Independent Banker - February 2019 - 57

diff erent member of the St. Louis Cardinals, and each time
told him in order to receive another one, he needed to send
a thank-you note. O'Leary sent notes and received 60 balls
throughout the course of the 1987 season.
He has learned to embrace his own story. One of his
mottos is: " You can't always choose the path that you walk
in life, but you can always choose the manner in which you
walk it. " He draws on all of these elements when advising
others on how to survive adversity.
" Begin by saying, 'You're not alone,' " he says. " All of us
are either in a storm, have just been through one or are just
about to step back into one that we don't even see on the
horizon yet. It's the ebb and fl ow process of life. It doesn't
have to be bad. It also doesn't have to be the end of it, but it
is part of the journey forward. "
Secondly, he suggests, remember that most people grow
from dealing with challenges. " I would encourage people to
recognize that this thing-whether it's business or fi nance or
marriage-it's not the end, and it's pouring the foundation
for an even bigger tomorrow than they can expect today. It
calls upon traits that we weren't using previously. Because of
this, we become stronger, better versions of ourselves. "
Leaning in to challenges
These are important lessons, he believes, that community
bankers can learn from. " One of the cool things about
adversity is it brings you down to your knees, " he explains.
" And it makes you recognize that regardless of how
terrifi c you are and how smart you are, you can't do this
by yourself. But with collective thought and by teaming
up with those around you, by leaning in to them, you may
recognize that you can do much more together than you
could have ever done by yourself. "
O'Leary encourages community bankers to be bold and
stand out from the crowd, to lean in to the people they
work with and to think through how to make a diff erence
within the community. He cites the example of a friend who
gathered all 72 of his employees together to brainstorm
a mission for his construction company. That leadership
seminar resulted in the company and its partners building
11 houses for the poor in the community.
" They're making a huge diff erence, " he says. " They're
growing their top-line revenue and their bottom-line
profi tability and helping the community that they serve. I
would encourage bankers to recognize that they are also
in the business of mission. It sets them apart and it also
makes them more profi table. The clear mission of the
organization ought to be able to be recited by every team
member of the organization. "
Practicing
gratitude
...-...
" The vast majority of things that we sweat, " says
John O'Leary, " are things that we have no control
over. You can make a list of things that you
worry about. Almost everything that we worry
about we have very limited control over. "
He suggests a simple technique for taking
stock of the positives in our lives. " The way I
do this is to begin every morning by reflecting
on things that I'm grateful for, " he says. " It's a
simple process; it slows me down. Rather than
quickly returning emails, getting the kids off to
school, I spend anywhere from 60 seconds to
10 minutes reflecting quietly on what I'm grateful
for. It's sometimes health and citizenship and
freedom and the ability to see and all this stuff ,
but very frequently it's also the challenge, the
things that went sideways, the things I was not
expecting to become grateful for. "
In the evening, O'Leary repeats the process,
this time to capture the one action he can take
to ensure that tomorrow is better than today.
" It's how I bookend my days, " he says, " first
capturing what I have, and, secondly, what I'm
going to do with it. "
It was having a mission, something aspirational to
move toward, that gave the young O'Leary motivation to
survive his injuries. " In the early stage, it was surviving the
night, " he remembers, " but that wasn't enough. Enduring
one more diffi cult day won't move you forward. It might
fi ll you for one more day with breath, but it's not going to
ultimately elevate the work you do or the life you live.
" And so, " he admits, " I was really fortunate to be
surrounded by people that were putting in front of me
these carrots that were so monumentally large for a little
guy. I think that's a big part of why I'm still in the game. "
Roshan McArthur is a freelance writer in California.
independentbanker.org Q 57
http://www.independentbanker.org
Independent Banker - February 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Independent Banker - February 2019
