Banking, Business and Branding

Christoph and I went to an inspiring talk last night by Vernon Hill, founder of Metro Bank and John Rosling, UK CEO of Shirlaws coaching. The topic was ‘Business Growth in a No-Growth Economy’. For Vernon, that meant growth in a no-growth sector, banking. His accomplishments include being number 4, right behind Warren Buffet, in Forbes Magazine’s ‘20-20-20‘ list and opening the UK’s first retail bank in over 100 years. The scale and objectives are quite different from those of our client Spring Bank in New York — what they have in common is speaking frankly and clearly with their customers.

Vernon also spoke about the importance of creating an exceptional brand which is understood and lived thoroughly, both internally and externally — or as his book title says: ‘Fans, Not Customers!’

And speaking of fans, I can easily see why entrepreneurs become fans of Shirlaws business coaching: they promise ‘more money, more time and less stress’. Yes please! John Rosling talked us through the Shirlaws approach of adding value to a business with the culture (which to someone in the branding business sounds a lot like ‘brand’) at the very root. As John said, Martin Luther King, Jr. did not declare ‘I have a plan’, did he?