Head on over to Leominster, or down to Chatham, or across to New Bedford. Then stand next to a community banker at a chamber of commerce reception, and watch what happens when some know-it-all starts spouting off about how greedy and uncaring banks are. As this lout keeps babbling, the banker’s face will contort, his eyes will cross, and his hair will start to stand out like a fright wig.
In short, he’s going to end up looking a lot like Phyllis Diller.
Last week, Phyllis Diller passed on at age 95. She was a latecomer to comedy – she didn’t start doing stand-up until she was 37, with a husband and six children. Then she created her stage family, including her fictional husband, Fang, and her dog, Fido. Her career was a marvel, and in it there are some lessons that bankers could learn from.
Perception Isn’t Reality
Diller’s whole shtick was that she was an amazingly ugly woman. (She described herself as "The Elizabeth Taylor of the Twilight Zone.") But she knew it wasn’t true. She wore baggy dresses so she could mock her shape ("I’ve got a figure that just won’t start") because she actually had an attractive body. When Playboy magazine took nude pictures of her, they wound up not running them. They wanted it to be a joke, and she looked too good.
Diller had an oddball look, but she played it to her advantage. Can’t community banks do the same thing? If the idea is that banks are large and unapproachable, use a little humor to create a different image. (We’d love to be one of the big banks. But we can’t, because we’ve invested too much money in these Little League jerseys.) Get people to feel for you, and they’ll be on your side, even if you don’t win the beauty pageant.
Be A Leader
Before Diller came along, there weren’t many women making it big in stand-up comedy. She showed that a woman could zing out the one-liners just as well as the guys could. "Aim high, and you won’t shoot your foot off," was one of her quips, but it was also her philosophy.
It should be the culture at your bank, too. Too many banks look like cookie-cutter versions of each other. As a comedienne, Diller stood out from everyone else, even though she was basically doing the same kind of stand-up. She found a way to make herself, and her act, unique. She made herself a success, and became a role model for acts like Joan Rivers, Roseanne Barr and others. What would it take to make your bank stand out so well, that de novo banks were patterning themselves after you?
Use All Your Talents
Diller wrote most of her own material. She plumbed it from the life she saw around her, and she made it reflect what her audience knew. But she was more than just a witty comedian. She starred on Broadway as a singer and actor. She was also a respected painter, and a world-class pianist. In the same vein as Victor Borge, she spent a decade appearing with 100 different symphony orchestras across the country under the name "Dame Illya Dillya." The San Francisco Examiner lauded her as "a fine concert pianist with a firm touch." When she wasn’t doing stand-up, she was acting, she was painting, she was performing. And she did it all to glowing reviews.
Make sure your bank is looking at everything you offer, and making the most of it all. In addition to business banking, are you offering wealth management services? If you are, are you also offering business succession planning for family businesses? Look at where your strengths are, and then look harder to see if there are hidden talents that you haven’t yet made the most of.
[begin bold] Try – And Never Give Up [end bold]
"A bachelor is a guy who never made the same mistake once," Diller cackled. She started as a housewife, became a secretary and moved on into comedy. And then she never stopped. As she got older, she found it too hard to continue doing stand-up around the country. But she waited until she was 83 to get off the circuit. Even then, she continued doing television – she was 90 when she did her last guest appearance in person. She did voice work for animated shows like Family Guy, King of the Hill and more until just a couple of years ago. And when she was 89, she published a New York Times bestselling memoir, "Like A Lampshade In A Whorehouse: My Life In Comedy."
It’s hard to be a community banker. But the best dedicate their careers to finding ways to grow and create and adapt. And even when everyone around you acts like you’re the ugly stepsister of the economy, you know that you’re really the one who’s making it all happen, and doing it with a smile.
And "a smile," said Diller, "is a curve that sets everything straight."
Vincent Michael Valvo is CEO of Agility Resources Group LLC. He can be reached at vvalvo@agilityresourcesgroup.com.
