After chugging along for 129 months, the longest U.S. economic expansion on record came to an end this spring with the coronavirus shutdown. The sharp contraction due to the pandemic and the public policy response saw unemployment spike and GDP plummet, with severe consequences for credit quality not far behind. The downturn was unlike that seen by any living banker in its rapidity-and for a rising generation of bank professionals in the first decade of their careers, it was their first time to experience a down cycle. The challenge of the COVID-19 recession is not just economic. For relationship bankers, seeing customers potentially lose businesses, homes and dreams can be devastating. Without the right preparation and frame of mind, bankers risk becoming emotionally overinvested-or detaching completely and not trying to help.
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