Posted by Lisa Hochgraf
There's a lot of talk in my world about thinking positive and keeping a positive outlook. In practice, I really do try to operate as positively as possible.
But two elements of last week's FORUM Symposium in Indianapolis reminded me that a certain amount of skepticism is a really healthy thing.
One was the unveiling of and the presentation by the once-anonymous CU Skeptic, now known to be Mark McSpadden of Garland Group/Banktastic. Mark the CU Skeptic has on his blog the tagline "I'm not drinking the credit union koolaid." In a year, his 24 anonymous posts (which generated 160 comments) pushed the envelope, asking hard questions about how (and even whether) CUs today are implementing the seven cooperative principles.
I realized toward the end of Mark's presentation that I was scared he'd stop blogging once he was known widely. I want him to keep asking hard questions and pushing us to think about why we're really in this business and what we can be doing better. Thankfully, he says he intends to continue.
Interestingly, Mark wasn't the only skeptic at the conference. Ron Shevlin of Aite Group, and the author of the Marketing ROI blog, was there, too. After each conference session, the speaker and Ron would sit down in comfortable chairs on the side of the stage. Ron would ask the presenter probing questions, press for specifics, challenge assumptions. Then Ron would open things up to audience questions.
The buzz around the conference was that the Q&A Ron was having with speakers really added depth to the conversation and primed the pump for audience questions. The speakers knew what was coming and were ready. Not only to respond to good, challenging questions, but also to lighten the mood. For example, after his presentation on mobile banking, Mt. Lehman Credit Union's Gene Blishen invited Ron to wear a jester hat.
In all, the skeptics really added a richness to what went on at FORUM Symposium. And they regularly add a richness to the overall conversation about CUs. I thank them.
