Walter E. Johnson: An Amazing Life

CAREY GRAY—AN INCREDIBLE ARTIST 249 More masterpiece wood carvings by Carey Gray

THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM 251 The Smartest Guys in the Room— Joe Argue and Randy Meyer Whatever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who’ll argue with you. —John Wooden It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do. —Steve Jobs One of the really satisfying things in life is the association I have built with coworkers, people who have become my friends over time. Honestly, I could add the names of so many who have been with me for decades. I am thankful for the many individuals who have been with Amegy and worked so hard, all those who have made such a difference. Simply put, their presence has contributed to our enormous success. Without them, we could not have done what we did. I truly do love this big family of winners. There are so many I could mention, but I would be remiss to leave out Joe Argue or Randy Meyers. Joe Argue—Invention of a Credit Analyst When the examiners suggested that Allied Bank should hire a credit analyst in 1972, I said, “Why?” They told me they believed loan officers needed a third party to focus on the numbers and create spread sheets of a company’s financials. This is how I came across Joe Argue on October 15, 1972. When I interviewed Joe, he had just graduated from Stephen F. Austin University and was applying for our analyst opening.

252 AN AMAZING LIFE He wanted specifics of what an analyst did and how. My answer to Joe was I do not know because you will be the first. “Just go figure it out,” I told him. Then I offered Joe $700 a month. He looked at me with disappointment. “But, Mr. Johnson,” he said, “I mean, I have an MBA.” I replied, “I know. That is the reason I am offering you $700. Without it, I’d pay you $600.” In the end, Joe conceded, and he went on to become a mainstay. He had been with Allied for eight years when Harris Simmons spent his short tenure with Allied and they became good friends. Over Joe’s 48 years, literally hundreds of officers came to him to seek guidance in structuring solid loans, and his title grew from Analyst No. 1 to EVP and then to Chief Credit Officer. Joe has only been retired for 90 days, but things already do not seem the same without him. The Smartest Guy in the Room An equally sad recent departure was when our CFO, Randy Meyer, made his decision to retire a few months back. He was such a significant player in our growth, so much more than just CFO. He, Kelly Foreman, and I were the three-person team that executed most of the decisions in building the new Amegy Tower. I cannot express his importance to the company. One story I have told at least a hundred times about Randy concerns the most important credit decision in the history of Amegy, possibly, in the history of Texas. One of our customers that owed Amegy about $15 million sold to Enron, America’s seventh largest company that was once a Wall Street darling. They asked if they could take over the credit position. In other words, our new customer would be Enron, a multi-billion-dollar company. They were certainly the most noteworthy company in Houston. We literally celebrated. A few months later Randy attended Enron’s banking conference, which was conducted to enlighten all of the banks that were significant lenders to the company. When he returned from the meeting, he admitted that he just was not smart enough to understand the things Enron was doing with all their off-balance sheet operations. He did not think anyone could figure it out, he added. Randy, as far as we were all concerned, was about the smartest guy anyone of us had ever known, and if he could not get his arms around it, we reasoned we did not need to be a part of their credit. So, we called the

THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM 253 loan and asked them to leave. No doubt, the loss of a $15 million credit was huge for Amegy, especially, from such a prestigious company. But, in the end, Randy was right, which goes to show you cannot be blinded by ego, status, or prestige. You have to just deal with the facts. Do not be blinded by ego, status, or prestige— deal with the facts. —WEJ I imagine nothing, up to that point, ever shocked the Enron staff as much as Amegy calling their loan. However, it was not but a few years later, in 2001, that Enron crashed; losses exceeded $74 billion as the result of a massive accounting fraud scheme that was discovered, which, as it turns out, was created by complex off-balance sheet corruption. Ken Lay—Houston legend, founder, and CEO—and CFO Andrew Fastow both received prison sentences, as did a number of other Enron executives. Equally significant, the scheme brought down the largest accounting firm, Arthur Andersen LLP. This easily was the biggest bankruptcy in US history, one which generated legislation designed to improve accounting standards and practices in its wake. The lesson: if a credit is too complicated to understand, then it is best not to get involved. Thanks again, Randy. It is easy to get burned in any business when you focus on the amount of business rather than the quality of business. —WEJ

Part VIII Keys to Building a Successful Company

SUCCESSFUL SALES TECHNIQUES 257 Successful Sales Techniques Everyone is a prospect even if they don’t know it yet! —WEJ I have often said that the world moves on sales, which includes promotion and marketing. Simply witness the billions spent every year on advertising. —WEJ Many of our jobs in banking are only as productive as we are in our ability to be a successful salesman. And let me say first, I am not only referring to men when I use the term “salesman.” There are NO salesmen more successful than many of our sales ladies. Ladies forgive me, and please know I do include you every time you see the word “salesman.” A good salesman may be born, like my son Ted, but anyone can learn the techniques! All of these traits can be acquired, while some people are simply born with them all. Here are some of the techniques I think are important. Win Friends and Influence People Always treat people as you would like to be treated! —WEJ Probably the most important strategy or technique I could recommend is that you make it a priority in your life to win friends and influence people. A good salesman MUST know how to deal with people. The most important book regarding this important strategy that I am aware of is Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. The book is important, not just to salesmen, but also to managers and parents. Its principles need to become a way of life to a salesman. It is the equivalent of a Ph.D. in human relations. The world-famous Dale Carnegie Course, which teaches the principles

258 AN AMAZING LIFE found in Carnegie’s book, began in 1912 and I attended this great six-week school many years ago. Going to a Dale Carnegie workshop puts together all the fine points that make a great salesperson. In my opinion, it is one of the most important courses that I ever took. I wound up being an assistant instructor for a couple courses following my graduation. Carnegie gives three techniques for handling people: 1) do not criticize, condemn, or complain; 2) give honest and sincere praise and appreciation; and 3) stir eager desire within the other person. He also discusses six ways to make people like you: 1) be genuinely interested in other people; 2) smile; 3) remember a person’s name and use it often in conversation; 4) be a good listener and encourage others to talk about themselves; 5) talk in terms of the other person’s interests; and 6) sincerely make the other person feel important. When it comes to winning people over to your way of thinking, begin by setting the right tone for the conversation. Let the other person talk and try honestly to see things from their point of view. Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Get the other person saying “yes, yes” immediately. Never tell someone that they are wrong. If you are found to be in the wrong, admit it quickly and move on. Remember that the only way to win an argument is to avoid it. Appeal to nobler motives. Encourage and challenge them to rise up to that higher standard. Perhaps let the other person feel that the idea is theirs or allow them to save face. You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want. —Zig Ziglar My wife Yvonne will tell you that I use Dale Carnegie’s teachings regularly—often on her. I learned long ago that no one wins in a word fight—especially the husband! The successful salesman is a good listener on all occasions and always curious! In our sixty-three years of marriage, I do not think I have ever had a fight with my wife. I think there are many instances that she would have loved to have a fight with me but no one wins in a fight. It is strictly a lose/lose scenario. If you are in a fight, it can create a grudge that will last hours, days, months, or maybe forever if you keep it up. The winner is the partner that knows how to use a little salesmanship rather than being dictatorial!

SUCCESSFUL SALES TECHNIQUES 259 Networking Networking is an investment in your business. It takes time and when done correctly can yield great results for years to come. —Diane Helbig Related to the strategy of winning friends is this second strategy: It is important to find opportunities to network with other businesspeople. A salesman will find it difficult to be successful if he does not learn how to network and prospect effectively. Often, I stress with my officers the fact that networking is really the most significant key to expanding their portfolios. From experience, I have learned that networking is really the key to marketing and being a successful banker. You cannot build relationships if you do not meet people. This all comes naturally to me, but by observation, I learned that it does not come naturally to a lot of people. When I started managing my own banks in 1971, I began a process of seeking out relationships that were important to the bank and I especially focused on creating relationships with people that touched a lot of people. The most obvious companies that meet these criteria are attorneys, accountants, and insurance. No doubt, by this time today, I have sponsored several thousand events, mostly in the bank lobby, whereby we would ask the firm’s partners to come and meet us after hours and have refreshments, so we could get to know each other. What is the purpose of this? It is because we are in an incredibly unique business. Amazing how many times we have gotten new business because they were referred by a mutual friend, maybe even someone at church. Successful accountants, attorneys, and insurance people are always looking for an opportunity to help a client or a prospect. Many times, that opportunity is to meet a banker. I learned long ago there is no better or easier way to get new business than to have a referral. —WEJ Obviously, at these sessions, the attendees from these companies wanted to network with bank officers as much as we wanted to work with them. I have always found it frustrating, however, because these events would be unsuccessful if I did not constantly push many of my officers

260 AN AMAZING LIFE to do what some do naturally, that is, to mix and mingle and get to know people. When I would look around the room, I would see a small group of the accountants talking together and across the room four or five bank officers talking together. It is only natural that you like to talk to people you know. However, it takes a commitment to reach out beyond that. While it may not be natural or feel comfortable to butt-in, we must learn that it is the way to network. —WEJ So many times, I have walked up to a group of officers and reminded them that they already knew each other, that they were here to meet the people across the room. So, bust it up and meet some people. By the time the event is over, officers should have several people he/she wants to meet in a different setting—for lunch, breakfast, hunting, fishing, or something else—because they identified with that person, and the two of them should be comfortable networking together. As I mentioned earlier in my book, there is no better way to generate business than through networking. Networking can happen in a church or it can begin in an organization to which you belong such as the ones I belonged to in the past—Toastmasters, YPO, Junior League, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, or volunteering in a charity, like Star of Hope. There are hundreds of options in a city of six million people like Houston, Texas and its surrounding areas. In my early years, I belonged to Toastmasters, which was maybe one of the most important things I did. In Toastmasters, you learn to make speeches and to stand on your feet and speak impromptu. It is not a one-year commitment. It takes many years. I also belonged to the Rotary Club and Lions Club while I was in Toastmasters. I wanted to meet as many people as I could in Houston. Today, we call it networking. I paid my own cost of attending Dale Carnegie also. I went to many seminars that came to town, again, at my own cost. I was infatuated with Zig Ziglar, who was an awesome motivator with many great sales ideas, so I purchased his books to study in more detail. I will tell you, however, that if you join an organization and go to meetings and that is all you do, you are missing the boat. If you do not take any active positions or do anything constructive, you do more damage to yourself than if you just did not join at all. Active participants in the organization frown on people who join just to be seen. You have to be involved,

SUCCESSFUL SALES TECHNIQUES 261 you have to work shoulder to shoulder with the other active members and earn your stripes in order to earn their respect, praise, and admiration. Prospects are everywhere. You just have to ask! —WEJ Banking is a unique business unlike any other business I know. I have so many examples in my life of getting business from someone I met, even though it was not a planned call. For example, my dentist, my doctor, or even someone in line at the movie. Just last month I had to check out a roofing contractor for my high-rise condo in Houston. As a reference, this contractor gave me the name of a man in Fort Worth who used his services for years—Ed Beckwitz. I called Ed and had a great conversation. I asked him about his business and learned that he managed about 500 buildings and wanted to tell me about them. I listened! I told Ed about Amegy Bank and asked if we could call on him. The next call was to my banker James Day in our Fort Worth office. I suggested he should call Ed and it would be impressive if he called today. Which, he did. The end result is that he may become a new Amegy customer. The best part of the story is that even though we are new to Fort Worth, he had already heard of Amegy and admired our reputation! NEW business is everywhere for Amegy “BUT” if you do not ask—you do not get. —WEJ So when you are sitting at your desk, exhausted from the day and unsure about whether to go to that event you have penciled on your calendar, remember that mustering the energy and motivation to make authentic connections can make a world of difference in your success as a salesman. Build Relationships Personal relationships are the fertile soil from which all advancement, all success, all achievement in real life grows. —Ben Stein

262 AN AMAZING LIFE Once you make a connection through networking, it is important that you continue to build a relationship with that new contact. Building relationships with your customers and prospects is equally as important as networking. You do not build relationships in your office. You build them outside the bank. You get to know the customers family and employees. You learn as much about the prospect as possible. The most successful bankers charged with developing business will be those that continue to develop a curious mind and ask every question conceivable to get to know the customer and his or her business. I often stay in touch by sending notes, or even a news article that might be important to my customer or prospect. As illustrated in other places in this book, when we started our bank we did an incredible amount of relationship building through entertaining. It was literally every weekend for a number of years. We did it as a team in most cases. We built relationships, got to know our customers outside of their offices, and we asked them for referrals. Word of mouth is the very best way to grow a bank. People are not going to refer their enemies or a sub-standard prospect. Their friends are the ones with whom they would like to share the Amegy experience. A good producer always does his or her very best to create a prospect list of referrals from their good clients. Customers are hard to get. Don’t lose one due to lack of attention. —WEJ One gentle reminder though—just to win a piece of business and book it, then forget about the relationship, going to the next deal and the next deal, is not good for your future or the growth of Amegy Bank. You have to build relationships and then maintain those relationships. We don’t want a customer saying, “I was entertained, and initially I was called on frequently, but since I’ve been at the bank for three years now, I’m not sure anyone knows I still exist.” That is a death wish. On Being Organized There are not many endeavors you will be great at if you are not organized. —WEJ

SUCCESSFUL SALES TECHNIQUES 263 One final strategy I would recommend if you want to become a very successful salesman is that you must get organized and stay organized. The most successful salesperson: • Learns to prioritize their time. • Establishes realistic goals. • Organizes their office, plans their day and week, and establishes a routine for making calls. • Refuses to get bogged down in trivia. If you are not organized, you will flounder. —WEJ I cannot express enough the importance of being organized and here are some tips that have been important to me: All the mail, or reading or things I want to do, go into one of three stacks on my desk: 1. Things that must be done now! 2. Things that must be done, but not right away. Waiting a few days or a week is fine because they are not critical. 3. Things I would like to read or address but if I do not get to them, it is not a big deal. I review #1 every day, #2 weekly, and #3 monthly and usually throw away most of it. The organized person will always accomplish more. —WEJ When I set priorities, like which calls to make or prospects to go see, I limit my list to five not 50 at a time. As a manager, I found that if I gave an officer 50 prospects from Dun and Bradstreet that I wanted him to call on, he could not get his head around it as easy as if gave him only three or at the most five. It is so easy to make a few calls but it is overwhelming if you know you have 50 or 100 or more. Can you imagine our success if we would each source even just one new prospect every week?

264 AN AMAZING LIFE Do not Be A Dummy! The next set of suggestions deal with the actual best practices of being a salesman. Before you make a call on a prospect, learn ALL you can about that person as well as their business. Do your homework. In most cases today, there is a wealth of information on the internet about the: • Prospect • Competition • Product or services related to the prospect. You will impress the prospect that you were CURIOUS enough to prepare, so always prepare! A sense of urgency is a critical component in successful selling. —WEJ A second successful sales strategy I have always used in selling is that I do not procrastinate. When I hear about a prospect, I immediately make contact with them. As a good salesman, I have never stopped selling. I seize the opportunities I am given and always ask for business and deposits. I am always attentive to my customer’s needs. I call on the customer at his office regularly and return every call promptly. Return every call the day you get it. It may be 10 p.m. but leave a voicemail on his office phone or a text to his cell. BUT it is important for the customer to know you received his call and are ready to talk tomorrow. —WEJ A few weeks ago, I was told about a potential prospect, David Shipwash of the IPS Group. David is near my age. I called David immediately. It is very important, in my opinion, to call a prospect the same day you realize he is a prospect and this is especially true when a prospect knows you have been given his name. He will be impressed if you call him immediately.

SUCCESSFUL SALES TECHNIQUES 265 Call a prospect immediately— let him think you are the most responsive banker he has ever heard of. —WEJ I asked David how soon I could meet him and we set up lunch in 24 hours at my request. It was soon obvious that David was rich, had lots of cash, and no debt. However, his son and two sons-in-law were now running the company and wanted a larger building (to own rather than leasing as they were currently doing). Also, they were covered up with prospects, and wanted to increase their staff and equipment. I told David that I would like to bring my team to meet his family as soon as possible. We set up that meeting for two days later. I took with me: • Kevin Rech—he has offices near me and we often make calls together. He is one of the best business bankers I know. • Rick Helton—the nearest Amegy Branch Manager • Quincy Warne—Rick’s regional boss It is important to ALWAYS include local branch managers. They are important and should be the local contact for any business in their area. They need to foster the relationship. My team made a great pitch and David’s son and two sons-in-law seem to make a good team with lots of experience. Before we left, I asked David this question, “David, on a scale of 1 to 10 what’s the chance we can be your bank?” David quickly replied, “8.” My next question was, “What can we do to close that gap and get to 10?” Long story short—we have a great new customer. There will be more about this strategy below. Conquer Cold Calls Try to find your niche before you seek a career. —WEJ “If you are a square peg, no matter how hard you try, you are not going to fit in a round hole. —Katie Couric

266 AN AMAZING LIFE One of the most interesting questions I have considered over the years is “Who is cut out to be a salesman and who is not?” Years ago, we used a service that gave a three-hour test to all of our prospective employees. It was not an IQ test but it told us an amazing amount of information about that person’s character and how they approached the world. We also learned that there are jobs that are better suited for that person’s personality. What we learned was that the person perfect for sales would probably go crazy if they were cooped up in an office as an accountant. Also, not all, but many accountants would never want to make cold calls. The most successful salesperson gains confidence that cold calls can be fun. —WEJ Making a cold call takes a certain amount of tenacity and courage. It is not for the faint of heart who are easily discouraged when they hear the word “no.” That is not the case for a person who truly understands what the word “no” means. I often think about the word “no,” and how many times I have been told “no.” It lights a fire in me because I know that “no” is not acceptable and not the answer I am looking for. I am a born optimist and 90% of the time “no” to me means maybe. So why does a “no” means “maybe?” To me “no” means “not until I have a better idea that you will accept” and decide “no” is not the right answer. Regardless of where it takes place, at home with parents, children, wife or in the business world, “no” means for me to keep trying to find a path to present my idea so you will see it my way. If that idea does not work and I am passionate about my idea, then I will find another way. “No” is a temporary answer to me. When I look around town and see dozens of small new banks everywhere, I wonder how they have a chance. Conversely, making an Amegy cold call is so easy. I have not found a businessperson who did not know Amegy and they always have a favorable opinion concerning our reputation. If nothing else, they see us somewhere in the charitable community near them. I have not met any strangers who did not have something favorable to say about Amegy!

SUCCESSFUL SALES TECHNIQUES 267 The very best prospects, in most cases, are not out shopping for a bank. —WEJ For salesmen working good prospects they have identified, I strongly suggest the following techniques: • Do not give up. Be tenacious because the best prospects are obviously being treated well by their bank. • Always ask who their bank officer is. If they do not know, that is a great sign. If they do know, I ask who else they know in their bank. • Express lots of curiosity. Express interest in learning about them and their business. Listen! The next time you call on this prospect, take another officer with you and use the same strategy over and over. After a few years of calling, this prospect will realize: • He probably now knows more people at Amegy than he does at his bank. • Our officers really do work as a team. • He has learned about most of our services and the people that deliver them. • He should have met your boss by now. I find it very important to always express: • We all like each other, we are friends, and we are a team. • Our retention is amazing, we have so many long-term, dedicated employees. • Our management is very accessible and we have no big shots. They are team players as well • Our leadership stresses the importance of ethics and always “doing what is right.” • There are no bank employees anywhere that do more for their community than Amegy employees, as does Amegy Bank. • We really like our parent, Zions, and they are conservative, strong and share our amazing culture. • Amegy’s CEO is now President and Chief Operating Officer of our parent. So, we share the same culture.

268 AN AMAZING LIFE You can be sure that at some point when his bank makes a misstep, or they lose his contact there, you have a chance of getting the business. There is no doubt that TENACITY and PERSEVERANCE are the key to winning business. Recently one of our officers asked me to join a lunch with her team and her most important customer. As we were finishing our meeting, I spent about 10 minutes singing the praises of Zions Bank, our parent, and what a fabulous relationship we have together. I mentioned that the CEO and I had been personal friends for many years and I always knew that one day I would sell to him. After the story, an amazing thing happened. Our customer said he was thrilled to hear this, and ready to move the other half of business to Amegy now. He explained further that he had no idea the merger was so perfect and he always feared it might blow up, as many mergers do. It’s hard to beat a person that never gives up. —Babe Ruth Cold calling frequently involves the use of the telephone and sometimes the prospect will need to be called back at a later time. Phone calls will also continue until that prospect becomes a customer. Historically, as a bank manager, improper use of the telephone has been something that really gets my attention and deserves the attention of every person in customer service. When I get a telephone call from a prospect or customer who tells me that he has been trying to reach an officer’s office for three or four days or even 24 hours, it absolutely infuriates me. There is no earthly excuse for not being responsive… that is our job. There is nothing that turns off a customer more or causes him to say bad things about our service at Amegy Bank than not getting his calls returned. I return my telephone calls every day without fail. It is possible that I might not be able to return them during the day because of being in some kind of meeting or involved in other things that deserved my undivided attention. And, if I have not been able to send a text or email during the day, then before I go to bed that night, I return the phone call. I often get their voice mail and I leave a message, “Hello, this is Walter. So sorry that I was not available to take your call today. I want you to know that I got your message, I have not forgotten you, and I definitely want to speak with you.

SUCCESSFUL SALES TECHNIQUES 269 I will be on a plane tomorrow starting early so can we talk in the morning before 8 a.m. or after 2 p.m.?” Always give your prospect or customer a time that you will be available to take his call. In most cases, the caller knows that we are busy and, like himself, cannot always take the calls immediately. They certainly appreciate knowing that you got the call and you want to talk. So much of this is just common sense. It goes back to the old adage: Treat Everyone the Way You Want to Be Treated. —WEJ Learn to Say “NOT NOW” If you think about it, the hardest word we have to say is No! So, do not say “No” unless you mean “Hell no!” —WEJ Sometimes you discover that the prospect you have developed and cultivated is really not in a position to enter into a contract for a loan at the present time. Their financial situation needs to improve or certain criteria need to be met before a loan can be completed. But that does not mean that you shut the door in the face of that prospect and move on. This is a situation in which a little finesse can help preserve the relationship so that when the prospect’s situation improves, they can come back and a loan can be negotiated. Most times, it is better to say “not now” instead of “no” in these situations. You need to say, “I want to and maybe I can if certain things happen,” and then explain. Booking new business is a lot easier than saying “no,” but when you have to say “no,” you want to make the person feel like you are doing him a favor! Plenty of people simply cannot say “no” when the situation requires it. We are all aware of parents who do not discipline their kids like we do. They cannot say “no” when they should. But on the other hand, how many times have you told your kids “not now” and then said, “not until you behave,” or “clean up your room,” or “make a good grade in math?” It is the very same principle. When we are told “no,” does it mean you do not like me, or my idea? Or

270 AN AMAZING LIFE you do not understand my reasoning? Your kids immediately say, “That’s not fair.” How many times have we heard that? Do you really mean “no”— or is it maybe when certain goals are met? —WEJ Learning to say “no” is an art not a science. Always tell the prospect all the good things you see about him and his business—before you say “no.” If you really mean “no way,” even then, do not burn a bridge. I have throughout life tried to never burn a bridge because we never know what the future holds. —WEJ Here is an example of what I mean. About 20 years ago, George Cook, owner of Frontier Logistics, was introduced to me as a good prospect. I quickly learned he was an awesome prospect. He wanted a large loan and I was excited about the opportunity. However, after reviewing George’s financials, it was clear that his company’s business was too highly leveraged for a conservative banker like me. I had to say “no,” but I said, “Yes, if you can accomplish the following things” and I expressed to George the following: • I was extremely disappointed I could not accommodate his request today—I wanted the business!! Note: • I did not ask for reams of paperwork—I gave a straight answer. • I did not blame it on a loan committee or examiners. • I did not drag out a decision and take days to respond. • I explained to George: • I was really impressed with all he had accomplished with so little capital. • His earnings were strong and he obviously was a great manager. • I really liked him personally and felt horrible I could not say “yes” to his immediate request. • No doubt he had a great future and I really wanted to be a part of it. I felt Amegy would be a great bank for him as he grew the company to his expectations. • His niche in the industry was strategic and I know he had the potential to become a great customer and was definitely going to

SUCCESSFUL SALES TECHNIQUES 271 need a bank like Amegy to provide all the services he would need in the future. I then explained the pitfalls of being as overly leveraged as his company was at the time. Leverage is a wonderful tool to grow a company, but too much debt with too little capital can be a death wish the first time something goes wrong and the business does not have staying power. I explained that highly leveraged companies do well in the good times but they are the first to crash when the economy turns sour. Leverage KILLS! I explained to George that I really did want to be his banker someday. One day a few years later, George showed me a new balance sheet and that he had de-leveraged the company through strong earnings while resisting the temptation of adding debt until the leverage was reasonable. Today George is a terrific customer, a very close friend and we have $50 million in loans, providing all the services Amegy has. The easiest way to sabotage your chances of winning the prospect in the future is by not being direct and dragging out your inability to bank him today! —WEJ NOT saying “no” in a timely manner is a horrible way to treat a prospect and can sometimes seriously damage your reputation. My pet peeve is being told by a prospect that we have an officer who cannot make a decision. A friend of mine suffered a very bad example of stringing a prospect out unmercifully, because an officer did not have the courage to say “no” or was not experienced or accomplished enough to understand the risk and be decisive. It was extremely embarrassing. I received a call from John, who was on the Board of Directors with me for the Boy Scouts. John had recently retired from an executive position of an energy company and had a loan application at an Amegy Branch. John was extremely frustrated at Amegy. Here is what I learned: • John had $3 million in an IRA and wanted to borrow for a new investment rather than cashing it in and paying nearly 50% taxes. John really did not have much else in the way of investments, but he did have a nice retirement income.

272 AN AMAZING LIFE • The purpose of the loan was to purchase a $3 million strip shopping center under foreclosure and convert it into an exercise facility like the Lifetime Fitness facilities that we see all over town. • The reason John was doing this was because his son, soon to graduate from Texas A&M, was a fitness buff and wanted to build a new business with his father as partner. • The loan officer, over a period of more than 30 days, asked for more paperwork and details eight or 10 times. Time was running out and if the Amegy Banker did not approve the loan immediately, John was going to lose the opportunity on the building. I told John that I was extremely embarrassed and was certain that Amegy should not make the loan and strongly recommended that he not do the deal for the following reasons: • At age 65 he was risking his lifetime savings and as a new retiree, he should not gamble the whole thing on one asset. • His son would be fresh out of college in a few months with little work experience and no management or marketing knowledge. • If the business failed for any reason, it would take all of his income to service the debt. • Although he thought we were secured with the property, it had already failed as a retail center and no telling what it would cost to convert the building to something that might be profitable. • If the son was very successful there was always the risk that someone like Lifetime Fitness would pop up across the street or somewhere close. I pleaded with John to not take the risk. It was apparent that John was unaware of this reasoning but ultimately was in total agreement. It appeared to me that he was actually glad I said “no” and was relieved to have a way out of the deal without telling his son he did not really want to do the deal. Saying “no” is sometimes the best thing we can do for a prospect, but too many bankers cannot say it without dragging it out. —WEJ

SUCCESSFUL SALES TECHNIQUES 273 Last Words—What are Our Chances? One last sales strategy that I have successfully used before leaving a prospect is to ask them a simple question, “On a scale of 1 to 10, what’s our chances of getting your business?” Then to his answer, I respond, “What do we need to do to close the gap?” I want to leave them with the thought that we are willing to do what we can to win their business. Before I leave, I also always tell a prospect about all the things Amegy does for the community. Historically we give 1% of earnings to charity— about $45 million now. Our staff alone in 2020 gave $720,000 to United Way. We donate over 2,000 hours to charity and give employees paid time off to do volunteer work in the community. Our conference room in Amegy Tower is available to charity organizations. I do this because I want them to understand that Amegy is a bank that cares about its community and that they can be a part of that.

LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES 275 Leadership Strategies The most successful leader is more than a boss. He is a role model that employees want to emulate! —WEJ A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. —John C. Maxwell The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves. —Ray Kroc Over the years, I have spoken to many groups about leadership. People often want to know what the keys to my success have been. The underlying assumption is that there is something about me that they can emulate so that they, too, can be successful. Is it natural talent? Is it knowledge or skills that I learned? Is it some personality characteristic or a particular mindset? I believe that there are some things about leadership that can be learned and emulated. There are some things that they can put in place and implement so that they can be successful leaders. Here are a few thoughts about what is needed to be a successful leader. Besides creating the vision, goals, objectives, and strategies for the company, a leader needs to put in place a management philosophy that becomes a foundational core for every employee decision and every action the company takes. A management philosophy explains why certain actions are taken in a company. I believe that leaders should make sure that everyone in the company understands and can communicate the company’s core values and driving principles. I also believe that leaders should help develop and grow their employees by providing clear vision and training, delegating work to improve their abilities and skills. Over time, I have developed and honed

276 AN AMAZING LIFE my management philosophies, and I believe that they helped to sustain the growth that Amegy experienced throughout the years. While a management philosophy explains why certain actions are taken in a company, those actions, taken together, become a leader’s management style. All leaders must decide what kind of management style they will use to lead their company. Some leaders want to make all the decisions while some want decisions to be made by employees who have the knowledge and experience to make decisions pertaining to their jobs. I tend to favor the latter. My management style focuses on these key strategies: • One-minute managing • Create a winning culture • Take the time to develop business • Avoid micro-managing • Challenge employees to create solutions; encourage creativity and thinking outside the box • Avoid public criticism of employees • Be aware of work ethic and be organized • Find ways to express enthusiasm • Keep everyone regularly updated in meetings about how the entire company is meeting its goals • Talk often about success and acknowledge greatness • Remember that the three most important tasks of a leader are 1. Encourage teamwork, 2. Encourage teamwork, 3. Encourage teamwork. Just One Minute One minute well managed can improve the tone and attitude of what might otherwise be a difficult experience. —WEJ Effective managers manage themselves and the people they work with so that both the organization and the people profit from their presence. —Ken Blanchard

LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES 277 When I say sales, I am also talking about how you get along with your employees, friends, wife, and kids. You have to think “salesmanship” all the time. We had a book one time called, The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. It has a lot of the same points that Dale Carnegie teaches. I use those techniques in my salesmanship many times every day. 1. One Minute Goal Setting One minute of praise can make a bad week seem like a picnic. —WEJ Take a minute: look at your goals, look at your performance, see if your behavior matches your goals. —Ken Blanchard There are three key lessons found in The One Minute Manager. The first secret to becoming a good manager is to develop the technique of setting goals before you start something. Decide what the end should look like and what performance standards need to be established along the way to benchmark progress. This helps remind you of where you are going and allows you to do periodic checks on your progress toward that goal. One should never start on a trip without first planning the best route to the destination. —WEJ Your vision, and the subsequent steps you outline to reach your goals, paint a picture of what you want to accomplish. It should capture what you think your business should look like in the future. Those steps should be visible and measurable, driving what you and everyone in the organization does each day. Sharing your vision brings teams together under a common goal so that everyone is not simply working, they are working toward something. Intermediary benchmark goals also need to be established so that everyone can periodically stop and assess progress toward the ultimate goals.

278 AN AMAZING LIFE 2. One Minute Praising Help people reach their full potential. Catch them doing something right. —Ken Blanchard The second secret deals with managing people. Spend one-minute catching people doing something right. Then tell them. It hardly takes a minute to tell someone they did a good job. There is no need to elaborate, just simply acknowledge that they did something good and you noticed it. Employees want to feel appreciated. They want to feel valued. When they work above and beyond expectations to achieve great results, celebrate and recognize those efforts. That is how you encourage their continued passion and commitment to the vision and goals of the bank. What gets rewarded gets repeated. And when you create a culture of gratitude and recognition with your team, they will begin to recognize each other’s contributions and accomplishments. This creates a great sense of unity that motivates everyone to strive for excellence. 3. One Minute Reprimands We are not just our behavior. We are the person managing our behavior. —Ken Blanchard Conversely, the third secret in managing people is only giving one-minute reprimands. In the first thirty seconds, tell them what they did wrong, how you feel about it and let it sink in. Then tell them that you think they are capable of more and how much you value them. Never criticize the doer, only criticize the work. And once it is over, it is over. Move on. One-minute reprimands are immediate and highly effective in correcting mistakes before they get to be bigger mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes and things are not always going to go right. Reprimanding employees is never pleasant but when handled properly, it can be productive and everyone involved can move forward. Occasions where reprimands are necessary can become opportunities to learn from mistakes or help everyone make adjustments going forward.

LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES 279 Creating a Winning Culture Businesses often forget about the culture, and ultimately, they suffer for it because you cannot deliver good service from unhappy employees. —Tony Hsieh CEO, Zappos Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success. —Henry Ford None of us is as smart as all of us. —Ken Blanchard Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. —Vince Lombardi I do not know anything more exciting than winning. Many years ago, I spent five years on a debate team. It was very interesting and took a lot of preparation. You had to be ready for any spontaneous comments the other team would make. You had to be prepared with an answer. My team most often won because we wanted to win. We were driven to be successful and do better than the opposing team. Don’t we all get excited when our football or baseball team wins, or our kids win a swim meet, basketball game or any competition? Winning is winning. Some of us know in our business at Amegy Bank that there is nothing more exciting than seeing our bank grow many times faster than our competition… because we are winning. Creating and running a successful business has never been easy—just take a look at the history of any industry, and you will see it is filled with stories of people who did their very best but were overcome by the results of poor choices, unforeseen circumstances, or both. There have indeed been plenty of overwhelming challenges in the Texas banking industry over the years. But it seems that in today’s ever-evolving, fast-paced marketplace, the challenges are greater than ever. Business leaders have to adapt and change in order to keep their organizations competitive, and in today’s business environment, having a winning culture has become a key part of

280 AN AMAZING LIFE any successful strategy. A winning culture goes beyond just spouting catch-phrases and company slogans although Amegy and the entire banking industry uses catchy slogans in their marketing strategy. A truly powerful culture is one that encourages teamwork while embracing diversity, empowers individuals while providing a guiding vision, and rallies an entire organization around the principles that drive the company. It is not about one person—it is about what everyone can accomplish together, through innovation and collaboration. This kind of winning culture is highly desired and sought after. Part of our marketing strategy is to make sure Amegy is known in the community and has the reputation of being a top-notch bank that cares for its customers and continuously cultivates a relationship with them. But it does not come without effort. In fact, pulling it off well requires the collaboration and support of everyone from the teller on the line to the shareholder. This type of culture has to be constantly nurtured, and it is modeled from the top down. Besides creating the vision, goals, objectives, and strategies for the company, a leader needs to put in place a management philosophy that becomes a foundational core for every employee decision and every action the company takes. This kind of culture can make the difference, though, between abysmal failure and explosive growth. Here are some principles for every person in the company to embrace, from the top down, that will help create a winning culture: 1. Have confidence in yourself. Maybe no one else will. Believe in yourself and your goals now, otherwise when the hard times and the doubts come—and they will come—you will crumble under the weight. You have to be committed and persistent, but without self-confidence, these will get you nowhere. 2. Be self-driven. Unless you are a self-starter and energized on your own merits, without someone pushing and prodding you, you are not going to have the gumption, the get-up-and-go, that you need to pull off a successful strategy. And along with this, have personal standards that you set upon yourself, and do not be satisfied unless these are met. Set the bar high, with challenging goals, but realistic ones that can actually be achieved with sustained effort. Do not worry about what others are doing; worry about your own standard of excellence. 3. Always be curious. Have open eyes, open ears, and a thick skin. Watch constantly for fresh opportunities, look at what is already

LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES 281 being done (and what is not), and scan for problems that your unique blend of skills, resources, and expertise can solve. Listen to criticism—be open to constructive comments that will help you to do your job better by identifying what is not being done at its best. Value this kind of feedback as the priceless treasure that it is. At the same time, develop a thick skin; use what is useful, but let the rest roll off. You do not have time to sulk or have your feelings hurt—you have a job to do and opportunities to seize. 4. Help create an environment of empowerment. It falls on everyone— not just the leaders—to create the sort of workplace culture in which everyone thrives, and the company succeeds. The whole point of empowerment, in fact, is for people not just to be empowered, but to empower themselves, so that they will take the lead, take risks, and innovate solutions. This is how positive change occurs. It has to be tied to your values, and these values have to be sincere and genuine; they have to authentically matter to everyone in the company. 5. Work your butt off. There is no substitute for hard work. As they say, “the harder you work the luckier you get.” There are plenty of people out there who seem to think that the world automatically owes them something, that they deserve to sit on the sidelines and let others carry the load. There is no room for those folks in a winning culture. Having brilliant ideas will not take you very far without the active steps of getting to your feet, rolling up your sleeves, and diving into the thick of it. Ideas get you started; hard work gets it done. 6. Commit to continuous effort. At the end of the day, creating a healthy company culture is not a one-and-done sort of thing. It is not something you can check off your box and consider complete. No, it is an ongoing approach, practically a way of life. The principles driving the culture must be a part of the company’s identity; they have to run through the veins of every person there… principles like loyalty, integrity, dedication, and excellence. This requires continuous effort. A winning culture is the result when everyone works together to cultivate it, within themselves and in others, and is dedicated to the long haul and the big picture. 7. Reap the rewards. Of course, there are plenty of advantages for the business as a whole, but there are also lots of perks at the individual level. A major benefit is the fulfillment that an encouraging, supportive culture provides. It is extremely rewarding to put

282 AN AMAZING LIFE your blood, sweat, and tears into a project or task and then to see it succeed, and to work in a culture that will validate your accomplishment. Knowing where the ideas came from, the part you played, and what it took to bring it to this point, makes the achievement all the more meaningful. Workers in this sort of culture are more passionate about their work, which brings a level of excitement to the day-to-day job. They are also more challenged, more creative, and more invigorated—which helps them to feel more involved and more dedicated. It really is a win-win. You can get almost anything done if you don’t care who gets the credit. —Anonymous You never know when you’ve done enough until you’ve done too much. —Anonymous Now this is the law of the jungle, •as old and as true as the sky, And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die. As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, the law runneth forward and back. For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack. —Rudyard Kipling The Jungle Book Many businesses operate according to Kipling’s “law of the jungle,” which has been twisted and corrupted, taken to mean something like “survival of the fittest”—a dog-eat-dog approach to business and life in which every person is only watching out for his or her own best interests. Look out for Number One and let the weak perish.

LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES 283 But in truth, the “law” was always about cooperation and joint effort; it was about recognizing that real strength lies in teamwork, in putting the needs of others above your own and realizing that in this environment your own needs will be met as well. Individuals gain from the group, and the group from individuals. A group can be stronger and more productive than the sum of its parts. This is what a winning culture is really about. A winning culture highly values and exhibits integrity, trust and passion. Integrity is the most important ingredient of a person’s ability to contribute. Trust is the glue that holds all relationships together—and trust is based on integrity. It is about passion, which enables a team to perform ordinary tasks in extraordinary ways. Knowing what to do drives performance but knowing why you do it ignites passion. Passion enables your team to find creative ways to achieve a goal… any goal. The real key to motivation is creating a path for your team to buy in to your vision. —WEJ Motivation and passion, the desire to do things, and dedication are integral parts of a winning culture. From a business perspective, motivation consists of the internal and external factors that stimulate desire and energy in people to continually be interested in and committed to a job, role, or subject and to exert persistent effort in attaining a goal. Motivation is the driving force of it all; it is what makes you get up in the morning ready to work those long hours and execute a business plan or make the most out of your capabilities. It is about dedication. Many enterprises close because their owners and staff lose faith and passion and give up too early or are not willing to work harder. There are many success stories of people who say, “I couldn’t give up on my dream, so I kept going and eventually succeeded.” Loyalty is an important part of a winning culture. A truly powerful group of people are those who are loyal to each other, to the cause they are working toward, and to the vision that they are pursuing. That creates a winning culture. And it is hard to stop a team like that. If you want to be incrementally better: be competitive. If you want to be exponentially better: be cooperative. —John Ruskin

284 AN AMAZING LIFE Respect is another important characteristic of a winning culture. Respect should be one of the key words in your vocabulary. Obviously, you anticipate everyone treating you with respect. You have to treat others with respect in order to earn respect. In any business the best way to win respect is when you are a team player. Let others know you value their ideas and their initiative and their help. Never be afraid to ask for help. Even when you have the best idea or the best prospect in the world, just remember we are not solo players. A team, even if it is just two players, can accomplish a task that one person may never get accomplish. The win still feels the same…it is a win. I leave next week for a trip to Chile to go fishing with a group of friends. We are always very competitive. We always have to celebrate for the winner that catches the most fish and the biggest. A team player always congratulates the winner and has to hear the story of what he did to win. You might get an idea from him that you can use yourself. A team player does not get jealous but instead is very supportive. Possibly you might ask the winner to help you with your next deal. Taking the Time to Develop Business To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart. —Thomas Watson, Sr. Former CEO, IBM I t is only human nature to create a large portfolio and not want to share it because we have the feeling that we are measured by the total loans that we have outstanding or the number of clients. That is not the way we grow. We grow by creating teams and sharing our customer base with others. At Amegy, we have been very successful in building a team and as the portfolio grows, we continue to add people to that team. I am very aware of the fact that many of our officers bring in business and it goes to a totally different team in the bank. It may go to the Treasury Management, Factoring, or International. All of us have been brainwashed when it comes to understanding what a team means. At Amegy, we still celebrate the win as though we booked it in our own portfolio.

LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES 285 Avoid Micro-Managing I t is important that leaders give their team members the freedom and flexibility to do their jobs. That is why they were hired—to do their jobs and relieve their boss of the responsibility of having to accomplish those tasks. A leader that tries to take over their work or who will not empower them to make decisions and take action is known as a micro-manager. Micro-managing employees will discourage and frustrate them so that they are not as productive as they could be. Leaders need to keep their eyes focused on the big picture and allow the various team members to perform their particular tasks to achieve company goals. Encourage Curiosity Which Will Spawn Creativity Be sure that you encourage team members to come up with creative solutions to problems that arise in the workplace. Make sure they feel comfortable coming up with solutions that might be unusual. Encourage creativity and recognize successful creative solutions. This will reinforce your message that leaders are not the only ones who can come up with innovative solutions. Avoid Public Criticism Everyone makes mistakes. We are human and errors will occur. Sometimes its just a result of the circumstances that develop. Other times, mistakes are made due to misinformation. Sometimes we experience failure when we try new things but it is better to try innovative solutions and fail than to not try at all. When errors occur or mistakes are made, be sure that you discuss those with team members in private. Never belittle or attempt to correct a team member in front of others. Everyone likes to save face and it is important that those discussions about mistakes, as well as the adjustments needed, be made privately. Work Hard and Be Organized Leaders set the tone for productivity by being role models. If employees and other team workers see them giving their best effort and working as long as it takes to get the job done, they will likely emulate that leader. However, if the leader takes long lunches and frequent breaks, others in the workplace may begin to think that maybe the work is not important enough since the leader does not seem to be dedicated to the company’s success. Likewise, a leader needs to be organized and efficient. Disorganization,

286 AN AMAZING LIFE as well as procrastination, sends the non-verbal message that the leader does not think the mission is important enough to stay on top of things and get things done in a timely manner. Failure to respond to others requests by returning phone calls and providing needed information also disrespects those who are working to make the company successful. Express Enthusiasm The team members you are leading need to hear that you are passionate about achieving the goals set before you. They need to know that you consider the mission important and you are excited when benchmarks are achieved or when someone does something noteworthy in meeting company goals. Sometimes they just need a leader who is optimistic and displays a positive attitude, especially when the going gets tough and challenges arise. Give Regular Updates I t is important for everyone on the team to receive regular updates on the progress toward the overall company goals. Regular meetings allow leaders the opportunity to review past successes, make course corrections and encourage the team members to press on toward the goals. Going over data gives everyone a better picture of what is working and what is not so that they can make adjustments. Regular meetings also provide a great opportunity to reinforce the idea that everyone is on the same team and working toward the same goals. Talk Often About Success and Acknowledge Greatness When a team leader accomplishes something great that benefits the whole team or the company, be sure you publicly acknowledge their contribution company-wide and thank them for the effort that they made to help the company be successful. Make it a practice to regularly recognize and acknowledge actions that had a positive impact. Encourage the team members when benchmarks are achieved in reaching your overall goals. Take time to celebrate those victories together as a team.

LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES 287 A truly powerful culture is one that encourages teamwork while embracing diversity, empowers individuals while providing a guiding vision, and rallies an entire organization around the principles that drive the company. —WEJ

CURIOSITY 289 Curiosity The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. —Albert Einstein Curiosity is the engine of achievement. —Ken Robinson Curiosity is one of the great secrets of happiness. —Bryant H. McGill The best in business have boundless curiosity and open minds. —Robin Sharma Many say that accomplishments and success can be attributed to luck, timing, or being at the right place at the right time. For me, this could not be further from the truth, based on my life experiences and knowledge. Now having penned this book with my thoughts, reflecting back on my life, and I have come to the realization that my journey of endeavors boils down to having a curious mind. I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. In luck, I am only very, very curious. —Albert Einstein Some of the most groundbreaking discoveries that have come about in human history were the result of a individuals’ burning curiosity to think outside the box to explore and experience new things. You have to adopt a growth mindset—a passion for learning, a desire to question the norms, and a curiosity to step out of the zone of comfort in order to achieve knowledge and greatness.

290 AN AMAZING LIFE Curiosity has been defined by researchers as the joy of exploration, a hidden force that drives learning, critical thinking, and reasoning (PriceMitchell, 2015). Observe everything with an open mind, stay curious, embrace change, and never stop learning.  Your success depends upon it. There are plenty of principles taught in business classes to young students who soak up every morsel, hoping such principles will point them in the direction of a more successful and satisfying career in the marketplace. These might include gems such as “be on time,” “exceed customer expectations,” “plan ahead,” “spend part of each day networking,” and “value innovation.” To be sure, all of these are useful strategies. But one principle that might not be as obvious—at least, to those who have never worked for Amegy Bank—is “be curious.” Many people talk about creativity and innovation. Indeed, these are two of the most powerful words I know. However, as Academy-Award winning film producer Brain Grazer points out in A Curious Mind, “Curiosity is the tool that sparks creativity. Curiosity is the technique that gets to innovation.” In other words, curiosity causes people to ask questions, and questions create the mindset that leads to creativity and innovation. As such, Grazer likens curiosity to the “flint that sparks great ideas,” declaring it to be his principal motivation in life, the attribute that “gives energy and insight into everything” he does, the key to both his happiness and his success.8 I could not agree more. Curiosity in Business—An Overview “Curiouser and curiouser!” cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English). —Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland Merriam-Webster defines curiosity as the “desire to know: inquisitive interest in others’ concerns; interest leading to inquiry.” In short, it is what makes us want to understand the world around us, which is a critical ingredient in creating a successful business culture, as many CEOs and other professionals are discovering. 8 Grazer, Brian, and Charles Fishman. A Curious Mind. Simon & Schuster, 2016.

CURIOSITY 291 Curiosity, without a doubt, is one of the most important characteristics that a worker can embrace, particularly, if that person is in a position of leadership. Simply put, I find curiosity to be what frequently separates the best officers from the more mediocre ones. A curious person engages with his prospect, asks questions about all aspects of the business, even contemplating the personal aspects of the owner or manager or CFO. Such behavior allows them to improve, to become better officers. Throughout my career, I have continually relied on curiosity. However, A Curious Mind reminded me that it is not given enough attention. Most of our professional schools, such as Rice University, may not doing it right. Rice, no doubt, is an incredible school, which stresses characteristics such as entrepreneurism and creativity. Its students, no doubt, are the best of the best. But none of these reputable business schools, Grazer mentions, focuses on the importance of having a curious mind. They should. While you cannot really teach creativity, you can teach people to ask questions. This, in turn, can help them to become more creative. In this way, you can redevelop curiosity in people. Notice I use the word redevelop because curiosity is a gift every child has—even though it is something a lot of people lose in adulthood. If one rekindles curiosity, creativity follows. Curiosity, no doubt, can help people in a variety of ways. Hopefully, every employee who works at the Amegy is constantly looking for a way to do their job better, quicker, and more professionally if they have a curious mind. They look for a way to have fewer mistakes, to have a more efficient way to provide a better product. They look for a way to impress their boss. At home, too, curiosity helps an individual to look for ways to entertain the family. They may search for good vacation spots and think about ways to inspire their children to be better students, better kids. While we may not always realize it on a conscious level, curiosity affects us deeply. I have been on many client engagements where a customer might wish to expand their manufacturing facility. When visiting this facility, my associate at the bank might ask a few questions about the manufacturing process, a half-dozen at most. I, on the other hand, will ask three hundred questions. This curiosity is driven, in part, by an internal desire to know more—to expand, to never be content or satisfied with my current level of knowledge or abilities. Standing still, after all, is agreeing to be stagnant, and at Amegy, stagnancy is never acceptable. This curiosity, however, also serves another purpose. It allows the customer’s needs to be better served. To really meet a customer’s needs,

292 AN AMAZING LIFE you need to understand that customer’s business. You need to know the details—the process, logistics, inventory, technology, competition, challenges, expansion opportunities, risks, rewards—and this knowledge does not come easily. It requires an investment of time and energy, and a healthy dose of curiosity. For this reason, we have to go deep and go wide with our curiosity. Ask: What keeps him / her up at night? We cannot be satisfied in the shallows with a narrow understanding of a customer’s business. If you want to serve a customer, if you want to even keep that customer, you have to take the plunge. Research agrees. The September-October 2018 issue of the Harvard Business Review has an article titled “The Business Case for Curiosity,” which outlines how recent research reveals that curiosity is critical to an organization’s performance. The article’s author, Francesca Gino, notes, “Most of the breakthrough discoveries and remarkable inventions throughout history, from flints for starting a fire to self-driving cars, have something in common: They are the result of curiosity.” She goes on to state that “curiosity is much more important to an enterprise’s performance than was previously thought.” The question, then, is why would a company choose to overlook this? At all levels, curiosity helps workers adapt to unpredictable conditions and challenges. It helps leaders earn respect from followers, and it motivates employees to develop deeper relationships with colleagues. Gino found that although curiosity can be encouraged in a company’s culture—and it usually improves these companies—most leaders actually take steps that stifle it in the workplace. In doing so, they miss out on all the benefits it can bring. These benefits, research has shown, can include “fewer decisionmaking errors,” “more innovation and positive changes in both creative and noncreative jobs,” “reduced group conflict,” and “more-open communication and better team performance.”9 In other words, when curiosity is nurtured, it can translate into success. This has been the case at Amegy Bank, where curiosity is both appreciated and cultivated. Curiosity means seeking and learning, and in the business world, that knowledge is then put to good use when a customer can receive better service or products. This is a benefit to you, but it also 9 Gino, Francesca, “The Business Case for Curiosity,” Harvard Business Review, Sep.- Oct. 2018.

CURIOSITY 293 shows the customer how much you care. It shows you are willing to seek out knowledge about their business in order to help them. Without such knowledge, you are doing a disservice, both to yourself and to the customer. Without it, one is striving to make the best decisions and to undertake the ideal action while operating on limited information, and nine out of ten times, such an approach delivers less-than-optimal results. Writing for Inc. in 2013, Geoffrey James put it bluntly, stating, “You can’t possibly be successful in business if you’re not deeply curious about other people.” James concurs that this character trait in the business world is often neglected. He is right. Although blatantly creative companies might be expected to embrace curiosity, organizations that are less clearly creative should recognize its worth as well. James goes so far as to call curiosity a “Swiss Army Knife” for the business world that “gets the job done in nearly every situation.” He claims curiosity can help with: • building customer relationships   • increasing your business acumen • solving customer problems • negotiating win/win contracts • correcting sales errors • creating great products • motivating employees  No doubt, these are all highly desirable goals for the majority of businesses, yet few companies really put in the work it takes to create a culture in which curiosity thrives. It is easier to ask five questions rather than three hundred, right? It is simpler to be satisfied with the status quo rather than constantly pondering how the present situation could be improved. Of course, easier is not always better. I firmly believe it is worth the extra investment of time and energy to foster curiosity. I know, in the end, it delivers wonderful results that can catapult you and your company to ever greater heights. So do not let anyone downplay curiosity. Indeed, curiosity may have killed the cat, but without it, no cat would exist in this day and age.

294 AN AMAZING LIFE In short, curiosity is at the core of every successful business effort. If you don’t have curiosity, you can’t expect to be successful as an entrepreneur, a salesperson, or even as an engineer. Period.10 —Geoffrey James Much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. —Steve Jobs The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know. —Michel Legrand 10 Geoffrey James, “The Business Value of Curiosity,” Inc., online newsletter, Aug. 20, 2013.

HARD WORK AND DETERMINATION 295 Hard Work and Determination There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. —Colin Powell Hard work pays off— hard work beats talent any day, but if you’re talented and work hard, it’s hard to be beat. —Robert Griffin III The biggest tree in the world, the mighty Sequoia named the General Sherman tree, stands an amazing 275 feet tall and is over 102 feet in circumference at the base. Looking up at its lofty branches, it is hard to imagine this magnificent giant as a sapling. Yet, some two millennia ago, it was just starting to sprout—first pushing through the soil—and now, thousands of years later and hundreds of feet higher, it still has its roots in the same place. There is a lesson there for those who would see, and it is one well-learned by the leaders of Amegy Bank. Sure, the soil might not offer the brightest, cleanest, most exciting spot—by definition, it is down and dirty. But the tree stretches tallest when the roots sink deepest. And inch by inch, year by year, Amegy is rooted in hard work and determination. Calloused hands, dirty fingernails, sweat and toil… and eyes on the lofty heavens. •

296 AN AMAZING LIFE Learning How to Work I was born in the days of the Great Depression when unemployment raged and it was all too easy to be discouraged by the grimy present. In my hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, I worked from the age of six, helping my father with odd jobs. At the age of twelve, I started mowing yards for other people, but not for any neighbors nearby—those living close had sand in their yards, so I went miles to find yards with grass that needed cutting. I never felt like I was poor, but for anything in the world that I wanted, I had to go earn the money to get it. My Dad had a sixth-grade education, and we lived on the wrong side of the tracks. Like many who develop a strong work ethic, I had a role model to look up to—my father. He always had at least two jobs. He worked consistently, and he worked hard, and I saw that every day. Anything he did was done extremely well, and he helped others. If someone called him with their car stuck in the sand ten miles away on a Sunday afternoon, and they did not know what to do, he would get them out. There was not anything he could not do, and he would never quit trying! At a time when hard work and self-reliance were of vital necessity simply for survival, my father showed me how to persevere. We worked together with our hands, taking cars apart and putting them back together. In the process, I developed an appreciation for the impact of focused, intentional labor. I imitated my father’s diligent efforts, and that tenacity informed my own work ethic. I got my first full-time job at age sixteen: working in a store to put away parts, sweep up, and help in the stock room. Two years later, I got my first sales job, selling adding machines and calculators, which had just been invented and cost $750 for a seventy-pound machine. I excelled at sales, putting myself and my wife through college at Texas Christian University, after which I was employed by the Texas Electric Service Company, who hired me to sell heat pumps in Midland and Odessa. Rewarding Hard Work I n my first year as a heat pump salesman, I sold more heat pumps in Odessa, Texas, than the rest of the salesmen sold from El Paso all the way to Dallas. But when bonuses came out at the year’s end, I got a measly two percent, which is the same thing everybody else got. It was apparent to me that I was the only one who had any work ethic, and I was not being rewarded for it. So, I quit.

HARD WORK AND DETERMINATION 297 I learned a valuable lesson from that experience—that hard work should be recognized and rewarded. Ultimately I founded what is now Amegy Bank, one of the most successful banks in the State of Texas, partly because the efforts of its many employees who are honored and celebrated. Keynote Address I n April 2017, when I spoke to student leaders as the keynote speaker at the 17th Annual Leadership and Awards ceremony of the C. T. Bauer College of Business at University of Houston, I stressed that hard work and determination have continued to be vital components to my success all through life—and that these same principles will aid the students across the span of their own careers. I pointed out to them that these traits are not particularly exciting or alluring on the surface… these days, everyone wants a fast fix, a silver bullet, or to have the world handed to them on a platter. Too often, people feel entitled to receive something without having to sacrifice to get it. Yet the secret to success is not really a secret and has not been for thousands of years. Hard work is not the only factor that will achieve a person’s goals, but work is so critical that it is next to impossible to reach success without it. If you are going to be successful, you need to be the hardest working person in the world. When I think about what I have accomplished in my life, it comes down to work ethic. I then opened up to the students about my own story of starting small and pulling myself up by my own bootstraps, as the saying goes—rising from humble beginnings to attain goals that would not have seemed possible. As a youth, looking at my situation, it would have seemed unlikely that I would have the opportunity to even attend college at all, much less to graduate from Texas Christian University in just three years, which is exactly what I did before defying the odds and founding one of Houston’s largest banks. I grew up the hard way. I worked on milk trucks and paper routes, and it was a great way to grow up. You appreciate life more when you work for it. I also stressed to the business students that forging ahead requires more than just hard work, though—it demands determination. Without resilience, a dogged degree of perseverance in spite of anything the world might throw at you, it can be all too easy to get bowled over by the blowing winds and raging waves of life. Or simply by the changes that occur, demanding flexibility and the willingness to pick yourself up, choose a different path,

298 AN AMAZING LIFE and push forward once again. While attending college, I worked as a typewriter salesman and later for a financial company called Factoring Services, financing small business, before switching to banking… but this move would prove to be the launching pad for my remarkable career. Along the journey, I switched roads a few times before discovering my true path. Do not be afraid to quit and start over. If you make a mistake, correct it. With exactly that brand of fortitude and diligence, I formed a bank and through careful cultivation developed it into the largest Houston-based bank and the third-largest independent commercial bank in Texas. Not too shabby for a kid from the wrong side of the tracks! It just goes to show that when your roots sink deep, and when hard work and determination rise up, even the sky is not the limit. The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand. —Vince Lombardi In addition to the opportunities I have had to speak on this subject, I • have also accumulated a few additional thoughts over the years regarding this subject of being a hard worker and being tenacious. The following are conclusions I have drawn over the years based on my experiences. The Importance of a Work Ethic The people who will be selected for opportunity will be the ones recognized for their work ethic. —WEJ I do not know of very many jobs in which the most successful people are able to work only 40 hours a week. It certainly has not been true of my life in banking. As I look at the other successful employees, I find the