Thursday, December 10, 2015

CUNA 's Kodak Moment...




"CHOICE" - permitting credit unions the option to join either a league, or CUNA, or both. 


Today's the day! Let's see if the CUNA Board will accept its elected duty to Americas' Credit Unions - and the Leagues - this time around. It's been difficult to determine over the last year whether the embarrassing indecision suggests weakness in CUNA senior leadership, weakness in the CUNA Board - or both.


Credit unions want "Choice".
But, let's not rehash, at this late date, all the supposed "intricacies" of the decision on "Choice". Most of those "concerns" are manufactured, supported by slender logic. What is fact, is the credit union movement has fundamentally changed and that credit unions want "Choice" - and want it now. That fact is based on CUNA's own survey data - period.

If doubts and divisions remain strong, CUNA has available an easy solution - a one year test/pilot. Simply amend the bylaws effective 12/31/2015 to permit credit unions to join directly without required league membership. The CUNA Board has the authority to do that today and can have CUNA members vote electronically on the amendment prior to year end 2015.



Let's see what happens, let's see how "Choice" actually works in practice. Let's spend the next year openly discussing  how to reform CUNA (if needed and why), how to improve advocacy, what organizational/board structure might take us into the future. Why that sounds downright democratic, cooperative even!

If the problems outweigh the benefits, let's vote "Choice" out in December 2016 - and permanently bury the idea! No harm, no foul. A very low risk strategy; exactly the strategy ("test market") that all prudent businesses deploy.

But everyone's worst fear is that the CUNA Board will today make the only bad decision available - again! - and keep this "wound" open by delaying "Choice" implementation until 2017. 

Further delay - the only bad decision available to the CUNA Board - will be the last straw for many credit unions and we can all mark today down as CUNA's...



   ... "SPECIAL MOMENT"!

[... at least we'll all know exactly who "pulled the trigger".]


                                                       





7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Choice delayed is choice denied.

Anonymous said...

Why wouldn't CUNA FOR ONCE HAVE "A PLAN" WITH AN EXIT STRATEGY?

Instead of always crashing into walls and acting surprised.

Anonymous said...

The only exit plan CUNA ever develops is the golden parachute for their CEO's. Micha had it as did Cheney and now Nussel. And across the country the league presidents are spending their time drafting what they would want considering each one thinks they can do a better job that what is being done.

Anonymous said...

These CUNA directors would be better off serving on a "slower-
track" trade association.
I’m just not impressed by the group.
These overmatched directors take the trade association bait, only to find
that they cannot succeed in the cauldron of NAFCU competition.
In 1975 there were 22,600 credit unions. TOday we are at 6,200. The CUNA business model is not working. They just don't get it.

Greg said...

http://bit.ly/1QyWNSA

CUNA Board votes for membership choice. Did they just do what the Dorety Report originally suggested. After all this. Wow

Anonymous said...

Read the announcement and saw the video. Could have been more brief. Could have said, "We are going to do everything Jim Blaine said."

Punto finale.

Anonymous said...

They did not vote for choice. They voted for pillars/principles. The corporate governance committee will draft bylaws to be reviewed by the board to possibly be voted on in early 2016. The vote for choice comes after the corporate governance committee does the same work of Dorety and his task force. Delay, delay, delay