Pub. 10 2021 Issue 1

20 By Joe Sul l ivan, CEO, Market Insights Creating Innovation: A Post-Pandemic Imperative N early every banker I’ve spoken with in the past few months has posed the same basic question: What’s next? With the promise that the pandemic will eventually be behind us, everyone is trying to predict the “next normal” and imagine if they have what it will take to succeed – or even survive — in a post-pandemic economy. Obviously, there are many factors that will determine the answer to those questions. But if you pay attention to some of our industry’s favorite buzzwords, there are many characteristics that bankers will have to master in order to succeed. Agility. Adaptability. Empathy. I’d say yes to each one. But the core competency that will be critical for every bank’s long-term survival is a familiar term: innovation.