By Frank J. Diekmann
Several thousand people representing credit unions from New Zealand to Ghana cooperatively convened in Denver last week, and the person whose message seemed to resonate most was also the person who seemed most unlikely to fill that role.
Even the largest of credit unions, those in the U.S. and Canada, still remain the Bailey Buildings & Loans of the financial services world. Those rare credit unions whose operations cross borders do so on military bases, and if you’re thinking “global” when it comes to CUs than you’re either thinking Internet access (the great field leveler) or the actual CU of that name in Spokane.
And yet it was Alan Mulally, the former leader of two major global brands, whose words in English and translated into other languages at the World Council/CUNA meeting here kept the audience rapt (another smaller irony--he was also a relatively soft speaker—an indication of strength of his message).
Mulally is the former CEO of Boeing who left to lead the incredible turnaround at Ford (two companies responsible for multiple CUs) who is now a board member at Google. He knows big brands. But international supply chain efficiencies and manufacturing platforms weren’t the real message. Instead, Mulally said the real secret to the success he has experienced in leading those companies lay in lessons his mother and father had first taught him.
When he arrived at Ford, for instance, projections called for a $17 billion loss–and yet there was a bigger problem, as Mulally learned when he asked for honest assessments from every business unit on their status by flagging charts used in presentations as either red, yellow or green.
“This was counter to what was done at Ford where you never bring a problem up unless you also brought a solution,” he said. “If you didn’t you were gone. I kept encouraging people to share the real situation, and all 320 charts were green. I stopped the meeting. I said, ‘You know and I know we’re going to lose $17 billion. Is there one thing, one little thing, that’s maybe is not going well?’"
One operating unit’s leader finally changed his charts to red—and wasn’t fired. It was the beginning of the “trust” Mulally said was needed to begin the turnaround at Ford.
There was another separate and significant culture change at Ford, as well, said Mulally, and it’s one as applicable to the smallest credit union as it is the largest auto manufacturer.
“It’s about expected behaviors, about how we are going to treat each other, such as seek to understand before seeking to be understood, and no humor at another’s expense, etc.,” explained Mulally. “We were helping each other, because no one was perfect. You can imagine in that environment people were going after each other. I would stop a meeting and look at you. It was OK to apologize. One person was so good at violating the principles he became good at apologizing.”
Mulally said one Ford executive even asked him if he was really supposed to remove fear and intimidation from his management toolbox, and said “I don’t know if I can do that.”
Mulally’s response: “Then you may have to do it somewhere else.” That executive departed the company.
“If you set these expected behaviors in your company about how your going to behave and treat each other, then it’s zero tolerance,” Mulally advised credit unions. “If you tolerate it, than it’s just something you wrote on a piece of paper and you’re saying it’s actually OK. Speaking to authenticity, you have to do it. Occasionally I had to apologize. You have to stick to it and help each other.”
You can find the full story on Mulally’s comments to the World Credit Union Conference/America’s Credit Union Conference here.
And in Other News...
In some other news out of the meeting:
- Mulally, like other conference keynoters, gave his remarks inside the Bellco Theatre, which is part of the Denver Convention Center.
Many were unaware the title sponsor is Bellco Credit Union. The prior title sponsor was Wells Fargo Bank. Word is that when WOCCU/CUNA reps were touring the facility when it was being considered as a host city for the event the mega-bank’s name was still prominent, and when the CU group indicated that could be a deal-breaker, the Denver reps responded, “Well, we’ve got some good news…”
- With the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, great weather, terrific facilities and hotels located close by, Denver did America proud in hosting the attendees who were on hand from more than 60 countries. The only complaint I heard was from more than one group of CU visitors who were struck by the number of homeless people in downtown Denver. People from outside the U.S. are often struck by how America can be, to put it in credit union terms, a land of so many over-served people and, simultaneously, seemingly so many more underserved. I wasn’t able to offer them any answers. I will credit Denver’s homeless for their creativity in cardboard signs, however. Among the messages I saw were “Hungry, Hungry Hobos” and “Clone War Veteran. Need money to fix Death Star.”
- No financial institution/credit union gathering can be held without discussing the very real threat from data breaches. Break-out sessions are dominated by talk of the latest in biometrics and of hardening defenses, especially when it comes to core systems. But Tony Ferris of Rochdale Group had an interesting observation/worry that when it comes threats, the littlest things can lead to the biggest problems. “How much information does your copier hold?,” he asked an audience that had likely never given it much thought.Ferris reminded that the much-discussed Target breach occurred because the cyber-criminals found a way in through software related to the retailers’ HVAC system. So, if you didn’t have enough to worry about already, there's a little something to get your day started. As Ferris reminded, “We have to think about vendors in a risk-based way.” You’re welcome.
- Roberto Rodrigues of Brazil was one of four people honored by the World Council with its highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award.
He has visited more than 80 countries doing credit union development work during his career. Rodrigues, who quoted both Jesus and John Lennon in his remarks, began by observing, “I’m so sorry I don’t speak English. I speak English like Tarzan do.” His English proved to be just fine; Jane would have been more than impressed. That story can be found here.
- Another of those Distinguished Service Award winners, Aloun Ndombet-Assamba of Jamaicaof Jamaica, said she would never forget the day she joined a credit union 35 years earlier. As she left the CU and crossed the street she was struck by a car. “It took me three weeks to sit, because when I saw the car coming I turned my substantial derriere toward it,” Ndombet-Assamba joked.
- Outgoing WOCCU Chairman Grzegorz Bierecki introduced the new board of the World Council and remarked, “I ask you to hold your applause. It has never happened, but they put it into the script and I am obliged to ask you.” His forecast proved correct.
- Speaking of the World Council board, there was much applause, and deservedly so, after Anne Cochran of the Louisiana league became the first-ever woman to chair the international organization. But I’m not sure how many others in attendance at the meeting put a little pause in their applause to notice that as the rest of the 14-member board was announced that there is only one other woman among its members. This has long been an issue on the WOCCU board and a pretty ironic one, given WOCCU’s focus on financial inclusion for women and its broad support of the Global Women’s Leadership Network.
- The World CU Conference and America’s CU Conference were held jointly this year but will go their separate ways again next year. The America’s CU Conference will take place in Seattle in late June of 2016, while the WOCCU meeting is headed to Belfast, Ireland, a month later in July. That should save Ireland’s credit unions a little of the kind of press they got here.
- There are few industries/movements/causes that are as prone to going all kumbaya and celebrating themselves as much as credit unions. And there is much to celebrate, with WOCCU CEO Brian Branch, for instance, guaranteeing the world’s CUs will meet the 50-million new members goal it has set. But author, consultant and university professor Luke Williams urged credit unions to chew on this: “Success means complacency sets in. And complacency is the most dangerous position for any organization.
- Finally, who says the federal government can’t deliver. At Rocky Mountain National Park I saw this sign, below, followed by the scene below that.