C-Suite: Adam Rutledge
by October 13, 2019 6:06 pm 1,980 views
Achievements: A third-generation banker, Rutledge has led the $5.6 billion bank’s interests in Washington, Benton, Sebastian, and Crawford counties since 2013. He is a board member of LifeSource International, WorkMatters and Fayetteville Boys and Girls Club.
If you had $1 million to give, what causes would you support? Anything that supports kids. That’s where my heartstrings get pulled. There are a lot of kids that are in situations they can’t control, and they need all the help they can get to break the cycle they are being raised in.
What is the best business advice you have received? Surround yourself with those smarter than you and those that complement your weaknesses.
What is the best business advice you’ve given? Shelley Simpson at J.B. Hunt is big on “bloom where you’re planted,” and I am a true believer in that. Don’t worry about the next step and what that looks like. If you’re taking each day with the mindset of doing the best you can in whatever role that is, your career path will take care of itself.
What keeps you up at night or worries you the most? My worries at work don’t truly need to be worries. It kind of goes back to your perspective on life. Those things that I might worry about are out of my control anyway. So it’s a waste of anybody’s time to worry about them.
What’s your favorite restaurant in Northwest Arkansas for a business lunch? It’s hard to say because we’re blessed with such great food here. It depends on where I am around lunchtime that day.
If you weren’t in your current profession, what would you be doing? I would be serving customers in some form or fashion. I enjoy meeting a customer wherever they are with a need and fulfilling that need, whatever that might be.
What’s the first website/app you launch on your smartphone each day? Weather.com
What is your “why?” Why do you get up in the morning, and what keeps you motivated? The why for me goes back to our customers, our employees and our communities. I love waking up each day to be our customers’ biggest cheerleader and to celebrate our employees’ successes. We live in a great region with many thriving communities, and our bank is very fortunate to have a small part in the economic story.
In one sentence, can you express the most important thing about being a leader? Serving those around you so that they can be the most successful they can possibly be in the role they are currently in.