Top Gun: Maverick and a New Generation of Lenders

The 2022 action movie Top Gun: Maverick is the sequel to the iconic 1980s Top Gun movie.  Where Maverick was the young gun in the original movie, he is now the teacher.  Ironically, he finds it hard to connect to a new group of young guns who approach the job differently.  Translate this into lending and we are witnessing a proverbial torch starting to be tossed to a new crop of younger BDOs and lending professionals in general who are coming into their own.  Just like prior generations, this new generation approaches the job differently and does it their own way. For starters, the industry is now very different and it’s not necessarily a way of life like it was a few decades ago when today’s leading BDOs came of age.  Simply put, most of today’s generation does not define themselves by the job.  Contrast this to many of today’s leaders who came up at the dawn of the industry and there is a generational divide.

"Being a fighter pilot is not who I am, it's what I am,” is a famous quote by Tom Cruise in the movie Top Gun: Maverick.  Maverick identifies strongly with his role as a fighter pilot, considers it an integral part of his identity, not just a job or title; it's deeply ingrained in who he is as a person, defining his actions and mindset.  This same mindset and mantra can be compared to many experienced professionals in modern-day lending, especially the BDO role.  For many, it really is who they are and a way of life as it’s all they have ever done.  Lending is not just a profession for many, but has been a lifelong career filled with friendships, experiences and intellectual simulation.  For many fighter pilots and lenders, the role carries a strong sense of duty and purpose, leading them to view it as a fundamental aspect of their identity.  Ironically, for the millennial generation, it’s quite the opposite, in the sense that they don’t define themselves by their profession and have a strong personal identity outside of lending. For many of today’s Mavericks, the profession has been a life-long endeavor and has come at the expense of outside hobbies and non-lending friendships.

Compare this to the modern-day millennial BDO who is now entering his/her executive years. While the job has the same  meaning and importance, the label is quite different.  Today’s NextGen BDOs take the job just as seriously, but 1. approach it differently and 2. reject the label of it being who they are.  They simply do not define themselves by their job, unlike many of their predecessors, while taking their career just as seriously. For starters, it really is a different generation. This generation watched their parents embrace the lifestyle of being attached to one company for a very long time.  More often than not, that’s just not the reality in today’s day and age. In addition, the concept of job stability and relationship-building is fundamentally different. The majority do not expect to stay with the same company for their careers, let alone five years. Most banks make the achievement of pay raises hard, which means the only way to make more is to change jobs. The differences extend to lifestyle as well.

Millennials tend to value experiences (travel, dining out) more than material items (nicer car, nicer house, etc.) And this inadvertently impacts work/life balance, values, etc. It really is more one-on-one engagement than more traditional venues such as golf, etc. although to be fair not always.  As the industry has gotten more diverse, golf has gotten less popular. Millennials are also more likely to live in the city (rather than suburbs) for longer, which means golf is not as convenient. We are entering both a transition into more mature businesses and new executives who have come up at a different time. This is a natural progression, but one to be aware of given the duality of different business climates and new executive style.

Training the next generation of lenders is different given preferences. Wherein today’s Mavericks prefer golf and steak dinners, younger BDOs prefer one-on-ones and niche restaurants. It should also be noted that there are more female BDOs than in prior generations, which is a great thing. The end of Top Gun: Maverick lives up to expectations (for most) in that the older fighter pilot saves the younger pilot who, in turn, has better perspective and appreciation for the prior generation.  The next generation’s time will come, but for right now we still have a great run of Mavericks controlling the stick. This just means the Mavericks aren’t going anywhere quite yet so Millennials might want to brush up on their swing for a little while longer.  

This article first appeared on SFNet: https://www.sfnet.com/home/industry-data-publications/the-secured-lender/tsl-express-daily-articles-news/tsl-express-article-detail/top-gun-maverick-and-a-new-generation-of-lenders