Kanas urges grads to be bold

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John Kanas, one of the region’s best known bankers, had some reassuring advice at the LIU Post commencement ceremony for graduate students earlier this month.

The former CEO of North Fork Bancorp who leads Miami Lakes, Fla.-based BankUnited said he had worked on a farm (where he grew up), sweeping a grocery store floor, tending bar on a train, waiting tables, landscaping and teaching.

Kanas graduated from LIU in 1968 and launched a career in banking, becoming well known as the architect of mergers that helped turn North Fork Bancorp into among the biggest banks in the nation.

“Relax. Your passion will find you,” Kanas told the graduates at the May 8 commencement on the lawn of the school’s Brookville campus. “Trust in God and learn to be bold. I see it in many of our employees all the time who have great innate talents and have the fear of stepping out and expressing themselves and exercising those talents.”

Lynne Greene, president of the Estée Lauder Corp., spoke at LIU Post’s undergraduate ceremony, while Kanas addressed the graduate students.

LIU offers 500 accredited programs to more than 20,000 students and has a network of over 200,000 alumni. But Kanas, an LIU graduate who returned home to speak, gave advice that seemed to tell the story of his success and a message that others could follow.

“Don’t let others define you,” Kanas, a teacher who went on to become among the region’s best known bankers, “and don’t let others define who you are.”

Kanas redefined himself many times, going from teaching to banking and then growing North Fork Bancorp into a giant and then selling it to Capital One.

At the age of 29, Kanas was named one of the country’s youngest bank CEOs when he took the helm of a then still small East End bank called North Fork Bancorp.

He led the company through an initial public offering and through mergers, through good times and tough times, all the time growing it until it became part of the S&P 500 Index.

Capital One in 2006 acquired North Fork Bank, where Kanas stayed on until leaving to lead Miami-based BankUnited, which has since grown its operations in Melville and New York City as well as Florida.

“Steve Jobs said that one right,” Kanas quoted. “He said your time here is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other opinions drown you out, and drown out your inner self.”

While encouraging efforts to achieve excellence, Kanas also reminded graduates that the unrelenting pursuit perfection can be the enemy of achievement, as reality and unrealistic expectations collide.

“Get in the game, and remember you don’t have to be perfect,” he said. “The best hitters in baseball only hit the ball three out of seven times.”

The most important lesson, Kanas said, isn’t simply how to succeed, but how to handle setbacks. “One thing, if you don’t remember anything else, is get rid of the fear of failure in your lives,” Kanas said. “Learn to fail, or you will eventually fail to learn.”

But he did give one piece of very specific advice that sounded a lot like one of Benjamin Franklin’s adages about the early bird getting the worm. “Get to work 15 minutes early every day,” he said. “You’ll be amazed at what happens in your life.”