Editor's Note: Where the Cover Story Comes From

Folks often ask me how we come up with ideas for the stories published in American Banker Magazine. My answer is that there are all kinds of ways, and this issue perfectly illustrates several of them.

We might hear a good tidbit at an industry conference, as our staffer Glen Fest did while attending a recent SWIFT forum in New York. (You can check out his report on semantics and big data on p. 8 in this month's Briefings section.) Sometimes we come across a thought-provoking idea in the blogosphere, as staffer Bonnie McGeer did when she spotted an item on a Wharton blog. (The item, about a new study suggesting that microfinance is moving away from its core mission of reducing poverty by lending to women, inspired the thoughtful feature you'll find this month on p. 28.)

Sometimes we're just following our own editorial calendar, which is filled with regularly featured reports like our annual list of the Top 200 Small Banks, measured by three-year return on average equity and ranked beginning on p. 14. In other cases, we might learn something that simmers in the back of the head for weeks, months, or even years before reemerging as a fully formed story idea for a banking magazine.

The latter example (and there are many other methods, to be sure) is exactly how we arrived at this month's cover story, profiling six bankers from around the country who have elevated community engagement to an art form.

The banker you see on our cover is JPMorgan Chase's chairman and CEO for the Dallas region. I've never had the pleasure of meeting her in person, but back when I lived in Fort Worth, Texas, reporting on the retail industry for the major newspaper in town, it seemed I couldn't talk to a local CEO or attend a black-tie event or do a bit of volunteer work for a nonprofit without hearing something about Elaine Agather. (The fact that it was always complimentary was equally impressive to me.)

After I started covering commercial banking, I wondered all the more how Agather did it—how she came to know so many people in town, how she kept on earning their continued respect, how she balanced her not-insignificant responsibilities at JPMorgan Chase with all of the dinners and fundraisers and steering committee meetings. And as I met more bankers from around the country, I wondered who else in the industry engages with their communities to such an extent that they, too, might be described as the best-known banker in town.

A few months ago, I sat down with my staff to discuss which themes we wanted to address this year in the magazine. As the brainstorm began, I started thinking about the things I would want to know if I were a banker trying to navigate this rapidly changing industry. I would want to read stories about regulation, of course, and about new products and technology developments—and we try to bring those kinds of stories to you every month. But I also thought it would be nice to find stories that could prompt a bit of thinking about career management, that could inspire me by offering examples of colleagues and competitors who do their jobs so well that they are recognized all over town for it.

The bankers we approached for this story were eager to participate, not only because they were flattered but because they loved that the central purpose of the piece was to help other bankers. I hope you'll find a tip or two to apply to your own career or to share with a mentee. And I hope you'll contact me with ideas for more stories you'd like to see covered in American Banker Magazine.

Heather Landy, Editor in Chief