- Key insight: A small community bank in Missouri applied for a spot on American Banker’s 2025 Best Banks to Work For list for the first time. It landed at No. 1.
- Expert quote: “We think we’re a little gem here in the Midwest,” one executive said.
- Forward look: The bank’s culture is centered on “cultivating love,” and its future growth will depend on how well it continues to embrace that mission, executives say.
About eight years ago, Wood & Huston Bank in Marshall, Missouri, found itself at a crossroads.
The 151-year-old, family-owned community bank could keep growing and taking market share in the handful of communities where it did business. Or it could undertake an enterprisewide culture overhaul aimed at creating purpose in the daily work lives of its employees, hopefully creating a competitive advantage that would assist with its growth ambitions.
It chose the latter path, and ever since executives have embraced the mindset of “cultivating love.” Inspired by The Radical Leap, a business leadership-style book by Steve Farber that’s focused on the tenets of love, energy, audacity and proof, Wood & Huston has immersed itself in a philosophy that’s “rooted in love,”
Some may say that sounds a little hokey. But the bank’s turnover rate is in the single digits, employees think of each other as family, and total assets have increased by more than 80% since 2017.
“We think we’re a little gem here in the Midwest,” Thompson told American Banker. “We have an amazing story, and we have an amazing place here.”
Wood & Huston is No. 1 on American Banker’s 2025 Best Banks to Work For list. Before this year, the $1.2 billion-asset bank had never applied to the program, which debuted in 2013.
The bank’s top-of-the-heap ranking is based on two factors: employee survey results that outscored almost every other applicant bank and its employer score, which is derived from an employer-answered questionnaire about various benefits and policies. Wood & Huston’s employer score was significantly higher than those of other banks, according to Best Companies Group, the vendor that collects applications on behalf of American Banker and then analyzes the data and determines the final lists.
Founded in 1874 by Joseph Huston Jr. and William Wood, two trading and transportation businessmen, Wood & Huston is now in its fifth generation of family ownership. The bank employs about 190 people and operates 12 branches in eight markets across Missouri. It’s the 37th largest deposit-holder in the state, with 0.4% of the deposit market share, according to the latest data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
President and CEO Mark Thompson — no relation to Susie Thompson — grew up in Marshall and returned to his hometown in 2008 to become Wood & Huston’s chief financial officer. He was promoted to his current role in 2016.
When Susie Thompson joined the bank that same year to oversee human resources, executives were looking for a change. They wanted someone with a leadership and development background, she said.
It was Susie Thompson who broached management about Farber’s “Radical Leap” strategy. The bank’s family feel was strong even before the culture initiative began, which helped the process, she said.
“My job is to make sure that you feel like you get to come to work versus having to come to work, and I think a lot of people here feel like they get to come to work,” Susie Thompson said. “When you have that kind of drive and motivation, you bring that with you, and it’s infectious. People feed off that, and that translates into how you interact with customers and how they feel.”
Much of the bank’s growth in recent years reflects the need to “keep up with the cost of regulation and technology,” Mark Thompson said during an interview.
Wood & Huston has stayed away from Missouri’s larger cities, preferring instead to find a place for itself in smaller markets, he said. Marshall, a community of around 14,000 people in north-central Missouri, is located about an hour and a half from Kansas City.
The decision to implement a new culture strategy means that everyone in the bank, not just top executives and managers, goes through training to understand the bank’s vision, Mark Thompson said. Wood & Huston also hosts a yearly week-long program that reinforces the “rooted in love” mission.
“One of the big reasons for us doing this is, happy employees make happy customers,” Mark Thompson said. “I don’t think you can deliver good customer service if the people delivering that are not happy with their jobs and don’t find it to be a good place to work, I think it’s almost impossible to deliver your customer service if the employees don’t feel that way.”
Employees at Wood & Huston are treated to a host of benefits, recognition and other perks. They are regularly encouraged to recognize their peers for their contributions, and the “culture committee” hosts an annual awards program to honor those who embody the bank’s values.
They receive year-end bonuses, holiday pay and access to free counseling and therapy sessions for themselves and all family members. Last year, to celebrate the bank’s 150th anniversary, Wood & Huston hosted an all-expenses-paid weekend for its employees and their families.
For more coverage of American Banker’s 2025 Best Banks to Work For, see here:
Banks that have clear and simple missions are often the most successful in terms of getting buy-in from employees and developing a culture that can be maintained over a long period, said Jessica Pinkston, a senior director in the delivery channels practice at Cornerstone Advisors who also leads the consulting firm’s treasury, payments and back-office operations practice.
It doesn’t come without challenges, Pinkston said. It’s hard to make sure the message is consistent, and there’s a risk that the people who championed the strategy will leave the bank.
The key is to make sure there is at least one person at the leadership level “who truly believes in the mission and the values of the organization,” Pinkston said. “It’s not just saying the words. They truly embody what those words mean, and they’re showing they believe in it, and the sincerity is apparent. If you can capture that sincerity, that can carry you a long way.”
At Wood & Huston, the end result of cultivating love includes more business and more revenue, said Stacy Jasper, the bank’s chief financial officer and a member of its culture committee.
“The real point of the culture is to hopefully drive behaviors that result in the business results we’re looking for,” Jasper said.
