General

Give Thanks… Be Blessed

Posted on November 24, 2020 Published by

Thanksgiving is my favorite non-religious holiday of the year. While this confession may draw some criticism from some of the PC crowd, the reason I love it is not because of the historical context of the first Thanksgiving in 1621 at the Plymouth Plantation to celebrate a successful harvest and survival of the first year in the New World. It’s also not about being excited for shopping and the upcoming holiday season. And it certainly is not about looking forward to year-end financials and tax time!

Give Thanks… Be Blessed

I was reminded why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday just the other day. Like many of you, remote meetings with colleagues are often conducted via Zoom or other video-conferencing technology. One of the more interesting aspects of these meetings is what may happen in the background. In my last team meeting, I was struck by a small throw pillow on a couch behind one of my colleagues. It had a simple embroidered message: “Blessed.” It struck a chord.

The year 2020 was filled with some incredible highs and devastating lows. The Dow Jones Industrials hit a record high, only to be followed by the biggest point decline ever recorded. Unemployment hit record lows only to be replaced by soaring highs due to COVID shutdowns. At times it felt like the exhilaration of the tallest and fastest roller coaster in an amusement park. Then surprise despair.

What Are You Thankful For?

I needed to find a positive focus, and I suspect others did as well. So, l challenge each person who reads this to create a list of items for which they are now most thankful. If you have gatherings of family and friends, ask them to list one or two items for which they are thankful, too. (I would urge people to set ground rules that the answers must be apolitical.) My guess is that you will have a hard time keeping your “thankful list” to just one or two items.

From the entire staff here at Enlighten Financial, we wish you a peace-filled Thanksgiving and a happy and healthy holiday season. Let us remember to focus on the blessings we do have and not the noise that distracts us.

 

Richard Rudolph is Senior Consultant at Enlighten Financial, a specialized consulting firm that focuses on loan review and risk management services to community banks and credit unions. Enlighten Financial has made it our business to shed light on the complex financial landscape. They lead clients in the right direction. We work with financial institutions and other providers to mitigate risk. To talk to Rick directly, please call: 920.445.8133.

Tags:

Comments are closed here.

“The staff at Enlighten have been available for questions, in addition to the engaged work that they do. They've been very helpful as a resource beyond the major audit.”
— Meghann Kasper, Chief Credit Officer, Bank First
“Enlighten gives us a very good second set of eyes on our transactions. They're not afraid to challenge us on some of the work that we've done, which is what is needed. I don't need to pay somebody to tell me I'm good, I need to pay somebody to tell me where I've made mistakes.”
— Robert McPherson, VP of Risk Management, Peoples State Bank
“Enlighten provided industry best practices that weren’t going to show up in an audit report. They would say, ‘Hey, I noticed you do this. This is really unique, you do a really great job of it.’ And then they might add, ‘Some other clients that I have are doing something like this.’”
— Bill Beardsley, President, Michigan Business Connection
“By questioning some of our methodologies, Enlighten has helped us say, ‘Okay, this is where we need to train staff better and focus on so that they understand what they're doing better.”
— Robert McPherson, VP of Risk Management, Peoples State Bank
“The organization of the communication — before, during, and after the reporting process — was certainly better with Enlighten than what I've experienced with a lot of auditors.”
— Bill Beardsley, President, Michigan Business Connection
“The staff at Enlighten have been available for questions, in addition to the engaged work that they do. They've been very helpful as a resource beyond the major audit.”
— Meghann Kasper, Chief Credit Officer, Bank First
“Enlighten gives us a very good second set of eyes on our transactions. They're not afraid to challenge us on some of the work that we've done, which is what is needed. I don't need to pay somebody to tell me I'm good, I need to pay somebody to tell me where I've made mistakes.”
— Robert McPherson, VP of Risk Management, Peoples State Bank
“Enlighten provided industry best practices that weren’t going to show up in an audit report. They would say, ‘Hey, I noticed you do this. This is really unique, you do a really great job of it.’ And then they might add, ‘Some other clients that I have are doing something like this.’”
— Bill Beardsley, President, Michigan Business Connection
“By questioning some of our methodologies, Enlighten has helped us say, ‘Okay, this is where we need to train staff better and focus on so that they understand what they're doing better.”
— Robert McPherson, VP of Risk Management, Peoples State Bank
“The organization of the communication — before, during, and after the reporting process — was certainly better with Enlighten than what I've experienced with a lot of auditors."
— Bill Beardsley, President, Michigan Business Connection