Musings from the CU Suite

Written by Anthony Demangone

We all want success.  Who doesn't?  That being said, an article opened my eyes to how success can lead to problems. 

In the Disciplined Pursuit of Less (HBR.org), Greg McKeown argues that success lures us into losing focus. This snippet of his writing might describe the failures of many formerly successful organizations.

Phase 1: When we really have clarity of purpose, it leads to success. 
Phase 2: When we have success, it leads to more options and opportunities. 
Phase 3: When we have increased options and opportunities, it leads to diffused efforts. 
Phase 4: Diffused efforts undermine the very clarity that led to our success in the first place.

We're as guilty of this at NAFCU as anyone.  We have a webcast studio which allows us to create and distribute wonderful training events for our members.  We're fairly good at using the technology, so the thought was this: There must be others who want to do the same thing!

We set a goal of renting out the studio to generate non-dues income.  We sent out letters and marketing emails. We hosted tours of the studio.  There was a good deal of interest, but not a ton of rentals.  

After some time, we took a step back and analyzed it.  The time and effort we were expending just didn't make sense. And it was taking us away from what we needed to focus upon - better member services.  So we pulled the plug on trying to rent the studio to third parties.

So, friendly readers, I have a few questions for you.

• Where do you see this "crisis of success" affecting credit unions?
• Where do you see it affecting credit union leaders?