Cambridge Business Association
Non-Negotiable
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Non-Negotiable

The Story of Happy State Bank & The Power of Accountability

Sam Silverstein
Sound Wisdom, 2015
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7

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Recommendation

A special financial institution serves 23 Texas Panhandle communities: the Happy State Bank. The bank operates according to a distinctive code of conduct, written in the form of 20 standards, or “non-negotiable” principles that all employees must honor. Organizational accountability expert Sam Silverstein describes the bank’s culture. He explains how its non-negotiable standards give it an ideal framework for success and why your employees may need non-negotiable principles as well to attain a high level of accountability. This bank is an unusual organization, and its CEO is an unforgettable personality. Unhappily, Silverstein proves a repetitive storyteller who oddly trademarks common phrases, such as “The Power of Accountability.” Even so, getAbstract recommends his inside look at Happy State Bank to those seeking to live responsible lives and to hold themselves and their companies fully accountable.

Summary

One Banker’s Unique Perspective

J. Pat Hickman is chairman and CEO of Happy State Bank and Trust Company, headquartered in the Texas Panhandle town of Happy, “The Town Without a Frown.” Hickman is an unforgettable character: a big, handsome man in cowboy boots who fills up a room.

Though he’s known as a good guy, Hickman is no saint. By his own account, he has a giant ego. “I cuss, drink and smoke too much,” he says. Devotion to God and constant prayer are crucial components of Hickman’s life as a fervent Christian. He loves to discuss “his personal faith in Jesus Christ with anyone” who will listen.

Honesty Matters

Early in his career, Hickman was the vice president of another Texas bank’s commercial loan department. His boss instructed him to alter the small print in a document showing the loan rate after the bank cited a different rate to the customer. His boss said that if the customer spotted the change, Hickman should say that “the girls in loan ops” typed in the wrong number and then fix it in front of the customer. When the customer leaves, the boss told him, change the loan rate back to the higher figure. Hickman refused.

Hickman turned...

About the Author

National Speakers Association past president Sam Silverstein is founder and CEO of Sam Silverstein Inc., an organizational accountability think tank.

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