Richard W. (Dick) Evans, who will retired as CEO of San Antonia-based Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc., spent nearly 16 years serving in some capacity in the Federal Reserve.

“My concern is that the Fed is moving away from a model of leadership ad guidance toward an analytical, model-driven one. Nobody questions the importance of data, but part of being a central bank is about leading, inspiring confidence and bringing a human element.

“Lately there has been this ‘analysis paralysis’ where the focus on data has taken precedence over leadership, and it has led to a lot of confusion. When analysts need to parse through every phrase of a  press release that the Fed puts out in order to figure out what they are trying to do, that isn’t leadership. It has become so technical that nobody really knows what is going on.”