Branding for Growth:
Branding is a hot trend…but almost everyone has it wrong. A truckload of dough is wasted every year by missing out on what brand really means.
Welcome to the Top 5 Percenter™ Blog
Halfway Is No Excuse: The Midyear Execution Test Every Bank Must Pass
Halfway through the year is where average banks start explaining. Elite banks start accelerating.
Your strategic plan was not built to sit in a binder. It was built to move revenue, margin, deposits, cross-sales, and culture. And now, midyear, the truth is staring every executive team in the face: some metrics are moving, some are stuck, and some are exposing the avoidance no one wants to name.
In this week’s video, Roxanne Emmerich delivers a blunt midyear wake-up call for community bank executives who are done tolerating soft excuses and slow execution.
You’ll discover:
- Why midyear is the most valuable diagnostic checkpoint of the year
- How elite banks stop obsessing over lagging metrics and double down where momentum already exists
- Why boards don’t reward explanations—they reward execution, traction, and measurable results
This is not the time for shame, sugarcoating, or “wait and see” leadership. It’s time to diagnose fast, adjust faster, and turn the second half of the year into a performance run your board can actually believe in.
Ready to stop explaining and start accelerating? Watch the episode now.
Watch now.
Let’s get brutally honest for a minute. You’re halfway through the year. Halfway through the strategic plan your executive team swore they’d execute. Halfway through the revenue, margin, and culture shifts you intended to create.
And let me guess: some of your metrics are on track and some aren’t. Maybe you’re ahead in cross-sales but behind on deposit growth. Maybe net interest margin is stable but not surging. Here’s what elite banks understand.
Results rule. Excuses drool. Blaming the Fed, the market, the crazy pricing from your desperate competitors—that’s not leadership. That’s avoidance. And let’s be clear: your board didn’t sign up for adult day care. They want traction, transformation, results, and now is the time to deliver.
Midyear is not the time for shame or sugarcoating. It’s the ultimate diagnostic checkpoint. What’s working? Do more of it now.
Pour the gas on the fire. What’s not working? Diagnose fast. Adjust. Move. This is a game of acceleration, not apology.
Most executive teams obsess over where they’re behind and miss the most profitable move: doubling down where they’re ahead. That’s the mindset of the top five percenters—not, “How do we salvage the year?” but, “How legendary can we make this run?” Boards don’t reward explanation.
They reward execution.
More From The Blog
5 Ways to Have the Best Year Ever!
Time for a fresh start. And you already know that your destiny has more to do with mindsets, strategies, and skill sets than the outside economy. (Yes, that’s a lesson we keep forgetting, but we also keep getting more opportunities to relearn it.)
Here are 5 things to never forget this year to create a great year of seized opportunities:
Create a System for Follow-Up
The key to repeat customers is relationship. Relationships are established and maintained through communication and follow through. And in a “one to many” job such as yours, having a good system for customer follow-up is crucial to keeping your relationships healthy. Pursuing these four steps to create and maintain a follow-up system that will contribute to good customer relationships and increased sales:
Do Not Disturb: The Path to Sanity and Results
Does this sound like your life? You work from 7:30 in the morning until 7:00 each night and go home exhausted, thinking about all the unfinished work that continues to...
Best Practices for Leadership: Part Two
Last week we discussed the difference between leadership and management. Below are five specific best practices utilized by high-performing leaders within the industry....
Best Practices for Leadership: Part One
Before we get to the five best practices for leaders, there is a fundamental difference you must understand. Leaders and managers serve different functions within a...
Create a Top 100 Plan that Rocks
Create a “Top 100” plan for an extremely high level of giving and care for those prospects and clients who are most valuable. It’s your insurance policy to retain and...
Ax Attitude Problems
A new attitude invariably creates a new result. That is why it is essential to identify those employees within your organization that have an attitude problem and...
A Simple Rule that Assures You Win the Deal 94% of the Time
Research shows that the salesperson who presents last is guaranteed the sale 94 percent of the time. That said, the mark of a good salesperson is not ‘wheeling and...
Every “NO” Brings You One Step Closer
Keep your sales funnel clean. Instead of accepting a weak “no” or “maybe later” and keeping that person on your prospect list, try using the prospect’s “NO” to get one...