brad garland

As many of you know, we run a banking community site called Banktastic.com and have for a little over a year now. It has been a fun experience. Very difficult to predict, at times, but very fun nevertheless and our community is great. Over the past few months I felt like, despite our community growing steadily, that it was beginning to feel a bit like a 13 year old boy as the community was trying to figure out what it was all about and what it wanted to be. I debated whether to step back and let the community define itself but the less we got out of the way the more the community was not sure how to proceed. So I decided that we needed to, like Madonna, redefine (or perhaps just define) ourselves a bit. I didn’t know how or what it should be at first but figured it would present itself.

And sure enough, it did…

I was watching a documentary on Ralph Nader (via Netflix through my Xbox 360 which is awesome btw) and although I don’t agree with all his views I was impressed by the man and his ability to push things through just as a private citizen. That’s right, he never held any political office and did things like help establish rules for seat belts in all vehicles, the freedom of information act, and clean air act. He inspired me to think big and find themes that could get resolved in what we’re doing. After a bit of brainstorming I came up with three major themes that even though they could work independently would be even more powerful as a whole. Transparency, Innovation, and Education. TIE.

These three principles will be at the crux of everything we do moving forward (as a community and as a company). We want to find those that are being TIE and tell everyone their stories. We hope by sharing their stories it will inspires other to do the same. It feels so good to have something so clear to look for and work towards to me. It’s just refreshing. We just released the news (video below) about the TIE principles at the beginning of the week and will be subtly making changes to Banktastic to accommodate this vision. I would love to learn about how you found your purpose too so please comment below. Thanks everyone!

I was watching a documentary the other night about Ralph Nader called ‘An Unreasonable Man’. Despite the fact that Nader was never elected a politician, he has been incredibly effective in implementing policy. Some of his efforts include:

- Mandatory seat belts in all vehicles

- Airbags

- Warning labels on cigarettes

- The Clean Air Act

- The Freedom of Information Act

Regardless of your political stance, we can all recognize that Nader has done a lot for our country. The movie got me thinking about how our community needs a well defined purpose and direction. We need to believe in principles and work together to achieve them. I thought about it for a while and in what could only be described as an epiphany, it hit me. I was suddenly exhilarated! I leaned over to my wife, Jenny and asked her if she would indulge me for a second to see if my idea sounded remotely sane. Here’s my challenge for us:

The financial industry is in a sad state after the massive bailouts, layoffs, and bankruptcies across the country. What can we do to pull ourselves out this hole? I believe we need a retooling of our belief system.

This industry, very simply, needs three things:

1) Transparency - At the heart of this crisis is the fact that we haven’t held an open and honest discussion with ourselves or our customers. Transparency is an absolute requirement to ensure we never have a situation like this again. You should be credited for the willingness of your institution to share and contribute. This sharing can be done from the bottom to the top of the organization. Anyone has the right to help carry this movement forward and your voice is needed to do it.

2) Innovation - Innovation is something that gets a lot of talk but not a lot of action. Part of this is due to constraints put on the institutions by regulators but also by the organization itself. Innovation is only passively talked about and not made a priority within the organization. I suggest a mandate encouraging innovative practices for banks and credit unions. One way to do this is to have something similar to the R&D tax credit allotted to small businesses. Allow financial institutions, large and small, to get credit for taking a chance. If banks aren’t allow to think and play creatively, a stagnant environment will continue to exist. Innovation can root from an individual or an organization. The question is what are you going to do to improve things?

3) Education - Ultimately, consumers are getting the short end of the stick. Consumers assume they can’t get sound financial advice from financial organizations and in current times are timid to leave their money in the bank. It’s a travesty. We need educational reform that allows, no requires, bankers to provide a certain level of financial advise to their customers.

Individually, each step is crucial., But only when the three ideas are ‘tied’ together, do we attain transformational change.

This is how the TIE principles were born. This idea isn’t about me, The Garland Group, or Banktastic.com. It’s about making a difference and taking a stance against complacency. What changes can you and your institution make to encourage these principles? How about becoming a little more open to sharing ideas with others? Or testing a new marketing initiative toward a particular demographic? Are you willing to host financial literacy classes at your local schools? The power is in your hands.

Brad Garland is the CEO of The Garland Group and founder of the banker community Banktastic.com. He speaks across the country about opportunities in this Web-enabled world and how to succeed by understanding them.