LEADERSHIP HAS MANY SIDES: SVB QUICK CURRENT AND RETRO LOOK
It is now 16 months since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Everyone was focused on whether their money was secured. The working class due to lack of knowledge about how the banking system operates was overly concerned about their hard earned money being taken and so they rushed to take the few dollars to the top five largest banks in our country. During this fury, not many cared about the people that would now be unemployed. SVB at the time of closure had over 8,500 employees. The Federal Deposit Insurance Commission (FDIC) stepped in as required by law to ensure the depositors received their money typically up to the $250,000 per account. Typically, because in this case due to the egregiousness of the circumstances leading to the debacle, they found a legal loophole and were able to maintain even amounts exceeding the usual amount.
This is Silicon Valley and the bank’s clients were very wealthy. Back to the employees. The bank that bought the assets, First Citizen Bank, then started to lay off employees 2-3 months later. Can you imagine how they felt? Your job is supposed to be stable. Okay, in dreamland. Then there was a lawsuit about talent drain, where First Citizen Bank accused HSBC of a scheme to steal top employees and company secrets. Imagine if those employees had knowledge of the leadership theory, Walking Bank Theory? Imagine further if they were applying it rigorously? They would still feel some disappointment about the firing but it would not be as intense and the job loss anxiety would one hundred percent be less. At the time of this article, we are in a season of layoffs more than last year when banks seem to be collapsing a couple per quarter. I wonder how the employees who made less than a hundred thousand dollars at SVB at the time of the bank crash are doing?
Empower yourself so that an employer who does not care about the psychological effect of a person losing their job becomes insignificant in the larger scheme of your life. Self sufficiency goes hand in hand with great mental health and a balanced life. Discover your talents and monetize them. Day job is talent number one so keep it but certain activate the others.
The article below was first published in another digital space and is reprinted here for another leadership perspective happening at that time.
The “We” In Team Is Not What You Think by
Alicia Marie Phidd
March 11, 2023
Leadership is paramount during great times and lean times. Clearly during uncertain and first impression economic times such as these, it is highlighted even more. The epic failure of the Silicon Valley Bank(SVB) of California closing down on Friday, March 10, 2023 heightens panic and fear for the government that there will be a bank run. I was watching the news and all I could think about was when did the leadership fail and how long was it failing, that the end result is one of the worst banking scandals and failures in our American monetary system’s history.
There is a theory about a team that I have posited for years and teach to micro entrepreneurs. Self preservation and the concept of being “selfish now so that you can be selfless later” is paramount to teams performing better regardless of the economic atmosphere. Join me on this walk down this analysis. Take the word team and write it down on a piece of paper. You will see the word “am” and if you scramble it, you can see the word “me”. The word “am” attaches the letter “I” to it. “I” is first person singular pronoun. Focus on the “first person”. When you look up the definition of “am”, it is present tense first-person singular of be. Again the “first person”. Each of you matter and while no man is an island, understanding the importance and value of “you” will change how you treat yourself from this going forward. It will change your perspective when you are in a group i.e. at work.
The “we” in “team” is “I am” plus “me”. Yes, you read that correctly. (I was on the math team in high school, so I think in equations. Being a former scientist didn’t help because I also think in formulas.) When I speak of this “we” for “team”, I want you to think of branding because it is. When it is branding, you are going to be accountable for your portion of your task on the group project. There is no inventor or creator that wants their brand tarnished. When a leader recognizes that a team is merely several “Is” and “AMs’,the results will be better. You will have less people stressed out at work. The 80/20 needs to be abolished because it supports mediocrity and excuses mediocrity. Everyone has the ability to work at 100% and will work at a 100% if they are valued as true contributors to the system they are in. They will own their tasks as their “brand” when leadership in corporate America recognizes each person on the team represents their brand, i.e. their name and should be recognized for each contribution no matter how small it appears on a macro level. If they did not contribute there would be no institution. Think about it.
Where were the “accountability partners” within SVB and externally? If each person viewed their contribution to a workplace and to teams within the workplace as their “brand”, it would reduce attrition rate at companies and it would stop some of the bleeding early at colossal impending failures such as Silicon Valley Bank.
References
👉 https://www.fdic.gov/resources/resolutions/bank-failures/failed-bank-list/silicon-valley-faq.html
👉 https://sfstandard.com/2023/05/25/svb-layoffs-spark-anger-confusion-among-former-employees/