The CUInsight Experience podcast: Adaptability with Brad Bergmooser (#220)

Welcome to episode 220 of The CUInsight Experience podcast with your hosts, Randy Smith, co-founder of CUInsight.com, and Jill Nowacki, President and CEO of Humanidei.

This episode is sponsored by The Sheeter Group - a leading executive benefits firm that meets your retention and succession needs. This includes non-qualified benefit plans, short and long-term incentive plans, compensation studies, scorecard design, performance evaluation, and more. Learn more at sheetergroup.com.

In this season, Jill and I will have conversations centered around leadership, credit unions, and living our best lives. We will have some of the most respected leaders from around credit unions who we are grateful to call friends join us in the discussion from time to time too.

In this episode, we welcome Brad Bergmooser, CEO of Financial Plus Credit Union - Michigan. He joins us to discuss one of the most important aspects of being an effective leader—adaptability. Adaptability is shown to be crucial not just for leaders, but for entire organizations, and we explore how credit unions need to be "fast followers" to keep up with demands for instant, personalized service. Clinging to the "way we've always done it" is a recipe for getting left behind.

Listen as Brad shares how he has embraced change and disruption to create an exciting, fast-paced environment that attracts top talent to the credit union industry. We dig into the difference between reacting to change vs. proactively adapting to it, and Brad provides examples of how he has developed adaptable leaders on his team by giving them assignments outside of their comfort zones, ultimately building their "muscle memory" for taking on uncertainty.

We also discuss the challenges of leading teams through rapid change and how some leaders struggle with the loss of control that can sometimes come with the territory of being adaptable, and Brad highlights the importance of surrounding yourself with experts who can fill the gaps in your own knowledge, rather than trying to be the all-knowing CEO.

We ultimately offer some insights for aspiring leaders into how to foster adaptability in themselves and in their teams, with key traits including embracing failure as a learning opportunity, maintaining confidence while also being vulnerable, and constantly putting yourself in uncomfortable situations to build that crucial adaptability muscle! Enjoy our conversation with Brad Bergmooser!

[2:01] – Brad argues that change attracts adaptable talent, making credit unions more exciting.
[4:55] – Credit unions need to act as fast followers in order to meet member demand or run the risk of falling behind.
[7:55] – Jill points out how succession planning requires decades of foresight, not last-minute scrambling before a CEO retires.
[9:48] – Brad asserts that preparing leaders early helps ensure adaptability and minimizes disruption.
[12:25] – Adaptability helps lead to resilience, helping leaders and organizations rebound quickly from disruptions.
[14:18] – Randy adds that it’s important for organizations to guide teams through change at the same pace leadership embraces it.
[15:38] – Credit unions It’s important, Brad argues, for credit unions to embrace change to satisfy members and employees.
[17:24] – Jill discusses how some leaders resist change out of fear, especially when innovations such as AI threaten control.
[19:22] – Brad explains how CEO adaptability depends more on career fatigue than age, making succession planning especially important.
[22:01] – Hear how vulnerable yet confident leadership builds credibility, showing teams that their ideas and expertise truly matter.
[25:05] – Brad argues that thriving requires a culture unafraid of failure.
[28:18] – Credit unions struggle with slow legacy providers, making adaptability a huge win.
[29:13] – Collective pressure helps credit unions influence legacy providers and foster smoother fintech integrations.
[31:35] – Brad believes that leadership readiness comes from embracing discomfort, staying calm, and building up diverse career experiences.
[33:27] – Jill puts forth that true confidence means admitting uncertainty and learning together.
[35:54] – Randy states that progress comes from quick learning and adjusting strategy as needed.
[36:47] – It’s so important for leaders to abandon failing partnerships, resist sunk costs, and embrace change to stay resilient.
[38:44] – Adaptability ultimately keeps credit unions innovative, resilient, and faithful to their people-first foundation!