CU2.0 Podcast 16 - New Year's Resolutions to Get You Fired Up

Make some New Year’s Resolutions.

That’s advice for you in this podcast, brought to you by CU2.0, all about re-imagining and reinvigorating today's credit unions for tomorrow's victories.

Call this also a work in progress where you can participate. More on that below.

First, feast on New Year's Resolutions. About 40% of us make them, according to research by the Marist Institute.  Many of us in fact get what we resolve to do.  Reported the researchers: "Do Americans keep their New Year’s resolutions? Among those who say they made a resolution for 2017, 68% said they kept at least part of their promise. Similar proportions of men (69%) and women (66%) remained true to their word for at least part of 2017. More men (75%) compared with women (62%) said they kept their New Year’s resolution last year."

What this podcast is about is getting you to make a resolution involving your credit union.

In your personal life you may want to exercise more, lose weight, stop smoking - all pretty common resolutions by the way and all good ideas.

But that’s not what we are about here.

This is about applying the same principle to a credit union.

And what would such a resolution sound like?

Here’s how this is going to work.

I’ll start out by enumerating some possible resolutions for you - and this is a situation where cribbing a buddy’s test answer is a-ok.

Of course you can always create your own.

Either way, this is a perfect time to think anew about how to make your credit union better.

What resolutions do I suggest?

Here’s #1:

Embrace artificial intelligence.  There’s Erica at B of A.  There’s Alexa at Amazon. There’s Siri at Apple (well, Siri is a kind of also ran - but she will get smarter and better). AI is a trend to ride. An easy starting point is debuting an Alexa skill for your credit union. Many credit unions are doing this. It’s cheap. Hear more about credit unions and AI in two podcasts: Coalesce and Posh.

Accept that today technology makes or breaks credit unions. But know you don't have to be a follower; you can be a leader. That's the message of the DCU Fintech Innovation Lab, featured in an earlier podcast.

Accept that mobile is your biggest, most important branch. Spend money to upgrade it. Make it different from other credit unions. Make it your own. Hear a lot of cool insights about mobile and how to go special in the podcast with Tanan Miles of Ent.

Think digitally. Accept that analog banking is fading away. Don’t fight tomorrow. Very good insights into this are in our podcast with CU2.0 founder Kirk Drake. Amy Downs at Allegiance also talks about this in her podcast.

Fire up your board of directors. You'll hear a lot on this in the podcasts with Chris Otey and Trudy Soupcoup.

Go local.  You can’t compete on the national stage with national banks.  No can do, But you can compete and win in your local community. What can you do to make life better for your neighbors? Know that and know that you are building a credit union that matters. Bill Bynum of Hope and Scott Budde at Maine Harvest offer powerful perspectives on going local to win.

Embrace Hispanic members. One in 6 of us are Hispanic. What's your credit union doing to cultivate that membership? Find out how to succeed with this demographic in a podcast that will post soon, with Coopera CEO Victor Corro.

Know your mission. What is the credit union movement to you? It always has been about working cooperatively to better serve the underserved, everyday people.  What are you doing to hit that goal? Inclusiv's Cathie Mahon has much to say about this in her podcast.

Want to hear what others have to say about credit unions and resolutions?  Listen up for a rapid fire telling of resolutions from a range of people who matter in the credit union world.

You have something to say? Now's your chance. Email me an MP3 that starts with your name, title, organization and then say your resolution. This file will be updated with contributions from listeners. So make a resolution to play a part in the CU2.0 Resolutions podcast - then make that MP3!

Don't know how to make an MP3? Email me and I'll give you a phone number to call where you leave a message and I'll make an MP3 (actually the recording software makes it - no work at all). Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com.