The Strategic Planning Lie That’s Keeping You Average
Forget templates. Roxanne Emmerich reveals how top banks burn the rulebook and build execution systems that deliver relentless results.
Welcome to the Top 5 Percenter™ Blog
Get Inspired in the New Year
A new year has come and gone, and what do you have to show for it? A renewed passion for your job? A workplace free of every dysfunction you can think of? How about a less-stressed, more relaxed, you?
Well, whatever you gained—or didn’t—put it all behind you and start fresh. Check out my recommended reading list to find inspiration for your personal and professional life. Whether you’re a CEO of a top-performing bank or part of the team, there’s something on my list to inspire, motivate, and help you improve your results.
Personal Development
- 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey
- Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness by Daniel G. Amen
- Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, and Stephen R. Covey
- The Dark Side of the Light Chasers: Reclaiming Your Power, Creativity, Brilliance, and Dreams by Debbie Ford
- The Magic of Thinking Big: Acquire the Secrets of Success… Achieve Everything You’ve Always Wanted by David J. Schwartz
- Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg
- The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason
- The Success Principles by Jack Canfield
- Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
- What Happy People Know: How the New Science of Happiness Can Change Your Life for the Better by Dan Baker Ph. D. and Cameron Stauth
Marketing
- Buying Trances: A New Psychology of Sales and Marketing by Joe Vitale
- The Copywriter’s Handbook by Robert Bly
- The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
- How to Get Everything You Can Out of Everything You’ve Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition by Jay Abraham
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
- Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
- Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout
- Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin
- The 22 Immutable Rules of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout
- The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth by Fred Reichheld
- Words That Sell: A Thesaurus to Help Promote Your Products, Services and Ideas by Richard Bayan
Leadership
- The ABC’s of Building a Business Team That Wins: The Invisible Code of Honor That Takes Ordinary People And Turns Them into a Championship Team by Blair Singer
- Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink
- Enlightened Leadership: Getting to the Heart of Change by Ed Oakley and Doug Krug
- Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box by The Arbinger Institute
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni
- The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni
- The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything by Stephen M.R. Covey, Stephen R. Covey, and Rebecca R. Merrill
- What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter
Business
- Blueprint to a Billion: 7 Essentials to Achieve Exponential Growth by David Thomson
- Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras
- Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t by Jim Collins
- Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Growing Firm by Verne Harnish
- No B.S. Ruthless Management of People & Profits: The Ultimate No Holds Barred, Kick Butt, Take No Prisoners Guide to Really Getting Rich by Dan Kennedy
- Profit-Growth Banking: How to Master 7 Breakthrough Strategies of Top-Performing Banks by Roxanne Emmerich
- Thank God It’s Monday: How to Create a Workplace You and Your Customers Love by Roxanne Emmerich
- Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
- Think Big, Act Small: How America’s Best Performing Companies Keep the Start-up Spirit Alive by Jason Jennings
- Topgrading: How Leading Companies Win by Hiring, Coaching and Keeping the Best People by Ph.D., Bradford D. Smart
- Winning by Jack Welch with Suzy Welch
- The Worst-Case Scenario Business Survival Guide by David Borgenicht and Mark Joyner
Sales
- Profit-Rich Sales: The Proven Secrets to Guarantee More Sales at Premium Pricing by Roxanne Emmerich and Terry Slattery
- Rethinking the Sales Force: Redefining Selling to Create and Capture Customer Value by Neil Rackham and John DeVincentis
- SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham
- The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes
More From The Blog
Fix Performance, Fix Everything—Why Great Banks Don’t Leave Results to Chance
Hope doesn’t scale. Systems do. Find out how elite banks drive results with engineered behaviors and real-time accountability.
Community Banks Doing It Right – What the Top 5% Know and Do
Roxanne Emmerich reveals how top 5% banks grow $100M+ in core deposits and triple cross-sales—without matching rates or chasing gimmicks.
Why Most Banks Fail at Cross-Selling—And How the Best Banks Are Tripling Results
Cross-selling isn’t a script—it’s a system. Discover how top-performing banks engineer daily discipline that triples products per customer and locks in loyalty.
Your “Nice” Culture Is a Lie. And It’s Costing You Millions.
One bank ditched fake smiles and vague reviews—and doubled profits in 12 months. Here’s how they built a culture that actually works.
Straight Talk from the C-Suite: What High-Performing Bank Execs Are Doing Differently
Top execs are done with old sales playbooks. Discover what’s replacing them—and why one COO hasn’t missed a quarter in six years.
How Elite CEOs Run Game-Changing Board Meetings
Most board meetings are packed with data—but starved of strategic clarity. Discover how the top 5% of banks engineer boardrooms that drive performance, challenge respectfully, and align with breakthrough plans. This week’s episode reveals what high-performing CEOs do differently—and how you can bring that same power to your board.
What the Best Banks Know—and the Rest Still Don’t Get
Top banks play to win. Discover what they do differently—and why it starts with culture and strategy.
What the Best Banks Measure (and the Rest Miss): The Hidden Levers of Top Gun Leaders
Most banks track performance after it’s too late. In this week’s video, Roxanne reveals the exact metrics Top Gun CEOs use to fix results before they lag.
Halfway Is No Excuse
Midyear banking strategy not working? Elite banks accelerate, not apologize. Here’s how to finish strong—with accountability, margin, and momentum.