Finding Inspiration
Climate First Bank
The world's first FDIC insured community bank founded to combat the climate crisis.
June 21, 2022
by Ken LaRoe, CEO
Inspiration is essential to achieving a difficult goal. To maintain your resolve, recover from setbacks and keep going during the toughest part of the trail, you have to find multiple sources of inspiration. I try to be open to inspiration whenever and wherever I find it. I’m inspired by my grandchildren and the desire to leave them with a clean and inhabitable planet. I’m inspired by the achievements of others, especially my customers. I’m also inspired by what I read and the possibilities it presents to me that I had never previously imagined.
One of the most inspiring things that has ever happened to me was an RV trip with my wife.?Years ago, I sold my first bank, and we celebrated by going on a cross country road trip. My brother gave me a book to read along the way titled, “Let My People Go Surfing,” by Yvonne Choinard, the founder of the clothing company Patagonia. It changed my life! I always had thought of myself as an environmentalist, but as I read the book, I realized there was more I could and wanted to do. If the author could do it in the clothing business, I thought I could do it in banking business. It eventually led me to found First Green Bank. The related process and experience taught me even more about how a business, even a bank, could have a meaningful impact on saving the planet.
I have found great inspiration in joining like-minded groups that share my principles and values. The First Green Bank was recruited to join the Global Alliance for Banking on Values, an international NGO based in Netherlands, in 2012. I later joined its board of directors 2014. It was a bit overwhelming at first, but it was a journey. It allowed me to have ongoing conversations with many other CEOs who had either overcome or were facing similar challenges. I learned so much from them. My talks with them always energized me!
Another source of inspiration for me are the bank’s customers. They show tremendous heart and leadership in the business choices they make. And, they prove again and again something I’ve said from the beginning – we aren’t profitable despite our policies of sustainability and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), but because of them!?Two of those inspiring customers of the bank include the following:
Tampa Bay Watch – this non-profit organization is dedicated to fostering a healthy Tampa Bay and surrounding watershed through community-driven restoration projects, education programs, and outreach initiatives. They are doing amazing stuff to save the bay from dying! They have rallied and recruited everyone to the effort, including the business community.
Phil Keane Design Group?– Phil is amazing! He studied at Harvard University and Washington University and earned his masters of architecture and masters of business administration (MBA). He is a Licensed Architect, Certified Residential Contractor, Licensed Interior Designer, and Certified Green Professional based in Winter Park.?Phil’s award-winning design projects can be found throughout the United States, the Bahamas, Spain and Ghana, West Africa. I love this guy because he won’t design and build a home unless it’s 100% sustainable.
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They say lightning never strikes twice, or in my case inspires twice, but that’s not true. After selling First Green Bank, I learned the bank that bought First Green Bank discontinued all the sustainable business practices we fought so hard to institute. In many ways, I felt I had disappointed the bank’s employees and customers. I was depressed and wondered whether I should try again with another bank. So, my wife and I set out on – yep, you guessed it -- another cross-country road trip in an RV to decide our next path in life. I took another book with me – “Drawdown” authored by Katherine Wilkins and edited by Paul Hawken. In reading her book I found the courage I needed to create another bank founded on the values of First Green Bank. But, because of what I learned from Drawdown and my First Green Bank experiences, I knew we could do even more and have a greater influence on healing the environment and promoting equity. All this led me to create Climate First Bank and continue my fight for the environment and DEI.
As you think about your own life, career or business, I hope in some small way I have been a source of inspiration to you in your journey to live a more sustainable and equitable life. But, if there’s one thing I’ve learned about inspiration, it is that you must continue to seek additional sources of it to keep your inner fire burning. In the spirit of doing just that, I leave you with a short list of books and authors that are sure to prove far more valuable than anything you might read from me.
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Thank you .., most inspirational