By Frank J. Diekmann
Some notes I was able to find in the Reporter’s Notebook primarily because it isn’t protected by CrowdStrike…
Or, as the Feds Call It, ‘Hasty’
Only in the federal government could a proposal take 15 years to come to a vote and no one even questions the length of time or finds it unusual.
I’m speaking of the incentive-based compensation proposal put out for 60-day comment by NCUA at its July board meeting. That proposal has been in development and re-development since the financial crisis and the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010, during the Obama Administration. It is named for Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank, neither of whom is in Congress anymore.
When the proposal was discussed by agency staff and the board at the meeting, it was all matter of fact, as if a decade and a half to take action is all par for the (world’s longest) course.
Back in the real world, this would be the equivalent of launching an initiative in your credit union this week that you hope to implement in 2038.
Well, They Do Have ‘Credit’ in the Name
I was riding in an Uber in Nashville when the driver told me he has a full-time job with Publix Supermarkets and driving was his side hustle. I asked him if he belongs to Publix Employees Credit Union, and he said no, adding he didn’t really see any reason to join as he didn’t need a loan. I explained that despite the name, credit unions aren’t just for credit and he could also save money though his CU. But he remained unfazed, generally viewing CUs as for loans only.
I guess I need to work on my pitch.
Idea Rings a Bell
Also while in Nashville I listened to Jamie Sminioff as he shared his story of being the founder and “chief doorman” of Ring, the doorbell camera company that was acquired by Amazon for a billion bucks (which will open some doors in and of itself).
Seminoff was among the keynoters at the THINK Conference that began as an event hosted by PSCU/Co-op Solutions and concluded as an event sponsored by Velera. (The meeting also concluded concluded, with Velera saying it will no longer think about holding the event, as THINK has thunk its last thought.)
Ring, and the copycats that have since followed with similar technologies of their own, has become ubiquitous, but its future was at one point as precarious as a package left on a porch.
‘Accidental Investment’
At one point, as has become a famous business anecdote, Sminioff went on Shark Tank seeking $700,000 for 10% of his company, which at the time was called Doorbot, and was famously rejected by nearly all the sharks—only Kevin O’Leary made an offer that Sminioff opted not to accept). Mark Cuban continues to stand by his decision to say “I’m out,” arguing the company required too much capital at the time.
As Sminioff related, it wasn’t an easy decision to turn down Mr. Wonderful.
“I had accidentally invested all our money in the product,” Sminioff told the THINK meeting. “I was way overleveraged. When they said no, I wouldn’t say I was more motivated. It was I need to make this work, I will go bankrupt. I didn’t want to have to move out of my house. At the time it didn’t feel funny. I was scared out of my mind. The only way out was to make it happen. I am definitely not motivated by anger. I say F you.”
Pivoting at the Door
Sminioff explained, incidentally, that he didn’t initially see his invention’s real value proposition, having created it because he worked at home but couldn’t hear the doorbell and wanted to be notified (and be able to see) when packages were left at the door.
But a comment made by his wife that the device made her “feel safer” led to a pivot.
You can ring the bell on the entirety of Sminioff’s comments by going here.
It’s a Disguise They Wear Every Day
Tiffani Bova, an expert on growth and innovation and a former executive with Salesforce, had a good question, after observing that most C-suite execs are mystery figures to the rank and file.
“Why on Undercover Boss do they disguise people?” she asked. “They spend five minutes showing how they are disguising the boss. It’s a complete waste of time. No one in those offices would ever recognize them because they never leave the office. They manage from a spreadsheet.”
This is What Members Expect
Bova also offered an illustration of what members and consumers expect when they visit a credit union’s website or use its mobile banking, by posing this question:
“How many of you took the training to navigate Amazon.com? You didn’t. It was intuitive. We went from three clicks to one click to voice to anticipating what I want next.”
So, what do your members want next?
Tequila Shots for Everyone
I don’t need to tell you about all the worries and concerns and excitement and fever dreams that are surrounding artificial intelligence and, if I do, you might want to ask AI about it.
Financial services are hardly alone in dealing with the implications of AI; it is pervading every aspect of humanity—including even what makes for humanity.
Dr. Lamont Black, finance professor at DePaul and head of Filene’s Center for the Credit Union of the Future, who is a frequent speaker to credit unions, recently observed that in his day job “…the book is fading away as the technology of learning. The way we learn is changing. I’m not not saying this is true; Gen AI could be the end of reading. I love physical books.”
Nevertheless, his students are already accustomed to learning through e-books and interactive technologies, and that will soon include the ability to ask the “book” questions when a student doesn’t understand a concept.
‘May be Scary, But…’
“That may be scary, and I’m not saying it’s good, but be aware this is a thing,” said Black. “That interactivity is what creates a deeper sense of learning. To me, the idea of a virtual tutor is empowering. A textbook is one size fits all. But if I can start to ask questions that are very specific to what I am trying to understand, it accelerates my learning.”
For those of you still clinging to your hardback book with both hands, Black offered little comfort when he added, “This is speeding up. That means we just went through the slowest period of change we will ever go through for the rest of our professional lives.”
For credit union leaders—and leaders everywhere—Black observed that the “number-one challenge is we confuse our awareness of change with actually doing something about it.”
Speaking of doing something about it, if all that has you on edge, Black told an audience recently, “Don’t worry, I just bought tequila shots for everyone.”
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator in Chief of CUToday.info and can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info. Mr. Diekmann is also author of several new book, including the brand new “The Last Lyric,” a humorous satire about a murder investigation at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in which every line of dialogue is either a classic pop/rock song title or lyric. Available on Amazon, Apple iBook, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. Mr. Diekmann is also author of a non-fiction compilation of the very best & worst he has seen and heard in covering more than 500 CU meetings and conferences, “501 Name Tags: How Everything You Need to Know About Business Can Be Learned at a Conference & Forgotten in the Trade Show.” It is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Lulu, and Smashwords.