Recent Posts
Five Strategic Questions for the Board and Senior Management
It’s a strange time for credit unions. Credit unions face unprecedented pressures from regulators and examiners and capital pressures for net interest margins and fee income. Often they don’t benefit from “economies of scale” or the resources, people, and capital, to invest in the infrastructure demands of vendor due diligence, regulatory compliance, or technology demands…
Don’t Leave your Data to Amateurs
Financial institutions own tremendous amounts of data that can provide valuable insights. How many FIs are taking advantage of this data for their strategic planning, decision-making, or marketing? Data utilization is not just about mining for shiny objects; it’s also about collecting, aggregating, cleansing, reporting, visualizing, and creating “I think” to “I know” because the…
A White Man’s Journey to Becoming an Ally
Ally (n) – one that is associated with another as a helper; (v) – to unite or form a connection between; to enter into an alliance. For background purposes, let me share my beginning point for this important journey. I was raised in a typical, white, middle-class, suburban neighborhood by a traditional family. We went…
Leadership Doesn’t Mean You Have a Horse
There he is, a leader in the middle of the park, sitting on a horse with a pigeon perched on his hat. Too often, when we picture a leader, this is the image we see. But, what should we see? A leader probably doesn’t have a horse. A leader isn’t bronze in color. A leader…
Moving From Incremental to Transformational Growth
Too often, I see organizations that keep getting in their way. They celebrate mediocre performance, average results, and incremental growth. Occasionally I find an organization that is satisfied in just cruising slowly into obsolescence, unwilling to admit what is happening to the company. Today’s competitive, fast-paced business climate does not tolerate mediocracy for long. Companies…
Is your Credit Union’s Org Chart Strategically Aligned?
Is your credit union organized for today’s consumers? Unfortunately, credit unions are often “stuck” in an organization chart that reflects the business of the past, not the company of the future. But what needs to change? Too often, the credit union’s org structure is aligned historically based on legacy roles and job descriptions. The problem…
Future of Branches? Look at the Data
What is the future of the credit union branch? This is the topic of ongoing strategic debates. Most of these debates are fraught with emotion. Some of these debates pivot around pride in having a display of a brand presence. Many of these debates are driven by a lack of wanting to see the reality…
5 Steps to Making your Culture Real
We’ve all heard the nightmare stories of a business’s reputation being damaged by significant cultural attributes failures. Maybe the failure is with their values. Significant companies have faced huge fines, and executives have gone to jail for not living up to their published values. These companies include Wells Fargo, Volkswagen, General Motors, Purdue Pharmaceuticals, and…
Air Travel, Leading and Stress
Stress is part of our lives. Outside forces can cause us stress, and we can cause stress for others and ourselves. Air travel is a source of stress; that’s what makes it a good metaphor for stress management behaviors. Many people find air travel very stressful. The stress surrounding air travel is not unlike the…