Independent Banker - June 2020 - 7

FROM THE TOP
" Our decisions go far
beyond dollars and cents
and extend to finding
ways to contribute to the
greater good. "
Noah W. Wilcox
Chairman, ICBA
Noah Wilcox is president, CEO and chairman of
Grand Rapids State Bank and its holding company,
Wilcox Bancshares Inc., Grand Rapids, Minn.
My senior year in college, I took a business law
class that doled out a daunting assignment: Put
a stake in the ground and say where you're going
to be at age 35 and how you're going to get there.
At that time, I was pretty unsure how my career
would unfold, but I guess instinct kicked in, and
I wrote about becoming president and CEO-and
possibly chairman-of our family bank. Well, I
wasn't chairman at 35, but I was president and
CEO, which speaks directly to what planning,
drive and determination can do.
Yet, while that exercise may have set the
wheels in motion for my career as a community
banker, having the opportunity to work side-byside
with my grandfather is what clinched it. At a
pretty young age, my grandfather instilled in me
an understanding not of what we do as community
bankers, but why we do it. I can remember
being eight years old and going on collection
calls with him, and they were compassionate,
trying to help people who were struggling to pay
their bills. Through his example, he taught me
that community banking is about taking care
of people-the families in our community. That
personal connection to something bigger than
myself was vital to me " coming home " to the
community bank.
The sheer amount of passion and compassion
that goes into community banking makes for a
pretty unique business model, one I daresay
we've all been balancing lately with COVID-19.
In today's landscape, that foundation my grandfather
set remains all the more important to
helping our communities get back to vibrancy.
We're still running businesses, but for all of us,
our decisions go far beyond dollars and cents
and extend to fi nding ways to contribute to the
greater good.
And I see that same spirit of practical altruism
My Top
Three
My top pieces of
advice for rising
leaders:
1. Roll up your
sleeves and help
out your staff ;
it's about the
collective team.
2. Find a mentor to
inspire you.
3. Balance
business with
humanity.
refl ected in the young leaders emerging today.
You need look no further than this month's
40 Under 40 awards to see community bank
leaders growing to become the anchors of communities
that they will help to evolve and fl ourish
in the coming years.
Generationally speaking, I feel like we're getting
back to our roots. My grandfather, a proud
part of the Greatest Generation, set the stage
for me, but we are standing on the precipice of
that potential once again. This generation of
emerging leaders brings a new level of humanity
and activism to their work, so let's continue to
inspire them to act for the greater good, just as
my grandfather did for me.
Connect with Noah @NWWilcox
independentbanker.org Q 7
http://www.independentbanker.org
Independent Banker - June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Independent Banker - June 2020
