Brand, Elevated.
When I previewed the new CUES brand for credit union leaders at CUES Symposium: A CEO/Chairman Exchange in February, I showed a scene from the movie Hoosiers.
In the clip, the players from a small town’s basketball team are awed upon entering a large Indiana basketball stadium, the space in which they’d play the championship game. The team’s coach wisely had several of the players measure the distance from the basketball goal to the free throw line and also the height of the basket. The measurements matched the dimensions of their gym back home—the point being that the team should focus on the court, rather than the larger building it was in.
Similarly, when a financial services consumer walks into a credit union branch or a bank branch, the dimensions are the same. The winner in the larger financial services arena will be decided on talent and performance.
Enter CUES and its new, elevated brand position to develop the talent of CU leaders, and set them up for successful performance.
Great brands move forward and evolve with time while leveraging their history. After 50 years of serving credit union leaders, CUES is moving to the next level. Helping CU leaders and future leaders realize their full potential is CUES’ role in supporting the industry’s future.
Developing potential through partnerships with top-tier universities has long been the hallmark of CUES’ CEO Institute and CUES Governance Leadership Institute™, working with University of Pennsylvania/Wharton School, Cornell University/Johnson School, University of Virginia/Darden School and the University of Toronto/Rotman School.
Developing potential in the form of better innovative thinking is what is driving our new Strategic Innovation Institute™, which will launch this fall at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Segment two will take place in fall 2015 at Stanford University’s School of Business.
Importantly, the CUES vision for talent development is one of international proportions. In January, CUES hired its first Canadian employee to deepen relationships there. CUES also remains committed to helping international members realize their potential through a partnership with the Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions and the jointly hosted CCCU and CUES International Convention. In addition, CUES has solidified its participation in the World Council of Credit Unions, receiving its WOCCU flag this past summer.
Last week at CUNA’s Governmental Affairs Conference, members, vendors and other friends from the CU movement celebrated the new brand with a special “Red, White and CUES” reception, lively conversation in the CUES booth and tweets marking the occasion.
The CEOs and chairs who saw my presentation about the new brand at CUES Symposium gave it a standing ovation. I’d love to hear your feedback about the new brand and your experiences with CUES as well.
