Chairman and CEO Ron Paul says EagleBank’s success has always been tied to growing and managing business relationships.

“To me, it’s all about relationships. Our tagline at EagleBank is ‘relationships first’,” said Paul. This motto was designed by eight employees tasked with finding the most important thing in the community.

“It’s something that I’ve built my whole career around, and at the end of the day, to me, that’s what matters,” he said.

Paul started as a bookkeeper for a small realty firm before launching his own real estate company. With a group of other entrepreneurs, Paul started EagleBank in 1998, and since then the bank has grown to $7 billion.

When Paul talks about relationships, he doesn’t mean the traditional, transactional definition.

“They’re two-ways, but they don’t have to have a direct benefit. The benefit is, you’ve gotten to know someone that you hopefully can help,” he said. “It’s a wonderful feeling, building relationships for people that you can help, and that they can help you, however that evolves… to me, it’s a pretty cool thing to be able to just give back.”

On giving back, Paul has a consistent track record of working in and giving to nonprofits, stretching back to his high school days. “I was always that person that had that fire in the belly… I always strived to be the best leader I could be,” Paul told What’s Working in Washington.

If more business leaders focus on developing relationships versus taking hard stances, the entire region would benefit, he said on the show.

“We need to listen to each other more, and we need to cooperate with each other more,” said Paul. “Not just on the political front, but even in business. People need to stop drawing a line in the sand, people just need to, again, build relationships and compromise.”

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