Photo from teehanlax.com

As some of you jump into the minimally-charted waters of iPhone-app design for your credit union, I hope these stencils and user-interface elements come in handy for mocking up and prototyping designs:

• Layered PSD
• Omnigraffle wireframe stencils

On a related note – which credit unions are doing something cool with the iPhone or iTouch? If something’s impressed you, drop a line in the comments. The best find (this is a very subjective contest) gets a $5 Starbucks card and this brilliant pair of sunglasses.

(links via Ilya Vedrashko’s Ad Lab)

Our CEO came for a visit today. He asked each member of our seven-person team this:

“What projects are you working on? What roadblocks stand in your way?“

A year ago, Cam said:

Being ahead of your own time is not a badge of honor unless the idea saw the light of day. Let this serve as a call to action to all the ThinkTankers, BarCampers, Bloggers, and organizations who have been spending too much time talking about ideas.

Roadblocks. At the lower levels of any organization, too often the roadblocks are constructed from above. “We don’t do business that way, so that idea won’t work.”

Or maybe they’re seemingly too tough to move. “The core system won’t do that.”

Remarkable organizations have visionary leaders who remove roadblocks.

For the greater part of this last year, I’ve stayed off the grid. It was tough keeping my mouth shut because – well – being quiet for more than three seconds at a time isn’t in my nature.

When I stepped away from Open Source CU in December, my new boss gave me one task: make young adults love our CU.

In January, Tim and I began talking about bringing the Young & Free brand to the US. After seeing the ins and outs of Common Wealth’s campaign, I knew it would translate well to the goal I was given on day one. But for the past eight months, we’ve kept our lips sealed.

Today, Young & Free Texas launched.

Bringing social media into a great big financial institution has given me even more respect for what pioneers like William, Shari, Ed Terpening, Ginny, Matt Davis, et al have accomplished. For starters, I’ve had real meetings with real attorneys. Lordy bagordie.

Beyond that, most of your coworkers don’t get “blog” – but they do get conversation.

I’m as fired up today about Young & Free’s potential for sparking conversation in Texas as I was when I helped introduce Young & Free Alberta at last year’s Symposium with Tim.

One factor in Common Wealth’s success has been the use of traditional marketing (i.e. offline) to support the online side of their campaign. IMHO, it’s where many companies fail, never seeing significant returns on their social media campaigns.

Too many dip their toes in the water and turn away, towel in hand to walk back up the beach and to the car. Backing up social media with a juggernaut of real world media is crucial.

It’s good to be back and, as of today, soaked.

(This is the second half of “The Future of Financial Branding.” Click here to read Part 1 .)

Prediction #4: Traditional branches will thrive.

Ten years ago, people predicted that online banking would kill traditional branches. That hasn’t happened, and it probably never will.

While a physical branch presence is no longer a pre-requisite in financial services, there is (and probably always will be) a measurable segment of the population that wants/needs to walk into a branch to talk to a real person. If not for routine transactions, certainly the big ones, like home loans.

The real tragedy is that traditional branches (as in “the way we’ve always done it”) will also thrive. With startling frequency, cookie-cutter branches are built with almost no strategy or scrutiny from senior management. Local architects are hired, and they do what’s expected: Build something that looks like a bank. That’s how you end up with 12 teller stations sealed off behind bullet-proof glass. Warm and personal? Phbbbt… More like transaction factories.

That said, a growing number of financial institutions seem to be grasping the importance of using branches to stand out. Of course, they seem to frequently borrow each other’s branch models instead of engineering their own unique experiences (see Prediction #5) — e.g., concierges/greeter stations and coffee cafes.

Prediction #5: Innovation will come from extensive R&D.

Sorry, but that’s “Ripoff & Duplicate,” not “Research & Development.” History proves that everything successful in the financial industry gets copied at some point or another. But in the future, duplication will occur almost instantly. Some things will be copied before anyone knows for sure how well it works.

And where will these new ideas come from? Not from within the financial industry itself. The most disruptive forces in financial services will sneak up from outsiders and entrepreneurs, especially online startups like those frequently covered by NetBanker.

Prediction #6: Being green won’t make a difference.

Being green will make a difference for the environment, and that’s great. But will it create any kind of brand boost for financial institutions in the future? Not really. Why? Because in 10 years, everyone will be doing it. Everyone will have to “be green.” It’s something consumers will simply expect.

That said, the green bandwagon is filling up quickly. So you better hop on now before you get left behind. In 10 years, being un-green, well, that’s a whole different story. Ten years from now, if you want to see a consumer backlash, try telling people you don’t offer basic “green” stuff like e-statements.

There will always be room in the consumer’s hall of fame for hardcore financial brands that take green to the nth degree. But only a handful of organizations are really capable of taking their green commitment to the fullest possible extent. Truthfully, only a small handful of companies in any industry are comfortable taking anything to the max, which is precisely what effective branding requires… and why so few can do it well.

Conclusion

These are just a few of the trends that fuel the massive homogeneity shared by the thousands upon thousands of banks and credit unions in North America.

Any difference, no matter how big or small, will capture people’s attention. Ten years from now, those financial brands that seek out and foster these differences will thrive, leaving others to compete on price and grow through mergers.

In the meantime, many banks and credit unions will roll-out superficial rebranding campaigns and cosmetic makeovers (many hitched to name changes and mergers), only a handful will muster the hoohahs to really stand out. Even fewer will commit the resources to really pull it off.

For regular readers of this blog, it can be easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of the occasional breakthrough like Umpqua Bank, Young & Free and The Addison Café. But these represent a mere micro-fraction of the vast sea of me-too financial service providers out there.

If it’s any relief, know this: This isn’t just a problem facing financial institutions. It happens in every industry. Branding is hard. Good branding flies in the face of our instincts — instincts that tell us that “fitting in” and sticking with the pack is the best formula for survival.

If you read this far, the good news is that you are probably in a role to help prevent this sameness from happening—at least at your organization. It’s never to late to get started. Just don’t wait 10 years.

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Jeffry Pilcher, publisher of The Financial Brand, has worked exclusively on financial brands for the last eight years. In summer months when he isn’t knee-deep in credit union brands and names, he’s knee deep in Alaska’s rivers, fishing for king salmon. The rest of his free time with is spent with his wife, Tina, or loving his faithfully devoted dogs Dude and Sweet P.

Subscribe to The Financial Brand’s RSS feed here or sign-up for the email bulletin here.

Many social media tools are either cheap or free (including blogging platforms like Wordpress and Blogger, DIY social networks like Ning, podcasting tools like Odeo, and online video like YouTube and Viddler).

But as anyone who’s jumped into the space can tell you, this doesn’t mean social media is a cost-free answer to a given strategy. The big costs are time and commitment. Creativity. Empathy. Enthusiasm. From a person or group of people. And it can almost become a double-edged sword, because the more successful your social media initiatives are – the more people are participating in your community and conversation – the more resources are required to manage it all.

From moderating comments, to creating content, to monitoring conversation elsewhere on the web – social media, a prospect that at first glance may look shiny, new, accessible, and cost-effective, can be extremely resource intensive.

So I want to ask some credit unions that are doing it, some of which I’ve called out specifically below: How do you approach resource management for your social media projects?

Do you hire a community manager? Do you clear room from an existing employee’s plate? Do you spread the work out among several employees? Do you close your eyes and hope for the best?

And beyond that, maybe the scariest thing of all, what if the initiative goes really, really well? What if your community becomes enormous and active? How do you plan to grow with them?

(I’d love to hear from: Carolina Postal CU’s Deb McLean, MidState Educator’s CU’s Danielle Chatfield, Members CU’s Matt Davis, UTFCU’s Brandon Ballentine, Premier CU, Whoever is overseeing America First CU’s Review System, Verity CU’s Shari Storm, Vancity’s William Azaroff & Kate Dugas, and anyone else who’s hands are dirty with social media.)

The brilliant and sometimes hilarious folks at GonzoBanker have written up Gene Blishen as GonzoBanker of the Month. Gene is General Manger of mac-only Mt. Lehman Credit Union, located just outside of Vancouver.

If you work in the industry (or don’t, for that matter), Gene is a person you should get to know. He’s a creative, people-driven thinker, and if you have a conversation with him you’re guaranteed a head full of new ideas.

Read the article here.

(PS: If you’d like to idea-swap with him and a lot of other inspired industry folks, join us in September at BarCampBankBC.)

Looking out 10 years at the landscape of financial brands, what will we see? Here’s six trends (Editor’s note: three now, three later).

Prediction #1: More of the same.

The vast majority of financial institutions will continue their pursuit of “better sameness” in lieu of real differentiation. They will continue to apply imaginary rules about what financial institutions should and shouldn’t look like. These self-imposed restrictions will keep most banks and credit unions (and investment firms and insurance agencies) from doing things that are fun, daring unique or otherwise interesting, mostly because they presume they need to project a “safe” image.

Reality Check: Playing it safe with your brand strategy is about the riskiest thing you can do.

Surely there will always be a few rogues who break from the herd, but these are few and far between.

In the near future, financial institutions will continue their race to the middle. Banks will get more credit-union-like, as they adopt kindler, gentler personalities and pursue community-centered strategies. And credit unions will continue get more bank-like, as they merge, change names and add things like business services and commercial loans.

Prediction #2: More self-deception about service.

Ten years from now, you can walk into any geographic market in America (maybe even the world) and ask 10 financial institutions what differentiates them. They’ll probably all say the same thing, just as they do today : “It’s our service!” At least nine of them will be lying. In all likelihood, all of them will be.

It’s unfortunate, but all too many financial institutions continue to perpetuate this “our-service-is-better” myth. They insist on fooling themselves with this common (but completely unsubstantiated) belief that their service is truly what differentiates them. They are the ones with “warm, friendly, personal service.”

Who are these dreadful competitors delivering such a crappy experience that you can stand out as a such a shiny beacon of service? Be honest. When was the last time you walked into a financial institution other than your own?

Reality Check: You can’t outsmile the competition – not now, not 10 years from now. Only one or two financial institutions in any market/niche stand out for their exceptionally good — or exceptionally bad — service.

Clinging to the “our-service-is-better” lie stunts the growth of many financial brands. It will continue prohibiting them from realizing any sort of true differentiation and achieving their ultimate potential.

Prediction #3: More me-too names.

One thing is for certain: Those nostalgic for the days when every credit union had a “where/who” name like Lincoln County Teachers Credit Union will be disappointed. The trend of credit unions changing names will continue to be strong, but not because they are enamored with growth (as some suggest).

Credit unions will continue to have to change names when their major SEGs disappear. Others will have to change names because they will be forced to. Eventually, almost every single credit union hitched to a major brand will have to change names, because — quite understandably — these iconic brands want to protect their trademarks. If you have a name like John Deere (or even University of Something), a letter from a lawyer could be on the way. In fact, you can probably count on it.

When the time comes to change names, banks and credit unions will continue to pick familiar-sounding monikers. Expect more financial institutions to roll-out names with meaningless words like “First” and “One,” while others opt for everyone’s favorite feel-good terms like “Community” and “Neighbors.”

Reality Check: If you think a particular name sounds safe, it almost surely isn’t. Every name that sounds “financial” is already taken by someone somewhere in the industry. Picking a “safe-sounding name” comes with the very real risk of getting sued and being forced to start over — at significant cost.

The good news is two-fold. First, renaming problems are completely avoidable. Second, resistance to unconventional names that once might have seemed unthinkable is eroding. Names that once would have sounded off-category, such as Jwaala, Zopa and Red Canoe will become increasingly more common.

(Up next: Brick-and-Mortar, Innovation, and The Problem With Green)

Update: Click here to read Part 2 .

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Jeffry Pilcher, publisher of The Financial Brand, has worked exclusively on financial brands for the last eight years. In summer months when he isn’t knee-deep in credit union brands and names, he’s knee deep in Alaska’s rivers, fishing for king salmon. The rest of his free time with is spent with his wife, Tina, or loving his faithfully devoted dogs Dude and Sweet P.

Subscribe to The Financial Brand’s RSS feed here or sign-up for the email bulletin here.

From the first day of kindergarten we are taught to get along with others and work together. In the normal course of events, though, most kindergartners act more like Mike Myers in the famous Philip the Hyper Hypo Kid skit on SNL than Beaver Cleaver.

Of the many challenges and opportunities facing credit unions, none is more daunting than the topic of getting along with others and working together (a.k.a. “large-scale collaboration”). We’ve tried to break down these challenges in a recent research publication. I would be curious to hear people’s thoughts on a few things:

1. Are credit unions more like Philip (kinetically going out on their own) or the “Beav” (extremely cooperative) when it comes to collaboration? Which is more appropriate for today’s realities?
2. What do you see as the benefits and costs of large-scale collaboration?
3. Do you have good stories to share on credit union collaboration that aren’t widely known?

Filene is already conducting more research on the topic of large-scale credit union collaboration because we think it’s a pretty darn important topic for credit unions to consider in these changing and challenging times.

(Editor’s note from Brent: On a related – but completely unrelated – note: Eddie Haskell is speaking at an upcoming CUNA event. That’s all.)

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George Hofheimer is Chief Research Officer for the Filene Research Institute, a think tank that investigates vital issues affecting credit unions and consumer finance. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin with his wife Carrie and two boys Huck and Milo. He is a washed up marathoner and an over-ambitious soccer player.

It’s time to vote on your favorite speaker slot submission for the 2008 Partnership Symposium. From the FORUM Solutions blog (some links added):

Ron suggested that we open up the selection process for the open speaking slot to you, ala American Idol. At the present time, we have four stellar entries to choose from. If there are others out there then please let us know.

Please visit this page to view the video auditions and cast your vote.

This is important stuff here so take your voting privileges seriously. Just ask Tim McAlpine. We want you to vote for the candidate that will add the most value to the symposium and not just the cleverness of the video – they are all exceptional so focus on the value. We also don’t want any hanging chads or Michigan and Florida delegate issues so we are asking you to enter your name and email address to validate the vote after you choose your candidate.

Click here to rock the vote.

Frugality and thrift allow us to emphasize those things that are most important in our lives. When we restrict our spending on the unimportant, we’re able to indulge ourselves on the things that matter most.

...from Get Rich Slowly’s ‘The Art of Frugal Living’

(via Aaron Martin)

It’s easy to picture Peter, Michael and Samir- sensitive ears beware – on the where-not-to-work reel. It’s a little harder to purge the reel from your credit union and recruit well.

At the beginning of Filene’s 30 Under 30 experiment, we polled the participants on how many had planned to work at a credit union. The answer: not one. Here are four things that will get good employees flowing into credit unions … but only if we make it so.

1 • Consolidation

Blasé as this may sound, credit union consolidation doesn’t scare me. I think it’s good. One of the main reasons is that growing and large credit unions (along with a progressive cohort of smaller peers) can carve out a better place for talented employees. Heritage CU ($146 million) in Madison, Wisconsin, is big enough to have a VP of Innovation; their $40 million neighbors are probably unable to justify, let alone support, the expense.

Walter Biernacki was the first person in my short business stint who articulated growth as a recruiting and retention imperative. This CEO of Arkansas FCU, which grew assets by 20% last year, told me that if he doesn’t grow, he won’t have a place to keep the rising stars at his credit union, and he’ll have fewer places to put any new ones.

2 • Better tools

When CUhire.com launched earlier this year, I caught an inkling of of how credit union recruiting could go: Great young employee loves the credit union > Credit union painlessly taps great young employee’s electronic social network > Much great employment ensues.

As far as I can tell, CUhire doesn’t do that. It’s a well-executed take on the traditional post-and-publish recruiting model. They do have an in-site “talent network” for submitting resumés and one of their senior partners has a LinkedIn network that exceeds 500 contacts, but it’s still an agency-driven approach.

Much more powerful (and local and inexpensive) is the prospect of letting the employees you’d like to replicate actively push your job descriptions through their Facebook or MySpace or Stache Passions profiles. Hey, even have them send an old-fashioned e-mail to their college friends, fellow parishioners or military buddies. If they love you already, they’ll do it for free. If you want them to love you more, you’ll pay them a commission when you hire the kid who sat across from them in French 5.

3 • Not social responsibility (yet)

I kept trying to write up social responsibility as a recruiting tool, and I just couldn’t find the meat. That’s not because I don’t think it’s a good attractor in today’s business environment; instead, it’s because most credit unions are plain vanilla deposits-in, loans-out places. Social responsibility is in the credit union genotype, but it’s rarely expressed.

Credit unions as a whole used to be progressive when progressive meant giving out small loans, giving you a peer-reviewed shot at a larger loan, or providing the right place to cash your paycheck. One hundred years in and ALL the novelty has worn off of those differentiators. What’s left? Slightly better rates and the memory of when our service used to be better.

Try a quick Google search for “hybrid auto loan” and you’ll catch a full list of credit unions. Take a look at what REAL Solutions is trying to do. Sign up for a Zopa account, or take a look at Amplify’s online tools. Today, the system is not progressive, but individual credit unions can be. In a world where the up-and-comers are searching for the right kind of employer, being progressive in your business will make a difference.

The Filene Research Institute is doubling down on this one: Stay tuned for details of our upcoming partnership with Net Impact.

4 • Pay

I’ve never filed a W-4 at a credit union myself, so I’m only going on statistically significant hearsay: Credit unions need to pay better.

“Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about about mission statements.” – Office Space

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Ben is driver of the Filene Research Institute’s CU Tomorrow project, chairman of the National Directors’ Convention, and a big fan of tweed.

(HINT: It’s funny because the animals were shot with bullets from guns and I’m talking about bullet points of information.)

But seriously, here are a few of the highlights from my first BarCampBank, BarCampBankDallas. I don’t take copious notes during open discussions; I just jot down the highlights. So, I’ll give you a few bullets that stood out for me and I’d like to get your perspective on some of the ideas, so chime right in.

Two of my favorite concepts of the day.

• Credit Report + Character Report

• Can FIs ever release their API?

Credit Report + Character Report

Social networks can facilitate understanding a person in context of their friends, family and character. Our credit report coldly calculate our financial dependability outside of the context of our whole life. Let us vouch for each other to fill in the gaps on our credit report and make informed exceptions to the hard numbers. Larry Hooper, beloved entertainer, told us that being an independent musician makes him a leper to the credit report robots. But if you sat down for a chat with any of Larry’s friends, you would quickly get a much different picture of the kind of person he really is, separate from his tax status.

So when can the credit report engines work more like LinkedIn? In fact, why can’t they hook into LinkedIn and view a person’s Recommendations and process that into their credit score?

(As an aside, Larry brought an authentic perspective to the discussions, which makes me think we might all stumble into from deeper insights in future BarCampBank sessions by inviting a few non-industry people.)

Can FIs ever release their API?

This was the ultimate question of Mark McSpadden’s session, “I want to start a nerd FI.” The question was how can a bunch of designers and developers get together and start an FI tailored to our specific needs. (Ex: Photoshop loans, server loans, etc.) Mercifully, there were some people in the room uniquely qualified to answer this question. It was an emotional roller coaster that left us all with one question that, while it is mired in regulations and red tape for now, offers a tiny glimmer of hope for some wild day in the future: Why don’t FIs release their API?

API = Application Programming Interface. When it is released, you can get your mitts in it and make it work for your own purposes, within limitations. Twitter released their API and IconFactory made Twitterrific. That’s one example most of our readers will know well. If a bank released their API, the idea is that groups could come along and hook into it to create an FI of their own. That would be more than just the online banking interface, but the whole bag of what keeps an FI pumping.

We quickly – depressingly – learned from the FI CEOs and General Managers in the room that the romantic days of a few teachers with $20 each and a cookie tin, or a few fire fighters and a lock box under the driver’s seat of Engine #1 are gone. The process of starting a financial institution is eat up with prohibitive regulations.

But, could there ever be a day where an existing financial institution could let people hook into it and meaningfully tailor the infrastructure and product to their own needs? I’d love to continue that brainstorm here for a few more beats. You lot who frequent this blog represent some of the sharpest minds in the biz, so turn those cerebral hounds of yours loose.

I’ll close with what was unanimously declared to be the quote of the day. As we sat around a nice conference table off a main room with enough taxidermied big game animals to make the staff of Bass Pro Shops blush at the excess, one of our young peers pointed up at the pair of stuffy portraits representing two generations of big-game-hunting, be-suited bankers (yes, they are exactly what you are picturing) and said, “We want our own FI because we don’t like dealing with that.”

PS: Go grab a look at the photos from this weekend.

Call 214-748-9556 and wait until all the options are given in the menu.

To quote Ben Rogers after listening to this, “Who says credit unions aren’t innovative?”

Have a good weekend, everyone.

(High five to George and Kelsey at Filene for passing this along.)

When Brent asked me to be a guest blogger, I initially was writing a post on my love of NPS. But in the past week have had the opportunity to spar with Ron Shevlin again on the subject, so you can go there for that.

Then I read Doug True’s guest post. What’s on his amazing mind. It got me thinking. I just celebrated my 28th year in the credit union movement. If you told me 28 years ago that I’d be a guest blogger on Open Source CU—huh? There are about four words in that sentence that didn’t exist 28 years ago.

So, what’s on my mind?

I’m in Oshkosh this morning. Watching the news.

I just heard my copy of USA Today drop in front of my door.

Open it.

Front Page: How Rising Home Values Placed your Finances at Risk.

Hmmmmmm…you mean all of the VISA Home Equity cards weren’t a good idea?

It goes on to say….”Banks urged owners to borrow more, based on ‘phantom equity’ that has vanished.”

Flooding Threatens Outdated Levees

I am seeing tons of evidence of last week’s flood in Oshkosh. Very sad.

Sports: Hmm. Celtics won. Probably not the best choice for the announcement:

“Celtics Reign, End Drought.”

Money section: Banks Raise Penalty Fees for Clients’ Overdrafts.

Too depressing.

Let’s see what my google alerts give me. Ahhhhh…...Grace.

What a beautiful word. Grace.

Rita Haynes, CEO of Faith Community United Credit Union appeared in the Dallas Morning News yesterday. “Give Credit Unions the Credit They Deserve ” was the title of the article.

They have created the “Grace Loan” – a small, short-term loan that requires the borrower save a portion of what they would have given to the payday lender in fees, thus teaching them good financial habits and helping build a credit history for their goals.

It got me thinking about the history of credit unions. Our purpose in society. Our cause.

Grace: Pay day lenders are charging interest rates that can reach 400 percent and cripple those who are least able to bear the consequences of debt.

History: The first credit union in North America, the Caisse populaire de Lévis in Quebec, Canada, began operations on Jan. 23rd, 1901 with a ten cent deposit. Founder Alphonse Desjardins, a reporter in the Canadian parliament, was moved to take up his mission in 1897 when he learned of a Montrealer who had been ordered by the court to pay nearly $5,000 in interest on a loan of $150 from a moneylender.

Grace: While payday lenders are geared to take advantage of the poor, credit unions – with investment pools of money formed by members themselves – are geared to help the working class or low-income families establish good credit.

We counsel folks to take loans that are appropriate for their circumstances and in this way protect their members from crushing debt and encourage a habit of savings.

History: Credit Unions were chartered to make loans for provident and productive purposes only.

Grace: We teach someone how to plan and save and become a good credit risk.

History: Credit unions were chartered to promote thrift.

Thank you Rita.

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Denise is a rambunctious Culture Consultant. Her goal is to help credit unions question everything and to renew their faith and their commitment to the credit union brand. Read more from Denise on her blog Cult-ivation .

Is there an echo in here or is it just me? Brent was kind enough to ask me (err, desperate to ask me?) to write a short post on what was on my mind right this minute in credit union land. Well, three things that are related and at the risk of sounding like the CU Skeptic, here they are:

One

“Being comfortable in our business is very, very dangerous” – Daniel Lamarre, President of Cirque du Soleil

Credit unions crave comfort and shall I say are built for comfortableness. Yes, I love credit unions and how they are structured so you can hold your angry comments. However, let’s dissect the structure real quick – a volunteer board of directors who at most credit unions love their role and have no incentive to rock the boat – a CEO that just might be approaching retirement (the statistics show that this is common in credit unions) who have no incentive to be innovative (come on, the regulators will grill us if we launch something new – so many questions) and a management team that is wearing so many hats that they can’t find the time to look at the long view. I base my assessment on my travels in speaking with other credit unions from all over this country.

On a personal level, I don’t experience this at my credit union – we have a progressive board of directors that keeps us challenged and stretching for the next milestone, and a CEO that expects innovation – not just curious, but expects it – big difference. I know there are many progressive credit unions out there doing amazing stuff.

My point with this first item is that there are numerous credit unions that I want to see stay around and they need to wake up to stay around. I have a belief that unless you have an idea how to solve a problem then don’t bring it up. So, my only solution to this is to drive paranoia and innovation from within – it needs to be driven from within ourselves. The current tough times in the economy present us with an opportunity to feel this sense of urgency and do something about it.

Two

Okay, so a credit union starts to feel paranoid and uncomfortable and they react instead of being proactive. Yes, react as in copy something verbatim in the spirit of “me-too ”. Folks, we can’t offer “free’er” checking. In my opinion, there is too much cookie cutter product offerings that are copied and launched with very little thought on what your members want or how they will see the new offering as relevant. Too many times a credit union simply just buys a new product from a vendor and launches it – differentiation is almost non-existent from the beginning and if it does exist it quickly disappears.

Going back to point #1 – we need to challenge ourselves to find niches (not just one but many) that we can serve in our markets with unique products and solutions. In today’s business world, things are moving at a record pace. It used to be that a company would find a new market and eventually would reach a success tipping point and then niches would be filled around this new market. Well, the business world no longer sits on the sidelines for the tipping point before niches are defined. Peer-to-peer lending is a real world example of this. Solution: look outside the financial services industry for inspiration, look and listen for local market opportunities where you can make a difference, and experiment in trying to fill these niche opportunities.

Three

Blogosphere friends – don’t take this the wrong way, but we need more voices in the conversation. It does feel like an echo chamber sometimes. We need more paranoid, uncomfortable, proactive experimenters coming to the forefront to tell us their stories (both the successes and the failures) so we can learn from them. Plus we need challenges to our own thoughts and actions.

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With all of that being said, I do want to let you know that I have been in my credit union career for 20 years now and I have never been as excited about the future as I am now. I just see so many opportunities – the hard part is prioritizing them and figuring out how to best seize them. I say we go make it happen and learn from each other – are you in?

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Doug is a co-founder and President of FORUM Solutions, and SVP of FORUM Credit Union in Fishers, IN. He is a credit union lifer who is paranoid and uncomfortable with the status quo.