By Frank J. Diekmann
In case you missed it, here are some notes on the easy-to-read but not-so-easy-to-pronounce, the ‘War on Talent,’ and how some (a lot) tensions around EMV cards came to the surface at one recent meeting.
Make Sure To Grab A Copy of the TILRESPASECGGF
The CFPB prides itself on reining in financial services firms whose offers aren’t in easily understandable, plain English. It may wish to look inward after releasing its “Truth in Lending Act-Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act integrated disclosures (TRID) rule Small Entity Compliance Guide and Guide to Forms.” That’s the TILRESPASECGGF to you. Ask for it by name.
People Hiring People
There are few people in management who don’t have battle scars from making a bad hire, hence the “slow to hire, quick to fire” mantra of many a veteran HR exec. In remarks themed “War on Talent: Why Credit Unions Struggle to Hire A-Level Talent,” Greg Longster and Tony Kirschner, partners in Vancouver, B.C.-based Davies Park Executive Search, said the hiring issue is compounded now by many Millennials who struggle in face-to-face interactions. Texting skills? Great. Inter-personal skills? Sad emoji, sad emoji. But it turns out they may not be that effective at texting, either.
“There is all kinds of magic that happens only in person and face to face,” said Longster in remarks to the CUES’ CEO/Executive Team Network meeting. “Stuff happens when we talk to each other face to face. We build more trust and we come up with more creative ideas. When we speak to each other face to face our brains synchronize. So there is tremendous value in operating face to face. There is also research showing the more hours we spend communicating with our thumbs, the more these skills of deep human interaction weaken. Getting away from the screens enables these skills to build back up. The people who are very good at deep human interaction skills, are also better when communicating digitally. It carries over. What you need are people who are adept at all these things; we’re not going to give up the digital technology. What you need particularly are the people who are good in person.”
Not surprisingly, added Longster, women tend to be better at that than men.
When it comes to hiring, Longster and Kirschner acknowledged credit unions have challenges, as they can’t always pay top dollar and they aren’t exactly the sexiest brands. But he said credit unions can build their own “employer brands” with some work.
“Developing an employer brand is a challenge for credit unions,” said Longster, noting they will never have the sexy profile of an Amazon or Google or Facebook as a place to work. “But that doesn’t mean CUs can’t be attractive employers.”
What it’s not about, he said, is winning Best Employer Awards. He noted he has worked with the winners of such awards and found them to be among the most dysfunctional of companies—they’re just really good at filling out award applications.
Finally, Longster offered an interesting observation unrelated to credit unions but broadly related to employment, and that has to do with the increasing threat/promise of artificial intelligence and robots. In the future, he said, “People are going to demand the robot surgeon, because it’s going to be better. And that’s better than people with 12 years of post-graduate education.”
You can get the full story here http://cutoday.ssd.thinkcreativeinternal.net/THE-boost/How-To-Hire-The-Right-People
Ringing the Dinner Bell, And Dinner is Us
It was pretty clear recently that the E in EMV doesn’t stand for Easy. During a meeting that involved a group of panelists from card associations and an audience of credit unions, there was plenty of tension around the transition to EMV cards.
“Wow, we’re really glad we made the move over to EMV,” said one CU exec sarcastically. “Now we’re reissuing cards at $5 each, rather than 40 cents.”
Added another person, “We rang the dinner bell and send come get us.”
Yet another person told a representative of Mastercard, who to his credit maintained his cool even though he became a proxy for the room’s frustrations, “We’re still reissuing the same number of cards. We don’t feel we’re getting the support from Visa and Mastercard. To put it bluntly, you guys are still accepting your fees. We want to see more action from the associations.”
The Mastercard rep, making it clear no one seems happy, observed, “The retailers don’t feel like they got a good deal, either.”
Crooks Leading the Way
During the CUES meeting, Shazia Manus, CEO of TMG, had an interesting observation about the topic du jour at most CUs, “The best practitioners of analytics are fraudsters who need to match data.”
Nothing Young About Targeting Young People
Attend any credit union conference or just be a regular reader of CUToday.info and you’ll figure out pretty quickly that today’s most pressing issue is attracting younger members. It may be an important issue, but it’s anything but new. CUNA Mutual recently announced the retirement of Steve Goldberg, the long-time leader of the CUNA Mutual Foundation. In its released statement the company shared that “Goldberg started his career at CUNA Mutual Group as an intern in 1968, focusing on helping credit unions address the importance of attracting younger members.”
Some Cyber-Predictions
Here are a few cyber security-related issues you may not have thought about. Edward M. Stroz, founder and executive chairman of cyber forensics firm Stroz Friedberg, New York, is offering these predictions for organizations:
- Boardroom shuffle: With concern mounting over cyber risks, organizations will evaluate fresh approaches to ensuring boards are well-informed and comfortable making strategic decisions, Stroz wrote in ThirdCertainty. “Expect the appointment of specialist, nonexecutive cyber directors and the formation of dedicated cyber-risk committees, similar to audit committees, with independent advisers. Regulators also may pursue the concept of ‘cyber competent’ people as a requirement for boards.”
- Cyber insurance spike: Demand for cyber liability coverage will continue rising, according to Stroz. He said organizations should expect premiums to also rise due to constantly evolving threats, immature risk models, and an underdeveloped reinsurance market. “This will impact retailers, healthcare providers, banks and others considered high risk,” Stroz said. “Uncertainty about concentration of exposure will lead regulators to impose cyber incident ‘stress testing.’ This is a way to model the impact of multiple, simultaneous incidents on cyber insurance carriers—and potentially stopping those that fail these tests from writing new policies.”
- IoT spurs new rules: This will be the year consumers awaken to security and privacy concerns attendant to the Internet of Things, according to Stroz. A major physical disruption—through the breach of a connected car, medical device or weak security in a connected toy—will spur regulators and consumers to demand action, Stroz said.
- Insider threats get addressed: Insider threats—current or ex-employees with knowledge of, and access to, the corporate network—will take center stage in 2016. This will push human resources leaders onto cross-functional cybersecurity teams in many organizations, Stroz predicted.
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator in Chief at CUToday.info and can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info or followed @FrankCUToday.