In a wide ranging, 90 minute interview, retired State Employees’ Credit Union CEO Jim Blaine offered up a provocative look at possible tomorrows for the credit union movement.
The throughline is simply: Quō vādis? – Where are you going?
In 2000 there were over 10,000 credit unions. Now there’s a smidge over 5,000. That math is brutal. But it is fact.
This is where Blaine’s insights come in. His views are ultimately optimistic because what he sees is how a credit union can win. He knows a lot about that.
Blaine, who served as CEO from 1979 to 2016 of what became the nation’s second biggest credit union, grew the institution’s assets from $300 million to $33 billion. He left a strong foundation; SECU now has over $47 billion in assets.
And nowadays, when Blaine looks around the credit union universe, what he sees is a highly talented, youthful pool of c-suite credit union executives. They have a lot of tech smarts. That is good news. The bad news is this: “I wonder if many are looking at a credit union more as a business than as a cooperative.”
A commercial bank, bluntly put, is in business to profit its shareholders. Period. A cooperative, by virtue of that status, commits to seven cooperative principles that date back to the 1844 Rochdale cooperative. Among the principles: democratic member control; cooperation among cooperatives; concern for community.
Every US credit union is a cooperative, those principles are its principles. And they are also non-profits. Credit unions exist to benefit their members and their communities.
Nothing could be more different from those principles than a commercial bank’s bedrock purpose and, says Blaine, those differences are the building blocks that pave the way to credit union success.
Start today, really embrace AI – artificial intelligence, where machines think and they are good at it when fed enough of the right data – and, guess what, you are already four or five years behind the leaders and that group includes most of the money center banks and maybe even a few credit unions.
Sounds gloomy? Well, it is, kind of, but CU2.0 founder Kirk Drake is here with a new book, FinAncIal, which aims to tell credit union executives what they need to know about AI and also what they need to get doing, right now. This book is not so much about theory as it is an action manual and, know this, AI is something every credit union needs to be exploring right now.
The good news is that there are many hundreds of AI focused fintechs that are actively hunting for credit union customers.
The better news is that those fintechs can be met through the CU2.0 Mastermind Group. Drake talks a bit about the CU mastermind in this podcast – and he and a few members exhibit a bit of what it’s like to be in one in this podcast, #121. An earlier podcast – #106 – lets Drake and executive coach Dr. Patty Ann Tublin talk about what a mastermind group is and how it works.
But back to AI. The Matrix is now and you can choose the blue pill (blissful ignorance) or the red (confronting the sometimes unpleasant realities ahead ) abut the deal is that AI is the red pill and it is the future no matter how many blue pills you munch.
Why do so many credit union execs want to dodge the unpleasant uncertainties of embracing AI and the wholesale institutional changes it will deliver? We talk about that in this podcast and a lot of it is simply that credit union people are nice people but they sometimes don’t want to dive into changes that will discomfit many.
Except with AI there is no choice. It is coming your way no matter how tightly shut your eyes are.
In the podcast Drake tells why – and what you need to get doing, like this afternoon.
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Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Breach Clarity, a startup headed up by onetime Javelin Strategy + Research co-founder Jim Van Dyke, could help cybersecurity journalists, bloggers, and PR professionals write more clearly about data breaches.
Breaches are commonplace. There are four significant ones per day, says Van Dyke.
They often affect financial information, such as bank account or credit card data, protected health records, personally identifiable information (PII), or intellectual property.
In 2020, the total number of records exposed in reported breaches exceeded 37 billion, a 141% increase over 2019. This number doesn’t even include yet 2020 data breaches reported in Q1 2021.
But what does that mean for individual consumers and their personal data in each case? “The biggest challenge breach victims face,” says Eva Velasquez, CEO of the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), “is understanding the risks associated with a particular breach, and what steps they should take next.”
Data breach press releases from lawyers, for lawyers
Ask any cybersecurity journalist what they do not like about data breach press releases of, say, financial services firms or health care providers, and the answer is: everything.
“It is nice to know that everybody’s kind of in their trackies, apart from those b*****s who went to Dubai.”
So Jake Quickenden moaned to the Manchester Evening News. He’s a Dancing on Ice winner and something of a UK celeb. The Dubai incident – where a bunch of British social media influencers and reality TV stars were treated to a junket and as they posted snaps of their holidays online, the British, indeed the global, public roared in angry resentment – has got to give anybody pause before jetting off to anyplace exotic.
Quickenden continued: “We’re all trying to get through this lockdown at the end of the day so that we can get on with our lives.
“People can rebuild their businesses, people can rebuild their relationships and their mates. We’re all trying to do that, apart from the ones who went to Dubai.”
Ouch.
This is flygskam – flight shaming – on steroids.
Know that Quickenden is just one of literally thousands of voices raised in condemnation of the skin flaunting influencers in Dubai and therefore you might think that the brands and locations that have tossed junkets to influencers might have pulled away from this marketing tactic, if not out of disgust at unnecessary travel in a pandemic but simply out of a survival instinct.
Which raises a key question: Are the brands that sponsor and host such events morally irresponsible?
The British influencers, by the way, traveled legally in that they claimed their Dubai hop was business travel and, for them, it was.
Sure, the British public, much of it, did not see the junket in the same light. But if you are earning money by showing some skin in the sun then, yes, such trips are business for you.
Legalities aside, however, the PR blowback was intense and negative. So it has seemed.
But appearances may deceive.
Indeed The Drum – an online pub that covers digital marketing – now reports that Dubai may not be forgotten but brands nonetheless are pushing forward with marketing plans built around influencers traveling abroad.
Is this nuts? Maybe not, says UK web design firm Rouge, which relates:
“we analysed the Instagram accounts of 50 popular social media stars who have been pictured abroad this Winter. And the results are somewhat surprising…
Likes per post for influencers abroad are up a staggering 144 percent compared to their average.”
The New Statesman elaborated: “Kaz Crossley, one of the Love Island stars currently in Dubai, gets 50k-60k likes per post on holiday versus nearly half that (roughly 30k likes) on posts she shares of herself in the UK. Another example is Molly Mae Hague – a Love Island 2019 runner-up… – who posts regularly to YouTube…. While her video stats vary, ranging anywhere between half a million and a million views, her travel vlogs in the pandemic have been some of her most successful ever. Her vlog from Crete this summer has 1.4 million views and a trip to Ibiza has a whopping 1.9 million; a trip to the Maldives in December has 1.3 million and – you guessed it – a vlog of her trip to Dubai that same month has 1.2 million.”
We – you and I – are drawn to this content and therefore the influencers and their sponsors are simply serving up what we apparently crave. As we are in lockdown – by government fiat in the UK, or simply by personal choice for many US travelers – we have our eyes on those who have broken out.
But a money question for the hosts and sponsors of these junkets: Yes, visits to influencer posts and content went up but did any visitor actually make any purchases? My guess is no, especially not among the core UK travelers who remain in lockdown.
Never confuse site visits with end results. I should have thought that part of the Marketing 101 class. But, evidently, it isn’t.
Just because we surf to a site doesn’t mean we are transacting.
Site visitor counts be damned, the Dubai campaign failed. Period.
If we ain’t buying tickets to fly there, or booking hotel rooms to stay, it’s one big fail.
New research out of Juniper smacks most credit union leaders in the face. That’s because 50% of us now say we would consider switching to a digital-only bank. Indeed, many households already are actively contemplating a move to a digital-only bank.
Face this reality: Very soon it will be one whole year in which many of us have not set foot in a branch. And you know what? We have satisfactorily done our banking despite that abstinence.
Many, the Juniper survey says, now believe there are no compelling reasons to want to go back to in-branch banking when the pandemic threat passes—which, by the way, won’t be until year-end 2021 (and maybe, if the variants prove hardy, longer than that). Some have deluded themselves in thinking that a day is coming, and soon, when, click, a switch is thrown and suddenly, as in a Twilight Zone-style slice of life, we are thrust back into our 2019 lifestyle… which for many credit union executives means in-branch. It ain’t happening that way.
You may think you have it tough managing a credit union in the pandemic. You need to talk with David Tuyo, CEO of University Credit Union, with assets edging up towards $1 billion and a growth rate in loans that’s running around 30% per year.
2020 too saw sustained growth – in assets, loans, and even members. That’s despite the reality that University serves a membership of what the name suggests: colleges and universities, mainly in California, some faith based (St. Mary’s College in northern California and Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles), others large publics (UCLA and University of California Irvine). The kicker is that California colleges were closed for much of 2020 due to the pandemic and yet University grew.
And every University branch was closed. Still it thrived.
How? Tuyo tells in this podcast.
The credit union had had a multi-year plan to go full into digital. What had been envisioned as a three year transformation took three months.
He also notes that University’s compensation is entirely team based – that is, raises are a result of the organization’s performance. Not the individual’s.
Another Tuyo word of advice: now is the time to let your nerd out. He means dig into and revel in the data. Really know your members and prospective members, what they need and want.
At around $875 million in assets, can University survive? Tuyo says his benchmark is that he wants the credit union to perform at the rate of a $2 billion institution. That, he thinks, is the velocity that is needed to stay competitive in a world where a handful of big banks control half the banking in the U.S.
Along the way mention is made of a CUBroadcast show he did. It’s linked here.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
You like food. You want to make money. Right there, for many, the fantasy collapses. Who can actually make a living by focusing on food? For many — millions probably — food blogging is a hobby. Then there are the growing numbers who actually write about food and earn substantial income from a mix of brand sponsorships and advertising dollars.
This has become a golden age for food bloggers especially as the pandemic and associated lockdowns have fueled surging interest in food as well as a lot more home cooking. From baking bread to seeking inventive ways to prepare chicken wings (an unexpected pandemic favorite), a hungry public has turned to the Web and social media to learn what to cook, now, and how to cook it better.
Maybe the better question is, will business travel ever rebound?
I am on record as a skeptic about the rebounding of business travel but another day, another report or poll or prediction that the rebound is just around the bend and of course I read the stuff.
Case in point: the quarterly report from the European Travel Commission which is downright optimistic about the brisk rebound of business travel. Just what is the European Travel Commission? Here is the organization’s self description: “Established in 1948, the European Travel Commission is a unique association in the travel sector, representing the National Tourism Organisations of the countries of Europe. Its mission is to strengthen the sustainable development of Europe as a tourist destination.”
You might think that an organization of this kind is inherently biased, that is, its job is to encourage tourism and travel, not to deflate travel or even to objectively analyze the facts. However, the report was produced by Tourism Economics which is allied with Oxford Economics, an economics forecasting company with a glittering client roster.
Here are the two big bullet points made in the report:
*92% of business travellers expect their company to experience negative outcomes (e.g., reduced ability to generate new business opportunities) due to travel restrictions around Covid-19. * Tourism Economics expect global international business spend to recover to pre-coronavirus levels by 2024, and domestic business travel by 2023.
Let’s start with the thesis that “travel restrictions” caused “negative outcomes” such as reduced new business. In logic there is a fallacy called post hoc ergo propter hoc which fits the claim that reduced business opportunity followed travel restrictions and, therefore, travel restrictions caused the reduced new business reduction.
Uh…I’d say that the uncertainties bred by the pandemic coupled with significant economic contraction in multiple sectors (travel, restaurants notably but also gyms, beauty parlors, spas and a long line of industries that are struggling to survive) have done more to directly reduce new business opportunities.
Meantime, Tourism Economics even points to yet another reason why business travel will be years in rebounding and may never achieve the volume of 2019. The environment, i.e, Greta Thunberg. Wrote TE: “there is an increasing desire for businesses to be more conscious of their activity within the context of environmental sustainability.”
Absolutely, Many, many companies will take hard looks at their carbon output and jet travel just is a big producer of carbon.
Add the two other factors that are leading many organizations to severely reduce business travel – cost savings and tech tools that eliminate the need to travel, i.e. Zoom, Microsoft Teams – and it’s a powerful trifecta that spells longterm struggles for the business travel sector.
TE believes otherwise. It says: “The importance of in-person meetings is supported by surveys of business travellers, such as in FCM Travel’s State of the Market report from mid-2020. The majority of respondents expected to see a phased resumption of business travel starting with domestic trips. Digital activities will not be a viable alternative to travel over time.”
The FCM data are a cornerstone of the TE argument.
That’s, shall we say, a bit of a problem.
The FCM numbers are especially Panglossian. 40% expect domestic business travel to recover in 1 to 3 months. 32% expect international travel to recover in 6 to 12 months.
Exactly who offered these forecasts? FCM tells us: “We asked our customers and clients from around the world to give us their perspective on when travel will return. Over 1600 individuals responded from multiple sectors.”
FCM is a global travel management company and therefore the people surveyed are people engaged in the business of travel. Are their forecasts analytical – or wishful thinking?
Sigh.
Imagine a beef wholesaler surveying its butcher customers on veganism: passing fad or here to stay? Would you expect accuracy from that survey?
Right now, it just is very difficult to envision a return to significant business travel this year. It is hard to see much internal business travel happening at all – that is inhouse meetings. It is hard to see longhaul travel returning this year, possibly at reduced levels in a year or three.
Will we be traveling at a 2019 pace by, say, 2024? Maybe. As TE predicts.
But if 2020 taught me anything it is that we have entered an era where we lack precedents and, absent precedents, it just is tricky to issue coherent forecasts about the future, particularly several years out.
Guesses, sure. But analytical and grounded forecasts – not so much.
TE’s guess is that business travel will be buoyant in 2024. Mine is that it won’t.
Know this about Pete Crear: He was the first to win the lifetime achievement award from the African American Credit Union Coalition – and when they gave him the award in 2003 they decided to name it after him.
The roster of Pete Crear Lifetime Achivement Award winners is now a dazzling hall of fame of credit union heroes and heroines, including several who have been in the CU2.0 Podcast – Bill Bynum and Bert Hash, Jr.
The podcast opens with how Crear felt when he was told that, not only did he win the award, it was now named after him. You will like his authenticity.
Just who is Pete Crear? Here’s the press release that went out when he retired as CEO of WOCCU, the World Council of Credit Unions.
The release noted: “Prior to joining WOCCU, Crear was CUNA’s executive vice president of external relations and, before that, executive vice president and chief operating officer responsible for daily operations of the Madison, Wis., office. He also served in top leadership positions at the Indiana, Connecticut and Michigan credit union leagues.”
Crear also is of an age where he saw the nation change. He vividly remembers the impact of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society legislation that made civil rights a legal reality, not just a talking point.
And he remembers the job discrimination he encountered when he applied for his first adult job.
Does he think matters are better now for African Americans – both credit union members and employees? Listen to the podcast for his answers.
In the podcast Crear mentions a CPA he worked for early on, Richard Henry Austin, who went on to serve as Michigan’s first African American Secretary of State.
He name checks Bucky Sebastian – a past podcast guest – for helping rid NCUA of regulations that made it harder for African Americans to borrow.
Crear also tosses a praise bouquet at Angela Russell, a CUNA Mutual executive, and Cliff Rosenthal who literally wrote the book on CDFIs.
One more name to mention: Renee Sattiewhite, CEO of the AACUC and a past podcast guest.
A last fact to know about Pete Crear: this is a very good natured man. He laughs. He shares himself. And he wants to make the world a better place.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It’s a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto
Press releases flew and they carry the breathtaking message that the Sheraton brand has been reborn. Reinvented. And maybe it should have been noted reincarnated because Sheraton was a brand one could be forgiven for thinking had died.
Six Sheratons are undergoing the renovation – in Phoenix, Denver, Dubai, Tel Aviv, Guangzhou and Minyang, China.
I often walk by the Sheraton in downtown Phoenix where the work has been in progress for what seems like forever. And it isn’t finished yet.
Are you anxious for the work to be done so you can rush to stay there?
That’s doubtful.
Read the Adweek headline for its Sheraton story: Sheraton Rebrand Aims to Bring Hotel Chain ‘Up to Date’ With a Focus on Communal Spaces.
Uh, forgive me for bringing it up but hasn’t this pandemic – which has killed over 400,000 of us, will kill a few more hundreds of thousands of us before it runs its course, and will not be a memory until maybe mid 2022 – put the hex on “communal” spaces?
Flip through the photos of the new Sheraton and the furniture is too close together, the room arrangements entirely too cozy.
Here’s another shot of the lobby from the Marriott press release. Way too close for comfort in a Covid era.
Here’s a guest room and it looks, well, like many others I have seen.
Ho hum.
Trade pub Travel Weekly prattled on: “Each property has received myriad updates, including a reimagined ‘Public Square’ lobby design, which Sheraton describes as the ‘heart of the Sheraton experience.’ The new lobbies feature elements like a communal table designed to serve as a shared workspace as well as flexible, tech-enabled Studio areas, which are enclosed in glass and can be used for small meetings or private dining experiences.”
Also central to the refreshed lobby experience is the introduction of Coffee Bar Bar, a new food-and-beverage concept that is ‘part bar, part coffee bar, part market.'”
I am pretty sure it is going to take many months before many of us will welcome the hurly burly of crowded public spaces and yet that is the hook on which Marriott wants to hang its buffed up Sheraton hat.
How out of touch is that?
But that’s not the only problem. The Adweek subhead threw a dart at it: One problem: The brand doesn’t seem to have a defined audience in mind.
Exactly who wants the new Sheraton? Nobody seems to know and, very likely, the answer is nobody wants it.
The strangeness goes on. The Arizona Republic, with a focus on the downtown Sheraton Grand which has been closed since March, reported that the hotel won’t open until May. It quoted a spokesperson: “‘For a hotel the size of the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown, we are reliant on groups coming to Arizona and coming to Phoenix specifically,’ hotel spokesman Jon Erickson said of the decision to postpone the reopening date for several months.”
Uh…downtown and in particular the Convention Center area where the Sheraton Grand sits roll up and wait out the long Phoenix summer months. Group bookings are sparse until Labor Day and the ones that come are from school groups, religious groups, and, well, not big spenders. They are unlikely to flock to the Sheraton Grand unless the summer room rates hover around $100 per night because there are plenty of rooms downtown that can be had for that amount.
And for the quants among us, there are around 445 Sheraton hotels worldwide, exactly six have undergone this transformation, some 36 more are said to be on schedule to finish renovations by 2022, but there is no timetable for when the remaining 400 or so to get the facelift. You can bet that hotel asset owners, who have been through a year that is the worst in hospitality history, per STR, and 2021 won’t be much better, will not clap their hands with glee at the prospect of pouring huge sums into their Sheraton to transform it to better suit, well, we don’t know who.
Especially not when many thousands of hotels across the country are expected not to reopen even once Covid is a memory. How many that shutter will be Sheratons?
