SAN DIEGO–No entrepreneurial culture at the credit union? It’s the CEO’s fault. Compliance keeping your CU from doing what it would like to do? You’re just making excuses. You didn’t “grow up” with Snapchat and don’t plan to ever use it? Tough.
Those observations and more were shared during a straight-talk presentation by Gary Vaynerchuk, an entrepreneur who turned a $3-million wine business into a $60-million e-retailer and who now runs the very successful digital marketing agency, VaynerMedia.
Vaynerchuk addressed credit unions as part of a Q&A session at CO-OP’s THINK 16 meeting at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, and pretty much picked up with the no-punches-pulled comments and observations he shared with the meeting when he addressed it in 2014.
Being Tone Deaf
Vaynerchuk said he agreed with the theme of the CO-OP meeting, which was all about the importance of “purpose.”
“Anyone who doesn’t think that purpose matters is tone deaf,” he said.
But he generally disagrees with much of what else he often hears in business, including excuse-making, conventional wisdom, and more. Here’s a look at some of what he told credit unions:
- “I get a lot of flak in the tech world, because I say ideas are crap. I get 10,000 emails a week from people who want me to invest in their company,” he said. “Ideas are completely worthless unless you execute against those ideas. You can sit her and tell me what your purpose is, but unless you go an execute against it, it’s completely worthless.” Noting how many people approach him saying they have a good idea for a business, Vaynerchuk said, “All of you should quit and start your own companies if you have such a great idea.”
Gary Vaynerchuk, right, during Q&A at THINK conference in San Diego.
- Vaynerchuk said the number-one thing any credit union or individual must do to be successful is communicate. “Communication is the game. Figuring out how to be politically correct is not the answer. Figuring out how to tell people what you think the company should be doing in a respectful manner, that’s the game."
- No Takeaways
- Vaynerchuk said for all the good intentions and plans that are made at conferences, very little of it is ever executed. “I believe that 98% of the people in this room won’t go home in three days and be able to make a difference.”
- As he suggested in 2014, Vaynerchuk said he believes credit unions continue to fail at telling their story. “You have a branding issue. People still don’t know what credit unions are. Too many people in this room and the logos they work for use compliance as an excuse for not doing what they should be doing. It’s not their fault. They don’t work for an organization and a culture that rewards that kind of behavior.”
- That said, Vaynerchuk added, “Don’t blame ‘the man’ or the organization.”
- When asked how a credit union can create a more entrepreneurial culture, Vaynerchuk responded, “Force it. Being a CEO is like being a dictator. Create the rules. Force it. Force people to put 20% of their budget toward something that may not have ROI. I have 650 employees. I tell them they get scored on culture and emotional intelligence over bringing me more money. The north star for which they get rewarded for is how they play with the other boys and girls, because that brings continuity, and continuity brings speed.”
- It Really Is Lonely At the Top
- Asked what is the most difficult thing about being CEO and getting a culture to change, Vaynerchuk replied: “It’s hard. It’s lonely. Being an entrepreneur of a company like mine is if I stink we go out of business. My life is predicated on headaches. Plus, I’m an HR driven CEO, so I like to get into the muck. I care about their opinions. Everything that is wrong with my company is my fault, because I empower all the other people who are screwing up. I don’t know another gear. But it’s not that easy.
- Vaynerchuk observed that “entrepreneurship” has become an over-used buzzword in America today, and he’s not buying it. “We are living through the greatest era of fake entrepreneurship in history. Everyone thinks they are the next Mark Zuckerberg, and they will be wiped out by the next financial crisis, which I hope comes soon. When did this happen that every 24-year-old thinks they can build a million-dollar organization because they have a hoodie? It’s crazy how entrepreneurs are being put on a pedestal. Entrepreneurship is a skill, a talent, and people are born with it. The fact that the bottom of the 1% make $400,000 a year, yet all these young entrepreneurs think a million dollars a year is the baseline.”
- Q: How can credit union leaders use empathy in their business? “Empathy makes me a great sales person. Most of you think way too much inside a bubble. You get in a room and white board things that are in your best interest, not your consumers’ best interests. My goal is always how do I deploy 51% of this transaction’s value to the other party. (Credit unions) need to take a step back and think why nobody in America knows what a credit union is; not that it should be happening. Understand why it’s happening.”
- Fake Empathy
- Asked how a credit union might become more empathetic, Vaynerchuk said, “Conducting surveys and going out and talking to people are tactics used to fake empathy. The Big Short, I think, is what’s happening with marketing in America now. Ninety percent of my customers are throwing money directly in the trash. Attention is the only thing that matters. Before you can tell me how great your credit union is, you have to have my attention. Then you can tell me your story. Organizations are throwing money in the trash like it’s 1997 or 1972. This is an old crowd and none of you are consuming (TV) commercials, and yet $80 billion is being spent to make and distribute them. Nobody here is going home and carefully sorting through their direct mail. You know your same tactics aren’t bringing results. I don’t’ understand: you act one way at home, but when you put your suit on and go to work you act differently.”
- Should credit unions be using Snapchat? Vaynerchuk answered that question with a question of his own. “Do you want to court 13-22 year olds? Yes? Then you better figure it the hell out. This group lives on their phone and in two places: Snapchat and Instagram. So how are you going to tell them about your thing? How are you going to get them? You’re not, and you’re going to spend it on bullcrap. I think Snapchat going through the same thing as Facebook did. It’s 13-25 now, but in 18 months it’s 18-45-year-olds. Most companies are marketing like it’s 10 years ago.”
- For those CEOs and CU execs who argue they are too old to learn new technologies such as Snapchat, Vaynerchuk said, “Tough luck. Innovation doesn’t care about you and me. I’m not interested in this excuse that ‘I didn’t grow up with it.’ Guys, I didn’t grow up with it. You didn’t grow up driving; you figured that out. This is just not an excuse. If you are in the business world and you are disrespecting these platforms, you are vulnerable.”
- 'It Stinks, But...'
- Vaynerchuk said he empathizes with those who have spent long careers doing one thing and who aren’t comfortable learning something new. “This is a dangerous formula a lot of you are going through. I have empathy. It stinks you spent 25 years in this. I wake up every morning trying to put myself out of business. I innovate by trying to do behaviors that would hurt me if someone else did it.”
- Vaynerchuk urged credit unions to realize that “time is becoming the number-one asset.” When he asked how many people in the room get angry when someone calls them on the phone, dozens of hands were raised. “This is the single biggest culture shift in our society in the last 70 years. This is a major shift with massive repercussions for our audiences. When’s the last time you looked at every dollar deployed on people, infrastructure, marketing, and asked what does this penny do for me? The problem is 80% of what we do is just accepted as tried and true, and half of that is vulnerable.”
- Vaynerchuk faulted many CEOs for not being willing to challenge their own thinking, saying those who have used wisdom and converted it to romance have found the quickest way to go out of business.
- Vaynerchuk urged credit union leaders to take the long view. “Doing the right thing is always the right thing. I am doing marathon running behavior in a world of sprinters. I am a tortoise in a hare’s costume. My decision making is what I think consumers are going to be doing today, and in 24-48 months, and I run my organizations based on that. That’s what I think a CEO should do. You have to think of the short and the long term.”