Collaboration and values-based credit unions are at stake.
By Henry Wirz
I just returned from the Western States Summit Round Table, founded many years ago by Stan Hollen, Rudy Hanley, Ed Callahan and Gary Oakland. These former credit union CEOs, all retired now or in other roles, were part of my generation of CEOs. The question I ask myself over and over is who will assume the kind of leadership that they and others of our generation brought to their credit unions and the credit union system in general. Many CEOs at the recent round tables are of the next generation, and it is too soon to see if they will be great leaders, too. The last generation of CEOs created the modern credit union with professional management, they developed the CUSOs (CUDL, CO-OP, PSCU, CSCU, MBL, etc.) and they played a great role in political advocacy and regulatory advocacy, possibly saving credit unions with HR 1151. What made CEOs like Stan Hollen, Rudy Hanley, Ed Callahan and Gary Oakland effective is that they were doers, thinkers and advocates. I have attended many round tables and what I recall is that our generation of CEOs used the round tables to collaborate with other CEOs to come up with new ideas and collaboratively work to bring them to fruition--whether those ideas led to new CUSOs or just fundamental research (including creating Filene Research Institute). I recall we funded the Barth and Brumbough research that looked at whether credit unions might have the same kinds of risks that doomed the savings and loans. We engaged First Manhattan to research how we could expand credit union market share. We funded one of the first cooperative branding programs in the nation for California and Nevada credit unions. We supported reform initiatives like Vision 2000 that became the blueprint for changing leagues and eventually CUNA.
Perhaps mistakenly we created a lot of other trade organizations that may have split our focus. I feel the current roundtables have less collaboration, less sharing of ideas and maybe even less thinking about where the movement should go. I think credit unions' now more open fields of membership have created a much more competitive climate that has hurt collaboration. I would hope that boards hire CEOs who recognize that collaboration is strength and not a weakness. I hope that boards hire CEOs who have strong values and who understand the importance of translating those values into the credit union’s culture. A credit union that doesn’t have a value-based culture is one that is adrift and probably lacks purpose. The credit union today has to focus on member experience and the purpose of the credit union experience is to transform the member’s state to one of improved financial well-being so the member can enjoy life. Many credit unions have mission statements that are based on improving member financial well-being. Yet few credit unions measure how well they do that. That raises the question of whether the credit union is accountable for its mission. There are some credit unions, in my opinion, that are no longer relevant to their members. They have a mission that is more likely to perpetuate the credit union and preserve jobs for management than it is to do what is best for members. That is a failure of leadership. It is self-serving. It points out how important it is to be a values-based credit union.
CUES member Henry Wirz is CEO of SAFE Credit Union, N. Highlands, Calif. CUES Elite Access: Leadership Brand and Shadow starts in May. It is offered virtually, in partnership with Cornell University.
