By Randy Karnes
Humans seem to be fascinated by the concept of the day after an apocalyptic event.
Day-dreaming about the day after the greatest day of your life is anti-climactic. But day-dreaming a bit about the day after an apocalypse is much more entertaining; that day is just full of possibilities. That day resets the rules, screams for innovation, and challenges the brave of heart to take the lead. Now those are the conditions for a perfect day dream.
On the other hand I always hate the part of the movie just before the apocalypse, the part where almost everyone is worrying and warning of the pending doom. The part where no one seems to be paying attention, or even worse they seem to be totally unaware or even bored with the fact that they could do something to divert the crisis. They walk around resolved to this is just fate and all the creative stuff will be left to the “day after.” Maybe it’s because some people, organizations, or communities have to be washed away to set the stage for the creative, the hard work, and for the survival leaders to emerge victorious from the rubble.
The tension is almost tedious… you can see the zombie from a mile away, seemingly moving in slow motion clearly coming at you, and while doom appears to be easily averted, you stand still and await his bite. Because you are the one that will be sacrificed to set the stage for the “day after” heroes.
Wake Up!
Wake up! You are in the credit union business, not a zombie movie. You have decisions to make here and now. Are you going to go along with the assumptions that our current industry model seems to be comfortable with? Are you going to accept the assumptions life is over without scale? Banking is what members want, consumers are just consumers, and owners they will never be. Your organization cannot afford compliance costs. Examiners do bite as hard as a lurching zombie, and their bite is the final word. Wake up… it’s killing me. This is the part that drives me crazy. You have two choices right now!
One: act before the day of apocalypse. Challenge the narrative of pending doom and act with the intention of a revolutionist.
Two: start planning to be the post-apocalypse survivalist and chart out your plans for the next version of what a not-for-profit cooperative financial service firm would be if we started it all over.
I do think a little “day after” planning is in order, and may be the best thing we could do right now to chart some new courses and inspire some current day heroes to step up now!
P.S. I wonder which of us would simple try to sign up the zombies as a new field of membership, hoping the good old days still might make a return, apocalypse or not.
Randy Karnes is CEO of CU*Answers, Grand Rapids, Mich. For info: www.cuanswers.com.