Page 20 - April 24, 2025 Bulletin

From the CORNER CHAIR

Deneen Axtman | NDBA CHAIR | Cornerstone Bank, Fargo

Hello Bankers!

What a beautiful season we are in! The grass is coming up, trees are budding, tulips are
trying to bloom, and the farmers are scratching the fields!

Earlier this month I had the privilege to travel to Washington DC for the American Bankers Association
Washington Summit. North Dakota was well represented with 21 bankers and NDBA team in attendance.
Our speaker line up was fantastic! I would encourage all bankers to attend this summit sometime in your
career. It’s very educational and also a chance to have a direct impact on the legislation impacting our
industry through conversations with our legislators and their staff. We were able to meet with Senator
Hoeven, Representative Fedorchak, and Senator Cramer’s staff, and hear from the head of the FDIC and
the Treasury Secretary.
Below please find a few of my key learning points from the conference:
• Legislative Priorities – if you follow the ABA Daily Newsbytes, you will be current with these. If you don’t, sign
up today!
• Write with clarity to drive action. If people aren’t responding to your written communication the way you
would like – take a step back and reevaluate how you’re doing it:
ο Make it short – get to the point fast, focus on the essentials.
ο Organized – what, so what (why?), and now what – make it easy to understand what you want.
ο Skimmable – format for speed. No more than 3 three syllable words.
• Partial attention has replaced multi-tasking – and 85% of our work week is spent not fully paying attention.
ο Inspire others by changing this – how?
• Set boundaries.
• Schedule focused time.
• Wake up to an alarm clock instead of your phone which immediately steals your attention.
ο MIT – start your day with the Most Important Thing – when you start your day with a dedicated/focused
activity – it creates momentum for your day.
• Prioritize tomorrow before you leave today.
• Live your life like a diversified portfolio – pick your investments and give each part 100% when you’re in it

As the North Dakota legislative session wraps up, I want to extend a huge thank you to Rick Clayburgh and
Tracy Kennedy for their tireless work for our industry and for keeping us updated every week on what’s
happening.

If you haven’t already, please make plans to attend the Quad States Convention in Rapid City June 8-10.
It is sure to be a great time to connect with fellow bankers and vendors, enjoy the beautiful Black Hills of
South Dakota, and learn something from the great speaker line-up!

Happy Spring!

Deneen

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