In a market.full of AI, fintech and virtual innovations clamoring for testing, how does an organization cope with all the calls for these future “necessities”? What is hype? What could be an essential component to add to a credit union’s platform?
Several years ago I taked with a successful CEO about his recent offering of crypto (bitcoin) to members. He said the members were asking for it. He owned some himself. Integrating with third party providers was straight forward. There was no risk to the credit union, The transaction fees added another source of revenue.
The CEO was very open about his reasons. He was one of fewer than ten credit unions then offering this member option. Now was the time to just let the members decide.
From crypto to financing cannabis banking to marketing partnerships that save members money by spending more, the opportunities are endless for the latest game changing service or product enhancement. Sometimes there is some member interest. Sometimes the change is a third party rollout, wanting to test launch an offering with a known market to establish a proof of concept.
What CEO wouldn’t want to be seen as a insightful leader versus a fast follower by peers? Besides a lot of the traditional service culture strategies can take time, can be hard to measure and at times boring.
The Crypto Example
Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize–winning economist recognized worldwide for his work on international trade and hisopinionson the economic issues of the day, often from a progressive point of view.
An excerpt from his cJuly 10 onversation with Dennis Kelleher:
There is no legitimate use case for crypto. They’ve had 18 years to come up with one. They keep throwing things up like “an inflation hedge” or “source of stability.” Every one of them has turned out to be baseless.
The only real use for crypto is tax evasion, money laundering, and crime. It’s the preferred mechanism of choice for global terrorists, sex traffickers, and rogue nations like North Korea and Iran.
You have to ask yourself why crypto has basically hijacked the political agenda of Washington. It’s because they followed the Sam Bankman-Fried model of buying bipartisan support by spending hundreds of millions of dollars in campaigns. And this is the astonishing thing, Paul, that people don’t know. . . .
The Critical Faculty
So how does a coop or any leader decide what to test in a era of mixed messages and uncertainty about the future? It is a challenge as old as the parable of the seeds and the sower.
Where ever there is fertile ground both weeds and seeds will take root. Some may try to take out the weeds, but that can be hard especially early on when the plants are just sprouting, and later when mature growth is all mixed together. The story suggests the choice is not strictly binary– that is the proof of a plant, a new product or even an idea can be clearly projected as either a weed or the fruit of a seed.
What is required by a reader of the parable, or a CEO in real life is discernment. Some appeals by entrepreneurs or political leadership seeking support for their agenda will be compelling and relevant. Others, not so.
The ability to distinguish the important and lasting from the temporary and unproven comes from experience. This is the ongoing learning about one’s prior decisions and the people and process that were used.
Discernment is a lifelong challenge both for CEO’s and in life. Because change is inevitable, it is a skill that ultimately determines one’s ability to choose not just as a CEO but more importantly the right in one’s personal life choices.
And if the parable is representative, at times we will grow from seeds, and at other times perhaps weeds. The test is whether we can see the difference.