Friday, January 26, 2024

SECU: Consider This: Chapter 6 - Blind To The Potential?

https://www.canr.msu.edu/contentAsset/image/30c49d3e-4468-4f4a-b2ff-6c401603fe7c/fileAsset/filter/Resize,Jpeg/resize_w/750/jpeg_q/80  SECU is different!

Lets' play a quick game of Scrabble... 

😎 But first, a brief review of the conversation so far, which doesn't seem to have created too much controversy (but don't worry, it's coming!). 

Chapter 1 [link] established that there are unique things in our world; that credit unions are not banks; and that the idea of a "non-profit bank" makes about as much sense as the ideas: jumbo shrimp, pretty ugly, cold as hell, killed by friendly fire, and educational TV!  Chapter 2 [link] pointed out how folks quite often misunderstand the meaning of words - like "bank" and "credit union" ("football" - NFL or World Cup soccer?); and Chapter 3 [link], acknowledged, that like it or not, the word "bank" is how most folks perceive their credit union - the "Kleenex dilemma", which credit unions must seek to overcome. Chapter 4 [link] made clear that the lawyers, legislators, and bankers who "passed the laws and wrote the rules", fully understood that credit unions were never intended to be banks; and Chapter 5 [link] noted that founding credit union members weren't confused either - those folks knew exactly what a credit union was and why they were creating it!

So lets' play a little "Credit Union" Scrabble. You know the game, everybody has played at least once (... and once is usually enough for most of us!). You get a bunch of random letters of the alphabet and try to arrange the letters into meaningful words to score points. Above you see the letters which represent "credit union". Is it possible to re-imagine "credit union" into something unique, which would change the perception of SECU members that SECU is just another "bank" (that Kleenex dilemma"!)? 

It's hard to change well-entrenched myths, a difficult hill to climb... an impossible task? Well, of course it is impossible, if you are a "Legacy 8 Board member", CEO, or employee who doesn't understand or believe: "There is a Difference". With that attitude you can't help but fail - as a credit union - and that is what is occurring.

But if SECU members truly understood that credit unions were different and believed that their credit union was unique .... they just might come to agree: "Credit union membership is a certificate of character and a badge of honor" (as banker John Sprunt Hill said) in North Carolina.

✅ What if you re-scrabbled those "credit union" letters to make SECU something unique? Here's how you do it. First, members want SECU to be efficient, a bargain, the low cost provider; so go on an operating cost "DIET" and "EDIT" out those 4 letters, and you'll start to see the "TIDE" of membership opinion improve. Second, you do need to have good technology, so as IT folks say "pack your bytes" (in other words, get rid of those blank "spaces"), which leaves "CRUNION". Now get busy, work hard, tell the truth, listen to your members, be transparent, and as Herb Kelleher [link] so bluntly said "Screw conventional wisdom" [or "industry standard", if you prefer!].  

 And, if you stay true to purpose (and stay on that "DIET"!), here's what you can re-imagine and create:

                              http://www.buckleshop.com/images/4571.jpg 

                                                     A UNICORN!

                                           ("C R U N I O N", re-imagined.)

 

... and as an SECU member would you rather own a unicorn or a bank?


22 comments:

  1. #RemoveLeighBrady #ArrestThe8

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  2. I used to have so much pride telling people I worked for SECU! I want that feeling back. People wanted to join because we were truly the best of the best! Now, I'm very hesitant to let people know where I work because of the reputation we are gaining in our small town. People see there WAS a difference and now, well, we're just turning into a institution led by greedy practices that most employees dont support. We're no longer keeping our reputation of helping people who deserved a chance - we're punishing them with sky high lending rates. I want SECU to be a unicorn again! My servant heart is breaking.

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    1. Well if folks say something to you, level with them and tell them the truth. Shine your light so they know the truth!

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    2. Amen to that. It is the only way to turn it around.

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  3. Great piece Mr. B. I can see a great marketing slogan - “Be a Unicorn, join the Credit Union, There is a Difference!” (And you’re not even being overpaid to create drivel - marketing expenses up $3 million year over year.) A whole original, effective marketing plan and it’s free….nah, forget it, that’d be too easy for them…or maybe too hard.

    Sadly, many of these folks “in charge” at SECU, are living as Piggies in Orwell’s 1984 (or should I say “Piggy Banks”?). We all lived as equals until the Piggies believed they knew better than the rest of us. Now apparently it’s ok to “eat” the least among us with RBL.

    The Piggies got to go…

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    1. Assume the commenter above meant Animal Farm instead of 1984, been a while since I read them too.

      Does bring up a few interesting analogies, references to Orwell's Pigs and the current "Leadership" at SECU. Makes drawing distinctions pretty easy.

      #BeAUnicorn

      #UnicornsCreateMagic

      #PiggiesGottaGo!

      #RockPaperScissorsUnicornsBeatPiggies

      #TheLittlePiggiesCriedWee!Wee!Wee!AllTheWayHome

      #DuckThatYouPiggies!

      We are no longer The Resistance, We Are The Unicorns!



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  4. So if we think these folks in charge now care about what a credit union is we are fooling ourselves...
    Do you ever think they would require 'yearly' education on what a credit union is versus a bank? NOPE!!!
    They rushed to get rid of modules (history of CU's)...
    Now DEI ... they are all over that ... so where do their allegiance lie?

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  5. Gonna have to change the Duck to a Unicorn ...

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  6. "In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
    let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised."

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  7. From the 35 year employee who explained to my members at our branch that we did not allow four letter words like “BANK” in the SECU and then would take the time to explain the difference. Another analogy I would use in explaining the difference between a bank and credit union was that: a credit union CEO and Board (Ed Greer and Jim Blaine during my tenure) would contemplate how to pay the highest savings rate possible while charging the lowest loan rates and fees possible. While a bank CEO and Board contemplates how to pay the lowest savings rate possible and charge the highest loan rates and fees possible. There was a difference! Wonder what Leigh and the Board are contemplating? Credit Union Non Profit Cooperative Thoughts or Bank Thoughts?

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    Replies
    1. We know how they think, the proof is in the pudding ... You can't hide what's in your DNA ...

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  8. Imagine if 1/2 to 3/4 or the front line staff and middle employees went on 'strike' for a day. We want change we want our old SECU the one where we worked for a salary that was liveable, possibly below market rate, but we worked on that salary because we have the soul of people who want to do what's right for our members.
    Upper management and C levels have lost sight of who makes SECU run like it should. If the employees who want our credit union back all called out for a day or two the 'elite' employees would see they really have NO IDEA what it takes and would get a fast and swift reality check.
    But we wouldn't do that because we care about our members and the undue hardship that would cause them. Real change needs to happen but the higher ups are so blind and out of touch drastic acts are the only way, but it would be at the expense of the membership who need to visit the branches daily or get loans for an emergency and a majority of the employees couldn't do that with a clean conscious.

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  9. Brady bunch do not care about the members or employees. It's business as usual under Brady. It's like hazy gym never left minus the all employee emails. Bad decisions, continuing losses, vendors still dining and wooing, companies like Experis dropping in with breakfast, etc. Brady bunch, arrogant bombastica and his cronies like Lee Chalk, Jennifer Varron (another piece of work - insulting, belittling and demeaning employees at every chance) have to go. Only then can this place can heal and recover.

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    1. once you sell your soul, there's a heavy price to pay!

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    2. reward my friends and destroy the members

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    3. @4:49AM…..Couldn’t agree more. Jennifer Varron is nasty to legacy employees. Also, I’m not sure where she gets her superiority complex from. She brings very little to the table.

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  10. SECU needs an intervention ...

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  11. Getting sick of management touting the "Credit Union Difference" when they don't even understand the true difference.

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    Replies
    1. Levin off the success of others' hard work ...

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  12. Soooooo...... Bank of America and Wells Fargo just announced bonuses for employees making under $75,000 a year.

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    1. They'll need it for therapy ...

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    2. As long as Poor Leigh and the "Legacy Board" is around, you can absolutely forget any type of bonus or cost of living raise again - ever. They are NOT pro-branch, pro-employees, nor pro-member. They are, however, pro-GREED. I wish all of them would quietly dip out over a weekend like Gym Haze. What a blessing that would be!

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