Alaska is beautiful.

With our first full day at sea, heading to Alaska, we took a sushi making class. Under the sushi etiquette category, we learned it is rude to break apart the nigiri. If you don’t want the rice, order sashimi.

The closer I get to the start of our family vacation, the more things fall into the category of “that’s an after vacation problem to fix.”

I started my career at age 25 with a Fortune 500 company. I figured a large company would have everything figured out. Two years in and I took a role in supply chain management. The company immediately sends me to Taiwan to meet with existing vendors and find new manufacturing partners. I expected training and support as I stepped into the role. Instead, I got; - A round trip ticket from LAX to Taipei - A hotel reservation at the Hyatt Taipei - And a phone number to call when I landed in Taipei. Until this moment in my life, the furthest I’d been outside of the U.S. was a family trip to Vancouver. But I boarded my flight and headed to Taipei. I used my international calling card when I landed and was promptly picked up by one of our suppliers. I figured everything out and spent the next ten years traversing Asia, managing a large supply chain and supplier base. A huge component of success is just being able to figure stuff out.

I secured the community bank engagement today.

When I interview future employees, I look at their future potential more than their past accomplishments. Past success doesn’t always equal future success.

One of the most important questions I can ask as a leader: How can I help you?

I have colleagues and friends in Sri Lanka. The haz mat situation in Garden Grove, CA has officially become international news.

Expanding the Rusty Bucket Ranch hobby farm this weekend. We bought bee boxes. I have a lot to learn about beekeeping but hey, I didn’t know anything about raising cattle, chickens, hogs, but that’s all worked out. Oh, and this is Totes the goat. He’s a rescue.

A little humor to start off your Saturday.

“Can we jump on a call before our 2pm call?” That was the message a bank COO sent me yesterday. I immediately knew what she wanted to discuss. “Brian, I received your proposal. Your fee is double that of the other proposals. I really want to award you this engagement, but not at double the cost. If you can rework the proposal, we can work together.” Without a strong relationship with the COO, my proposal would have gone in the round file. No phone call. No second chance. Just silence. We reviewed our scope vs the other scopes and discovered they were not “apples to apples”. It justified our fee structure and gave me the opportunity to discuss changing the scope to align with the banks budget and their updated project requirements. I expect we will be awarded this engagement on Tuesday. Let’s see….

Attending in-person events is still one of the most effective ways I am able to build my pipeline of new business. Heading home from the Fintech Risk & Compliance event with three new referral partners and ten new relationships that could turn into client engagements. Easy to generate ROI from the smaller, focused events.

"Your room is on the 2nd floor. No elevator, just 14 stairs." That's all she said at hotel check-in. What happens without this information? I'm hunting for an elevator that doesn't exist, then annoyed when I find the stairs. One sentence. Problem resolved before it started. Most problems aren't caused by the problem itself. They're caused by someone not knowing how to manage your expectations and saying nothing. Manage expectations early. Every time.

A beautiful Kansas sunset.

Road trip -> CA to Kansas for a college graduation. Stopped in Georgetown, CO for coffee and breakfast. The advantage of driving is the ability to stop and explore along the way.

Want to build a great culture? Stop hiring the resume and start hiring the attitude. During interviews, turn that resume over. Just have a normal conversation Instead of talking about what you have done, let’s talk about who you are. Attitude matters

Taking over a compliance and audit firm was not on my bingo card in 2024. Skill sets transfer, but I lacked institutional knowledge. Every time an audit request came in, I’d go through the bank’s most recent call reports. The reports are a gold mine of information.

Want to lead your business — not just manage it? Start with these five principles. 1️⃣ Trust over control. 2️⃣ Outcomes over tasks. 3️⃣ Clarity over assumptions. 4️⃣ Consistency over perfection. 5️⃣ Growth over comfort.

Another fintech company has selected us for a BSA and a Compliance audit. The VP of Compliance pushed hard for us to win the engagement, but we also had to win over the board and the partner bank. Understanding each groups agenda was key to winning this client.

Pipeline dry? Have you developed a referral strategy? Start by: ➡️Going through all of your contacts ➡️In your phone ➡️In LinkedIn Put together a list of 100 possible referral partners. You know more people than you realize.