Blog
What’s Up With Bank Websites? 7 Things to Fix What’s Broken
Bank websites look at them. They are ugly. They look like someone puked products and offers all over your iPad. They require the user to scroll endlessly. They have complex navigation points and menus, menus, and more menus. To research, find and buy requires many clicks. All of this is friction. Why can’t banks get…
Leadership Begins and Ends with Honesty
When you look back at past bosses you respected, bosses that were okay and bosses, how can I say it, needing a significant reboot, what made them different? I liked a boss that was honest with me. It seemed they knew when I messed up, it was unintentional. That doesn’t mean they overlooked my failures,…
Getting Your Ducks in a Row – Strategic Planning
We often think about strategic planning as a one or two-day event that involves some crucial steps: Validating your mission, vision, values Doing a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) analysis Thinking BIG about what you want to become Identifying 3-5 vital strategic initiatives that will take you to this future place These four steps are…
Marketing Must Know These Key Ratios
The primary Business Model for credit unions is straightforward. It is Money in Money out. Credit unions buy money ( deposits) from members (Cost of Funds) and then loans out those deposits to Members (Interest Income) at a higher interest rate (Margin). Of course, there are multitudes of nuance to this model, that’s why credit…
To Be a Great Leader Requires You to Be Wrong
Have you worked for a boss with all the answers and didn’t need new ideas or recommendations? In your humble opinion, was he/she that smart? Would the department, project, or organization have benefited from a boss that was not a “know it all”? As you start to add leadership to your job description, remember the…
3 Steps to Team Alignment
How often have you worked with a team that isn’t on the same page? This familiar work situation of being misaligned is not the team’s fault, but the leader/manager’s responsibility. What Elements are required for Team Alignment? 1. Purpose 2. Culture 3. Values When any of these three elements are out of alignment, the result…
Leaders Don’t Listen? Really?
Condoleezza Rice once said, “When you’re in a position of authority, you need truth-tellers around you.” Did she hit the mark? You bet.First, let us agree that one element of leadership is the authority. To be a leader, you must have some authority. This authority isn’t determined by power but by your ability to motivate,…
The Eight Attributes of a Transformational Leader
I have been very lucky to work for CEOs who understood the principle that leadership is not about doing business as usual but about transforming the organization. Transformation is what differentiates a capable leader from a great leader. Transformational leadership is not easy. It is fraught with risk and reward, angst and celebration, stress and…
A Leader’s Dilemma; Punish or Pamper?
On CBS Morning, there was a piece titled Punish or Pamper. The news story was about how to maximize productivity in the workplace. Why is this an either/or issue? Is managing a team about punish or pamper? I don’t think so… There are times when employees need and deserve to be pampered, and conversely, there…
Leadership of Knowing When to Hand It Off
Leadership is about knowing when to step forward and knowing when to step away. Many times in my career, I have had a chance to do both. In my experience, stepping forward is much easier than stepping back. In every leadership role, there is a tipping point. Most leaders’ error is not seeing that tipping…
Need help?
If you seek to align your culture to your mission, purpose, promise, and values, contact Rich at 720.256.4936 or Rich@l2ldev.flywheelsites.com.