with our farming customers to help them manage their risk, manage our risk as the lender, and everyone still profit? It might take a change in how we look at ag loans.

Joe Jennings is the founding partner of Jordan River Advisors and one of Barret's main ag partners for our ag programming. His passion for the ag economy is unrivaled. He sat down with me to discuss this very topic of ag loan risk management.

To learn more about Jordan River Advisors, check them out at https://jordanriveradvisors.com/

And don't forget to check out our sponsor, ICBA Securities at https://www.icbasecurities.com/

It's one thing to say "we're in a relationship business" and it's a whole other to actually live it. If there's one thing that we do as community bankers...we live that statement! There's been no greater example of that than 2020 and PPP. Yes, it was tough...but community banks saved the economy and there's really no other way to say it.

We wrap up our conversation with former ICBA chairman, Noah Wilcox and current ICBA chairman, Bob Fisher, by talking about relationships and how they have made our industry what it is today.

To learn more about ICBA, don't forget to check out their website at https://www.icba.org/

And don't forget to visit our sponsor, ICBA Securities, at https://www.icbasecurities.com/

We sit down with with former chairman of ICBA, Noah Wilcox and current ICBA chairman, Bob Fisher for a two part series on community banking. Today's part is a fascinating conversation on advocacy. Advocacy is an enormously crucial part of community banks and, recently, we have seen incredible progress in community banks being "at the table".

So...how can we get involved? What can we do at the local level to keep the ball rolling forward?

Check out ICBA's webpage at https://www.icba.org/ and get signed up for their newsletter as well as find out about the 2021 Capital Summit.

And as always, check out our sponsor, ICBA Securities, at their website at https://www.icbasecurities.com/

Much like community banking, agriculture is being impacted by the fintech space. If we think about it, it really is a positive for both farmers and lenders...but...we have to know how and why it generates efficiencies.

Scott Sartor and Allen Lyon, from CropLine Financial return to the podcast to give us an update on FinTech in the agricultural and ag lending spaces.

To learn more, check out their website at https://www.croplinefinancial.com/

Also, don't forget to visit our sponsor, ICBA Securities at https://www.icbasecurities.com/

We at Barret have a passion for ag lending and have partnered up with 2 of the top minds in the industry, Dr. David Kohl and Tim Ohlde. Tim teaches our Ag Lending 101 and 201 classes and is the CEO of Country Banker. Today, we sit down to discuss the outlook for 2021 in the ag sector.

To find out more about Country Banker, check out their website at https://www.countrybanker.com/

And don't forget to visit our sponsor, ICBA Securities at https://www.icbasecurities.com/

As bankers, we HAVE to deal with cyber risks. Sadly, it's a fact of life and will continue to be so.

But there has to be a better way to train on the risk than we're doing.

Beauceron Security, one of the ICBA/Venture Center ThinkTECH Cohorts in 2021 concentrates on telling that cyber story to bank employees. It's a fascinating concept that can really shape the way we think about improving the cyber risk to our bank.

Check them out at https://www.beauceronsecurity.com/

and thanks to our sponsor, ICBA Securities. Check them out at https://www.icbasecurities.com/