Here comes Walter Dods.

Walter Dods keeps a dog outside his office. Not a live dog, but a modest-sized sculpture of one that the bank purchased from a local artist. The vaguely oriental-looking animal wears a curious expression. It almost seems to be smiling, yet the look also suggests tenacity. Not everyone at the

If you were to spend three days observing and trying to keep up with the fast-moving chairman and chief executive officer of First Hawaiian, Inc., you might sense that the sculpture and its caretaker are kindred spirits.

The man who will be president of the American Bankers Association for the next 12 months is an affable, down-to-earth fellow who is at home speaking with anyone. At the same time, he is by all indications an aggressive competitor, a hands-on manager with an almost uncanny grasp of detail, and a boss who gives his subordinates free rein to innovate, but also holds them accountable. Thus, like the sculpture outside his office, there's a certain yin and yang to Walter Dods--personable yet demanding.

Because an organization reflects its CEO, attention to detail permeates the culture at First Hawaiian. In an $8 billion-assets organization scattered over four states and the island of Guam, senior managers can't know everything, of course, and they don't. But FHI managers--Dods first and foremost--know a great deal of what's going on in the organization. One big reason why is because they talk to each other a lot. "There's no such thing as overcommunication," says Dods. He insists on frequent communication of ideas, problems, and successes among the different divisions to avoid the "silo" mentality that plagues many large organizations.

This detail-oriented, communicative culture has served the bank well during the four-year recession that Hawaii is just emerging from. While the bank saw its nonperforming loans rise during that period, it suffered relatively few outright losses, and remained profitable the whole time (ROA never fell lower than 1%).

Open communication also encourages innovation, which is something Dods is particularly proud of. First Hawaiian was the first bank to put customers' photos on bank cards, for example. Likewise it offers auto loans of any duration-27, 33, 52 months, anything up to 60 months--rather than forcing customers to conform to fixed schedules.