Pros
The level of knowledge and experience at Pinnacle is second to none. There are tremendously smart and talented people throughout the organization. Opportunities exist to learn a great deal about banking and financial services from the wealth of information and experience of the professionals that work there. Terry Turner and Rob McCabe are two of the best in the business. Terry is a terrific visionary and leader. His is very approachable and listens well to others in the firm. Rob is a hard charging, driven individual that once set in motion will continue to move forward until the job is done. Both are charismatic people that have the respect not only within the organization, but also throughout Tennessee and the Southeast US.
Cons
Pinnacle is a high pressure environment. Though Balance (as in balancing work and family or balancing short and long term goals) is one of the core values of the firm, it is often cast aside for another core value - Results. Quarterly results have become a huge driver of activities within the firm - primarily because recent quarters have been negative. The firm likes to stay very lean in all areas operationally, yet still pushes for distinctive service and effective advice. It is extremely difficult to be both distinctive and effective when you are constantly juggling multiple activities. There are individuals on the leadership team that simply do not understand this challenge, yet constantly drive to achieve results. One of Pinnacle's primary business plan objectives is to hire experienced people. On paper (and often in execution) this is a great idea. But, the hidden rule within this policy is that Pinnacle's management expects you to stay in that role indefinitely (and be happy with that role). Once hired at Pinnacle as a teller, financial adviser, or somewhere in operations, you're pretty much locked in for your tenure. There is almost no opportunity for career advancement at Pinnacle. More than once I've heard members of the leadership team say - "if you hire experienced people to perform a job, not only are they usually going to be better at that role, but they're also going to be tired of trying to climb the corporate ladder." Pinnacle is simply not a good company for anyone interested in growing in their career. Finally, there are still multiple cultures within Pinnacle. Despite having years of experience and many, many acquisitions under their belts (several of the leadership team were heavily involved in acquisitions while executives at First American), the leadership team failed to execute well on the acquisitions of Cavalry Bancorp and Mid American Bancshares. Pinnacle was originally designed to be a high service niche bank for small business and the owners of small businesses. Cavalry and MAB were mass market banks serving mostly consumers. With these acquisitions, the leadership is trying to be all things to all people. Visit an office in Mt. Juliet and the service level will be different than that provided in Murfreesboro which will be different than the service level at a Nashville based office. The recent quarters reporting losses have compounded this challenge internally as many associates that have years of experience at Pinnacle point to these acquisitions as the primary driver for the failed quarterly results.