Unlike past down cycles, the focus for lenders—at least the ones we talked to—isn’t just keeping costs low until volume rebounds. It’s automation.

I’ve been thinking about innovation a lot lately. When the market slows and order volumes decline, we suddenly have the time we didn’t have when things were busier.

For whatever reason, some folks assume “mentorship” needs to come through some kind of formal program with titles and labels. But it’s much more than that.

Building business cultures based upon equity, respect, trust, diversity and clarity is yet another example in which doing the right thing is also the best business decision.

As we explored more deeply our potential relationship, I was struck by how densely concentrated SVB’s investments were. The focus was on high-value, high-yield businesses. That’s great when everything’s going well. But with high wealth comes high risk.

It’s fairly simple. The decisions we make when designing and implementing these incredible and advanced technologies are going to reflect our own biases, principles, beliefs, and viewpoints.

There are signs that this down cycle, too, will not be permanent. Some of the industry’s best and brightest are starting to suggest that the market will return to some level of stability this year.

If my hopeful diagnosis does prove to be correct, it’s probably time for the industry to look around and, more importantly, take a good hard look in the mirror.

We at LodeStar have built our success on doing one thing well—mastering closing fee data and helping LOs and brokers access that information instantaneously.