Onsite: Keeping Austin Weird CU Water Cooler Symposium Style
Tim McAlpine (Currency Marketing) welcomed roughly 150 enthusiastic credit union professionals to Austin, Texas for this year’s CU Water Cooler Symposium. The 5th annual event is being held at the Alamo Drafthouse, The Ritz. The venue has quite the past since it’s opening in 1929. Before it’s current incarnation as a brew and view movie theater it was a punk rock venue hosting acts like the Red Hot Chile Peppers and the Dead Kennedy’s. This week it is host to the future leaders (and some current leaders too) of the credit union movement.
A recap of some of the highlights from Thursday (wish I could go through every presentation but there is a happy hour hosted by our friends at Buzz Points starting in a few minutes):
Matt Davis (6th Story) presented “Buried in a Pringles Can: Leading and Living Innovation.” Matt walked the group down the path of five truths. Truth 1: Credit unions’ rebirth won’t be an accounting trick. Truth2: Get frustrated – “We do not have a regulation crisis, we have an identity crisis.” Truth 3: You can’t do it alone. Truth 4: The buck stops with you, stop waiting for perfect. Truth 5: You’re not saving credit unions… you’re saving you. That will save credit unions.
In Shari Storm’s (6th Story) presentation “How to Be a Better Boss,” walked the group through how she became a better leader after becoming a parent. Shari stated “human nature is human nature.” Age is not a qualifier on how we are as people, we have the same basic tendencies at 2 or 82. You can read more on the importance of her the key points of leadership (Articulate – Orchestrate – Celebrate) in her book Motherhood Is the New MBA. A few points that stood out in the presentation were; not to turn a teller into a salesperson, that is like trying to turn a dog into a cat. Celebrate effort. Not just success. Also, give your employees time to process change. Don’t assume they are resistant to it, people just want an environment that is predictable; they want to know how you, as a leader, will react to things.
If you have never sat through a Ron Shevlin (Aite Group), you are missing out. Agree or disagree, Ron will make you think. The presentation was based on the premise that credit unions must be the financial advisor to the financially-engaged masses. What the masses are looking for is advice of spending and savings. This is the everyday type of advice. 3 behavior characteristics of financially-engaged: the budget, categorize their expense, and are looking for advice. Ron talked about the future of credit unions being; The future of credit unions based on service based pricing: monitizing advice, not transactions. A closed-loop membership system: No member left behind (the number one reason people leave the credit union is being turned down for a loan). Creating a credit union Finscore: the Fitbit of banking. Shevlin finished by saying the moment of opportunity for credit unions is not the transaction. It’s before and after the transaction.
Andy Janning (No Net Solutions) ended the day with an emotional presentation. “Burnout! Admit it. Spot it. Defeat it.” discussed burnout and the importance of recognizing it and coming out of it. Many of the questions from the audience focused on how to lead groups that are experiencing burnout and how to continue to lead while you are burned out. We also learned not to schedule a vasectomy late in the day on a Friday.
There were also presentations from Jamila Draper (Mirasu Consulting), Alix Patterson (Callahan & Associates), Brett Wooden (Cy-Fair FCU), Linda Bodie (Element FCU) and Chris Danvers (American Airlines FCU).
Matt Davis (6th Story) “Buried in a Pringles Can: Leading and Living Innovation”
Shari Storm (6th Story) “How to Be a Better Boss”
Ron Shevlin (Aite Group) “The Future of Credit Unions”
Andy Janning (No Net Solutions) “Burnout! Admit it. Spot it. Defeat it.”
