A first in business.

When I was a lad learning about business, one of the oft quoted saws of the day was “If all else fails, run a bank”.

That comment on bank management remains true today, though in America one would have to make it “…. run a big bank.” The simple reason being that if all goes well you get paid a lot and if you mess up really badly you still get paid a lot and the taxpayer bails you out. Economists call it moral hazard. I call it a broken system

So when I was flipping through Fortune magazine at breakfast, I nearly choked on my muffin when coming across a really neat ad for, of all things, a bank. Can you remember ever having used the word ‘neat’ and ‘bank’ in the same breath? No, neither can I. Fortune magazine, by the way, has long had a focus on using good photography – one of its early contributors being the estimable Margaret Bourke-White.

I would have preferred it in color with the shoes in red – this bank’s favorite color recently – but no matter. Any bank with a sense of humor is a good thing.