WEEKLY ADVISER: Life Teaches: If You Want It, Ask for It!

A few years back I knew two Philadelphia bankers, both fighting for the top spot in their rival banks.

Despite the competition for business between them, they were fast friends.

One made chief executive officer; the other didn't. And despite his love for Philadelphia, he took a job in the Midwest. Ever after, he would be looked upon as the man who was passed over.

After he made his announcement, his friend - the new CEO - called and exclaimed, "Why didn't you tell me you were willing to leave your bank! I would have loved to have had you as my chief operating officer and partner." But it was too late.

The moral: If you want something, let people know.

Here, the new chief executive was embarrassed to ask his friend to come on board, while the banker leaving Philadelphia would have loved this switch as his final career move. Yet nobody had said anything.

The same holds for getting a promotion in your own bank. Often, the top brass doesn't even know that someone wants a certain post, someone who would work like crazy to do a good job if offered it.

Billy Rose, the 1940s showman, asked, "Did you ever wonder how these balding men in their forties marry those tall, statuesque women in their twenties?"

His answer: "They ask them."

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What follows is a sampling of the best "Suggestion Box" entries received by Paul Nadler in recent months.

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The Review of the BancStock Exchange of America, a Columbus, Ohio, firm specializing in community bank securities, reports a new example of service.

A pregnant customer at Santa Barbara Bank and Trust in California went into labor the morning of April 15, before she could open her IRA.

The bank officer who took her call went to her home and had her sign the papers just before she sped to the hospital. "Both baby and IRA have thrived," the Review reports, as I am sure does a community bank that offers such go-the-extra-mile service.

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Banks are always looking for good statement stuffers.

Why not have employees write short messages talking about what they do for the bank and how it helps customers?

That would help link the bank's people with the customer base and make each month's employee-author feel appreciated at the same time.

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Community bankers feel that one of their strengths is the support they give to local nonprofit organizations.

There is, however, a criticism that the major support, or any support at all, often goes to charities that are the favorites of the CEO or board. Critics say, for example, that the local museum puts the bank CEO on its board and then the bank gives disproportionate support to that group.

Why not cut off such criticism by having the shareholders determine which local organizations the bank supports? The bank could send the shareholders a list of all groups that deserve help, and the shareholders could vote for those they want to support. Funds could be distributed proportionately to the number of shares backing each charity.

This makes the contribution truly a gift of the owners of the bank and doubles the good will created.

Mr. Nadler is a contributing editor of the American Banker and professor of finance at Rutgers University Graduate School of Management.

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