I recently caught up with friends, colleagues, and customers at a large banking conference.

All of the bank-bashing I've witnessed in recent months has me reflecting on one of my favorite Buffett lines. I'm talking about Jimmy, not Warren.

One of my mantras over the past few years has been that as our industry becomes more technology-driven and our products and services more commoditized, our people become more important, not less.

There are few topics as easy to get into a friendly, if a bit heated, debate these days as "the future of branches" in banking. Many folks quickly compare branches to buggy whip factories and traditional bankers to Luddites. Others jump in and cite research or survey results that say customers still prefer to open accounts in branches, and that, by the way, branches are still profitable.

The "luxury" experience at a Four Seasons hotel stay was not produced by facilities. It was produced by human interaction.

I've found that one of the great things about being in the banking industry is that it gives us both opportunity and reason to learn about how various businesses operate.

The customer who would usually avoid taking a marketing piece will readily accept recipes and coloring pages for children — "sponsored" by the bank on the back of the flier.

My friend pointed out that in normal job markets, there was a tendency for bad hires, or people no longer happy in their jobs, to leave the company on their own. Now, his problems are twofold.

Properly training front-line employees before deploying them requires planning. It's far less expensive in the long run than making your customers pay for that training with their patience.

There is a sales group that is more hard core than car salesmen. I'm talking about Girl Scouts. In the eyes of the recipients of their sales pitches, you're a pushy salesperson.