By Frank J. Diekmann
Few organizations in credit unions have pivoted and refocused as effectively as has the Credit Union Executives Society. Indeed, I’ve wondered why they haven’t changed the E from Executives to Education, as professional education and skills development is where CUES now butters its bread.
The days of tellers becoming managers of CUs (sometimes because there wasn’t anyone else to do it) are pretty much over, and graduate and post-graduate degrees have become table stakes in CU management. The trade association that was once a pretty nominal provider of anything related to professional development changed all that under former CEO Fred Johnson, continued it under Chuck Fagan, and is now embarking on a new development focus with its brand new CEO.
When Chuck Fagan left to take over at PSCU, CUES tapped John Pembroke to step into the job. Pembroke joined CUES in March of 2013 as its SVP/chief operating officer.
“It is an awesome feeling to be in a position to lead and be associated with an organization such as CUES. It has a great reputation and a great brand,” said Pembroke, who knows a little something about branding. “The support I have received from members, from the board, and from other industry leaders has been overwhelming and humbling. Fortunately I played a significant role in our new direction and culture, so I am very familiar with it. It’s a great plan and a great team. I am very confident that we will continue to deliver on the talent development needs of our members.”
The cultural evolution at CUES, said Pembroke, has included a major effort around having “an engaged team and staff. We have really leverage the staff to define our cultural needs. Major resources have bren put toward making that a reality.”
Pembroke called the process of playing a role in that direction “empowering” for the CUES staff, especially the “opportunity to be in a position to help define our values.”
Pembroke began his career at one of the world’s great manufacturers and marketers of packaged consumer goods, Proctor & Gamble. He has more than 20 years in marketing, branding, and e-commerce, including serving as chief marketing officer at PSCU Financial Services, and chief operating officer at CW Financial. He has also held leadership roles at Cox Enterprises, Kellogg, and Kraft Foods.
Crest, Head & Shoulders, & A Core Lesson
A core lesson learned at P&G, he said, is to “understand your customers,” and it’s a philosophy he has carried with him and that CUES is dedicated to, as well, he said. “We have to stay in touch with our members’ needs and we have several different ways of doing that,” Pembroke said.
Those include the staff it sends to various conferences, the member engagement specialists it has on staff in its Madison, Wis. Offices, and the ongoing research it conducts.
“We have a significant amount of our team in constant dialogue with our members,” said Pembroke. “It’s very important to us to stay in touch with credit unions and to be in tune with them.”
The tune that credit unions is playing includes three chords that are demanding new management focus, said Pembroke: mobile and digital offerings, payments, and big data analytics.
“At the end of the day it’s about how can you keep up with all these touchpoints and manage them effectively,” he observed. “With payments there are huge areas of opportunity and focus for credit unions. And analytics have been huge and will continue to be huge.”
Pembroke said the CUES board has been very supportive of him.
“A vote for me is a vote for the direction we have established. It’s a vote for the change in culture and brand and strategy we are pursuing. They are very supportive of our organization being innovative and in launching new offerings.”
Speaking of new offerings, Pembroke said credit unions should watch over the next 90-120 days for announcements around a number of new and innovative member benefits.
“There will be new ways to access content, new online courses, new executive education and new ways for someone to track their own professional development,” he said.
So stay tuned.
Another Way To Think of a Brand’s Value
* Speaking of big brands, a dusty, leftover note from the notebook.
If you’re a car guy, car gal, or just an overall gear head, a then you know that Bob Lutz is a “car guy’s car guy.” (Those who didn’t know of him when he spoke to a recent meeting at which he spoke were most impressed that Lutz, in his 80s, has a fiancé.)
An icon in the auto industry who has worked in Europe and the United States (with GM and Chrysler), Lutz wants to see improvements in the car-buying process is in the entire purchasing experience, even when financing isn’t needed. He noted that even though he was paying for that Corvette in cash, it “still took a half-hour” to get the deal done.
With “branding” so much in the credit union vernacular now, Lutz spoke to why certain brands are associated with a premium price, even if their product or service aren’t superior.
“It is best to be guided by the notion that this company is going to provide a superior product and this company is going to please the customer more than has ever been done,” he said. “Why do brands like BMW and Mercedes command a $10,000 premium in just about every class of car. The technology today is really all the same. Technology in a Ford Fusion or a Chevy Malibu or a Mercedes E Class is 99% identical, and the workmanship is at least as good. Why do people pay more? Because (those companies) earned it. They earned it with decades and decades of always trying to produce superior automobiles, and the rest of us are Johnny Come Lately’s. We don’t have the $5,000 or $10,000 worth of trust that the Germans do. And today I say quite confidently I don’t think their cars are any better, but for decades they were.”
Finally, Lutz, in his remarks to CU Direct’s recent meeting, offered one more thought about managing an organization that credit unions might find interesting: “I have an MBA and I got it the same way sailors get tattoos. I got it before I knew any better,” he said. “A fatal flaw in American business is that everything is always about money, ratios, ROA, ROE, etc, etc., and then there are all these techniques for cost optimization. And I’ve never seen a business school case where the solution is ‘Our product isn’t good enough,’ or ‘We aren’t working hard enough to please the customer.’ In these business school cases the revenue or sales case is always a given, and then you have to figure out where the leakage is on cost."
Maggie, May I Have a Metamucil
- Spinal Tap’s Opening Act. I’m not saying it’s a sign your career may have already peaked, but Rod Stewart is playing the upcoming Directors and CEOs Leadership Convention in Las Vegas. Stewart released “This Old Heart of Mine” in 1975, and this time he really means it.
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator in Chief at CUToday.info and can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info or @FrankCUToday on Twitter.