Some executive careers start with big dreams. Mike Ritchie’s began with a big disappointment.
Ritchie, now the president of Comerica Bank Michigan, said when he graduated from Wayne State University, he had planned to follow in his father’s footsteps and work in law enforcement — not become a banker.
“I wanted to be like my dad,” he said. “I majored in business, really, just in case I changed my mind.”
He had interviewed with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, accepted a position — and asked his sweetheart, Carole, to marry him. But at the last minute, when the federal agency sought to send him to Atlanta, instead of allow him to work in his home state, the Michigander had a change of heart.
“I did not want to move to Atlanta,” Ritchie, 47, said. “I didn’t want to move away from my family.”
Instead, Ritchie went to the college job placement office, which urged him to go hear a bank presentation.
“It was a different picture from what I had thought,” he recalled. “My image of being in business was more static, more impersonal. But hearing these folks talk about what their careers in banking were like, it was the opposite of that. You’re out and about; you meet people. You provide security and comfort and peace of mind for people.”
He took a position at Comerica.
He said it sounded exciting — but, even more than that, he really just needed a job.
“It was a huge disappointment to me when the ATF asked me to move to Atlanta,” he said, while sitting at a table in his large, top-floor office with a view of downtown Detroit and the riverfront. “But it turned out to be truly one of the best things ever to happen to me.”
Ritchie reflected on his banking career — and offered some advice. Here is the conversation, edited for space and clarity:
Question: You rose through the ranks at the bank. What are the secrets of your success?
Answer: In terms of myself, as an overlay, I am a very fortunate person. I grew up as a rich person. I didn’t grow up in material things, although I never lacked for anything. I was surrounded by people who loved me: my parents, my grandparents. I had elders around me. My church. And ultimately, my wife. My wife has been my biggest supporter. At the bank, I was similarly fortunate. I had people who took me under their wing and spent time helping me, guiding me. One thing I’ve always valued is the wisdom of others. I love soaking up advice and taking action on it. I’ve been blessed to have a lot of that around here.
Q: OK. So for folks who maybe aren’t surrounded by people who love them, how do they make it to the top?
A: I get asked that question all the time: How do you make it to the top? I can only speak from my own experience. I never sought to be out at the top. It was never a goal of mine. The advice I give is maybe a little contrarian. A lot of people talk about career mapping. If you are here, how do you draw a line up. Visualize it. I’m not saying that’s wrong. But, that’s not how I went about it. My thing was, I just tried to do the best I could in the chair I was sitting in, and I believe in that, especially if you like the job you’re doing. If you like what you’re doing, just be really good at it. Doors start opening up for you. If you want to go into leadership, if you are a person who is constantly thinking about the next job or how the current position sets you up for the next one, how do you ask someone to follow you? How do they believe you are sincere?
Q: But if everyone is happy in the position they are in and no one is communicating they want to move up, how, as a hiring manager, do you figure out who you are going to promote?
A: I’m obviously simplifying. We’re talking about how you climb the ladder. The best way is to hit those steps. I personally look at behaviors and how you think. For me, those things matter more than experiences. A big part of leadership, a big part of management, includes making other people better. When I ask why people want the job, and I don’t hear in the first couple of sentences they want the job because they enjoy making other people better, that’s not going to be the person I pick.
Q: In the last few years, banking has faced a lot of changes and challenges, and now, there’s a lot of negative political rhetoric now about bankers. Do you think that’s deserved? And what do you think about what the critics are saying about the industry?
A: I’ll speak on behalf of Comerica. I’m proud of the behaviors we display. We believe strongly in the value of stewardship. Stewardship defind in terms of we want our customers to do well. We want to be very responsible with the capital we’re given by our depositors. We want our communities we work in to thrive. We are a basic Main Street bank. We have never lost sight of that. When you go back and you look at a company that’s been around since 1849, we’ve gone though many ebbs and flows and that sense of the long term view, doing it right, those things are core to what we do as a company.
Mike Ritchie
Age: 47
Title: President, Comerica Bank Michigan
Education: Wayne State University, bachelor’s degree; University of Michigan, master’s degree
Family: Wife Carole; five children
Hobbies: Reading, exercising, golf, watching old movies
