RAPID CITY, S.C.—Phillip Love is president/CEO of Midwest Business Solutions, a CUSO that provides underwriting and portfolio management services for commercial and agricultural loans through credit unions in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and parts of Montana, Minnesota, Wyoming, and Iowa. The size of this territory is vast, covering over 225,000 square miles.
Below, Mr. Love shares his perspective on leadership and management as part of CUToday.info’s The Corner.
CUToday.inf: What intangible of leadership is most difficult to convey or prepare for?
Love: Two things come to mind. First, leadership is influence. Many people think that a title or position is what makes a leader. They are wrong. Leadership is boiled down to one essential element, influence. If you influence people to act in a certain way, you are showing leadership. The next time you are in a meeting, note who people follow when suggestions are made. That person is the leader. Strive to be a person of influence. Seek to move beyond the title to be a person who is followed because of the results you bring to the organization and the return you give the follower. Eventually, the goal is for people to follow you because of your character.
The second is that leadership is a process that will never end. It always requires you to seek to grow and learn. I like to think of it as a lifelong journey. Once you think you have arrived, you begin to get in trouble. My great Aunt Lil was a masterful gardener. She told me to, “Always be green in life; always be learning. If you think you have arrived, remember once you have ripened, the next step is that you begin to rot!”
CUToday.info: Are you a fan of a management book or books? If not, why not. If so, which have resonated with you and why?
Love: I am a huge fan of leadership books. They are essential for you in order to continue on the leadership journey. I enjoy reading biographies about great leaders or stories about situations that required strong leadership. I also enjoy leadership gurus like John Maxwell and Zig Ziglar. These guys have some of the best resources for leadership that are out there. I love reading sales books by Jeffrey Gitomer as well. Sales is one of the ultimate tests of leadership. Plus, I like Gitomer since his writing is split up into small chapters that cover a small facet of leadership and sales to make application easier..
As leadership is a process, it is also an intentional one. I try to go through a new leadership book every month or two and also take a little time during the day to review key leadership principles; strive for application and not just reading.
CUToday.info: Innovation: four syllables getting all the attention. Deservedly so? If so, can you really drive innovation? Or is it coming at the cost of implementation and delivery?
Love: Innovation to me also encompasses implementation of the ideas as well. In fact, some of the most innovative ideas in our company have come in how we can better deliver our product. I encourage my staff to always look for a new way to do things. We encourage new ideas and look for ways to use the best ones. Some are shelved for a future date, as the timing is wrong. Implementing a great idea at the wrong time, is still a wrong decision. When the timing is right, we will pull the idea off the shelf, unpack it, and put it into place then.
I enjoy whenever one of my team will come to me and begin with, “You may think I am crazy, but I have had this idea running around in my head…” Sometimes, those crazy dreams can turn into great ideas to implement. As a leader, it is my responsibility to foster an environment where people have some time to dream and are encouraged to share their thoughts. I do not have a monopoly on all the good ideas; adding a creative team around you will help the company achieve more.
CUToday.info: If you could go back and talk to You On The First Day On The Job, what advice do you share?
Love: I would sit across the desk from myself and begin by uttering the immortal words of Aaron Rodgers, “R-E-L-A-X.” Plan ahead and work purposefully; don’t just run around from one crisis to another. Be willing to try new things that may fail.
Always take extra time to build the relationships with those around you. Never forget where you came from. Always be thankful for the time that others give you.
Never get discouraged. Rolling around in self-pity takes away a lot of productive energy. The most important thing is to be persistent. Just showing up each day and giving your best will push forward to accomplish great things more so than brilliance, talent, or unfulfilled potential.
Always have a lot of fun with what you do. Take your work very seriously, but not yourself. Find ways to put some wins underneath the belts of your staff and stakeholders.
CUToday.info: My Keeps-Me-Up-At-Night concern is? Why? And My-Let’s-Me-Sleep-At-Night optimism is?
Love: Our organization is relatively new and what keeps me up at night is a concern over adequate resources. Do we have adequate staff resources and time to deliver on our service promises? Do we have enough funding resources to adequately fund our loans? Do we have enough relationship resources to keep us working on new loans and truly making a difference with the institutions we work with?
In spite of all the questions, I tend to sleep well at night. We try to make daily decisions that will help us sleep well in the future by focusing on credit quality, rather than volume. We also focus on taking the right steps each day; if we do that, we will win in the end.
Ultimately, what keeps me sleeping soundly has to be my faith. No matter how crazy things get, or how unsure the future may be, I know God is in control and I am doing what I am called to do. That helps me rest comfortably.