PayThink

Is your new director faking it till he makes it?

How was the making of fraudulent construction loans in Florida by recently failed Colorado and Michigan credit unions consistent with the purpose of serving people of modest means?

Empowerment in the workplace is an often-misunderstood concept. Employee empowerment is a term that many managers and organizations think they understand, but few actually do, and even fewer really put into practice.

Have a problem or question you need resolved? Ask your question and get both the left and right perspective–left or right BRAIN that is. The left brain way of thinking is represented by Roger Ball, CEO of Call FCU, Richmond, Va., or as Kelley Parks calls him, the “bean-counting, bottom-line driven, fact-finding, never-ending filibuster.” The right brain way of thinking is represented by Parks, VP of Marketing & Business Development at Call FCU, or, as Roger calls her, the “creative, head-in-the-clouds, wishy-washy insomniac.”

This letter is in response to the March 3, 2008 editorial by JoAnn Johnson, chairman of the National Credit Union Administration, defending the agency’s ongoing rulemaking regarding the conversion of a credit union to the mutual savings bank charter. The editorial was titled: “Why NCUA Has Focused On The Rights Of Members As Owners,” (CU Journal, March 3).

CUJ Reader Question: I have a hard time getting certain people on my management team to buy into my ideas. They just seem to be stuck in the past. How can I turn them into believers?

They came, they saw, they spent. But what did credit unions get for it?

The credit union industry has not addressed the potential value of the elusive younger demographic in a long time. Instead, the discussion implicitly assumes the market is still attractive, skipping ahead to focus on market penetration. Industry analysts, journalists and outside experts reiterate the value of attracting younger members, providing anecdotal sound bites on the habits of young consumers as suggestions for ways to reach them. Credit union executives should reassess the return on investment (ROI) potential of the younger demographic for their specific market; the potential of this market diminished for the majority of the country over the past 20 years and will continue to decline modestly through 2015.

I think NCUA’s proposal for more disclosure of credit union executive compensation it is a bad idea. The board is responsible for such decisions and I feel that there is plenty of oversight both internally and externally.

After the long, difficult build up, the news came with sudden, short notice. President Clinton would be signing the Credit Union Membership Act on a Friday, just days away.