Extraordinary Growth Doesn’t Just Happen
by Tyler Quigley
My name is Tyler, and I grow giant pumpkins. Not just big pumpkins. Giant pumpkins. The kind of pumpkins that could someday rise out of the murky depths of the Pacific Ocean and terrorize Tokyo. My personal best came from one of the pumpkins I grew last season. It weighed in at 1,454.5 pounds and was the second largest ever recorded in Utah.
Growing a pumpkin that large is an enormous (pardon the obligatory pun) undertaking, and as I’ve learned more about the planning, hard work, and dedication necessary to cultivating these behemoths, I’ve realized there are a lot of parallels to be drawn between cultivating pumpkins and the principles of my day job.
When it comes to growing a world-class giant pumpkin, the season starts well before a seed is actually planted in the soil. Prior to anything else, you have to research which seed you’ll use. Great pumpkins have pedigrees, and seeds from proven winners can come at a premium. A large part of the pre-planting preparation is networking with other growers around the country and trying to acquire one of these blue-blooded seeds.
All of these are also true about the care in which you craft a world-class executive benefit plans. Getting them right requires lots of groundwork, both in terms of vendor due diligence (that networking process) and in determining what products and services you are going to use to fund the plan.
After you get your hands on the seed, you have to prepare the soil and set up your irrigation system. The most outstanding seed in the world won’t grow without access to essential nutrients.
In other words, now that you’ve selected your vendor, it’s time to dig and work with them to design a plan that will blossom and help you attract, retain, and reward key executives who can help your Credit Union flourish.
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