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Sunday, June 5, 2011

The only constant is what? (My last tribute to Whitney Bank)


December 22nd, 2010 - an innocent date of record by most all accounts. However, this arbitrary day would initiate the genesis of another unforeseen chapter in my personal and professional life. It was on this date, that is was revealed that my employer, Whitney National Bank, would be sold to another company. Shocking is far too tepid of a description of the impact of this announcement.

Spanning its 130 year legacy, Whitney National Bank was the last known survivor of the grand old New Orleans based banking institutions. It was the bank that my great-grandfather conducted his financial business. It was the monolithic empire that both my own grandmother and mother had been duly employed during the early & mid 20th century. It was the imposing marble fortress of a structure that I had visited as a child with my grandmother to perform her weekly deposits after traversing the St. Charles streetcar line from uptown New Orleans.

It was everything to a true New Orleanian, it was living history in every contrived sense of the word.

Alas, time waits for no man. You can't flip your hourglass when it runs out of sand.
You either change with the reality of the day or you become a casualty of its destiny.
Change is difficult and some say the only constant in life. I am not sure if I truly have embraced this altruistic motto with open arms or if I am simple holding the line through coercion and self-preservation.

I can only hope that I can continue to be called upon to make a difference for the new company. I can only hope that I can execute my leadership endeavors with the same innate passion, pride and zeal that I had while working for Whitney Bank. I know change is constant and unavoidable, but it is doesn't mean that it is calming nor does it bring much personal solace.

Change opens up new doors, while forcing you to gaze upon a new, unexplored path. A path that is not comforting, at least at first, because it is dark, unknown and led by a cavalry that is completely foreign.

I believe the only constant is not change itself, but the opportunity to accept that change is unavoidable. Like nature itself, change is perfect; neither good nor bad. It is how we grow to accept or deny the reality of change that ultimately is the only constant we have...

Here's to the future and a nod to the past....
RIP - Whitney National Bank (October 26, 1883 - June 4th, 2011)

Cheers,
Andy