Subversive On Purpose

This blog could be called “getting kicked around”, “being resilient”, or “it’s about damn time”. All three of these sentiments illustrate a current professional state of mind given the past few years of work in the business banking arena (my other, salary-based work). I have no doubt that I’m not alone in experiencing often severe trials and tribulations over being in a corporate box. Don’t think too much outside the box or you’ll create waves and get yourself labeled AGGRESSIVE.

I’ve done that a couple dozen times and slowly became resilient to others’ inability to engage in various levels of problem-solving exploration. The key of course is to not confuse resilience with numbness. After my first few years in banking I decided that I was going to do a significant research project on socially responsible banking and present it to our CEO. After 8 months and more rescheduled appointments than I can count, I went to Boston and presented my findings. The CEO took various calls from his wife fighting with their cable guy over issues at the summer home and basically wanted my 2” binder and PowerPoint with no discussion about next steps. I said no thanks and left that bank. With my current bank, the socially responsible banking research went much better. It was welcome and supported, but after 6 months (I worked a bit more efficiently) it didn’t really go anywhere. So, I decided to be just a tad subversive. I engaged the President and got a tentative concession to launch an economic summit. It went very well; attendance was geographically and spectrally diverse representing all aspects of the financial equation. Entrepreneurs, investors, planners, executive directors all gathered to discuss what it would take for our region to be more sustainable. After much approbation I realized this discussion had only just begun. What would I do now? I certainly couldn’t sustain the level of commitment I had given to this project, could I? Well, it seems that following one’s gut, so long as it is sufficiently governed by conscience, does ultimately prove to be the smartest course of action. There are now many vistas of opportunity opening up not only for me and the bank, but for the attendees of the summit who connected with others, shared ideas, and became recharged in their pursuits of sustainability in the region.