What the Teller Line Taught Me About Leadership

My banking career started as a part-time teller at Commerce Bank (later TD Bank). From there I moved through roles of increasing responsibility, went through TD’s Commercial Credit Training Program, became a commercial lender, spent several years as the chief financial officer of a food company, and now lead C&I lending in Florida as a managing director. When younger people ask how to build a career in banking, I find myself returning to what I learned at the very beginning.

Every transaction is a relationship in miniature

A teller sees people at small moments that matter to them: a paycheck, a first deposit for a new business, a problem that needs fixing today. You learn quickly that how you treat people in small moments is how they will remember the whole institution. The same holds in commercial banking at much larger scale. Clients rarely remember the closing. They remember how they were treated when something went wrong.

Learn the whole bank

Working in a branch teaches you how operations, compliance, lending and service fit together. That broad view has helped me in every role since, including the years I spent on the other side of the table as a CFO. Early in a career it is tempting to specialize as fast as possible. I think it pays to understand how the whole organization works first, because that is what lets you solve problems that cross departments later.

Raise your hand for training

Formal credit training changed my career. It gave me a foundation in financial analysis and structure that I still use every week. Later, the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking broadened how I think about the industry as a whole. If your organization offers a structured program, my view is that you should compete hard to get into it. If it does not, look for the closest equivalent and ask for support to attend.

Sit in the other chair

Serving as a CFO taught me what it feels like to be the borrower: managing a capital structure, answering a lender’s questions and balancing a bank relationship with everything else a growing company demands. Coming back to banking, I am more patient, more specific about what I ask for and more aware of what an owner is carrying. Whatever your field, any experience that puts you in your customer’s seat is worth more than it looks.

Find mentors, then be one

I have been lucky to learn from people who took the time to explain why a deal worked or did not. Mentorship rarely arrives as a formal program. Usually it is a manager who lets you listen in, or a senior colleague who answers a question you were embarrassed to ask. Once you have benefited from that, you owe it to the next person. I try to remember that whenever someone new asks me for ten minutes.

Careers are built in years, not moves

The path from teller to managing director did not happen in a straight line, and it did not happen quickly. It happened through a lot of ordinary days of doing the work well, learning something, and being trusted with a little more. If you are early in your career and wondering whether the small roles matter, my experience says they do. They are where you learn the things you will rely on later.

Views expressed here are my own and do not represent the views of my employer. Content is for general information only and is not financial, investment, tax, or legal advice.