Over two decades, I’ve seen credit union leaders and Boards get distracted by the proverbial ‘shiny object’ . . . burning through human resources, valuable time, and far too often, money.
At Capstone Strategic, we live by a simple mantra: strategy first. On paper, it’s straightforward. In practice, it’s surprisingly rare.
Even the most disciplined leadership teams can get pulled off course when a new idea or “can’t miss” opportunity appears. But let me be clear: the problem isn’t exploring opportunities. It’s doing so without a lens that aligns with your agreed-upon strategy.
Let me share an example. Just one month after a leadership team and Board had completed their annual strategic planning cycle, a CEO attended a charity golf event. During a conversation on the course, they heard about a local fintech seeking to raise capital. Interest was piqued since the Founders were from the same area, someone on the course vouched—through second-hand reports—for the technology, and the CEO had recently read that many credit unions were investing in fintechs. By Monday, the full leadership team was tasked with researching the fintech company, assessing its competitive position and potential use in the credit union market, meeting the team, and evaluating cultural fit . . . all on top of the team’s already full plates, and all well outside what they discussed pursuing during planning. The strapped group was left to wonder what this investment would do to further their recently agreed-upon, and seemingly abandoned, strategic roadmap.
And here is another case. Leadership and the Board of a credit union had just finalized a CUSO acquisition strategy focused on peers within their county-based field of membership. Two weeks later, the Chairman learned—through an outside friend—about a ‘for-sale’ company three states away who had hired a headhunter to lead a new CEO search. An email suggestion to “explore the opportunity” sent the CEO and leadership team scrambling to gather intelligence, identify connections, and craft outreach . . . all, again, pulling focus away from their organization, members, and their deliberate, targeted growth plan they had just committed to.
When resources are limited—and they always are—leaders have only two currencies to spend: time and money. Deploy them against your strategic roadmap, not personal whims or impulse projects. Objective criteria, scoring, and team-based evaluation make it easier to confidently say “no” to distractions and “yes” to initiatives that truly advance your mission and strategic plan.
The truth is, opportunity is everywhere. But not every opportunity is your opportunity.
Focus ensures you blaze the right paths—the journeys that align with your goals, leverage your strengths, and create lasting value for your members. As a trusted partner to CUSO and credit union leaders nationwide, we’ve seen the power of a disciplined growth plan in action: teams move faster, execute better, and create momentum that compounds over time.
My advice: build your strategy, believe in it, measure against it, and refine it as you learn. That brand of focus doesn’t limit you: it empowers you. Because when your growth efforts are rooted in clarity and discipline, you’re not just reacting to the market, you are shaping your own future.
