Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello and welcome to the mic'd Up Show. This is season four, where every mortgage has a story. We are the ultimate hub where the hidden stories behind the mortgage industry come to life.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: I am Michael Kelleher and good morning. For more, I'm at. I am Michael Zhao.
[00:00:16] Speaker A: And in every episode, we dive deep into the entrepreneurial spirit, the strategic insights and the breakthrough innovations that build the world's greatest mortgage companies.
So whether you're advancing your career, scouting for industry leaders, or exploring opportunities in fintech and prop tech, you're in the right place. Get ready to unlock the story behind every mortgage. Today we are jumping into the story of Lisa Lang, who actually was just recently up in my neck of the woods. Right, Lisa?
[00:00:48] Speaker C: I was. It was a great time, beautiful city.
[00:00:52] Speaker A: And Lisa is a journey woman in the mortgage industry, which is our target audience. She started as a junior processor and now she's in the executive leadership role at Capital Bank. I always try to get that right. Because it's Capital bank home loans, right, Lisa?
[00:01:12] Speaker C: It is Capital bank home loans, but Capital bank is the parent company.
[00:01:18] Speaker A: Perfect. And I mean, it's not your first leadership role, but it's a cool story where everybody that comes to listen to us, I think we try to give access for those that maybe can't go to conferences to show them that the great leaders like yourself that do are more accessible than you think. In this big pond is actually smaller than you think once you start going. But you have to have some passion, believe in what you do.
You had a family that kind of understood the industry, which we hear once in a while, how like that first kind of week or two weeks where you went, I, I think is. And to go, you're one of those that has to go out and get a job.
What kind of advice were they giving you in the beginning? Did you know this was going to be a career? Were they cheering you on? Or was it a little bit different than somebody without that?
[00:02:04] Speaker C: So they were cheering me on. So the advice was, listen, you have to get a job, right? You figure out, you know, you're not going to live at home forever after school. So it was a challenging job market then. And I was like. They said, well, you know, we've been in mortgage. And I'm like, oh, what is this mortgage thing? You know, let me try that. I was like, I'll jump in till I find something else. And like most people in mortgage, they end up staying.
But I did. They were very, very supportive. They gave me advice. But the best advice I received from it was my mother and my stepfather was. Figure things out on your own. You're going to make mistakes, but chart your own path.
There's nothing that can't be fixed. And that gave me the confidence to start my mortgage journey just rolling up my sleeves in the day to day and learning everything from bottom up.
[00:03:03] Speaker B: Often as of late, I would say more so the last 20 years. People fall into the mortgage industry by accident, right? Nobody ever says, oh, I'm going to grow up and start to be a junior processor.
[00:03:14] Speaker C: Right.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: But, but I think that it's important that we, we foster our industry right now. Lately we've seen that the, that the guard has gotten older and as a result we actually need younger people to come into the industry.
My own kids right now who are, they're kind of fumbling around trying to figure out what they're going to do as they're growing up. They're all college graduates and have degrees.
So for those who are in the industry right now, that are still young in the business, how, how is it that we can as leadership lead them to say that there, there isn't a glass ceiling?
Because it just seems like that there is in management and, and really the opportunity for advancement. According to what I could see from, from top down, they're actually, the opportunities are still wide open, especially because we've already went through a whole bunch of attrition. But so actually there is no glass ceiling. Actually, there's only on the way up. How does someone look at it and go, well, there's advancement. How do you mother someone through that?
[00:04:17] Speaker C: A lot of you're right, we are in an industry besides myself, right? That is aging out.
I'm joking, of course, but so my kids, like you, are just entering the workforce, two totally different majors.
But from an industry perspective, we do need people going to conferences, we need them going to college colleges, we need them going to high schools, job fairs, right? Not everybody understand. They hear mortgage and they just think, oh, it's I need somebody to help me get a home. They don't realize all the different facets there is in mortgage that make the American dream of homeownership possible. It's really endless.
Even for all of us that have been in mortgage for decades, every day is something new and challenging in mortgage. Our industry is constantly evolving. It's exciting, it's challenging and you have to be willing to pivot, right? Because the market, we, we don't control the market. So we have to pivot as the market does. And that's challenging. But it's also exciting and it provides opportunities for a multitude of different majors and businesses to get in the mortgage industry. We need them all.
[00:05:38] Speaker A: I think one of the ways you've been able to do it is and it's maybe it goes back to the family style, but I was up at a dinner with you in Boston and there was a large amount of executives at a large table. I have been in that scenario before.
But you did something remarkable. You came up with this idea that everybody around the table, even in that environment at Abe and Louie's should say who they are and maybe something that they represent or stand for or their company stands for. And I remember leaving saying I've never felt closer to. It went on for about 22 minutes and I never felt more closer to a group leaving that was say more than a table of six. And I never felt.
I haven't had this feeling where something felt so right actually leaving. Like where if we didn't do that activity, I think it would have been a lost opportunity to meet about half the people or have an experience with half the people at the table. Can you tell us what inspired you out of nowhere to whether it was suggest to Diego or how you got that started and is that something that you do often?
[00:06:46] Speaker C: So I think there's a lot of synergy in knowing what people do, where they come from. We are still a people business. And even when I met you at dinner, besides my co worker that I was with, I really did not know that group at all. So I thought it was important for everybody to be comfortable. Let's. What does everybody do? Where are we from? We all were from different states, different organizations.
And I think it gets the group talking and instead of people kind of migrating to who the person they're sitting next to or I the person I know this person there at the end of the table. It really fosters communication and collaboration. And it's always interesting to me because it was a table full of different leaders.
Whether it was secondary marketing, whether it was business of owners of mortgage companies, executives of mortgage companies and banking.
And there's a lot of opportunity within our industry. If I personally think if we did more collaboration.
Yeah, we've. Everybody has their style of doing business.
And years ago when I was coming up in mortgage a lot of it was people did not want to share information right between organizations or companies. They felt that they lost that competitive edge. I've always looked at it a little bit differently. I think that. And it's not cliche, it's just I Believe in it that we are stronger together. Right. There's enough business out there for everybody who wants to get it.
But I think there's so many opportunities to learn different ways to achieve our business opportunities. And by collaborating with different people throughout different states, different organizations, it gives me the opportunity to do that and it's something I really enjoy.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: Since you've been collaborating with various leaders in your, in your historic, in, in your career, what's a leadership belief that you started out with way back over at let's say, First Horizon, but because of your collaboration and networking within the industry, that belief has now since changed. And what forced that change to happen in your leadership belief?
[00:09:01] Speaker C: It's a great question.
When we just start out in our careers, people like to. People are always afraid that if they don't have the answer, that gets overlooked. And I think what makes leaders strong we don't have. Leaders don't have all of the answers. Nobody does. But I think what makes a good leader is you empower your team and your people.
And you may not have all the right answers, but that's why you hire the best people and you empower them to do their job. And I think that's part of the leadership journey. In the beginning, you. Maybe I want to do it all yourself, right? I'll figure it out. It's on me to figure it out. And as you come up in your career, you realize you can't do it all. The best thing you can do as a leader is build your team and empower that team to do what they're best at.
[00:09:56] Speaker A: Sometimes the perception is at larger institutions, maybe banks, you could smother some of that inspiration.
What systems do you have in place to avoid that and how do you help as you expand? You're in all 50 states.
What systems are you able to put that spread across all those branches to.
[00:10:19] Speaker C: Protect in a regulated, you know, industry like ours, compliance is non negotiable. Right. That is just the word world in which we lend. But that doesn't mean we're stifled by what we do. Right. We work with compliance. We, we vet any initiative we want to do. We do our homework up front so then the team knows what the playing field is. Right? So these are the rules, these are the regulations.
This is what you want to do. We can do it. Let's just come up with a creative and compliant way to do that. And that's how we continue to roll out and expand across our different geographies, particularly with a bank. Right. Compliance is non negotiable. So that is part of our culture.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: So then what is the.
If you're in all 50 states, the. It's really interesting to me because I live in California and the rub with a lot of lenders that I've been, you know, when I started off on my career almost 30 years ago, it was like oh, California loans are great. You have these great big loans but they're small margins, right. Because they're just much more interest rate conscious or cost conscious, whatever it would be. What, what, what causes you to, to lead in a way that is profitable on a company wide basis?
Because I actually I would like to know from your standpoint what causes a leader say I want to go into California versus just staying on the east coast.
[00:11:51] Speaker C: So you mentioned margins and different areas, different high cost areas. You know Washington D.C. is a high cost area. Right. But just because what we do is we provide homes. Right. That is the goal of what we do. So regardless of, you know, I don't really focus on how much we're going to make margin wise, you know, per loan. When we decide to go into different geographies, we're just looking to build and expand our footprint and support Homers homeownership regardless. Right. So no company is looking to lose money. Right. That's not why anybody goes into business. But we also recognize that different geographies or different types of loans aren't always going to be as profitable. But that doesn't mean we're not going to do them.
[00:12:44] Speaker A: You have this great positive attitude. When I really started to get to know you, it feels like you like you know you more than you do. Like it was the first time we met and it felt like the tenth time we'd met.
[00:12:57] Speaker C: Like.
[00:12:57] Speaker A: But I found this an interesting question as I was preparing. Like what does success look like when no one's watching? Like what's your boring, non negotiable. As somebody who's one of the least boring people in mortgage leadership, I have met this year.
[00:13:12] Speaker C: This year I'm just, I'm teensy.
No, I just teasing.
So success to me is always doing the right even when nobody's watching. Right. Most people aren't. But I try to lead my life by always doing the right thing. Right. The work really does happen when the cameras aren't on and I'm not on a teams meeting and I'm not on a phone call. Right. It's the in between when I'm working on strategy and execution next steps and it's really just setting the environment for myself. The Team where we're going, positivity, constantly moving forward. Listen, what we do is hard. I am not, I'm going to be the first one to tell you that mortgage can be hard. It's very rewarding, very fulfilling. But there is a lot that goes into homeownership that people don't see on the day to day. So you always, for me specifically, I always try and do the right thing, right. I gonna make mistakes. We're all human and it happens and I'm happy to take accountability for that.
But when nobody's looking, I'm still always going to. Every decision I make and everything that I do is because I'm trying to get us on the right path forward.
[00:14:36] Speaker B: Along that same lines, when was the last time you felt like you were out of your depth and who did you call for counsel and what kept you moving forward? When you felt uncomfortable during that moment.
Can you just talk us through who you called and, and how you got into your, your, your own. Felt comfortable in your own skin when that, when that happened.
[00:15:00] Speaker C: You know, there's, I've done this a long time, right? Mortgage is a cyclical business. Just as fast as it turns on, business turns off, it turns on.
You always have to be ready to pivot. Some markets are harder than others. This last three and a half since you asked me for a specific instance, the last three and a half years have probably been one of the most challenging markets that our industry has seen besides 2008.
And it was re. Typically you would always see operations be impacted in those teams. This was the first market that sales also was really impacted. What I mean by that, whether it was sales managers, branch managers, you know, people exiting the business, but when it first started happening, since I've been in the business for a while and one of my prior colleagues who I really respect is at another organization, I reached out and I said, you know, we haven't seen this before. What are you seeing? How are you handling it?
What should we be looking for?
Where do we think we're going to end up? And we really, we set up a bi weekly call. It was really for both of us to see.
It was like that support system, Right. Because there was a lot of unknowns that were happening and that really, it gave me that support, but it also let me bounce ideas off in a non judgmental way. Right. Because there's times that you think something's going to work and sometimes you're not 100% sure and you need somebody that is willing to be that voice for you that isn't necessarily in your team day to day because sometimes your team will be like, oh, that just seems like it's going to be more work for me. Let's just not do that.
So that is really important. Those connections are important to me.
[00:16:50] Speaker A: Everybody needs somebody sometimes and hopefully you have that person. We could be the that person for some people who are traveling to and from work. If you are listening to this, especially through our audio podcast which we really push, comes out every Monday at 2pm on all of the audio stations. But you shouldn't even need to know that. Just give us a like and a subscribe. We also couldn't be where we are without our great sponsors who are also very helpful to the lenders that come on our show. I think we have a final curtain call for some of them so there'll be some categories opening up and always looking for sponsors. But please feel free to watch or reach out to a sponsor and we will talk with Lisa on the other side of this two minute break.
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[00:20:42] Speaker B: Of course we always appreciate our sponsors and I think that without them we wouldn't be able to support questions and like we can ask for our current guest Lisa Lang with Capital Bank. Thank you so much. Again you know the biggest challenge for our leaders in the next decade very well could be technology and, or AI or any, anything related to the advancement in regarding to in regards to these the, the mitigation of risk whether it's lead generation using AI or it's in ease of underwriting using the AI. What is Capital bank doing to in its building of its structure so they can be ahead of its current technology stack so they can be a more efficient underwri sales platform for its originators.
[00:21:32] Speaker C: So we are building on both the people right and innovation side. So when I say we're building on the people side, you know we're getting our teams integrated with technology. A lot of people are afraid of it. They think that it's going to replace their jobs. It's not going to necessarily be an additional resource. So we've been spending a lot of time vetting technology, testing technology, showing how it is a Add it to your job. It's not a takeaway.
And on the innovation side, we are constantly looking at technologies, whether it's AI lots out there in the industry. So I'm not going to mention currently who you know, we're vetting, but to streamline the workflow, we all know that the cost to originate is not going down.
There's lots of technologies that are out there that we tend to as an industry.
It's not eliminating a step. We're adding and we're still needing people to work that technology.
So we've been working on some ways that that's not the case.
And once we've been able to get the people to embrace technology, then that's really helping with the technologies that we're bringing on.
[00:22:58] Speaker A: We have a question from the audience and to be considerate for the fact that you do work for a bank, I'm going to make it a more vague question for you because you just came back from the Mortgage Collaborative, so you around a lot of different lenders. Joe Darlene Silver Works Solutions out there in California himself asks, so this would be, what do you hear? I'm going to change a little bit. What, what did you hear at the conference about the temperature with operations from the different panels and sessions you are in right now? Was the focus solely tech or were people talking about hiring again?
And what was the panel's take on the rebound and what it may look like on the horizon?
[00:23:40] Speaker C: So, three part question.
So great question.
I've been to a couple conferences most recently, but the one that I met you at, you know, the temperature is there are some companies that are hiring, but it's also that chicken and egg. Right. I think we all are expecting or would like rates to come down.
I think that people are holding tight until that happens. As we know we get a little drop and then they go back up.
That is, it definitely is putting a strain on the operations teams. Right. Because over the last few years the deals have become harder. I think we all know that the qualification process has been just a lot. The loans are not going through the system as fast as everybody would like.
So it's going to be a combination. People are looking to hire. I think that will be coming. And I think they will also be using the technology in addition to the people that most people have been working on in the last few years. I'll just speak for ourselves. Over the last three and a half years, we have been working on getting technology where it will be a benefit to us.
At the same time, I Expect as we continue to build and grow, we will hire to support that growth.
[00:25:02] Speaker B: So as you network with your colleagues and, and leadership, not only at the Mortgage Collaborative, but we have the MBA annual coming up and what we don't typically see is a lot of ground floor originators that go to the MBA annual. So what do you think for you as a leader?
What does a loan officer need to know about the MBA Annual or any of the conferences that they typically don't go through on the, on the ground floor that they should glean from the leadership meetings that you go to and maybe not all of the private closed door meetings, but something that they, that they can take away, that they don't necessarily get from the big stage conference stores, but definitely you take it back to your retail floor and go, you know what I got, this is what I got. And if you just, if you decide to go to the NBA, you know you might get this. If you don't get it now, you're going to get it on the next one.
[00:25:59] Speaker C: So I think there's something for everybody at the MBA annual. So if you're at a leadership level, I think it's an opportunity, we're talking sales side, whether it's branch managers, regional managers, sales managers, it's an opportunity for them to be in a room with their peers that they realize they're not fighting the fight alone. Right. A lot of people are having the same challenges that they are having. So it's an opportunity to what's working, what's not working. And it's also an opportunity for loan officers that they can collaborate whether it's with the technology vendors or other peers on what could they maybe could benefit them to move the needle for their business. Right. Sometimes you need, it's nice to hear things from people you don't talk to on a day to day basis. Right. Because then you get a different perspective. And I think the MBA has a diverse group of IMBs, credit unions, vendors, community banks and it's a great opportunity to network and understand what's really going on in the market. Not necessarily just where you focus most of your business on.
[00:27:12] Speaker A: One of my biggest learning experiences early in the week at the dinner and my week ended with speaking on stage the New England Mortgage Bankers Conference.
One of my biggest focus was own your zip code. Thinking about that going back to our dinner on Sunday night, I found out there is a credit union, Lake Michigan Credit Union in Michigan that's actually the number one purchase lender in the state. The same state that has the number One and two largest mortgage companies in America. And I said, wow, at the time. But as I've been talking to people, I said, now I'm going to go back and say that's a company that owns their zip codes and slowly gets it. There's another credit union in Iowa that has 17 green state. They were at the dinner as well.
[00:27:59] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:27:59] Speaker A: They have 17 of the top 20 loan officers in Iowa.
And they threw out a big assumption I had where those loan officers eat what they kill. They don't sit behind a desk and call people.
And somebody said to me again, they're like, yeah, that sounds like another one that owns their zip code.
So it seems like the blueprint's pretty well made for Capital bank as well to have this lending footprint. Community programs own the zip code in the DMV area. Can you tell us how you're leaning in there? And then can you tell us how you see the future of banks like yours as you recruit further away, how you're going to be able to help bring. How you're going to bring some of that community to further communities away to own those zip codes?
[00:28:45] Speaker C: Yeah. So we are headquartered in just Rockville, Maryland, and we have loan officers and the dmv. However, we are under our bank charter, we are able to lend in all 50 states. And we do have sales teams that cover. Right. Most of those states.
And so as we grow and we grow our footprint, where I'm just going to throw a state out there. Right. Let's just use California, where Michael is right now.
We're going to support that growth there. They're going to own that zip code there. Right. Or if you're in D.C. you know you want to lend in Montgomery county or Prince George's county, they're going to own that zip code. And Capital Bank Home Loans is going to support that growth. If you're on the Eastern Shore, wherever the sales teams go, we're going to support that growth. And in the DMV you ask specifically, we do a tremendous amount of community lending. We work with a lot of housing finance agencies, down payment assistance programs. That's important to the branch manager. It's important to me, it's important to the bank.
But we're going to look to do that throughout many geographies as the bank grows. Capital Bank Home Loans wants to support the bank's growth as well.
[00:30:02] Speaker B: What is it that keeps you grounded, especially now that we're coming out of the debacle? High interest rates now. So what's keeping you grounded when it was chaotic. And especially as you go through product pivots with non QM or whether Fannie or Freddie comes out of conservatorship or not, we don't. Still don't know.
There's a lot of stuff that's going to be happening over the course of this next year. What is it that keeps you grounded through those challenges?
[00:30:30] Speaker C: I wouldn't, I don't know if necessarily keeps me grounded, but I love a challenge, right. I don't like to wake up every day and do the same thing day in and day. I love every day. I plan my day out and I think it's going to go this way and I have these meetings, I'm going to talk to this person and really by noon, my day, you know, pivots not in a bad way. Right. And by the end of the day, I love never being boards. But I would say what keeps me grounded is it's not really about for me, loans and numbers. It's what I do for a living, right. My job is mortgages, but it's more than that, it's bigger than that. It's people and in the. It sounds cliche, but it's the truth, right? And it's why I do what I do for a living.
We are providing a part of the American dream, right? It's homeownership, it's building generational wealth and we run the whole gamut from first time home buyers to second, third, fourth. And I love that we're able to do that for people.
And there's besides other professions, right? You have doctors, right? They obviously save lives, but we really play an integral part in people's lives and that is never lost on me. So I think that's probably what helps me stay grounded regardless of market cycles and challenges that come out. Because there's a lot of information coming out every day.
But I like that. I'm like, okay, how can I take what's happening now and integrate it into where we want to go next? Because sometimes the biggest challenges end up being the best path forward and you just don't realize it until it's right in front of you.
[00:32:20] Speaker A: I think a great bank obviously focuses highly on customer service across all of their channels.
Reputation management. They need a leader that understands how to manage that in a larger salesforce or in a broader salesforce. Can you give an example of either a KPI or a weekly routine, something that you do to help your team focus on the granular parts of customer service throughout the loan life cycle?
[00:32:50] Speaker C: I'm really Fortunate with a really good team. That customer service, it's really not even taught. It is just our culture, right? We. It's what we do. And being part of a bank, right, we look at other parts of the bank as our customer as well. So we want to make sure we provide good service to them and vice versa. So every day, like all of us, I get reports, right? And I can see all day, every day what's moving through our pipeline from loans, lock originations, service levels, if they've been met or not.
Because I have certain custom fields that I can, that I've set up so I can hit those SLAs and the team, anybody we bring on is aware of those sla. So I don't even every morning have to reach out to any of the managers and say, what happened on lease alone. I see that she didn't this loans. You know, 24 hours, I wake up to my team saying, this is what's going on. On lease loans. We got it. No problem. You know, if we need you, we'll bring you in. I love that because it's always about.
It's not just the customer, right? The customer, but it's also the sales team, right? We have to support them because if they're not meeting their closing dates, right, that's problematic.
We also on the operations side want to make sure they're having the support they need to support the sales team. So there's. We have our internal KPIs, our SLAs, you know, all those acronyms. But we need those to keep the business moving.
And I use them every day often.
[00:34:36] Speaker B: When, when I'm in, in my own personal life, when I counsel people, I'll say my vocation is in the finance and real estate industry.
But my occupation personally is with God. Meaning that I have a value system that, that grounds me and keeps me going. What is the value system that you follow as a part of the mission statement for Capital bank that says this is.
This is my occupation on behalf of the bank so that I can keep with the mission statement.
[00:35:09] Speaker C: Just always want to do the right thing, right? You always want to treat people fairly. You want to be a good partner. I tell I. You want to have trust, you want to build. We're all as good as our team, right? And a team is built on trust. And that's how I live my life.
In my personal life and my professional life, I always try and do the right thing. I always want to be surrounded by the best.
I always want to try and be the best.
Nobody's perfect, but we're always striving for that. You know, I.
You'll never hear me say or really. So my professional life or my personal life, that can't be done. We're not going to do it. It's just too hard.
We give up. Right. That's just not how I lead personally or professionally. It's always that this might not work, but let's try this or this isn't working right now. Let's do this. And life can be hard. Right. But you.
I believe that there's always a solution. Might not be the one we thought we were going to have when we started, but it's where we ended up and it's still usually a pretty good one.
[00:36:23] Speaker A: Yeah, life can be hard. It takes a lot of grit sometimes to get through those hard moments. No better place to learn some of those experiences. Just talk about Lisa, then your commitment to breast cancer awareness, your activity in a lot of those organizations. I'm sure you've been to many get togethers, banquets, galas, fundraisers, those type of events where you get to hear powerful stories. Can you tell us how that has gone into your DNA to really practice that perseverance that you talk about?
[00:36:55] Speaker C: Sure.
Different organizations for different causes I'm always going to be supportive of. So breast cancer organizations are not my only cause. But that is one that's very important to me myself, I'm a breast cancer survivor. So that's how I originally became involved in the different organizations.
And then randomly, five years after I was diagnosed, my mother was.
So we are always trying to do anything we can to support that organization. And besides us, I have many friends that have, you know, and coworkers that have gone through it.
But we also.
So in my personal time, I will work with those organizations. But it's also on the work front, there's many employees that have been impacted by breast cancer. We actually have a big event coming up next week for one of our branches that is an organization we're going to support. And ironically, it wasn't even that branch did not know anything about me when they first started and the reason, but it was an important cause for them. So. So, you know, we try and we're always going to support anybody that wants to do good. We're always going to support that. But breast cancer awareness obviously is always top of mind for me.
[00:38:16] Speaker B: I don't really have a question to that. I do have a commentary that I love how there, there's a supportive background that you have fostered as A leader. Not, you know, you have it with breast cancer, but you know, there are other originators who are going to have their own.
Why, for example, and you say breast cancer like I had four family members that passed away from cancer in this last decade and it was troubling for me, but the support that I got from my colleagues within the industry really helped me out.
What kind of community does that foster or bring in the community bank atmosphere? So if I'm an originator and I was considering joining the team, what would that look like to. To foster that atmosphere not just locally, but on a national basis for the entire bank?
[00:39:10] Speaker C: Yeah. So there we do. For the entire bank. We do have certain other organizations that Capital bank will partner with and the entire team throughout all different verticals will join and fundraise. And it's really a chance also for the organization to get to know other team members. Right. And that they wouldn't have the opportunity to meet.
It's team building for a good cause.
But we do have other organizations on the sales side and operations that we support. We fundraise for sales, by nature is competitive. Right. So sometimes we'll run internal contests and be like, who can raise the most money, you know, for this? And there's a lot of ribbing that goes back and forth. But it's all for a good cause. Right. And in the end you're like, oh, we raised this much money.
But I think that it shows that human connection.
Regardless of what state we're in, our backgrounds, what we do, everybody comes together and. And just enjoys each other and is happy to be supporting these causes.
[00:40:29] Speaker A: I think there is a hyper focus now on like mental health and being able to get through times of turbulence or where things are not as smooth as they once were. I can imagine.
You know, obviously it's very difficult to go through something like cancer and all the treatment, the hard part, but it also must be difficult between the ears of being able to have access to information and the journey kind of knowing where it's going, not knowing where it's going, and expecting that instant gratification that's not going to be there.
I think on the lender side right now there's been a hyper focus, it seems online about P. Ls and what I'm getting at is numbers, numbers, numbers. And sometimes a great leader can help shepherd somebody through a journey that they know is going to be a little bit longer. And there is no instant cure or gratification just by a different P and L. Can you talk about maybe some of the conversations you've been having with people that are not hyper number focused and what qualities they're looking for in joining companies and finding leaders to help them really be want to be a loan officer and want to have a career in here and not just be about how much is going to go into their wallet.
[00:41:48] Speaker C: So I think you people are looking for a company that is going to be supportive and understanding that not Listen, your top 1% regardless of market cycles is always going to knock it out of the ballpark and you, you know, need that, but not everybody is. And you need to find a company that's going to support that. And you know, depending on the type of originator and where you get your business from. Right. Some might do new construction. So, you know, certain times of the year they may do nothing and then they make their up a few times a month. You have people that do consumer direct, you have regular retail and deals are very difficult to come by these days. So you need a company and a team that understands that that's going to weather the good days, bad months and when you work at a place and I'm only going to speak for Capital bank, but you know, there's many of our sales team has been here for a long time. I'm well aware of branches in teens and months, they're going to do really well and others that they aren't. And we just manage to that that's how they run their branch as a company.
We manage to that and I'm okay with that. And it supports them too. Right. So they're not going to be like, gosh, Lisa, I had a horrible month this month. You know, am I going to have a job next month? That's not how we manage and do it here.
[00:43:15] Speaker B: Lisa, you mentioned that there's been a number of people that have actually remained with Capital bank for a period of time. What is a comment that you might hear from those who have been there for a while or a period of time that they said, you know, Lisa, this is what I'm most grateful for at Capital Bank.
[00:43:32] Speaker C: So I would say it depends on who you ask, but the we're all as good as our last loan right now. I think the consensus would be that people care. Right. If there's a challenge or a problem or things are hard, nobody will just say, not my problem. Right.
People care and we'll jump in to help you.
[00:43:54] Speaker A: Your first job was scooping ice cream at an ice cream parlor, which is a quick way to get out there and really be in the Community. And as Jeremy Davis talks, corner stores, barbershops, and, you know, places of religion are like the human CRMs, because the people know everything about everybody. At the ice cream shop, you got everybody coming in. You kind of get an understanding.
We had Covid. Everybody went inside, right? And then we came out of COVID And I think people are less reluctant to get on the phone and get uncomfortable and get out there in the community. Sometimes you have that obviously in your DNA. What. What would you.
What are you optimistic about in the future as the pendulum swings back to getting out and getting in the community, that capital bank, and you do so well?
[00:44:45] Speaker C: I still think our industry, even with all the automation, I think when we first talked about it, but I still think we're a people business. I think it's important to be with people, collaborate with people, interact with people.
I agree with you. During COVID I think many people have gotten used to. They don't want to be in that environment as much anymore. But I think it's important to have that interaction, right? Like, not every day is a good day. And you, if you're in a silo and you're by yourself, you think that that's how it is, and it's really not the case.
I do think it's important for even when people, you know, I do have many members. Remote, turn your camera on, have a conversation.
Don't hide, don't be afraid.
I think that initially, you know, when Covid first happened, people were like, what is this zoom? What is teens? Oh, gosh, I'm not doing the camera, but I think that's really important to engage and get to know people that way. Right? So you're not just a number or phone call. You get that email like, oh, gosh, who is this Lisa? What does she want again? Right? Like, you develop those relationships, and I think that's important.
[00:46:04] Speaker B: What's the one thing you think in leadership that you would like to give to aspiring leaders at the moment that you wish you would have received?
And for our listeners that are out there right now on their own leadership journey, they may have just taken on another position or whatever the case would be.
Could you give us at least one leaning that other leaders can say, yeah, that's something I wish I would have known.
And what is it that. What is it that you can glean to us?
[00:46:40] Speaker C: You know, I think sometimes people interpret leadership as you do what I say, when I say how you do it. And to me, leadership is about service, right? It's about investing in people, coaching them up empowering them to do meaningful work.
And I think when I was coming up in mortgage in my career that many leaders didn't view leadership that way. So as I learned more about the business and understood and, you know, when I decided as I was growing what type of leader I wanted to be, I hope that the people I work with and have come across that I'm able to let them know that to me, that is what leadership is about. Right. We're not all going to be here forever. I wish that was the case, but it's not.
So it is. Unless somebody can come up with some technology for that right now, we can't.
I think we like that's the legacy I want to leave with. Right. It is a journey and I'm grateful for it. But keep empowering the people that are also growing in this industry.
[00:47:54] Speaker A: Thank you, Lisa, for making us proud to create these journeys for others. And thank you for joining us on this journey into the heart of mortgage innovation.
Remember, every mortgage has a story, and we're here to help you write yours. If you enjoyed today's insights, please subscribe, share with your network and connect with us on social media.
Until next time, keep pushing the boundaries and uncovering the stories that drive our industry forward.
[00:48:25] Speaker C: RA.
