Insane growth at credit unions could be a killer

One thing I am always open to is admitting when I am wrong. As I’ve gotten older and matured as a leader, I’ve had to look back at things I’ve said and re-think them. There have been many times as a youthful leader I started a sentence with “I’ll never…” and found myself eating those words. Most of the time, it’s not because I was wrong per se, but because as I’ve invested in myself through reading, working with coaches, and personal growth, I’ve had to change my mind on certain things. What worked for me 10 years ago doesn’t necessarily work for me now.

One of those things I’ve had to change my mind about I want to share with you today. It’s the concept of “growth.” WE NEED TO GROW! Your credit union needs to grow! “Growth” is a loaded word that can have many meanings.

For example, “you need to grow as a person.” Without context, that could very well be a recommendation to gain weight. Jeff Siegler explores this thought in a recent article on this very subject as he explores the “growth” of cities from a planning perspective. “Eating garbage food and being sedentary is the easiest path for a person to grow, but we all know that such growth is quite unhealthy. We don’t need to be fitness experts to understand that this behavior would have seriously negative impacts on the health of an individual. Simultaneously, a person could increase their weight by strength training and eating a higher protein diet. Muscle increases are shown to increase metabolism, bone density and lead to an overall higher quality of life. A person could grow fatter or more muscular, but we would never equate the two as being the same.”

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