So This is BankExec

There are two major projects in Year 2 of SBMM: the presentation, which I wrote about in my last entry, and BankExec, the bank simulation software that show you the decisions that are made to run a successful bank.

I'm spending the wee hours of my Cinco de Mayo reading the instruction manual because:
1) It's recommended; and
2) I love reading instruction manuals.

As someone who spent the 1980s dorking out on text-based video games, I love a good "thinking man's game." After reading a 50+ page manual, however, I'm longing a bit for Adventure (and others) where all of my decisions needed to be succinctly captured in a two-word phrase, and, when I got in trouble, I just had to type "XYZZY!" ("Nothing happens.")

My challenge for my team with BankExec is to be the first marketing-based executive team to run a successful bank. If other blog entries are to be believed, this is a nearly impossible goal. (Also, for the record, creating a successful bank is not the goal of the exercise. The simulation helps you understand all of the decisions that go on in the bank by putting you, as part of a team, into a position where you need to make every decision. Whether or not your bank is seized by the FDIC before the end of school week is just the cherry on that Sundae of Learning.)

Full disclosure, I have an MBA. I'm part of my bank's ALCO committee and am a member of our management team. This simulation is what I participate in on a monthly basis in my job. And, right now, it's overwhelming to me.

In real life, I don't have every decision thrown at me at once. In real life, I don't have to think about every decision. Some decisions/recommendations are intuitive (or perhaps just feel more intuitive than they are, since I'm not required to submit them to HAL in table format). And, for me, sometimes when problems are presented as "financial" problems (ie accounting/finance/CPA type stuff), I second guess my thinking.

But, ultimately, BankExec appears to be 75% sales/marketing decisions to position your bank against the competition to obtain loans and deposits. Then it's just a matter of "running the numbers," which is just like household budgeting: How will I pay for this? What interest am I earning on my accounts? Am I breaking any rules by doing this?

I also can't discount the benefit of the collective experience of my team. The recommendation from the manual is to break the simulation down into 5 parts - one for each team member. Each of us will run through thought process for one area, then make group decisions based on these individual recommendations.

But, I'd have to turn in my "Highly Competitive" card if I didn't set my bar just a bit higher. I'm not looking to be the best bank, just one that survives Year 2!
Note: The views presented here are the personal views of our ABA School of Bank Marketing & Management participants and do not reflect the views of their respective banks.