Welcome back to The Sunstone Way
As many of you know, my go-to holiday movie is “It’s A Wonderful Life” starring Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey. The tale of a good man doing the right thing to help his community during tough times has as much meaning today as it did when it came out in 1946.
Parallels
What many of you don’t know is that George Bailey’s life and code of conduct are perfect parallels for my partner and friend John Shen. John’s life story even includes a moment of deep despair, although it does come a little earlier in his timeline than in Bailey’s. (You can read John’s story in his book, Crossing The Swamp.)
American Lending Center, the company John Shen founded, could stand in for Bailey Brothers Building and Loan in this near-parable of a tale. ALC is a smaller non-bank lending institution designed to help small business owners and individuals chase their American Dream, not the megafirms big banks tend to do business with.
John Shen went to family and friends, then the larger Chinese community, for the resources to start ALC. He used, and uses, those resources to make the broader community a better place through economic development, needed infrastructure and job creation.
Watch “It’s A Wonderful Life” again. I think you’ll see that George Bailey and his family are doing much the same thing.
In The Movie
Most people, including Wikipedia, would tell you it’s a story about an angel showing a despondent George Bailey what the world would be like if he “had never been born.”
That’s true, but I think the story is more about how personal sacrifice and service to community is what truly makes a “wonderful life.” George Bailey helps his neighbors and townsfolk with loans backed by little or no collateral – something the unnamed big bank run by the villainous Henry Potter would never do.
A run on the Savings and Loan – people wanting to withdraw their cash – pushes the company to the brink. When George Bailey’s brother loses a wad of money that was supposed to be a loan payment to Potter’s bank, it causes George to wish he had never been born – hence the subplot of what the world would have been like if that wish had come true.
Ultimately, the community’s realization of what George and his company had done for them prompts the outpouring of gratitude and charity that keeps the Building and Loan – and George – afloat. The community is a better place as giving becomes a two-way street.
John Shen does the same thing on a broader scale with ALC. Thankfully, he hasn’t had to experience the near disaster George did, but partnerships with the community have helped him in many ways.
The Real Deal
A guy named A.P. Giannini was Frank Capra’s inspiration for “It’s A Wonderful Life,” and if anything, A.P. is an even closer parallel to John Shen. A.P. was an immigrant from Italy, who came to California to chase his American Dream – a bank. He launched the Bank of Italy in San Francisco with personal loans.
When the Great Earthquake of 1906 hit San Francisco, A.P. set up a “branch” on a North Beach wharf. He extended loans to displaced residents on a handshake instead of collateral, and ultimately succeeded – his establishment is now called the Bank of America, one of the biggest banks in the world.
John Shen has found a modern way to make loans to folks who might not be able to borrow money otherwise. He uses the principle of the public-private partnership, using loan guarantees. And he used ALC to come through in a worldwide emergency – the COVID pandemic.
Working with the federal Paycheck Protection Program, ALC provided direct assistance to nearly 30,000 companies during the pandemic. Overall, ALC has created or retained more than 100,000 jobs.
The Sunstone Way
“It’s A Wonderful Life” does a great job of conveying the hard work George Bailey puts in to keep his business – and the community – afloat. At the same time, it shows how a simple set of guiding principles can lead the way to success. For George, it’s service, sacrifice, and trust in humankind.
That’s The Sunstone Way. We work hard to help others and find ways to support their American Dream, whether it’s access to capital (like the Bailey Building and Loan), technical assistance, or just providing community support in difficult times.
We believe that our families, communities, and our country are all stronger when each one of us give more than we receive; and we celebrate service and self-sacrifice as the true core values of the American way of life. When we do that, it is indeed a wonderful life.
And remember, always be a Sunstone!
John Keisler
CEO & Managing Partner
Sunstone Management, Inc.
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©Sunstone Management, Inc. 2024