STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga.–What makes for leadership: nature or nurture? It’s both, according to Ronaldo Hardy.
Hardy, the newly named president/CEO of NACUSO, offered some inspiring words to the African American Credit Union Coalition’s annual conference as part of a series of presentations on the subject of “legacy.”
Hardy shared his own message of growing up poor in Louisiana, the son of two preacher parents who had been identified as a gifted student and who felt a call from God to preach at the age of six.
When he turned seven Hardy shared it was a “turning point” in which other kids began to tease him and he had to recognize his own insecurities.
“But I had a wonderful mother who said, ‘I see what my son has and I have a responsibility to cultivate what he could become’,” Hardy said.
When he was insecure over how he looked or the teasing continued, he said his mother counseled that “if you are going to rise to leadership there is always going to be chatter around you and people instigating. She said tune out the noise and believe in yourself.”
A First Leadership Assignment
At age 12 Hardy said he received his first leadership assignment when his parents charged him with leading a worship service.
“As the leader I just knew I had been given authority and I could call the shots and this is how we’re going to get it done, because I’m the leader around here,” Hardy said. “How well do you think that worked out with the volunteer adults? They quickly showed me you better find a different way to lead. I was having a hard time getting things done and I was mad at the people. And my mother taught me another leadership lesson: Believe in people.
“You cannot be a quality leader unless you believe in people,” he continued. “That gave me the mission statement of my life of building people who will change the world. If you are going to be a leader you have to see people for their possibilities and not just their problems.”
Believe in Possibilities
OnApril 6, 2020, Hardy shared that his mother had died of COVID, a loss he said knocked him down and left him wondering how he might get up.
“I said how in the world will I get motivated to do the things I used to do. I wasn’t happy about inspiring people,” Hardy said. “Mom, from heaven, taught me again, ‘Believe in yourself. Yes this is hard, it’s one of the largest challenges you will face, and if you believe in yourself. You will get up from this one, too.’ And I had to deal with the noise from people saying COVID isn’t real, this is a hoax. How do I navigate that some of the people I admire who were speaking so negatively about something that had affected me so much? And I felt mom again talking to me, and she said believe in people.”
It was believing, he said, that allowed him to rise from a poor background to become one of the youngest-ever CEOs of a credit union—and then another credit union—and then other leadership roles, and finally to become the president and CEO of NACUSO..
Legacy, said Hardy, is one what leaves behind on earth. He said when his mother died at age 56 he learned to stop planning about the future.
“All we can talk about is today. What are you working on today? Yes, leaders are born, but the best leaders are grown through being nurtured,” he said.
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