I am in Seattle, Washington and have just finished a keynote address based on my book, Grounded (Little River Publishing). This is the first annual Emerging Leaders conference conducted by Western Independent Bankers and I am honored to have had the leadoff spot.
These are not just the future leaders of their respective financial institutions; they are the future leaders of the whole industry. My talk is specific to decision-making in a crisis and in it, I am giving motivation to the group about three key areas that are needed to be great decision-makers. They are: 1) Identify AutoPilot, 2) Incorporate ThinkTime, and 3) Initiate Thoughtful Response.
As I wrapped up the talk, the response from the meeting planners and attendees indicated a successful keynote and as a break began, I had an opportunity to chat with some attendees. One gentleman in particular was memorable, as he had a great story to tell. Niraj Maharaj is Sr. VP at 1st Capital Bank in Monterey, CA. He shared with me a recent event that occurred to him parallel to the advice I offered from the platform. Like many community FIs, 1st Capital has to fight with large super-regional banks for large corporate clients. He told me that he was involved in a large $7mm deal and was up against Chase as the primary competitor. He felt that he had established a great rapport with the key decision maker and felt pretty good about the prospects of winning this deal.
On a Saturday, as he was attending a wine tasting event, he got an email from his contact basically saying that 1st Capital was not up to the task of handling their account and that they would be going with Chase on the deal. As you can imagine, this made Niraj upset as he felt that he was in a good place with this prospect. His instinct was to fire off a response immediately, but he realized that he was not in the proper frame of mind to do that email immediately. So he willed himself to enjoy the rest of his Saturday.
On Monday morning, he collaborated with his senior management team and crafted a well thought out response, reminding the prospect of all of the areas in which they had determined that 1st Capital would better service their account. Long story short, they got back into the deal and closed a $7mm sale.
Mr. Maharaj employed a key element of making good decisions in a crisis. He did not react to his situation, he responded. There is a difference, a big difference. What we most often do to an unexpected situation is react. Think about someone walking up to you and punching you in the face. Your first move is likely a reaction, to punch them back. Maybe defending yourself is the right answer, but there are clearly situations where that is not the best first action.
You must take stock of a situation and determine, a) how much time do I have until I must react and b) what action(s) will most likely create the outcome I desire? If I am punched in the face, I don’t have a lot of time to decide what to do next, but I certainly can take a few seconds to take stock of the situation.
In Naraj’s case, there was no reason he needed to respond on a Saturday, nothing was going to happen until Monday morning. He recognized that whatever he would write while sitting at a wine party would not likely get the desired result. He needed to have a clear head and not respond with what he was feeling at the moment. He also wanted to consult with others at the institution and craft a truly meaningful response. So, he waited until he had access to both and ultimately, his focus on creating a thoughtful response was a key element in winning the big deal.
Perhaps the prospect was testing Mr. Maharaj to see how he would respond to adversity. And it doesn’t always work out; sometimes we do everything right and lose the deal anyway, but over time, you will win a disproportionate number of deals, arguments, whatever, if you take the time to create and deliver a thoughtful response instead of a reaction. Start small by practicing self-restraint in a situation when you would normally react.
Think, really think, about what is the best possible outcome to a situation and what is it that you would do or say that would bring about that result. See if it doesn’t begin to change your thinking … and great results will follow.