By Frank J. Diekmann
Here’s a proposal if you’re finding your CU passion isn’t quite what it once was, your cooperative pilot light is flickering, or your copy of “The Poor Man’s Prayer” is getting a wee bit dusty—attend the African American Credit Union Coalition’s annual meeting.
But “I’m not African American,” you’re thinking. First, you don’t have to be, and second, I already pretty much knew that, as this is credit unions after all, where there are agendas full of sessions on diversity even as the actual sessions rooms themselves lack it. (Side note: Renee Sattiewhite, president of the AACUC, observed during the group’s meeting last week, “This room used to be very, very dark. Now it has turned into a lighter hue in many places, and I love it.”)
Yet regardless of your race or ethnicity or gender or any other piece of demographic data, you should sign up for the next AACUC annual meeting if you're suffering from an affliction that can affect anyone--you probably need it. The talking the talk part? You’ve heard it. You’ve talked it. But if you would benefit more from walking the walk and getting in your exercise in battery recharging, the AACUC meeting is where you’ll find credit unions that are close to their members and their missions in the ways all credit unions used to be.
It seems like every CU has its cigar box origination story somewhere on its website—but do you remember why those half-dozen initial charter-signers formed your CU in the first place? Or is your office now several floors above the common folk who are your reason for being but with whom you no longer interact anymore, so much so your CU has gone from cigars to just blowing smoke? Just sayin’…
The AACUC get-together was a big glass of rejuvenation juice for why CU leaders need to spend more time on the ground floor.
A Revival
Revivals don’t just have to be about religion or faith in God; a revival of faith in humanity’s capacity for mutual self-help can be every bit as uplifting. The African-American CU Coalition event in St. Pete Beach, Fla. last week was like that. It reminded me of the feeling I used to get at World Council of CUs’ get-togethers, where even if you didn't speak their language you would meet the new disciples from around the world whom you could just tell were entranced by this concept of a union of people extending credit to one another. It was (and can be) invigorating.
I’m sorry to say that too often when credit unions meet today that spark is harder to find than a data processing contract that’s easy to exit. It’s all about the technology and “platforms” and compliance and fintech and data, so much so that it now often feels less like people helping people and more like analytics helping analytics, where every member is a data point.
Too bad that in all that talk about platforms, btw, that few remember that the business model is the platform
That isn’t to suggest the AACUC annual meeting lacked the kind of discussion around sophisticated, real world issues that every credit union must deal with in the current marketplace. It had plenty. I heard:
- Four board chairs talking about their challenges, including succession planning for volunteers and more
- The reason financial institutions are embracing robotic process automation
- How one CU is helping minorities to build generational wealth
- Why, if you want to be a leader or just get better at leadership, you should be asking your staff to fill in three blanks
- Why the second-largest CU offers insights into why you should rethink strategy and culture
The AACUC will be holding its next annual meeting in Atlanta in the summer of 2023. Put it in your calendar.
Other Stuff from the Notebook
A couple of other notes from the AACUC meeting:
- When Renee Sattiewhite announced the group has been assembling some leaders from billion-dollar CUs to provide some guidance and mentoring to smaller CUs, she clarified that those larger credit unions are not there to “take them over, but to help them.” That observation elicited applause and numerous enthusiastic yesses from an audience that appeared to be quite familiar with the “take them over” piece. (I'm pretty sure there are many other CUs meeting elsewhere who feel the same way.)
- The AACUC meeting drew more than 400 people. Sattiewhite noted this year’s event included more first-time attendees than the organization had in total at its second annual conference.
- Letting his audience know ahead of his presentation that he had a bit of a rough voice that day, Tony Moore reassured folks, “I don’t always sound like I've been smoking unfiltered Pall Malls.”
A Wee Final Note
I mentioned the World Council above, so a final note on its recent meeting or, more precisely, on Scotland, which hosted the event, and a trend likely headed our way.
CUToday.info recently reported that tap-to-pay spending accounts now represent nearly 20% of Visa’s face-to-face transactions in the U.S., but the rates in big cities have climbed above 25%, with the Bay Area at 30% and New York reaching 45%.
Tap-to-pay was easily the preferred method for making payments in Scotland, with terminals can be found everywhere. So was something ese.
You have probably ordered food in a restaurant during the pandemic that required you to use a QR code to access the menu so as to avoid touching anything other than your own phone.
But in many of Scotland’s restaurants, you not only order via the app accessed via the QR code, at the end of the order you enter in the number that is on your table. Your order is then brought to you when ready. The waiter/waitress will check in on you occasionally, and at the end of the meal will use a mobile device so you can tap-to-pay.
So, get ready. As the Scots would say, “Yer arse and parsley” if you don’t think the trend is headed across the ocean.
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator in Chief of CUToday.info and can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info. Mr. Diekmann is also author of several new book, including the brand new “The Last Lyric,” a humorous satire about a murder investigation at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in which every line of dialogue is either a classic pop/rock song title or lyric. Available on Amazon, Apple iBook, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. Mr. Diekmann is also author of a non-fiction compilation of the very best & worst he has seen and heard in covering more than 500 CU meetings and conferences, “501 Name Tags: How Everything You Need to Know About Business Can Be Learned at a Conference & Forgotten in the Trade Show.” It is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Lulu, and Smashwords