LAS VEGAS-NACUSO CEO Tom Davis cites anthropologist Margaret Mead's quote to illustrate his point that a few credit unions acting together can make a difference: "Never believe that a few caring people cannot change the world, for after all, that's all who ever have."
"Credit unions are the caring people," he insisted. "They are member-centric."
The CU movement is only in the early adoption stage of the growth curve toward what eventually will be CUSOs 3.0, and later 4.0, Davis assessed. He said NACUSO is in the process of trying to get people to understand the concept and implement it.
"What we need is to educate people how to create a competitive advantage in a sustainable way. The bankers are not going to get together and work, so there is an opportunity. Credit unions need to start networks and link up those networks, but the key is education-they must understand the benefits of working together and networked business."
As for roadblocks to meeting this goal, Davis drew on his Ph.D. in Industrial Psychology. The reason collaborative ventures are not more prevalent in the industry, he said, is because, 1. people do not know the business case, and, 2. emotional reasons.
"There is a fear of losing control of the process. Say there is a credit union that does mortgage services in house. It could buy in to a multi-owned CUSO, but then management fears it would lose control of the process, or it would lose power and therefore status. These are not conscious thoughts, perhaps, but they go on at some level."
