In the October 2015 issue of Reader’s Digest, an excerpt from the book “The Truth about Trust” by David DeSteno, Ph.D., brings home one of the basic truths at the heart of how local communities and Hancock Bank succeed together—trust.
Introducing his points with Hancock’s post-Hurricane Katrina response to help people get money, DeSteno relays the value, nuances, and complexities of trust in today’s society and factors that affect how and when people trust each other.
“Follow your instincts as to whether others are truthful,” writes DeSteno. “These minor, everyday actions won’t make the world a utopia, but they can push us in the right direction.”
After Katrina’s landfall, Hancock Bank associates set up temporary sites—often on folding tables near destroyed branches—to provide people with much-needed cash to recover and rejuvenate local economies. Many survivors lost identification documents in the storm, so Hancock allowed clients and non-clients to sign IOUs on scraps of paper. In the end, the bank’s losses were minimal, and the company’s assets grew 20 percent.
“Honor and integrity have been core to our Hancock Bank culture for more than a century; and we owe our growth to the trust of the people we serve. Honesty and trust empowers success and, in turn, inspires people to work together to preserve the quality of life that makes our region so special,” said Hancock Holding Company President and CEO John M. Hairston.”
The bank was founded over 100 years ago in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and now serves a dynamic economic corridor spanning the five states encircling the Gulf of Mexico. BauerFinancial, Inc., has consistently rated the bank as one of America’s strongest, safest financial institutions for 26 years.
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