SECU: Consider This: Chapter 1 - The Difference?

   SECU is different!

SECU has always had one major weakness, which has now come front and center to endanger the future of the Credit Union. What is that liability? What is this dangerous, ominous risk? 

It is simply that SECU is an unusual, different - and perhaps unique - organization. Nothing wrong with being different, except... most SECU members, many SECU employees, all of the current SECU Legacy Board members, and the public in general don't understand that difference, that uniqueness. The danger in that? Well, as Joni Mitchell so aptly said: "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone. You pave paradise and put up a parking lot."[link]

Hopefully, taking some time to explain that SECU difference, that SECU uniqueness will help members and employees make an informed decision on what their Credit Union should be in the future.  "Paradise or parking lot".

So, going to let you in on some facts and stories about SECU you may not have heard before. Going to call the series "Consider This" and hope you will engage in the discussion - pro and con - with your comments. What is "The SECU difference", what's all this fuss about, anyway?

For today a couple of easy questions for you to consider:

1) Is anything in life really unique? If so, name one!

2) Is SECU a bank? Y/N - Why so?

3) Is a "non-profit bank" an oxymoron?

... wasn't Silicon Valley Bank a non-profit?

A Change Of Course For The Blog... Let's Stop And Talk About Original Principles And Business Purposes At SECU...OK?

    

"We Are SECU": "This is Our Strategic Plan"

 

😎 The SECU Board and senior leadership are clearly in strategic disarray, which puts the Credit Union, its' member-owners, and SECU employees at risk in innumerable ways...

Now... neither the members, nor the staff are certain about the future direction of their Credit Union, nor the business purposes and practices, the ethical principles, nor the core values which will define what our SECU cooperative will be in the future.    

✅ For 85 years the purposes and principles under-girding SECU were strategically clear, inarguably successful, and highly beneficial to SECU member-owners and all of North Carolina. 

It is quite alright for the SECU Board "to change" the business purposes and practices, the ethical principles, and the core values which will define what the SECU financial cooperative will be in the future. Change is most often good and is a positive part of life. 

But everyone agrees, that the Legacy SECU Board is duty-bound to explain their "change of course" - particularly since there was no visible call for change from the membership and, unquestionably, the previous direction of SECU was successful

The Legacy SECU Board has failed repeatedly and precipitously to make its' case that "purpose and principle changes are needed" - in fact the "hard numbers" financial performance and system-wide service declines over the last two years speak volumes to the substantial failure in leadership and direction at the Board level.   

The SECU Legacy Board is directly responsible and accountable for "the mess we're in". In the blog post on January 8, 2024 "A Measurable Strategic Plan" [link] you'll note the forecast of upcoming events in 2024 - including no great improvements in SECU financial performance. What you have now in terms of lack-luster growth, non-competitive rates, and declining service quality will be the norm, what you can expect for 2024 - count on it, suck it up.

😎 So, for the next few weeks, I would like to tell you some stories about what has driven SECU in the past 85 years of success... and what your Legacy Board is asking you to give up. Why do this? 

Because 2.7 million SECU members need to decide the future direction of SECU - not the we know best, we do not need to listen, "Legacy 8" Board members . The "Legacy 8" do not have the authority to dismiss the best interests of the membership... especially when the Legacy Board can neither logically nor intelligibly explain what they are doing, where they are heading - nor why??

 

... let an informed membership cast their votes for the future direction of their Credit Union. Quite certain, the members will vote to: "Do the right thing!". 

An informed membership will never support a clueless Legacy Board... lets' take a look over the next few weeks at what is at stake, what has made SECU "tick" so sucessfully...