7 Pieces of Advice from Coaches, Players & Others
Published June 19, 2014 11:00 AM
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Updated June 1, 2021 1:18 PM
1 Min Read
Some assorted editorial odds and ends from Frank J. Diekmann, that refreshingly are not related to risk-based capital:
Tony Dungy, who won a Super Bowl title as coach of the Indianapolis Colts and who is now an NFL analyst with NBC, recently told credit unions too many people focus on being successful, rather than "significant."
That's why, Dungy said in remarks to the CSCU meeting in St. Petersburg (he also previously coached the Tampa Bay Bucs), he was "thankful" to be around credit unions and "what you do. I want you to go back and continue to be significant" (this "thankful" thing was a bit of a theme by several people).
Dungy's half-hour presentation was, not surprisingly, peppered with football-related references, including what he learned from former Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Chuck Noll, who told him, "Your job is to help each one of your players play the best they can. To do that you need to get to understand each one of your players, find out what makes them tick. To me that is the No. 1 thing for a leader."
"Everyone's job is important but no one is indispensable," continued Dungy. "On the Steelers we had big stars, but we could win games without them. On a 47-man team, I was the 48th guy. But he made me feel like my job was important. When I was coaching I would talk to everyone to let them know how important their job was."
"Sadly, we continue to lose credit unions to mergers and liquidations. Two that have recently disappeared are Tombstone FCU and Life Line CU. You can go ahead and insert your own punch lines here."(Image: Fotolia)
You probably thought there is a greeting card available for every conceivable occasion and niche. But one hole in the lineup that not even Hallmark has addressed has been greeting cards for CU marketing professionals. Consider that hole now filled.
PSB Integrated Marketing, the California-based agency that works with numerous CUs, has created some fun cards that strike a familiar chord with marketers, with themes that include: "My idea's better, but I'll take one for the team"; "When skeptics say marketing doesn't work, ask them how many Apple products they own"; "It's perfect! Just change the headline, the color, the logo and the photos," and, "Was excited to hear my budget had increased 50%... then I woke up," among many others.
(Image: Fotolia)
At one recent CU event a moderator responded to just about every statement anyone made with a gushing "awesome!" And just how low did he set the bar for what he considers "overwhelming" and "awe-inspiring?" When one woman raised her hand after he called her name, breathlessly announced, you guessed it, "AWESOME!"
(Image: Fotolia)
It isn't often I feel small, but then I met Mark Eaton at the CUNA HR/TD Council meeting. If you don't know Eaton it isn't hard to guess how he rose to prominence; he's 7'4", after all. He has one of the most interesting and serendipitous paths to the NBA it's worth a Google but the short story, umm tall tale, is he was 21 years old, had never attended college, was working in a tire store and just happened to be ducking out of a service bay when an assistant basketball coach was driving by at the same time.
When Eaton asked rhetorically, "What allowed me to play 12 seasons in the NBA?," I was still thinking, "Umm, being seven and a half-feet tall?" when he indicated that was the airball of answers, as he had spent much of his life hating basketball. Instead, Eaton is now an inspirational speaker who, fittingly, encourages leaders and managers to make others feel taller. The former Utah Jazz center built his remarks around four themes: Know your job, do what you're asked to do, make people look good and protect others. Want more? Visit the aptly named 7ft4.com.
Saw this bumper sticker on a "wrapped" car belonging to Jax FCU that was on-site at CUNA Marketing & BD Council meeting in Orlando: "Our Other Car is Armored."
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We've all heard conference speakers who don't know if they're talking to credit unions or labor unions, and who often give the impression they don't care to know, either. So props go to John Foley, the former lead solo pilot with the Navy's Blue Angels, who had clearly done his homework on CUs before speaking to CSCU's recent meeting.
Foley, who built his remarks around the importance of the four P's (process, product, people and purpose), could have gotten away with just showing video of what it's like to fly hundreds of miles an hour while staying within 36 inches of another jet, or sharing what it was like to have done some of the real flying used in the movie "Top Gun."
But instead, he made repeated references to clearing payments, CU products and processing credit cards, and also always said "member," not customer (I've actually heard CU reps say "customer").
One other note: he shared a belief that the "No. 1 determining factor in happiness is gratitude," and showed Blue Angels debriefings in which all participants are constantly commenting on how happy they are to be there.
So, how happy are you to be where you are, and do others feel the same way?
Frank J. Diekmann can be reached at frank.diekmann@sourcemedia.com.
