Banking on Purpose: Steve Steinour on Wealth, Leadership & Opportunity

Summary

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Podcast Summary

Money and Wealth with John Hope Bryant

Episode: Banking on Purpose: Steve Steinour on Wealth, Leadership & Opportunity
Date: May 14, 2026
Host: John Hope Bryant
Guest: Steve Steinour (Chairman, President & CEO of Huntington Bancshares)

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Episode Overview

This episode features an in-depth conversation between John Hope Bryant and Steve Steinour, CEO of Huntington Bank. Their discussion unveils the inner workings of banking, the critical role of relationship-building, and how inclusive economic opportunity can fuel both individual and community wealth. With a focus on purpose-driven banking, practical tips, and candid personal backstories, the episode shines a light on leadership, access to capital, and lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs, particularly within underserved and Black communities.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Power and Purpose of Banking

• Banking as Service: Steinour emphasizes Huntington's 160-year legacy of community service—"help people lead better lives, help businesses thrive and to make the communities better, better, stronger." (20:15)
• Inclusive Lending: Huntington’s Lift Local Business program, in partnership with Operation Hope, has directed over $246 million in microloans to underserved communities, with $60 million to Black-owned businesses. (07:48)
• Microloans & Education: The importance of coupling financial literacy and business training with lending opportunities:

  "It would be like giving away money if people didn’t understand... creating a business needs to have certain elements. You show them the essential elements. We give them loans."
  – Steve Steinour, (20:49)

2. Leadership Lessons—Show Up and Build Relationships

• Bryant’s Praise for Steinour: John recounts how Steve modeled leadership by serving on the HOPE Global Board and personally connecting John to influential government leaders, “when nobody was looking.” (03:00)
• Being Present:

  “Why do you put a premium on showing up?...It comes from you, Steve.”
  – John Hope Bryant, (18:22)

• Steinour’s Reply:

  “Religion, family, respect, service to country—these are values I didn’t create. They’re present throughout this region…We serve the community—I mean the full community, black, brown, white, etc.”
  – Steve Steinour, (14:50)

3. The Business Model of Modern Banks

• Banks Want to Lend:

  “We’re the largest SBA lender in the country by the number of loans we make…So we help, we’re in the position where we can help a lot of people and a lot of businesses.”
  – Steve Steinour, (24:52)

• Financial Inclusion Is Good Business:

  "Racism is a bad business model. If they were backwards at the leadership level...they'd go out of business."
  – John Hope Bryant, (43:25)

• Long-Term Relationships: Lending isn’t a one-off—the bank aims to “parallel park” customers into broader financial relationships as their businesses and wealth grow. (50:10)

4. Demystifying Banking and Building Trust

• Trust and Credibility:

  “If there’s an issue, you’ll communicate it. If there’s a problem, you’ll work to solve it. Those elements of a relationship are so very important.”
  – Steve Steinour, (37:11)

• Accessibility of Capital: Steinour explains how technology and regulation now increase fairness, and the critical role of credit scores and financial behaviors in lending. (44:18)
• The Banker-Entrepreneur Dynamic: Entrepreneurs need fuel (capital), and banks need reassurance (credibility)—it’s a collaborative, sometimes tense, but ultimately beneficial relationship. (29:51)

5. Practical Credit Advice & Operation HOPE’s Role

• Improving Credit: John shares key methods for working with Operation HOPE to repair and build credit:
  • Challenging errors to raise credit scores (avg. +30 points)
  • Creating and following a budget
  • Reducing unnecessary expenses (e.g., coffee, smoking)
  • Leveraging Earned Income Tax Credit
  • Settling old debts
  • Building a savings track record
    (57:31–60:00)
• Bridging Gaps:

  "We bridge you, we bridge them...so the bank can tell you yes. The bank does not benefit if they can't say yes every day."
  – John Hope Bryant, (60:00)

6. Leadership and Character—Backstories Matter

• Steinour’s Journey: From a humble, blue-collar upbringing with five siblings and a father battling alcoholism, Steinour credits discipline, strong role models, and values-driven living for his personal and professional rise. (62:11)
• Empathy Across Divides: Bryant draws powerful parallels between his own and Steinour’s backgrounds, highlighting shared values and struggles across race and geography. (65:29)

7. Final Wisdom and Habits of Success

• Steinour’s Unfiltered Advice:

  "Successful people have some common traits. They don't give up...There’s a lot of hardship, setbacks, failure. But you don’t give up. They're driven...and channel that drive into something productive."
  – Steve Steinour, (67:35)

• Care, Work Hard, Help Others:

  "Work hard, care, do the right thing. Try and get better, try and help others."
  – Steve Steinour, (69:00+)

• Bryant’s Closing Lessons:
  • Focus on what you give, not what you get
  • Acknowledge everyone makes mistakes
  • Never give up
  • Live for a larger purpose
  • Be authentic—honesty builds trust with a banker (71:23–72:44)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “If you don’t quit, you can’t fail.” – John Hope Bryant, crediting Tony Ressler (23:37)
• “We’re the largest SBA lender in the country by the number of loans we make.” – Steve Steinour (24:52)
• “This isn’t a handout, this isn’t a giveaway…It’s intended to make good decisions that benefit people and businesses, but also benefit banks or other firms as they go forward.” – Steve Steinour (52:04)
• “Don’t play a game, call them [the bank]. Be honest with them. They’re going to find out anyway, right? Just be straight and you’re going to get credit for being straight.” – John Hope Bryant (71:23)
• “If you believe in yourself, you may not know where you’re going...but I knew I wanted more and I would work hard for it.” – Steve Steinour (67:34)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:09] — John introduces Steve Steinour, recounts personal stories of leadership and support
• [07:48] — Bryant details Huntington & Operation HOPE’s Lift Local Business data
• [14:06] — Steinour gives the Huntington family and bank legacy history
• [20:06] — Steinour’s definition of a bank’s purpose and practical lending philosophy
• [24:52] — Huntington is the largest SBA lender by loan count (Steinour)
• [29:51] — The dynamic tension: banker vs. entrepreneur, relationship-building
• [37:11] — The essence of banking—trust and credibility
• [43:25] — How modern banking is fiercely regulated and why inclusion wins
• [50:10] — The business case for inclusive lending and expanding financial relationships
• [57:31] — John’s actionable steps for credit repair & building financial credibility
• [62:11] — Steinour’s personal backstory: upbringing, discipline, family
• [65:29] — Bryant’s and Steinour’s parallel family histories—bridging divides
• [67:34] — Steinour’s closing wisdom: habits, setbacks, driving values
• [71:23] — Bryant recaps the lessons, authenticity, and practical advice for listeners

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Final Thoughts

This episode offers a deep, authentic education on banking, wealth-building, and inclusive leadership straight from the top of American finance. Listeners walk away understanding not just the mechanics of credit, capital, and business relationships, but also the human stories—and mutual empathy—that drive opportunity, resilience, and prosperity.

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Transcript

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[John Hope Bryant]

We do some retirement homes.

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[Steve Steinhauer]

Is it just me or does every

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[John Hope Bryant]

Pinterest instead of having sex?

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[John Hope Bryant]

Welcome to Money and Wealth with John Hope Bryant, a production of the Black Effect podcast network and iHeartra radio.

[Steve Nash]

Hey, hey.

[John Hope Bryant]

This is John Hope Bryant and this is Money and Wealth podcast series on iHeartRadio and the Black Effect Network. I want to thank you all for making this book, this podcast or the book Top 100 on Amazon. By the way, Capitalism for All. If you haven't got a copy. Get it. I want to thank you all also for making the podcast money and wealth. Top 200 on top 250 on every continent in the world, top 40 to 50 entrepreneurship in America and top 1% of all podcasts. And we are getting into season three with some powerhouse guests. I don't normally have guests on the podcast. You know, it's normally me just pouring into you for 45 minutes. But when I have a guest, you know it and they are special. My guest today is Steve Steino. That name in this room, banking. Probably got a household name to use if you're in banking. You know, he leads one of the biggest banks in America, Huntington Bank. And if you don't know who he is, well, consider yourself lucky, fortunate, blessed and soon enlightened. And full disclosure, Steve is a friend of mine and I even consider him a mentor of mine. He's done two things to me and for me that I don't know if I told him personally, that showed me who he was number one, when I was trying to build Operation Hope and take it to its next to the next level, he agreed to join the HOPE Global Board of Advisors, our inaugural group, as a founding board member. And he stayed on for a year. He was busy, didn't have time to do it. He was on for a year, then he left. But him coming on the board set the standard. And now we have the Federal Reserve bank of Kansas City president. We've got all these luminaries for the CEO of Delta Airlines. We all these call them big ballers and shot callers from all sorts of all walks of life. But they wouldn't have done that had they not found credibility with their peers being on the board. So by him saying yes early on and showing up to board meetings, I remember he discouraged me from doing virtual meetings. He said, you know, he's used to showing up in person and being present. And I learned a lot from him backing me. The second time he did something that was extraordinary was the governor of Ohio, who was a Republican. And I'm not a partisan player, but, you know, folks would assume maybe for the work I do that I'm not a Republican. I don't know why they'd assume that I'm, to be fair, I'm an independent, but I'm not, I'm not political in any way. And that didn't matter to Steve. Steve thought the work that we were doing was important and Republicans and Democrats need to know about it. And I've served three presidents from both Parties, Republicans and Democrats, Bush, Clinton, pre and post president or during presidency and post and President Obama. President Bush is where I got actually the most work done, oddly enough. And Steve Steinhauer said, come with me. And we left his office and we went to what I call an underground tunnel. It was a connected walkway to this Capitol. And he took me to the governor's office and put his arm around me and said, this is my guy, to the governor. And we had a great relationship as a result of that, me and his governor, his then governor. And I just thought that was very special. Again, these were two things that were done when nobody was looking. Just quiet leadership. And Steve, I want to just thank you publicly for backing me and backing the work because you thought it was important to do, ladies and gentlemen.

[Steve Steinhauer]

And I still do, John. I still think the work is very important in some ways even more important today. But it was kind of you to lower the bar and let me join your board for a year and get into that founder circle. It was, it was, I think, very helpful for the team, both board and, and, and your team at the time, because I remember our first meeting, I, I offered you a couple of thoughts about how to engage the directors, get the benefit of the mind share there. And you did that expertly. And that's when I knew I've made a contribution. I can now retire and let you give that seat to someone more worthy. So happy to have had that time with you and of course, over the many years subsequently in different forums and in different undertakings. But you were kind to let me sort of give you that personal escort over to. You're a rock star. So we, we walk over to Governor Kasich's office and the governor was, I think, a great governor and also a good friend. I was just talking to him Friday. Man and, uh, good man, great heart, very religious, very, very ethical and, and has done wonderful things for the country throughout his service over time. And I knew the two of you would connect. You're just like that because you cut out of the same cloth. You care about people, you care about outcomes, and you want to help. And it was one of these rare moments for me to be able to see an introduction come together with such a dynamic impact.

[John Hope Bryant]

And we need more than that as like. My pleasure, Steve. Thank you. We need more leaders like Steve Steinhauer in the world today. What do I mean by that? He takes me to a Republican governor's office when he didn't have to do it, and then he sponsors the Urban League in Ohio. For a speech where when I showed up, he didn't just sponsor the speech. He's at the dinner with the Urban League leadership. He's home. These people know him. He's their friend. So he can go from black to white or rich to poor or conservative to liberal or the other way around and get respect in both rooms. Now you may say, okay, there's a lot of people I know who can do that. Really do. They run a bank with $280 billion plus in assets. And my guess is the assets have grown beyond that number. The last number I had of their asset size for Huntington bank is $280 billion. And Steve Steinhauer and his group have partnered with Operation Hope on a program that we call Lift Local Business. Huntington's Lift Local Business program that's directed $246 million in book loans to folks from underserved communities for small business. 60 million of which that we have tagged. We have identified to black owned businesses alone as 3,186 small businesses serve 2,420 active operational business entrepreneurial training courses used. So we are active partners with Huntington Bank. Let me give you a bit of background from Steve and then let him cut loose here with wisdom because you're going to get a chance to hear from a chairman CEO of a top bank in the biggest economy in the world and learn something about how this system actually works. So he's chairman, president and chief Executive Officer of Huntington Bancorp Bank Shares and president CEO of Huntington National Bank. Now he will hopefully unpack what this means. But essentially one is a holding company and one is an operating is where the operating bank you would know Huntington National Bank. That's where you, if you're a client, that's where you do business and where you interact. He's led the bank since 2009. The bank was born the year after the Freedmen's bank, by the way, in 1866. Before Huntington, he was managing partner at Cross Harbor Capital Partners. Early in his career he was president CEO of Citizens Financial. I actually might have met him, I think at Citizens Financial Group, I think in Boston. If I'm mistaken, it was a division anyway. And he was executive vice president vice president at bank of New England. He started out as in public service as an analyst at the U.S. treasury Department. They later worked for the FDIC Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. He also serves in the board of directors of Bath and Body Works. I want to get my product for my wife, by the way, from there. And he has a reputation that is rooted in compassionate, ethical, results oriented leadership. And I can personally certify that that's absolutely the case. I'm going to talk more and more about the credentials as we go in the conversation, but let's get into this.

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[Steve Steinhauer]

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[Robert Smigel]

podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier this week. My guests SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter.

[Acapella Band Member]

Where does your group perform?

[John Hope Bryant]

We do some retirement homes.

[Robert Smigel]

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple P Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Steve Steinhauer]

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[John Hope Bryant]

Steve Steinhauer first of all, let's get a bit of the backstory.

[Steve Steinhauer]

The Huntington family goes back many, many decades. In fact a couple of centuries. The governor of Connecticut who signed the Declaration of Independence was a Huntington, Samuel Huntington. And the family was quite large and, and very extensive in, in terms of their activities throughout the US and so Huntington Ingersoll in Mississippi, the largest shipyard In Mississippi employs about 20, 000 people. That was a Huntington family member. Huntington, West Virginia. Huntington Beach, California. The Huntington were very, very large into the transcontinental rail in California.

[John Hope Bryant]

Huntington, California, California.

[Steve Steinhauer]

And so there's the art museum out there. And one of the, one of the family members ended up hunting the beach. One of the family members ended up in 1866, a very physically large gentleman who wanted to the National Road went from Washington D.C. to Columbus, Ohio. And it stopped in Columbus at that time. And so this is where goods and merchants and services flowed through is either the Erie Canal or the National Road. And he felt there was an opportunity to do good business and help people. And Huntington at that time was, was born and Columbus was a, you know, it was the end of the road. It was, it just wasn't that much. It was probably a small town when he started, but it quickly became a city and a city of some importance to the country. The national highway ultimately extended to Indianapolis, but the, the, the, the, the effort here by P.W. huntington and then his sons extended the impact of the family for many decades. And the family always was very good to the community. So the library was started with some funding by the Huntington bank and family and others. Of course one of the larger nonprofits here. It's been in existence well over a century. Does Meals on Wheels, does a variety of public service providers. Was founded in the living room of the Huntington, one of the Huntington family members. And we've had a board member on that board for over a century. So there's this deep Legacy of trying to be good to the community, give back. And those that DNA that's been formed is frankly part of what attracted me to the company. It's important, important to the community that we serve the community. I mean the community, I mean the full community, the entire community, black, brown, white, etc. And you know, people of high income and people of very low income or even no income, think about those that are homeless or you know, suffering other, other, other debilitating issues. So this legacy I think is imbued in many of our colleagues. We have very long service colleagues, 30, 40, 50. We've had 60 year colleagues who've worked here. And so this set of values transcended me. I inherited it. I've tried to enable it, tried to further build upon it, but it's not something I created. These Midwest values, religion, family, respect, service to country, these are values that I didn't create. They're present throughout this region. And yet our company, as a consequence of how we've operated over now 160 years, has built a bit of a brand, a reputation, a halo if you will, about trying to be good to people, trying to help businesses and certainly trying to help the communities we serve.

[John Hope Bryant]

When I think about the folks who you lead about Brandt Stanwich, who's a good man, and Stacy Glenn and others, they have that same spirit. And that with all due respect, comes from the top. It comes from you, Steve. And I'm not going to let you get away from the fact that you are leaders. I want other people to model your leadership. And also their sense of showing up, being PH dues as well as PhDs and their mindset is reflected in how you show up in community. When I showed up here in Atlanta to give a speech for the Columbus Partnership, you were there in the room. I mean, here's a chairman, CEO, one of the biggest banks in the world who took time to come to Atlanta. Just look at Atlanta as a model. And then I went to Columbus again to speak for the Columbus Partnership, which is in and of itself a great partnership for how city should build itself with private public partnerships. I walk in the room there, once again, there's Steve Steinhauer. It's not like you're not busy. Why do you put a premium on showing up? How does that relate to the image that you have of this being the people's bank? How does this crawl cross pollinate with how you run the bank? And finally, in this set of questions, what's the purpose of bank and how do people, what's A what's a cheat sheet? People can cheat sheets. Probably wrong word to say banker. What is a. What is an easy lesson that people can grasp of how to get the attention of their banker.

[Steve Steinhauer]

Those are five questions. Let me start with the, the fourth one, if I may. Right. I believe that the company, the bank has a purpose. I fundamentally believe that and we express that in our purpose statement. But we talk about it all the time. I'll talk about two group senior leaders in two days. We're here to help people lead better lives, help businesses thrive and to make the communities better, better, stronger. And we have, our business model is at the intersection of commerce, flows of money. And so that puts us in a position where we can extend ourselves, try to do the right thing and help people and businesses. You referenced Lift Local earlier program we've done in partnership with you and your team, which has been operation, by the way. And you know, these are efforts to get into the neighborhoods and make micro loans. And so when you're making 250/2250/million dollars of microlo, that's a lot of micro loans. But we've done this in partnership with you because it would be like giving away money if people didn't understand. And this is what they get through the training program that you offer that creating a business needs to have certain elements. You show them the essential elements. We give them loans. Now these are SBA loans. These are loans to businesses that are in most cases just starting. So the credit access generally wouldn't otherwise be there. And yet the performance over time, because these people have been trained, they've been educated and that's a big word, education, natural literacy. Right. That, that has spawned jobs in neighborhoods that otherwise wouldn't be there. It's created business owners who wouldn't otherwise be business owners. It's, it's, it's, it's capitalism as you describe it in your, your various books, but particularly I think in your new book, which I had the privilege of reading an advanced copy of John. So I, well, I'm trying to, but you know, I'm a banker, so it's, I'm slow at everything but, but I think those elements are essential then. Now that's two of your five questions. But for people, you know, the fifth one was it's really important to get educated. It's really important, whether it's financial education or anything else, to keep learning, to challenge yourself. And there's more and more capacity to do that now with these AI tools and other digital means which didn't exist. When you and I were growing up, we had to do it the hard way, right? I remember the first time somebody said to me, you should make a budget. I had no idea what a budget was. My family was blue collars. They didn't have a budget. My father was an alcoholic. You know, he didn't have a, he wasn't functional to be able to put a budget together. So you learn these things over time. But you, you have a persistency about it. And you've used this word before and in various forums where you don't fail if you don't quit. And so that persistency is really important.

[John Hope Bryant]

And by the way, that's a Tony Ressler quote. I want to give good. I want to give credit where credit is due. One of our dear friends, Tony Ressler, is if you don't quit, you can't fail. One of my partners and friends continue on, Steve.

[Steve Steinhauer]

But that's that attitude of willingness to learn, take some risk, do the right thing, work hard as you. We were talking before you started taping, you know, you're working 18 hours a day and you've been doing it for so long, it's like part of your life rhythm, right? To a certain extent, not quite the same hours, but to a certain extent. That's the way I've embraced the opportunity of being a banker, and I know others do in their different, different career pursuits. It's a privilege to be able to do the things we do. Think of the millions of people you're helping. In our case, hundreds of thousands of businesses and maybe a couple million people. But, you know, we make a mortgage loan that's helping somebody make a home improvement loan, give them an auto loan, start a small business. We're the largest SBA lender in the country by volume. These things matter.

[John Hope Bryant]

Slow that down. Say that again. You're the largest what?

[Steve Steinhauer]

We're the largest SBA lender in the country by the number of loans we make. And so these things, that's unbelievable. So we help, we, we're in the position where we can help a lot of people and a lot of businesses. And so there's a great sense of self satisfaction, a great sense of pride in my colleagues who do all the work anyway, I'm just a show horse and, and letting, letting these results flow through. So there's a shareholder return as well in the equation. But, but, you know, do you, and you've said this before, doing well by doing good. It's this balance. It doesn't have to be one or the other. And I believe that. I've always believed that.

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[Steve Steinhauer]

Liberty. Liberty.

[Diana Maria Riva]

Liberty.

[Steve Steinhauer]

Liberty.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

Run a business and not thinking about podcasting, Think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than ad supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, iHeart's twice as large as the next two combined. So whatever your customers listen to, they'll hear your message. Plus, only iHeart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio. Think podcasting can help your business? Think iHeart streaming radio and podcasting. Let us show [e-mail] that's iheartadvertising.com another

[Robert Smigel]

podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy. Not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to the to David Letterman help make you funnier this week. My guests, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter.

[Acapella Band Member]

Where does your group perform?

[John Hope Bryant]

We do some retirement homes.

[Robert Smigel]

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Steve Steinhauer]

What's up, fam?

[Isaiah Thomas]

It's Isaiah Thomas and I'm C.J.

[Acapella Band Member]

toledano. And our podcast Point Game is about

[Isaiah Thomas]

defying the odds like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luka and Austin Reed

[Acapella Band Member]

and finding way win no matter what.

[Isaiah Thomas]

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before and he knows without Luka and Austin Reaves, I gotta manipulate the game.

[Acapella Band Member]

We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.

[Isaiah Thomas]

I think Joker's gonna be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reed, he has to guard Julius Randle and then he has to give us everything. He gives us on the night, this night, basis on offense.

[Acapella Band Member]

And when it's friends stop by like Quentin Richardson. We dive into some playoff history, too.

[Steve Nash]

Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like after you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Oh, yeah. Get your ass up and down the court and you gonna get the ball.

[Acapella Band Member]

So listen to Point game on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[John Hope Bryant]

So Steve, I gotta correct him a couple times. Steve. Steve said, oh, I'm a slow and I'm trying to get around. Look, here's the endorsement in my book from Steve's 10 hour. It's. This is my newest book talking about being fast on the draw. It's my newest book and Steve's already. He, he made sure that his support for what we do was front and center. So when you get the book, turn right to the front and you'll see Steve Steinhauer's endorsement of the book, John is focused on exactly the issues we face today as a society and the challenges of aligning our goals and institutions in partnership to build the next stage of growth and opportunity for all Americans. Inclusive economics can be our future roadmap for the dreams of prosperity must be attainable and aspirational for hard work, education, and shared values. He shows a compelling path forward at a time when we need to come together. What did I describe him as? The guy who was at the Urban League meeting and he was at the Republican governor's meeting. I see him at the White House. I see him at your house trying to finance your house. I see him in community. I see him at the Columbus Partnership. I see him showing up in his own family and so why is the People's Bank? Because He's a top 20 bank in America, the largest SBA lender by volume. I didn't know that they've done 250, give or take, $250 million with Operation Hope in this Huntington's Lift local business program that we're partnering on to do micro lending for the lease of these God's children. Because every big business was once a small one.

[Steve Steinhauer]

So.

[John Hope Bryant]

But at the core of this, as you've heard, he acknowledged without any prompting, his own personal part of his own personal background, his decency, his accessibility. He can't lend money. He can't be a good lender unless he has his hand on the post of the community. Let me give you say something that Steve won't. And then I want to go to your background, Steve background and banking background in Banking. Personal background in professional banking or banking. How's it work just to tee that up? An entrepreneur needs a banker and the banker needs the entrepreneur. The banker's gonna say. And the attorney's gonna say, ah, slow down, don't do that, don't do that, don't do that. That's their nature. They're conservative by nature. They're supposed to be. The banker keeps the entrepreneur from running off the road and into a ditch or into a wall. The entrepreneur and attorney only prosper if the banker. Sorry. The banker and the attorney only prosper if the entrepreneur is successful. Conversely, the entrepreneur needs the fuel and the protection from the banker, the entrepreneur and the accountant without capital, without banking. And banking is to Wall street what Wall street is to the biggest businesses in the world, which is a source of capital. This is a mutually beneficial relationship. But the entrepreneur is going to be frustrated a little bit by the banker tapping on the brakes. And the banker is going to be frustrated and bemused a little bit by the entrepreneur who's got his or her foot on the gas. But this constructive friction, this dynamic tension is precisely what makes the engine go. Everybody sort of respects each other's role. My job is to make that banker, Steve's bankers, in this example, comfortable with me that I'm a good credit risk, that I'm not going to embarrass them, that if there's a problem, I'm going to tell them first and not let. And then I have to find out by themselves that if they're challenged, they want to chase me, I'm going to call them and work out a restructuring or a payment relationship. I have to have credibility. Credito comes from the Latin root word credit comes the Latin root word credito, which is credibility. And capital comes the Latin root word copy toss knowledge in the head. I've got to have enough knowledge and enough credibility. So the banker says, this is a good credit risk. Now, did I get that right or do you need to correct me on any of that, Steve, Number two, how does what I say expand into the broader context? Banking. And number three, and you can do this any way you want. Your personal story, how does it inform everything else that you do?

[Steve Steinhauer]

Well, you got number one right? That is the nature of the business model. We're, we're looking to lend, if you will, rent money, right? Extend a loan, a lot of capital. It's used to create income, hopefully wealth over time for individuals and businesses. But that base level of the loan plus some interest gets repaid. So capitalism at Its essence. And I think this is really important for us as a society to make sure that capitalism becomes accessible to all. And it flows, it just flows. That's number one. Now I think, John, the nature of our work and sort of the way I was brought up have parallels. My grandparents had a lot of influence on me growing up. My grandfather worked until he was in his late 70s. He was a blue collar worker and never made much money. But he found pride in doing work. And his compliment to you would be if you're a worker, not, not if you're out having fun or do you know, it's, did you, did you do a good job? That always resonated with me and that became part of what motivated me early in my career. And because I didn't know better, I didn't know that, you know, the probabilities of me being a CEO of the 10th largest commercial bank in the country were almost infinite. You know, one in a, you know, couple hundred plus million. So I didn't, didn't think about it in terms of playing the odds here. I just wanted to do the right thing. I wanted to learn, I wanted to get better. And I still have those, you know, that yearning and just like you do, which is why you do what you do, you're going to help people, I think, throughout your life, right?

[John Hope Bryant]

Yeah.

[Steve Steinhauer]

When, when your life's over, if you are in that last moment, I suspect you will be helping someone, you know, your family, of course, but beyond your family, you'll be helping people because that, you, you have that imbued in your body, in your spirit. You have that insatiable desire to make an impact. And you're, you've done it throughout all your life. You've done it since you were 19. And for me, it took a little bit longer to start because I was unclear what I wanted, although I knew I wanted some of these elements and I wanted to move out of a small town. I didn't grow up in LA like you did. And so I didn't know what a big city, a big city to me is, you know, 5,000 people it was at the time. But, you know, so things progress and you learn and you, you, you, you, you, you know, you create relationships. You, you, you hopefully can find people like you and hundreds of thousands of people who watch your videos, who watch you on YouTube, who listen to you now, you know, you're impacted and some of what you say and do, they'll follow. And so, you know, you have this incredible opportunity now with your podcast to impact lives around the world. And I know that for you is very motivational.

[John Hope Bryant]

Yes. And I want. It is very motivational. And every time I talk to you privately or publicly, I'm inspired by you. I want people to understand two things before they get off this podcast with us today. One, your backstory, which we're going to get to no matter how many times I have to ask you. But we can get to that in a moment. I really want to drill down to how you could become such a nice, decent human being that I actually like and respect. But before we get to that, please unpack as best you can the mystery of banking for the general audience. What are some just misnomers or presumptions or mistakes of understanding misperceptions about banking that we can clear up right here, right now to hopefully help to set people free?

[Steve Steinhauer]

Sure. Well, John, you touched on this a little bit earlier in terms of how you act. Right. We view it as a relationship and a factor of trust. And if there's an issue, you'll communicate it. If there's a problem, you'll work to solve it. Those elements of a relationship are so very important. And it's harder as these banks get bigger and the pace of life accelerates around us. But I think that's still the essence of good banking and good business, people and relationships. Technology enables, but it's people and relationships and so connecting. And, you know, your word is your bond. And it is for me. I can't legally do business on a handshake, but if I could, there would be people like you I would do it with. Can't do that anymore. But we can connect with each other and look at each other, get a general understanding of what you're hoping to achieve, look at it maybe a little more in depth, depending on what the aspiration and need is. And then, you know, we got to document it with a legal document. But when we say we're going to do something, looking at each other, making a handshake, whatever it is, and we do it, we do it. The rest of it's a formality. So I think that approach of building credibility and trust is really important. I was sitting. I'll do one story. I was sitting at an event we had a couple years ago, and one of the retired Supreme Court state justices here said she loved banking with us. And I said, thank you. I thought it was one of these obligatory things. She's at our event, she's saying it. And I said, no, I really do. And I said, well, tell me why you do because I couldn't go to college unless I borrowed money and my mother went to every bank. And you were the last stop,

[John Hope Bryant]

you

[Steve Steinhauer]

were the last stop. If you didn't make that loan, I wasn't going to college.

[John Hope Bryant]

Right.

[Steve Steinhauer]

And I don't hear that a lot, but I hear it with some regularity where what we've done has made a difference. We have a program that we talk about in our mortgage lending where we try to make it real for our colleagues. It's called a home, not a file because we process hundreds of thousands of mortgage loans. But when you connect it with the video of why that home was important to that individual, oftentimes it's a first home. You can't help but be drawn in. You're obviously making a loan and you're doing your work, but you're impacting lives. And it could be a family, could be somebody elderly, could be a veteran, could be somebody disabled. You're impacting lives. So we are blessed with the nature of the business we do. And that's what I find so inspirational. And for me, coming from a like a very rural background, blue collar, you know, if you said CEO, I, I, I, you know, it could have been a donut for all I knew. I had no idea what that was growing up. And so it's this steady learning and willingness to, to engage with others and against a value set of trying to help people. And, and I think our industry is replete with, I know here at Huntington, our colleagues feel that way. They want to help, they want to do the right thing, they want to help people. And that's why we talk about our purpose statements so often.

[John Hope Bryant]

So something's odd about the way to the audience. They will hear it. Not odd for me. They will hear what you're saying and they just, they're going to. A lot of the audience members gonna scratch their heads because they're like, no, wait a minute. This guy's basically saying he wants to make loans, he wants to provide access to capital, that if somebody's reasonable and trustworthy and all that stuff, he's going to make them a loan. But aren't banks, you know, discriminatory? That's what they've heard. Aren't banks racist? Is what they've heard. And what I would say is if you're dealing with a bank 150 years ago or 200 years ago in America and that bank was family owned in a small town in the south or wherever, or maybe even the Midwest, if that was a small family owned bank, they might have had some interesting views on the world and they were basically only lending to their friends and family members and business owners that they knew and they were of the size, they could do that and they could make money just on recycling that capital amongst their crew of boutique businesses and whatever. But banking, I'm saying this by making a statement, the statement is leading to a question, Steve. But banking has changed in my view. Banks now are now mostly publicly traded. They're highly regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, by the Federal Reserve in some cases. Going to meet the Fed chairman actually later this week. I think it's a good man by maybe in some cases by the occ, the Office of the Contract of the Currency, in some cases by a state regulator and the Consumer Protection, Consumer Protection Agency also in some cases. And, and the SEC also possibly securities Exchange because they're publicly traded and I've got the banks, I mean everybody essentially, if you have a diversified portfolio, you've got banks shares in your 401k plan, the bank has to make loans if they're going to be profitable and successful. They can't afford to do. If they were backwards at the leadership level, they can't. They were not a state, Steve Steinhauer. They were the opposite of Steve. They couldn't afford to do racist policies, to be blunt with it in 2026 because there's too much competition and you'll go out of business because racism is a bad business model. And before you answer that, I'm going to answer a question that you didn't that is below your pay grade. Let me just say this. Banking is basically administrative costs. Well, cost of savings, cost of the money to say it's a savings account. Administrative costs, let's say 2% on top of that and then profit, let's say that's 3%, whatever, pick a number. And that combined is the cost of capital. And they want to make that. Rent that out. As Steve said, he want to rent it out, rent it out and he wants to make some assurance. His bankers want to have some insurance. They're going to get it back because they're just renting the money and they have to get it back so they can rent it out to somebody else and they need that profit that's in. Did I do a decent job of going over 200 years of banking and why banking is changed such that they should listen to what you're saying now about being the people's banker?

[Steve Steinhauer]

Well, I think there are a lot of people like me in the industry. So I'm not special by any stretch. The. So begin with that. But the nature of what we do, you described very accurately. You know, these bank branches, there's a certain amount of cost in running the operation. So when we're renting money, it's the cost of the deposit, what's the interest paid on it, it's the overhead, and then there's a profit margin. But the nature of what we're doing is very competitive at thousands and thousands of banks and even more credit unions. And so the impetus to make more loans is in the business model. It's in the business. It's inherent in the business model. Good loans, so loans that will ultimately get repaid. And so whether it's a bank or credit union or some other financial institution that does this type of business, I think there's a capacity inherent to extend credit. And we certainly view that as an opportunity. We build relationships. We don't just make loans. We have checking accounts, we have credit cards or debit cards. We have maybe have a mortgage or a home improvement loan, maybe it's a small business loan or an SBA loan. Maybe we take care of some of the financial planning and investments that the family or the business wants. Those sorts of things all add up to a relationship. And that's the nature of our business. As opposed to, well, we only make loans or we only take deposits. And so that comes back to people and relationships. And if you're trying to help people, if you're trying to look out for what's. What's in their interests as well, because the better they do, the better we do, the better the communities we serve do and the people in those communities. The better we do, we have some amount of market share every place we're doing business. The better that market does, that geography, that town, that city, that region, the better we do. So there's a lot of parallel interest in this equation. And I'm a big believer that in capitalism and that capitalism will continue to evolve. It will continue to, I hope, have a conscious. It'll continue to make opportunities available for people of all races, of all income, walks of immigrants and people that have been here multi generations, run a business.

[iHeart Podcast Announcer]

And not thinking about podcasting, think again. More Americans listen to podcasts than ad supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora. And as the number one podcaster, iHeart's twice as large as the next two combined. So whatever your customers listen to, they'll hear your message. Plus, only iHeart can extend your message to audiences across broadcast radio. Think podcasting can help your business think iHeart streaming radio and podcasting. Let us show [e-mail] that's iheartadvertising.com another

[Robert Smigel]

podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy. Not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier this week. My guests, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter.

[Acapella Band Member]

Where does your group perform?

[John Hope Bryant]

We do some retirement homes.

[Robert Smigel]

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Steve Steinhauer]

What's up fam?

[Isaiah Thomas]

It's Isaiah Thomas and I'm CJ Toledano

[Acapella Band Member]

and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds.

[Isaiah Thomas]

Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luka and Austin Reed and finding ways

[Acapella Band Member]

to win no matter what.

[Isaiah Thomas]

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before and he knows without Luka and Austin Reeves, I gotta manipulate the game.

[Acapella Band Member]

We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.

[Isaiah Thomas]

I think Joker's gonna be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reed, he has to guard Julius Randle and then he has to give us everything. He gives us on a night to night basis on offense.

[Acapella Band Member]

And when it's friends stop by like Quinton Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.

[Steve Nash]

Steve Nash would get that thing, that man hell get the flying. He running up the court licking his fingers while he got the ball like, like after you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Oh yeah, get your ass up and down the court and you gonna get the ball.

[Acapella Band Member]

So listen to Point game on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Carlos King]

If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know that's a lot to break down.

[John Hope Bryant]

Portia accusing Kelly of sleeping with a married man. They holding K Michelle back from from fighting. Drew Pinky has financial issues. I like the bougie style of Housewives show. I think it looks like it's gonna be interesting.

[Carlos King]

On the podcast Reality with the King I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise. The drama, the Alliances and the tea everybody's talking about. As an executive producer in reality television, I'm not just watching it. I understand, understand the game. As somebody who creates shows, I'll even say this at the end of the day when people are at home, they want entertainment. To hear this and more, listen to reality with the king on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

[Steve Steinhauer]

The

[John Hope Bryant]

Lift local program in the context of what you just said could be viewed and this is, I'm thinking about my new book Capitalism for All and its theory, its philosophy of inclusive economics, growth of market share could be views. Not only is it moral and right thing to do, not only does it help you comply with Community Investment act or what other acts might be appropriate, but primarily. Sorry, I'm thinking this, this is a business development activity. You're growing. You know, it's like you're doing research and development and business development for an emerging market. You're hoping I hadn't put this together into this interview. Actually, Steve, as you were talking, you're hoping, my guess is you're hoping that these, these micro loans build a relationship with you and grow their business and join your portfolio as a mainstream small business loan and then go parallel park on individual family checking accounts and savings accounts and parallel park in a home mortgage as they become a homeowner and multiple homeowners in that family as they build wealth and parallel park in the investment banking group at Huntington in parallel park in the private banking group as you build wealth and parallel park with the investment management section of the. I mean, am I getting this right? I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's enlightened self interest.

[Steve Steinhauer]

It is, it is. And it's, it's in this umbrella though of doing good, helping people, helping businesses. And so that's what your book on capitalism and what you've shared about enlightened capitalism over the years all about. This isn't a handout, this isn't a giveaway.

[John Hope Bryant]

Right.

[Steve Steinhauer]

This is intended to make good decisions that benefit people and businesses, but also benefit banks or other firms as, as, as they go forward. We don't have to be limited by historic thinking.

[John Hope Bryant]

That's right.

[Steve Steinhauer]

You used, you know, century and a half, two centuries ago, you know, lending just to people you really knew. There's a lot more information available now. The, the benefit of Lyft Local and the training program you provide your team does is that there is a credible third party national business resource available to help people understand what they need to do what the expectations are if they're going to create a business. And it's not for everyone. I mean, it's really hard. Really hard. You were Talking again about 18 hours a day. You've been doing it since you were 19. A lot of people, our children look at me and say, I don't work that hard, which is their decision. You may have something similar, cousins or family members.

[John Hope Bryant]

Oh, yes. Oh, yes, right.

[Steve Steinhauer]

But for me, it's a privilege. I don't see it as work. I see it as something I'm fortunate to be able to do. And I think you feel the same way, John.

[John Hope Bryant]

100%. And I'm the most successful, financially successful people in my person, in my lineage, my direct lineage, going back to slavery to present. My second great grandfather was a slave as an example. And my wife's the most successful person in her lineage, and her father is the most successful person in his lineage. And mom. And we have a responsibility being in those positions, to be compassionate, to be empathetic, but not to give handouts because that doesn't help anybody. You want to get a hand up and to teach people how to do for themselves and become independent and yes, give them a little seed corn, give them a little encouragement, a little support. But at some point, yeah, do for self. And one of the things I want the audience to understand is that one of the reasons that Operation Hope chose to not be bank itself. Well, first of all, I don't want to compete with. I didn't want to become the new Freedman's bank and compete with my friend and partner, Steve Steinhauer Hunting bank, or whoever else. Right.

[Isaiah Thomas]

But.

[John Hope Bryant]

But I could be a unique catalyst as an educator, as a counselor, as a coach, to get people who are qualified morally, but not mathematically. Their credit score stinks to me. He can't. Steve can't say it. He'll be sued. Somebody will find some way, some way to sue him. Is. He's blunt. But I can be blunt. I'm not regulated like that. If your credit score is tore from the flow up, Steve can't give you a loan, no matter how much he likes you. And if you're in the average credit score for underserved population, 600, 620, 640 for big swashes of this country of all races, does not allow Steve to give you a decent home loan at fixed rates, at prime rates. He can't do it. He needs you at 680 to 700. He can't give you a small business loan because that's riskiest credit he's got is a small business loan, even an SBA guarantee. He needs you up in that 700 range if possible. Maybe you can make some exceptions, but you shouldn't be looking for the exception. You should be looking. It's better to underestimate and overperform than underestimate and, or to overestimate and underperform. And Steve's and his people are looking for character and not just credit. And they see you aspiring, seeing you working hard, seeing you trying. They may give you that secured credit card or that account that you actually don't really qualify, but you're right on the edge. But they want to see you then perform and prove that they're right, that go to the next level and then they expand your credit line. And I mean that's how it was for me coming up when I, you know, and, and we have a unsecured credit line, seven figure credit lines now. But I started out with a $25,000 credit line at Operation Hope and a $300 secure credit card for me. So I'm telling you as a bridge to Steve and the 10 one, the 20 largest bank in America and 10 largest commercial banks. I want you to be his client. I want him to know your name. I want Brad Stanworth to call you and say, I'm just checking on you. That's one of his top people at the bank. I want Stacy to know who you are in the community. But you got to do your part to meet him half way. Get the credit score up, the debt down, savings up so you meet his criteria so he doesn't get criticized by his regulator, the bank regulator. Did I explain your conundrum and your opportunity reasonably well?

[Steve Steinhauer]

You did, John, very well, as usual. You know this so well. But you also offer a service to try and help people improve their credit score. And so let me turn the table here. So would with a question for you. Would you share with your listeners some of the key ways they could do that, including working with your team? But there are, there are a couple of steps in particular, I think that they'd be common denominators. Why don't you share those, if you would please?

[John Hope Bryant]

Sure. So when you walk into a Huntington bank branch. And by the way, what. How many states are you in, Steve?

[Steve Steinhauer]

21.

[John Hope Bryant]

Okay. And how many branches do you have?

[Steve Steinhauer]

Just about 1500.

[John Hope Bryant]

And how many employees do you have?

[Steve Steinhauer]

27,000.

[John Hope Bryant]

So. And did I get the asset size right? 280 billion.

[Steve Steinhauer]

280 plus. Yes,

[John Hope Bryant]

that's what I love, when you get the power, you don't need to use it. He's like, yeah, yes, give or take 280. It's much more than that, by the way. If you want their attention, you gotta show intention. You've got to show that you are credible. And they have limits regulatorily and statutorily and with their shareholders about how far they can lean into your life without putting themselves at risk. We bridge you, we bridge them. So you ever go look for a hope inside, inside a hunting bank if you can find it, or, or another institution because they'll, you know, they will take a referral from another institution, by the way. And we can get your credit score up initially by removing an error. If you have a, if you haven't checked your credit in a couple years and that's a good portion of Americans, there's a large possibility, significant possibility, you have an error on your credit report. If we challenge the three credit bureaus by sending a letter Operation hope, with your cooperation, the credit bureaus have 30 days to respond to either confirm it you or remove it. If they remove it, which happens 90% of the time, that popped your credit 30 points on average. So if you were at 580, you're now at 610. If you were at 600, you're now at 630. So the banker now sees, oh my God, you're making improvements. They note your file. And so then we start working on a budget. He talked about. His dad didn't have a budget. He had a, he had all kind of other challenges deal with. I'm gonna get to that his personal story in a minute. I didn't know his backstory, but we're gonna help you create see a budget. And when we do that, you're gonna find that you're spending a lot of money on Starbucks or whatever it is you're spending on that. You can go get a Keurig machine at home, make your own coffee, stop smoking, it's gonna kill you anyway. And save $6,000 a year. And if you're making $40,000 a year, well, heck, that's you know, more than 10% of your annual income. And you can recycle that into savings. You can lower your debt to income ratio, which is what they're looking for, and get a savings account going to give you the earned income tax credit, which if you make less $60,000 a year, by the way, black, white, red, brown, yellow, urban, real, doesn't matter. One out of four Americans who qualify for that Never ask for it. That's if you're making $38,000 a year in central Ohio as a teacher and you have three children. The government owes you a check for about $7,000. If you never filed, it's retroactive for three years. That's almost $20,000 you can use as a down payment on the house mortgage you're asking Steve Steinhauer for from Huntingdon Bank. And then this goes on and goes on and goes on. We can find, we can find, you know, you got a divorce 10 years ago. That charge off of $1,000 has probably been discounted significantly because they've been chasing the debt and they sold it to Joe's finance company or something for 5 cents on the dollar. Well, Steve's only concerned about whether you've resolved that. So work with Operation Hope. We'll contact Joe's finance company who over owns it. We'll buy it, we'll pay it off. You're going to pay it off if we negotiate it and you're going to get a discount and they're going to get a profit. And Steve's going to get this removed from your credit report in a way that he can say yes to you. In other words, now your credit score goes up again. So we're going to be the bridge and the translator for you to do what you don't know you can do and to help you do and help the bank do what they can't do. So the bank can tell you yes. The bank does not benefit if they can't say yes every day to providing capital and credit cannot grow. So I hope I answered that question intelligently. Steve, Steve, your background. How'd you become such a decent human being? Let's unpack this. I just. The more I like, the more I hang around you, the more I like you. Tell us where you grew up, how you grew up and how did you get here as a human being.

[Steve Steinhauer]

Well, I grew one of five, second oldest and you know, family didn't have much and so they did have a sense of, of self worth and, and they were active in their own ways in the community. So I had some role models in that regard growing up and I probably didn't deserve the education opportunity I got. But somehow they figured out how to get five of us through a parochial education and that was very discipline based and that was good for me because I might have gone astray. But I refer to them as Sisters of no Mercy and they didn't have any on me early on in life. And so I needed it. So anyway, that all led to. To, you know, a route where I was in a position with grandparents and parents and seeing that, you know, we didn't think we were poor. We prayed for the poor. We didn't know better.

[John Hope Bryant]

Tell me about Mom.

[Steve Steinhauer]

My dad always had, most of my life, had two jobs. I worked five and a half, six days a week. And my mother worked as well. So, you know, it was just expected.

[John Hope Bryant]

Did they tell you they loved you?

[Steve Steinhauer]

Of course, yes.

[John Hope Bryant]

So you heard that in the house, you didn't have money, but you had. You had love. And even though your dad had these challenges, was he able to work around that, to still embrace you? And was it? Was it. In other words, was it how Was the challenges in the household a hindrance or just something that you guys managed through and you somehow understood, even despite that he loved you?

[Steve Steinhauer]

Well, yeah. Addiction is problematic for the people around because it's hard to understand, particularly as a child. And you had some of this too, as you were growing up, John. So you know what I'm talking. You know what I'm talking about. And. Oh, yeah, fortunately, when I was in college, he caught himself. He decided only the person with the addiction can do this. He caught himself and he had another, I don't know, seven, eight years of largely a sober lifestyle slip now and then, and then come back. But, you know, took a lot of will because he imbibed for many, many years. And so it took a lot of. There was strength of character, strength of will there that. That brought him around. So in some ways, a role model. And it caused me to. To study addiction and, you know, Alcoholics Anonymous and other material that might have been available back in the late 70s and early 80s and get some basic level of what was what. What he was struggling with. And so it made me somewhat more aware and. And sensitive to issues ultimately, including mental health.

[John Hope Bryant]

Yes. The reason I wanted the backstory, and Steve and I do have this in common. My mom and dad, voice over money. And there was domestic abuse in the house. And they told me they loved me. And I believed it. My mother told me she loved me every day of my life. My dad loved me too. I'm a businessman and an entrepreneur because my dad was a businessman and hustler and he was a businessman. Cause his dad was a sharecropper and all that. But I wanted the audience to hear and for those watching this on visual, visual media to see that whether you're black and urban or white and Midwestern, it's the same experience and it's commonality of those experiences that build bonds and relationships and friendships and understanding. Don't make presumptions. Don't make assumptions. Just because this guy's running one of the top 10 commercial banks and top 20 banks in America doesn't mean he hasn't had challenges. It doesn't mean he doesn't understand you and doesn't care. When you assume that he doesn't care, you've lost. So that's why I want people to hear your backstory as we wrap up. And Steve, I really have enjoyed this. I'd like you to spend the last four to five minutes just riffing. Just what are the lessons, the points that you want, that you've always, you know, we're all for frustrated teachers a little bit. You rattle. You know, you and I talk about so many things. We don't have time. We talk about the state of this country and how divided it is and all that. We don't have time to get into all of that because this is an hour by itself. But on the things we can control in our lives, the controllables. What are some of the things that you just, it frustrates the bejeebers out of you that you really just wish people would get their hands around X, Y and Z. Or if they, if you just, if they just would do this because before they came to the bank or what, whatever you want to say. I want people to get five minutes of uninterrupted wisdom from you.

[Steve Steinhauer]

Well, successful people have some common traits. They don't give up. Right. Because you don't. Success is very rarely is it a straight line. Normally there's a lot of hardship, setbacks, failure. But you don't give up. They're driven and they channel that drive somehow into something productive. In my case, it was a desire to get better, to learn and to see a world bigger than 3,000 people, which was the size of the town I grew up in, and, and, and get the benefit of, of, of, of being able to be with really interesting and great people like you, John, and with all that you've done. And so I, I've had a, a lot of blessings in my life. But there have also been hardships and, and, and, and yet not letting those hardships define who you are. Figure out ways to rise above them, work around them, don't quit. Don't quit. And if you, if you believe in yourself, you may not know where you're going. I had no idea in my case, but I knew I wanted more and I Would work hard for it. And I was going to live my life with certain principles. And I've generally been able to do that for the last 67 years. And so I feel very fortunate that I had some people along the way who influenced me early on. Grandparents, often on parents, and many others, including people like you, who devoted their life to trying to help others. And I've had, because of my profession, I've had the opportunity in different areas of the country to meet just some phenomenal people who have really devoted their life to helping others. And so I admire you. I admire them. I learn from you and them. And I want to keep getting better. And I hope I've got a bit of a road in front of me and an opportunity to influence others and if you will, pay it forward. Because I've had a wonderful set of opportunities that somehow came my way. I don't know how it happened, but we have some common elements. Work hard, care, do the right thing. Try and get better, Try and help others. And those are some of the essential elements that, as I think about my life, have marked it and have created the executive and the person that I am. I should say person and the executive. Put it in the other order. Just as you've defined yourself as a person and then an incredibly successful entrepreneur and executive by all the different things you've done. But it's you as a person in the first instance. And I think people generally want to do the right thing. They just don't always catch themselves. And I think if we start with a basis of I want to do good, I want to help others, I want to help myself. But in helping myself, I want to help others. It can align into for those fortunate to be the next John Hope Ryan's and maybe when I retire, a successor here at Huntington someday. Been a pleasure to be with you, John.

[John Hope Bryant]

It's been my pleasure. As we wrap up, I'm gonna see if I can summarize what I just heard. Give. Been focusing more focused on what you give than what you get. Understand that no one's perfect. Everybody makes mistakes. You can make a mistake and not be one. Never give up, never give in. Live for something larger and more important to yourself. Have a purpose. Those are some of the things that I heard. Of course. Be authentic. If somebody's calling Huntington bank, if you are near one of the branches or whatever and you want to access capital with this bank, don't play a game, call them. Be honest with them. They're going to find out anyway, right? Just be straight and you're going to get credit for being straight. Is that right? Steve?

[Steve Steinhauer]

That's right. That's right. And there may be a, a period where we just can't do something. But my colleagues now, not all of them, but there are a number that will engage and work with, try and help and, and ultimately we'll create a success, whether that's a first time home or first time business or other things

[John Hope Bryant]

or lift local.

[Steve Steinhauer]

There we go.

[John Hope Bryant]

So, so thank you very much, Steve Steinhauer. He's got to go run one of the 20 largest overall banks in America and top 10 commercial banks. And I appreciate him giving us an hour to unpack the mysteries of banking and to replace it with the stair steps of your success. Steve I'll see you at a meeting around town. I'm sure I'm going to run into you in the next 30 days somewhere. Love you very much, brother. And this has been Money and Wealth on the Black Effect Network on iHeartRadio. Go change your life. Money and wealth with John O' Brien is a production of the Black Effect Podcast Network. For more podcasts from the Black Effect Podcast network, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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