Nakia Taylor

I attribute my success to phenomenal leadership. The team that we have here at Bank OZK definitely embraces growth opportunities. They are the type of leadership that will put you in the place to be able to showcase your skills so that other people don't just know what you do from word of mouth, they can actually see it. And then also myself, just being self-motivated, wanting to learn, and I have a growth mentality. I feel like I can learn something every day and from each person that I meet. So always being a student and just being committed to excellence.

The best career advice I've ever received is to always be a leader. You don't necessarily have to be in charge to be that leader, but be that leader in your own capacity, know your why, and always think ahead. I think if you are not just thinking about tomorrow, but you're thinking about the future, you're thinking about ways to grow and evolve within your career, that'll always keep you motivated and keep you encouraged, so that you can always kind of look forward to the next thing within your career.

I would say always stay positive. I think a lot of people come back with imposter syndrome and self-doubt, thinking about they're not good enough, or comparison. So just stay focused, control what you can control, and have that mindset shift to know that you're where you need to be, and you're there for a reason. Make sure that you challenge yourself daily, and just remember your why. You can be doing so many things and kind of get caught up in the task or caught up in life, right? But circling back and remembering your why, I think that will just kind of motivate you and get you right back in that mindset to know, okay, this is why I'm doing this, it's meaningful, and all of the different things that's encompassed within your why.

Not having enough time in the day. We are pulled in so many different directions from mitigating risk, leading and guiding our team, handling all the different operational tasks within the branch, so I would just say not having enough time to do all of those things would be the biggest challenge that I face on a day-to-day basis.

I would say respect and integrity. Whether I am talking to a multi-millionaire or your everyday working class person, I lead with respect. I treat everyone the same, and I'm consistent to make sure that everyone knows that they are valued. They chose to come here as a banking center, and there's millions of banks out there, right? And so, I like to let them know that they are appreciated and valued, no matter what financial outlook they have, or finances that they're dealing with at that current time.