Intentional Leaders Podcast with Cyndi Wentland

Leadership Longevity and Organizational Culture with Corey Chambas

• Corey Chambas • Episode 140

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Ever wondered what it takes to stay committed to one organization for over three decades? Join us for an exclusive conversation with Corey Chambas, CEO of First Business Bank, as he uncovers the secrets behind his impressive 30-year tenure. Corey shares his thoughts on the dynamic environment and the unique camaraderie at the bank that have kept him engaged and loyal. Get to know the personal side of Corey as he discusses his hobbies, particularly collecting aged beers, and how these passions fuel his leadership.

Unlock the secrets of fostering a culture of innovation and growth as we dive into the importance of embracing change within an organization. Corey emphasizes the power of psychological safety and honest communication in encouraging risk-taking and learning from failures. Discover how First Business Bank creates opportunities for employee growth and attracts top talent by maintaining a balance between successful initiatives and lessons learned from those that don’t work. This chapter is filled with actionable insights for anyone looking to drive innovation and improve overall performance in their organization.

Corey also reveals the core values that define First Business Bank's culture and how they align with the principles from "The Ideal Team Player." Explore the traits of humble, hungry and smart that are crucial for recruitment, coaching, and performance management. Hear Corey’s heartfelt reflections on the importance of servant leadership and the distinction between wanting to "be" a manager versus wanting to "do" the job. With over 30 years of dedication, Corey’s insights offer a profound look at the collective effort needed to maintain a positive workplace culture where actions truly speak louder than words. Tune in for a deep dive into leadership, organizational values, and the keys to sustained success.

Find Corey here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreychambas/

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Cyndi:

You might know a stuffy bank CEO, but this is not one of them. Today I want to welcome Corey Chambas to the Intentional Leaders podcast. He is the CEO of First Business Bank and I have had the pleasure of working with his organization for probably about six years and what I know of their culture and of the strength of their organization is there is strong leadership at the top. I am so excited to talk with Corey about his 30 years with this organization. What makes it so interesting that he has so much legacy and longevity here and he is going to share today those secrets with you. You're going to love it this morning. I would like to welcome Corey to our Intentional Leaders podcast. Good morning, Corey.

Corey:

Good morning.

Cyndi:

It's so great to have you be involved in this episode and share some of your lessons learned about your leadership at First Business Bank. I want to start out by first acknowledging that you have been with First Business Bank for over 30 years, which shows your commitment, loyalty and perseverance. So what has kept you committed and loyal to this organization for so many years?

Corey:

I think the unique atmosphere it's one of change, very dynamic. It's always been interesting and challenging. So I think if it had been a stagnant organization, I probably would have grown frustrated and bored, because I do like change and innovation. So that's a big aspect. And the other big aspect is the people. We have a very unique culture. We're very picky about who we quote let into the club. Because of that, I just have so much loyalty and commitment to the people and their success. That keeps me, drives me, Absolutely.

Cyndi:

You have some executives on your leadership team who've been there the same amount of time. Is that correct?

Corey:

Yeah, there's several senior people who've been here over 30 years and ironically, interesting story about that is when I joined the company there were 18 employees and we had a holiday party right after I joined and people brought their significant others. My wife was pretty shocked when she walked in and saw the whole company sitting at one T-shaped table. How little it was, because I came from a much larger organization. Of those 18 people that were there, a few retired Jerry Smith, who started the company, and Mary Murphy and Rich Flickling, his original employees, because they were a little bit older when they started the company. So they have retired along the way. But other than that, six of those 18 people have been here over 30 years and are still with the company.

Cyndi:

Oh my gosh.

Corey:

Yeah, it's pretty unbelievable. I mean I don't know what the odds of that are, but they're pretty long odds.

Cyndi:

Yeah, pretty low. You talked about the culture and you talk about the people and I noticed on all of your LinkedIn profiles there's a lot of information about who everybody is personally. And just recently I did a spring leadership training with your organization and people talked a lot about their personal lives. You know that seems like a core value for you and for your team. And why is that?

Corey:

Well, people are individuals and you have to do certain things in your work life as a banker, but there's a lot more to people than just being bankers. That's the interesting part of people. That's outside of what they do in their work life and different things that are passions for people. You know, we encourage people to express that and enjoy that and it creates camaraderie, common interests and interesting aspects about people that are fun to get to know.

Cyndi:

Absolutely so. You are a cyclist, musky hunter, golfer, fitness nut, beer snob and badger in your profile. I love it. Beer snob what does that mean? Because I've been called a wine snob.

Corey:

That means I like beer but I don't like all beer. I'm pretty picky about the kind of beer that I like and I'm also a seller in aged beers. So I have about, at any given time, 300 to 400 beers in my cellar. So, yes, that's why I didn't get too panicky when the pandemic hit, as I knew I was good for a while with beer, at least when I was stuck at home. Most beers are good to drink fresh, so don't just stick a Miller Lite in your basement and think that's a good idea and wait a year to drink it. But beers will change and evolve over time and I actually have three different beers that I am aging until my grandson and granddaughter turn 21 to have with them 21 beers from their birth years.

Cyndi:

Oh, seriously. So these are beers you made?

Corey:

No, I've collected them. A lot of them are hard to find in unique beers. I've traded beers, I do some of that and it's a whole thing.

Cyndi:

I'm going to connect you to my cousin in Japan who's a beer maker. He's a brewmaster and he opened a brewery in Japan. When he comes back to the States, what he does is he goes to all kinds of breweries. So he keeps trying to retire, but he can't do it.

Cyndi:

It's like he can't step away from the beer situation. Oh, I love that, and I didn't even know that you could cellar beer. Like you could save it. I have the wine snob situation, so I have many, many bottles as well, so we were safe during the pandemic too.

Corey:

Right, very similar. You know, some wines you drink right away and some you age. And it's same situation with beers. And some are good to age for a little while, and some for a long while, and some you go too far and it's no good anymore.

Cyndi:

I have no idea that you could age beer and learning already, Right? So you mentioned that the culture is something that has kept you at First Business for so many years and you feel like it's very unique. But you also mentioned change, and that's something too. In the period of time I think I've been working with you all for maybe five or six years but I know that change is something that your leaders talk a lot about. You talk a lot about it. That whole fast pace and agility with change is something that you're known for. People are told that when they come into your organization. So one, why do you think that's so important? And then, two, how do you facilitate that kind of culture, Because that is very difficult to do.

Corey:

I think it's imperative. An organization gets stale and there's some management and I forget what it's called, but there's a diagram about cycles of companies as they grow and mature and then decline. But that same arc and then decline can be offset if you layer in new things on top. I don't know if you've ever seen that drawing where it continues to evolve and grow, and I believe that's kind of the principle here is to continue to evolve and grow. Add new business lines, add new things, try new things.

Corey:

We try to be very honest about that when we interview people. I've had people ask me in interviews oh you make this sound like the greatest place. Why shouldn't someone want to work here? And one of the things I've told people is if you don't like change, this is not the place for you, because we're going to do new things, we're going to try new things and some of them will succeed and some of them will fail. We've done things.

Corey:

I actually gave a presentation once about all the things that we did that didn't work and all the lessons learned. It was kind of a fun and, I think, surprising for the audience presentation. But hopefully more things work than don't work. But if you don't try, you don't evolve, and if you don't ever fail, you're probably not really trying hard enough. And so our employees know that and they know that if something doesn't work, we regroup, learn our lessons and move on.

Corey:

That's an important aspect to continue to grow and evolve the company. And that's important to me especially, and maybe it's because I'm getting older, but I look at the success of our employees and the growth of our employees, and if you're not a growing organization where new opportunities are created, people will get stuck and they'll leave if they're ambitious and they want to be challenged and they want to grow in their careers. So if the organization doesn't grow, you lose your best people, and so to me that's another aspect that's really important about growth is growth creates opportunity for employees. So if you don't grow, they don't have those opportunities, and if you do, people see that success. They want to be part of that. They understand that they'll have opportunities. I think talent gets attracted to organizations that are growing and successful. It's sort of a self-perpetuating positive situation with attracting good people and then they continue to create the growth and new opportunities for the organization and for others.

Cyndi:

Yeah, I think what's really great about what you just said is when people know that that they're in an organization that is growing, that is evolving and they have those opportunities, how much more loyal they're going to be. You know, not just I'm stuck doing this thing, but where can I go and what possibilities are out there, and I think some of the younger generations in particular to want that in an organization, and I know a lot of organizations who do not have that. So I think it's pretty cool that you did a lessons learned on failures, and I don't know if you're familiar with the concept of psychological safety. That's one component that is definitely tied to innovation. So when you're talking about innovation, People have to feel like it's okay to fail or to make a mistake or they won't try new things.

Cyndi:

And so how have you, Corey, embraced that? Because when you think about failure and mistakes, especially in the banking profession, you would believe that most people wouldn't want to do anything that would be considered a failure. That seems like a value to you that you want people to try. It's okay to do that.

Corey:

Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, in general in the banking industry you have a lot of risk averse people and so you do have to be intentional and push people in that regard because they by nature, I think, just hunker down and play it safe and that's an easier way to go and keep your head down. You don't get into trouble, that kind of an attitude, but you're not going to really succeed in a big way if that's the attitude of the people and the organizational attitude. If you will, I think for us we've tried to do two things. One, be very honest with employees about things that happen. I can't remember the sequence of things that didn't quite work out the way we thought, but this was at least 15 years ago. At a staff meeting I explained why these couple things didn't work and I also explained you know, these three things didn't work, but we've done these eight things over the last X years and these five things did work. So some things won't work, some things will work. Overall, it should have a net positive on all of that and so explaining to everybody that that's just the nature of the organization and what we intend to do, and we're going to try some more new things and some of them aren't going to work, but hopefully more of them do than don't.

Corey:

And then the other aspect is sort of an individual situation basis. Where something goes wrong, something gets messed up, there's a problem of trying to immediately what are the lessons learned? Not who's to blame, but what are the lessons? How do we not make the same mistake again? And then how do we also, in an analogous way, apply that to other parts of the organization or other situations where well, we learned this big lesson here. Let's not have a similar thing happen somewhere else where we can apply this learning that we've had. So I think our employees know that we would rather have them raise their hand and say whoops, I messed something up here and limit the damage, figure out what happened, as opposed to try to hide it or deny it. We don't go on witch hunts when something goes wrong, it's more of okay, things happen. What can we learn and how do we get better?

Cyndi:

That is such an amazing philosophy it really is and when people don't feel like they're going to be shamed or blamed for something, and it is okay to talk about it and share it, and that is that spirit of lessons learned. And how do we go forward and use this insight from this situation? I think it's really amazing.

Corey:

It fits with a general idea of continuous improvement, which is something I think our employees talk about. We think we're pretty good, but if we don't get better, we're not going to stay where we are, we're going to go backwards, because everybody else is getting better all the time and you have to keep evolving and changing Absolutely when you think about the change and the pace of change and embracing that as an organization.

Cyndi:

I want to go back to the pandemic, because so many businesses had to shift very quickly. How did that serve you well to have the kind of culture of change during the pandemic?

Corey:

One thing that helped is we had some remote employees because of some of our business lines, so we had some management and overall management that was used to people being remote. We also are very forward thinking in terms of technology. So essentially all of our employees had laptops with docking stations and so we started telling people you know something's going on here, start taking your laptop home at night, just in case. And so when we made that call on that Sunday afternoon and told people to stay home, we were ready to go. We've also been flexible with people in terms of work-life balance. So a lot of employees even if they were standard in the office five-day-a-week people in general, if something happened they knew they could work from home. They had a child situation or whatever event to go to, so people periodically worked from home, whatever event to go to. So people periodically worked from home. So we've always embraced that and people were ready to do that and we were ready organizationally, from a technology standpoint and a management standpoint, to be ready to do that. So we were in much better shape than a lot of folks when that happened and we also communicate a lot, and that helped during that timeframe. I may be biased given my position, but I think we have a trusted relationship with our employees. So a lot of people were very scared at the time and we started having at first we had daily video calls with everybody and then we quickly went to weekly. So we had weekly calls for a long time with employees about what was going on and how things were working, and so weekly so we had weekly calls for a long time with employees about what was going on and how things were working and so forth. So I think that communication well, it's a big part of everything in life is communication.

Corey:

But also if you're going to be a nimble organization and if you're going to have a lot of change, you really need to over-communicate. Because I might be thinking about a change that I think we need to make and could be pondering it for six months, and I've fully thought it through and I'm ready to go. Well, that doesn't mean everybody else is ready to go. They haven't been thinking about it for the last six months. So a lot of folks have never heard about it. A lot of folks have, because I've talked to people, but a lot of employees this is the first time they've ever heard about it. So that was a lesson that I learned is just because I was comfortable and ready for a change. That doesn't mean everybody else is ready for change. So you need to communicate over communicate. Communicate in different ways. Some people are, you know, visual and you know. So you email, you talk, you talk again, email again.

Cyndi:

Yes, paint a picture.

Corey:

Yeah, paint a picture, absolutely.

Cyndi:

Yeah, that's fantastic. And also I mean a few years back I think this was actually pre-pandemic that all your leaders I facilitated a change leadership class. So I think you were organizationally saying we need to change and we need to change rapidly and we need to innovate, and it's okay to make mistakes, but you also give people the tools to do that, and I thought that was impressive too, that everyone was trained in. Okay, here's how you facilitate change, here's how you lead change, because many leaders, as you just said, are thinking about it and they know and they're already comfortable saying we have to do this, but people around them are not in that same headspace and that's what causes the confusion and resistance is when people aren't all on the same page. So I think that's pretty great. Yeah, yeah, so you are a reader, even if that didn't make your LinkedIn list, but you are a leader and you are a fan of Patrick Lencioni.

Corey:

Right.

Cyndi:

And I know you've used a lot of his books in your organization, so where did that come from and how do his teachings resonate so much with you?

Corey:

Well, it started quite a while ago. I don't know when he started writing, but I've been reading his books for a really long time. I think there's a few aspects.

Corey:

And two, his style is so approachable with the business parable, if you will. Yes, it's just fun to read his books because it's just an interesting story, but then there's a lesson to be learned from the story and over time every book of his that I've read I felt the same way. I enjoyed reading it and then when I got to the appendix and the details about how to apply it, the thoughts and ideas very much resonated with me, and so I've often recommended those to folks, because you know, there's some business books that are very dry and his you can easily listen to through Audible or whatever the case may be, because they're just stories with a lesson. Over time, I've found I would say two of his books to be the most influential. One is the Ideal Team Player For a long time. We have a culture here that we think is very unique and special, as I'm sure everybody does, but it was hard to describe A couple things.

Corey:

I was talking to someone about that book before I read it, and describing our organization and our culture of being nice is a way I would describe it and also talked about. People are very driven, we're competitive, we like to win, we like to succeed, we like to help our clients succeed. So so we're driven, but it's very important for us to be humble. And he said to me have you ever heard of the ideal team player? And I said no, it had just come out. And, as you know, that's humble, hungry and smart. Smart being not intelligent, but more eq, being people smart. And and I was like, well, that's kind of how I just described those three aspects to him. In a lot of ways, I read the book very much resonated and kind of finally put some words to our culture and also allowed us to interview more specifically as opposed to just generally going.

Corey:

I'm not sure if Cyndi fits our culture. You know well what does that mean. Well, I don't know. Just, I just didn't feel right. Well, okay now. Well, is it humble, is it hungry, is it smart? And then, how do you ask the questions about those things, how do you coach to those things after someone's hired? Because we all need to work on something, and that's something that we've embraced in the organization is that everybody is working on something in terms of humble, hungry and smart. So we've spent a lot of time with that in our organization.

Corey:

And then the motive is the other one. In terms of anybody who thinks they want to be a manager, I recommend that book to them, or anyone who has suddenly become a manager, whether they wanted to or were prepared for it. That's the book I most recommend. There.

Corey:

It goes to servant leadership primarily is how I would describe it, but in a way that I also think is very approachable from somebody in terms of them thinking about why do I want to do this job? And it ties to a concept that I often bring up to people is be versus. Do you want to be that position? Okay, yeah, that's a nice title. You want to be that. That's a promotion, you want to be that, but do you want to do that? Do you want to do what that job is?

Corey:

Do you want to sit down with people and explain what they're not doing well and where they need to improve and be honest with them? And the nice word that I used before about our culture kind of modified that to kind as opposed to nice and meaning that you need to be honest with people. If someone's not doing a good job, you need to explain why you think that and how they're not measuring up and what good looks like here's what good looks like and here's what you're doing. That's being kind. You might think you're being nice by not telling them something they don't want to hear. I'm not sure that that's nice and it's certainly not kind, because they're lulled into a false sense of security or accomplishment or whatever it may be. So that's where I think the be versus do concept plays out. And yeah, those are probably my two most recommended books.

Cyndi:

What is really inspiring to me is that during this leadership class this spring let's say there are 15 people in there when we were talking about coaching and performance and talent development, there were a lot of conversations about humble, hungry and smart, and someone would bring something up and say, Ooh, I have someone who's smart and hungry, but they're not humble. They were using that as a framework for coaching and for talent development and for getting in all the nuances of what does that really look like and how do they coach to that? So I think what's really so inspiring about what you said, Corey, is you're able to take that and cascade it down into the organization that people know. This is what we're all about and, as you said, I think there was a definite sense of accountability to those managers that that's what they had to do.

Corey:

Yes.

Cyndi:

I have to do that with my team.

Corey:

Right.

Cyndi:

I have to have those conversations and yeah, they're awkward and yeah, I'm not sure that I'm quite there yet with how to do it, but that is my job and that took a lot.

Corey:

When we rolled that out, we did a lot of sessions with I did it with some senior people and everybody agreed that that resonated. And then we did it with all the managers. The managers defined and this is maybe 60 managers or something that defined what does humble look like at First Business Bank? What does hungry look like at First Business Bank? So we have our own kind of definitions on those things or descriptors, and then we rolled it out to all the employees and explained it to everyone.

Corey:

It was a little scary for some people. I remember this was actually in a manager meeting. Somebody asked me how long do we have? And I said I don't understand the question Well, how long do I have to fix it? And I'm like it's not like you have to fix it. I mean, you're going to work on something but you're not on the clock and we all need to work on something. And people kind of thought it was like an on-off switch Either I'm humble or I'm not humble, or I'm hungry or I'm not. No, no, no, no. It's like a volume control Nobody's zero and nobody's 100%. The way we ended up describing it is which is your least best of?

Corey:

So that's the one you're going to work on. And then, probably the maybe boldest thing that we did was when we rolled it out and we cascaded this down, each manager met with the employees that reported to them. So, let's say, you and I are starting. I start about me. So the manager starts and it's like here's what I think I need to work on. Yeah, but what I want to know is what do you think I need to work on? Oh, because it doesn't really matter what I think it's like. What do you perceive, what do you see? What happens?

Corey:

And then so you say well, I kind of think you need to work on humble. And then I ask why, what does that look like when I'm not humble? Well, you know, and we won that deal, and then you got up on your desk and pounded your chest. That wasn't that humble. So, okay, yep, yep, gotcha. So we made people actually describe what does it look like when I'm not humble, or when I'm not smart or not hungry? And then, by doing the manager first, it created vulnerability and the ability for the employee not to feel threatened. Then, when we talk OK, cindy, what do you think you need to work on? Oh, ok, well, here's what I'm seeing. I think it's this, and here's the traits or the things that you do and whatnot. And then we agree Now there's permission, both ways.

Corey:

So, you have permission to call me out when I'm not humble and mention it to me, and I have permission to talk to you about when you're not, whatever it is. And here's how that came up and that permission granting was really important in rolling this out. We give that book to people before they start Managers. We typically make them read it during the interview process. They're easy reads.

Cyndi:

Yeah.

Corey:

So the last person that I hired who reported to me, he read the book while we were doing the interview process. We went through that exercise before he even started. So day one we knew what we were working on. So the beauty about that is, you know, it's like oh okay, I just hired Cindy and she's not doing whichever thing, quite right, but she just started, I'm not going to give her a hard time right away. You know, now it's six months from now or a year from now, and it's like whoa, now I have a big problem because Cindy's really been doing this thing the whole time and now suddenly I drop it from out of nowhere. Whereas day two we agreed you weren't going to do this thing and this is what you needed to work on and you gave me permission to talk to you about it. So I felt like it was a little scary for folks, but I think impactful.

Cyndi:

Yeah, you bet. Well, you're just setting the stage for what your relationship is going to be like, what the culture is like and those expectations about growth. Immediately lLike this is what we're all doing. thinks ithat aisn aan flippant awesome idea. I love that. So what is your least best?

Corey:

My least, best is humble.

Cyndi:

And why do you say that? Why do you think that's your least best?

Corey:

Well, if you talk to my wife, she will clearly let you know that that's the case. But no, I know it's the case and it's something that I work on. And I would say, to be honest, when I've talked to the employees who I work with, that's not what they say. So that's good, I'm working on it, yeah.

Cyndi:

But I have to be conscious about. It is kind of hard to dial that back a little bit like, because that's what energizes you, that's what gives you the energy is to do things well, and it's hard not to celebrate that or over celebrate it. Sometimes we can get right and the motive as well. It was interesting because during this training session again, they all had read the book and then one of your senior leaders facilitated a discussion about that, about what brand new to leadership, and I think that discussion was very rich, it was very meaningful and again it set the stage for here's what we expect of you at First Business Bank. So I thought that was pretty, again, reinforcing and inspiring as well.

Corey:

Yeah, great.

Cyndi:

It's so great to hear about the culture that you are building on purpose and then I get to see it in the work that I do with your employees, with your leaders, and that's so fun to see the connection of you know it's all coming to life. So of course I named my company Intentional Leaders, because I believe that deliberate approach is most effective. So when you think about yourself as an intentional leader, what are some things that you do on purpose that are most effective for you in your role?

Corey:

Primarily, I try to do a couple things that are very simple. One is lead by example, whatever that is, you know, behavioral things, try to work on being humble and work on being hungry and being smart. So try to provide that example. Also, try to provide the right example on work ethic. You know I'm kind of old school get off my lawn, maybe. You know. I think hard work is important for success and so I try to provide that example. But I also try to provide the example of balance work-life balance and that's interesting. Somebody was just explaining our culture internally and when he was explaining it he talked about work-life balance, which I think we've always done a great job with. But he talked about work-fund balance and that he didn't think he was going to work at a bank for the 25 years I think he's been here now or something like that, because he just didn't think it would be fun to work at a bank.

Corey:

We have fun and I've often said that if it's not fun and we can't joke and have a good time and enjoy each other, I wouldn't do it. I couldn't do it, and in fact it was when I used to write a blog a long time ago in business magazine they changed some of my titles. I can remember one that they changed was it was vote for Pedro and it was like, well, that doesn't really apply. You know people won't know what it's about and I'm like, well, I don't care, it's funny. If you read it you will think that the title is funny.

Corey:

And I told Jodi in our marketing area kind of, who was involved, because she knew I got mad when they changed my titles. I said I'm not going to write these anymore if I can't have fun writing them and enjoy and try to have a fun title. So that's kind of an aspect here too, in terms of leadership, is not taking myself too seriously, not taking work too seriously. Work's important. We have to succeed. For our employees, our clients, our shareholders, our communities. It's all really important. But if it's not fun, it's not worth it. So that aspect of leadership is important to me as well.

Cyndi:

I mentioned to you before we started recording that you and I went to the UW at the exact same time, so we were at the university for the exact same four years and I feel like my probably my upbringing and philosophy on leadership is very aligned with yours, that I think you, of course, work hard. Leadership is very aligned with yours, that I think you, of course, work hard and that's a given, like hard work and work ethic, I think is a value that I hold very dear, but also that ability to have fun and have balance. And again kind of goes back to the initial thing that I mentioned to you about all your LinkedIn profiles that you get to know people personally, you get to know what they care about and who they are at their core, and that just creates a much more meaningful relationship, meaningful environment, and it shows how much you all care about each other as human beings. And the human experience is equally as important as the work part of it and the job that you're doing.

Corey:

Yeah, absolutely, well said.

Cyndi:

For you as a leader. You're very much a role model for that. So when you say, lead by example, what I love about what you just said is you're very clear in the example that you want to set and it's very deliberate and very intentional. That's inspiring to me. Well, corey, I want to thank you so much for taking the time this morning. We just had a long holiday weekend and right away, my first discussion discussion. I get to have you and learn more about you as a leader. I appreciate you sharing all these lessons, and about not just who you are, but how you have, on purpose, created this amazing culture within First Business Bank, and I get to see it and experience in the work that I do with you. So I just want to say thank you for the work that you're doing and the culture you're creating, because I see it, I feel it and I get to experience it as a partner, and I love that.

Corey:

Thanks, I appreciate that, but I didn't create it. I'm not the only one keeping the culture, it's everybody keeping it. I'm protective of it and will defend it, but so will a lot of folks here. So, yeah, it's very important. Look at how humble you just were, I try, I'm trying, I'm trying.

Cyndi:

And I know there is a team of people surrounding you and a team of great people surrounding you. At the same time, what you do sets the stage for everyone else.

Corey:

Oh yeah.

Cyndi:

And I think that's an important thing to note and appreciate about yourself.

Corey:

Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think people look at what you do, not what you say. We have a statement of beliefs. It is a plaque on the wall, but it's not just a plaque on the wall. It's actually how people behave. And if I or anyone else here doesn't live by that, people notice. And that's a greater responsibility when you are in management and people look at you and see well, how do you actually behave? And my dad was famous for do what I say, not what I do. That was his thing. You cannot do that if you're trying to be a good leader.

Cyndi:

Gee, I remember my dad saying that too. Yeah, I agree, I agree, because people do pay attention to the big and the small things, and it sounds like you're very mindful about how you're showing up and being consistent with that. Yeah, thank you again for your time this morning. I really, really appreciate it and appreciate you stepping back to reflect on this 30 years at First Business Bank and what you've accomplished.

Corey:

Yeah, absolutely Thanks, cindy, I enjoyed the conversation.

Cyndi:

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