The folk singer Jesse Welles and retired credit union CEO Jim Blaine are separated by two generations of lived experience. Yet they share a vision and common mission for the country.
Each person has their own professional “lane” for implementing their commitment. Side by side they illuminate each other’s core values.
Most credit union people of a certain era know about Jim Blaine’s career at SECU (NC). Over five decades he built the country’s second largest credit union by not following conventional industry practice.
His two guiding principles to staff were simple: Do the right thing and Bring us your Momma. Folksy, yet profound.
No risk-based pricing–a member either qualified or not for the loan. No indirect lending allowing a third party to set the rate. No frills credit cards. Focus on real estate as the surest means to enhance member long term well-being.
He created a Warren Buffet like organization with centralized funding but local decision making and implementation, SECU built a statewide network of ATM’s and over 200 branches. He chartered a unique member-funded foundation supporting education, health and other community needs throughout his home market, the Tar Heel state.
He was outspoken about his approach to cooperative purpose, often challenging peers’ priorities.
“A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown” is a biblical phrase that summarizes Jim Blaine’s most recent efforts.
For the past four years he has spoken his mind about the direction SECU’s board and senior management have taken. His blog, SECU just Asking is plain spoken, factual, and sometimes personal when publicly challenging the credit union’s change of philosophy.
Over five decades Jim built one of the most successful cooperative financial charters in America by following one simple rule: “What’s good for the least of us, is good for all of us.” A phrase with multiple meanings.
The purpose of the tax exempt cooperative system is to serve a vital segment of America’s consumers. He described that group as: Those who have the least or know he least pay the most for financial services in America today.”
Many peers misunderstood this approach, believing his business model was archaic, lacking innovation and missing the most important market, the A credits and well-to-do.
Enter Jesse Welles
I was listening to recent protest songs from community sings in Minneapolis, now under federal armed siege. My algorithm offered a Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger-style activist folk singer.
Born in 1992 in Arkansas, Jesse Welles has, over the last ten years, written hundreds of single ballads about life, politics and those left out of America’s promise.
One commentator describes his voice as sounding like burnt toast. To which he replied, but you can still eat it.
One ballad that caught my ear was called The Poor. The chorus has these ironical lines to support the common view that the poor just need to work a little harder: “It ain’t the banks / And it ain’t the taxes / It ain’t the payday loans and high-rent homes / And predatory fees and practices”.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6vjaimSK4E)
Jim Blaine is the counter example to Jesse’s satirical critique of those who blame the poor for being poor.
A Common Mission
Both men are outspoken, but grounded in the belief that change can happen. They are unconventional in their approach to their professions so are unlikely to be honored by the establishment.
Both believe in protecting the vulnerable, standing up for justice and caring for “the least of these” in our communities. For them economic justice is moral justice. We cannot remain silent when individuals and families are preyed upon by a system that celebrates profit as its highest priority.
These two voices illuminate a shared vision. Together they challenge us to live into our better selves.