Why Banking is Harder Today

Every August, I spend time with the great students and faculty at Pacific Coast Banking School and the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, where I share best practices, tools, and frameworks to help banking leaders build sustainable competitive advantage.

But I also come away with fresh insights of my own, and this year one thing crystallized:

For decades, if you could master balance sheet management, you could run a successful bank.

That’s no longer true.

The Old Rules vs. Today’s Reality

When I first started teaching 11 years ago, most of the curriculum was the same as it had been for decades. Yes, Basel, Dodd-Frank, and CECL added some wrinkles, but calculating NIM and ROA hasn’t changed. Back then, 99% of success came down to managing the balance sheet well.

Today? Balance sheet management is of course still necessary, but it’s nowhere near sufficient.

To remain independent and competitive, leaders now must:

• Create non-rate value propositions to acquire, retain, and grow customer relationships.

• Innovate and partner to develop new products and business models.

• Balance cost to acquire and serve with long-term relationship value.

• Attract, retain, and develop the talent to do all of the above.

These are the factors separating top performers from those that get acquired. Strong credit quality and ALCO discipline will keep you from failing, but they won’t guarantee success, or even survival.

The Questions Executives Are Asking Me

In conversations with C-suite and board members, I hear the same themes again and again:

• What should be on our radar that isn’t yet?

• How do we separate signal from noise on AI, stablecoins, and other potentially disruptive innovations?

• How do we productively break through the DROID (the Dreaded ROI Discussion) on new initiatives?

• How do we communicate and facilitate change with our internal teams?

• How do we meet rapidly changing customer expectations?

• How do we build a faster, more agile culture?

• How do we allocate limited resources for real competitive advantage?

The most common request? “Help us get unstuck.”

Why This Matters Now

Many institutions are already kicking off their 2026 strategic planning. Too often, plans are heavy on the “planning” and light on the “strategic.” And even the best strategy won’t move the needle if execution stalls.

As my colleague Madeline Fredin said in our Alloy Labs member meeting this week:

“This uncertainty is a little paralyzing, and rightfully so. The only way for us to not get stuck is to get specific about customers, their needs, and the environment.”

She’s right. Delay is the enemy. The job of managing the business of banking isn't going to get any easier, and the world is never going to move this slowly again.

A Call to Action

If you’re a bank or credit union leader wrestling with these challenges, or if you simply feel “stuck”, this is the moment to get clarity.

My work with executives and boards is focused on:

• Providing an outside perspective on what matters most.

• Separating hype from reality on emerging trends.

• Facilitating productive strategic conversations that cut through inertia.

• Helping leadership teams move from planning to execution.

If that resonates with you, we’d love to continue the conversation.