Organic customer relationships: old MacDonald had a bank.

• Author: Hall, Robert
• Position: Marketing Solutions

People today are involved "in a kind of lostness," in which we destroy the sources of our own lives without knowing what we're doing.... [What's needed is] an ethic that places paramount importance on the cultivation of love and care for one's particular place, its people and its traditional ...

--Wendell Berry

The signs were already emerging. Customers, employees and even shareholders were beginning to view institutions with greater distrust and even contempt. The recent economic meltdown, the attendant demise of several major financial institutions along with shotgun weddings merging into megatrillion financial institutions, and the government bailout will only accelerate the trend.

We revisit of the writings of Wendell Berry and find this prophetic insight: "The computer driven world of high finance has brought the global economy to the brink of catastrophe .. this is what you get when the economic destinies of communities fall into the hands of financers and money men who have no connection to local folks and are not sharers in their fate." Those who see the writing on the wall will find new ways to develop and grow trusted local relationships.

Can we bankers learn from grocers and farmers? Whole Foods' grocery bags, only available in paper (no plastic) made from 100 percent recycled paper, have the following message plastered on one side: "GO LOCAL--Good Stuff from Around Here we support local growers & producers." On the other side, they aren't shy about explaining the advantages of local: "BUYING LOCAL ... keeps you connected to the seasons, reduces the distance from farm to plate, supports local jobs and communities, gets you the freshest produce available, supports independent farming."

Whole Foods is a large organization that continues to expand and extend the local model. They recognized early on that "local" taps into a basic, organic value--that touches our soul. Here's what Fortune magazine had to say about this company back in 2003: "Whole Foods customers can find different items in different stores because regional directors and store managers choose local products.... Whole Foods' success is largely due to its flexible, decentralized decision-making."

There's a new grocer nearer our home called Sprouts. They have sent us home with one of those reusable shopping bags. Sprouts is an emerging regional player in the battle for "local." They actually advertise the location where food is produced--telling you just how local their...