Musings from the CU Suite

I hope you're having a good Thursday. I know I am. I'm still smiling about a conversation I recently had with Briggs. 

About hyper-inflation. 

It wasn't my plan, mind you.

Briggs is very curious. He saw something about Germany in a book, and he asked me if America ever fought against Germany in a war.

I said our two countries are good friends now, but that we did fight in World War II.

Why?

I got into a bit more history, and spoke about Hitler. Briggs wanted to know why Hitler came to power? 

Every answer was followed by another why. And we got deeper and deeper into the causes of why America fought Germany in World War II. Like I said, I spoke about how bad the economy was in Germany - how people had to bring a wheelbarrow of money to buy necessities at one point. It got all the way back to World War I, before he ran off to play with his Monster Trucks.  

My personal "why" machine!

Driving through a series of "whys" gets to the heart of the matter. 

A series of "how" questions can do the same thing. At NAFCU's Annual Conference in Nashville, speaker David Horsager said that asking "how" more than once can clarify what you'll do differently to solve a problem. 

We need to increase loans. How will we do that?

We'll improve our marketing. How?

We'll do a better job of targeting emails. How?

At some point, one of two things will happen. The person asking "how" will finally understand what you'll do differently, or both will realize that there's no concrete, specific plan yet. 

Why, why, why?

How, how, how?

Both may sound simple. But both can drive clarity. 

Like I said earlier, I hope you're having a great Thursday. Shoot me a note if I, or NAFCU, can ever help you or your credit union.

All the best,

- Anthony