Some friendships run deeper than blood, and I recently lost just such a friend when he passed away. His name was Bob Unger, and prior to his retirement several years ago, he was widely regarded as probably the best Chief Credit Officer in the state.
But to me he was the dearest of friends, to me he was Viking — his biker nickname. He and I covered a lot of mileage together, both literally (wearing out our motorcycle tires over many thousands of highway miles) and figuratively (working together as co-workers and friends).
Bob’s passing hit me hard, and was difficult to take, difficult to deal with—the same as for anyone who loses someone very close. And it made me reflect—what was it that originally made us so close, that sealed our friendship so tightly?
Put simply, at one point a few decades ago, he was much more knowledgeable, much more professionally accomplished, much better connected, than I was. He was the Chief Credit Officer of a large, Colorado-based bank. I was one of the top producing lenders in the Denver Metro area—and honestly, if it weren’t for him, that might have been where my career topped out—I was making great money, and had little motivation to “keep climbing,” since most positions would make less than mine.
But we knew each other through banking circles and had become friends on a motorcycle ride. And in that process, he had decided to take me under his wing, to mentor me–to encourage me to finish my MBA, to help me expand my banking knowledge beyond where most lenders and bankers stop, to encourage me to learn more, to stretch more, to take the necessary risks at the necessary times.
The highest a select few bankers can reach is something akin to a branch manager or “market president” level, with only a miniscule number stepping above and beyond that into an executive or into a C-Suite level.
Yet, here I am, as President and CEO of Bank of Estes Park, and Vice Chair of our own Holding Company—First National Financial Corp., and having served on some of the most influential non-profit boards in the state.
Without Bob Unger, would any of that have happened? Would I have even finished my MBA? Would I have had the confidence or knowledge to be able to help launch the first true de novo (“from scratch”) bank in Colorado in over a decade? Would I have risked it to then later help launch a bank from within an investment firm, which gave me the opportunity to work side by side with Bob himself, gaining wisdom from him on a daily basis?
And if I hadn’t done those things, would I have even been qualified to put my name in the hat when the Chief Credit Officer position opened up at Bank of Estes Park—where I had always planned to retire? And if those things hadn’t happened, I certainly wouldn’t have been prepared to be the President and CEO of the best little bank, in the best little town on Earth, when that opportunity arose.
I’ve had offers to run much larger banks—but I’m here because this bank and this town are unique and special, and this is where I want to be. With the right mentors, you end up in a position where you have options, where you can choose your own destiny.
So, in a nutshell, I might owe my entire career to a biker called Viking, who saw a (probably overly cocky at the time) lender, who he thought had potential, and who he thought he could mentor to be something better.
But it goes back even further—sure, I was one of the top lenders in Metro Denver before meeting Bob, but that was only because of an earlier mentor, Berry Craddock. I had heard him speak in college and was hooked by his “everyone wins at the closing table, or you walk away” philosophy—we became friends after I wrote him a thank you note about his speech.
He was a central figure in commercial real estate at the time, and he took me under his wing early on, introducing me to all of the major players from northern Colorado down through Colorado Springs, making loan production incredibly easy for me so long as I simply followed the philosophy that I learned from him early on—a philosophy I have never wavered from to this day.
And there have been so many other mentors too over my 30-year career, and I quote them routinely. It’s actually something I repeat all the time to my team at the bank–that I’ve probably never had an original thought in my life, I’ve just had the very best mentors on Earth, including our own Tim Hull, recently retired from Bank of Estes Park, and I quote them constantly as situations call for the appropriate wisdom from the appropriate person.
But why put all of that into this long-winded article today?
I suppose this article is just a reminder to be someone’s Viking, be someone’s mentor. Look around you and help someone find and achieve that next rung. Maybe they don’t even know the rung is there, or maybe they don’t think they could achieve it.
It can be discouraging sometimes. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve reached out to someone willing to help coach them up to the next level only to have them reply that they are happy and content where they are.
And that’s okay. There’s no way to force someone to want to grow, to want to become more, to be willing to step out of their comfort zone. So, you move on and just keep looking, and eventually you find “the one” who is hungry, who maybe isn’t sure they can do it, but who wants to learn and wants to try, and then you have someone you can mentor.
And as I look back over my career, what I can tell you from experience is that what you may also end up having as a result, is a version of friendship that is closer than blood relations.
Rest in peace, Viking—thank you, and Godspeed along whatever heavenly highway awaits the best of us.