Don't Be Sorry. Be Better.

Over time, one of my many foibles has been an overreliance on saying, “I’m sorry.” Harvard Business Review's “Stop Over-Apologizing at Work” by Arya shares that we often “over apologize” because we want to be liked, have a false sense of guilt, feel empathetic, are fighting our perfectionism, or simply do it unconsciously. Arya distinguishes between situations when it does make sense to apologize and instances when it does not. The article notes we should apologize when we miscalculate, forget to complete a task, are inattentive, or are rude.

As happens with parents, I’ve passed some bad habits on to my 13-year-old daughter, MacKenzie. In some circumstances, she apologizes nearly constantly. In the Forbes article “How Women Can Stop Apologizing And Take Their Power Back,” Caroline Castrillon quotes neuroscientist Tara Swart sharing that, “Apologizing when we have done something wrong is a real strength, but compulsive apologizing presents as a weakness at work and in personal relationships.” I had coaches share similar feedback with me, so when I noticed MacKenzie picking up this habit a few years ago, we talked. I shared my perspective that, as with many things in life, finding a balance and the right approach to demonstrate contrition and empathy matters deeply. Changing this habit took time. When I noticed it happening more frequently, my response as her mother became, “Don’t be sorry. Be better.”

As credit union leaders watch economic reports on inflation to better understand the possibility of the Federal Reserve reducing rates and the sentiment of the people we serve, we imagine our organizations experiencing potential shifts ahead. Reuters reports, “US annual consumer price increase slows to below 3% as inflation ebbs.” In the piece, Mutikani writes, “The report from the Labor Department on Wednesday marked the third straight month of tame consumer price readings and added to a mild rise in producer prices last month in suggesting that inflation was firmly back on a downward trend. Ebbing inflation aligns with anecdotes from businesses that consumers are pushing back against high prices through bargain hunting, cutting back on purchases, and trading down to lower-priced substitutes.” As we consider a time of lower interest rates ahead, it might be tempting to welcome a return to “the way things were.” We must resist this temptation.

And yet, the temptation is high because the unprecedented 11 increases between 2022 and 2023 brought us from 0.08% to the current 5.33%. This 20-year high created additional earnings pressures for credit unions while facing increased regulation, shifting consumer expectations and needs, rapidly enhanced technology, and transformed talent demands. With constrained resources, many are working hard to reimagine our organizations to ensure a vibrant future, and yet, as a whole, the results are modest. Unfortunately, according to TruStage’s July 2024 “Credit union trends report,” “Credit union memberships grew at a very weak 0.4% seasonally-adjusted, annualized growth rate in May, slower than the record-setting 4.5% pace of the last few years. The current membership growth pace is the slowest since 2011, and before Bank Transfer Day that occurred on November 5, 2011.”

We shouldn’t be sorry. We should do better. The promise of credit unions represents the best choice for consumers to experience the best possible financial future. We should be a shelter in the storm and create space during times like we just experienced when inflation makes the cost of everyday living excruciating. And yet, in a time when people are experiencing financial constraints, they are not turning to us. It’s time to act and change that.

As many of us head into iterative strategy conversations with our Boards and leadership teams and build our forecasts for 2025 and well beyond, here’s a “do better” plan we can activate:

(1)   Diversify revenue streams. We must “do well to do good.” The fundamentals of our financial cooperative model hold constraints that others do not face. Our capital comes through retained earnings. Interest income will fuel some of our health. That contains volatility that we can control and manage, and there are limitations. Fee income cannot be our only alternative. The creativity, innovation, and cooperative spirit that fueled earlier innovations must ignite to leverage the Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO) model to create a broader set of sources of revenue married with opportunities to provide even better offerings and solutions to members.

(2)   Activate collaboration. We talk endlessly about working together and living the cooperative principle of “cooperation among cooperatives.” We do less of it than ever. Despite the sluggish growth numbers for our movement holistically, we’ve become more skeptical of our neighbor credit unions and more defensive of our own turf. Until we own much more market share across this great country, our competitors are not other credit unions. More importantly, more human beings would have better financial and overall well-being if we came together to solve our biggest challenges. Origence (Formerly CU Direct) , Velera , and shared branching all highlight the possibilities of creating novel and impactful solutions. As we consider AI, data, cyber-security, the future of work, the pace of change, and more, imagine how much more capacity for creation exists jointly.

(3)   Solve human problems with killer products and technology. According to the CFP Board Consumer Sentiment Survey – Cost of Living, “63% of Americans are concerned about purchasing necessities, such as food and clothing, and 55% are concerned about paying their rent or mortgage. Add Americans’ worries about the cost of living (89%) as well as inflation and price increases (87%), and it is no surprise that they are buying items on sale (72%), buying cheaper brands (65%), cooking at home (64%) or buying fewer products (63%).” Credit unions play a role in alleviating this pain. Our products must modernize to meet people where they are and elevate their experience through technology.

Community Financial Credit Union brought to life our CloseEnuff™ suite of solutions to directly address the cashflow challenges hitting Michiganders’ wallets. We were the first credit union in the country to partner with Greenlight to bring a novel approach to parents and the next generation of members seeking a brighter financial path through the proven “save, spend, and give” model of financial wellness optimized through well-designed and easy-to-use technology. Imagine the growth we might experience if credit unions played a more significant role in supporting the cashflow constraints of Americans and captured the imagination of the digitally native.

(4)   Be strategically bold. Columbia University Irving Medical Center’s “The Link Between Health and Financial Well-Being” shares research credit unions have known to be true for years, “Financial wellness is correlated with good health, while financial stress, including a high debt-income ratio, puts physical and mental health at risk.” When we think about the strategic opportunity credit unions have to create more significant positive impacts on the world, we must start with these connections. For example, for Community Financial Credit Union, when we consider the challenge Michigan faces as growing numbers of people leave the state, we are shaping our long-term outcomes to focus on how we can slow that flight and create even more opportunities for Michiganders to want to stay and invest in the state we love. While the more typical outcomes we have become accustomed to relying upon matter such as ROA, membership growth, loan growth, deposit growth, and experience, we must challenge our leadership teams, Boards, and one another to dream more audaciously and work with abandon to bring those dreams to reality. The results of creating financial health with larger populations can be transformative for more human beings. Let’s imagine what those might be and doggedly pursue those positive impacts.

(5)   Tell our story. Over the past year, a fellow credit union leader told me, “Tansley, you keep saying we need to do a better job of telling our story. I just don’t see it. I hear credit unions talking about how they help their members all the time.” I love and welcome the divergent perspective, and we must do more. We must do it with urgency. We must do it differently. We must do it bravely. We must do it collaboratively. We must shed our egos and address our own gaps. For Community Financial Credit Union, with less than 17% market awareness, we face an urgent challenge: If Michiganders don’t know we exist, we cannot break through and ensure they feel more financial security, see this state as a place they want to stay and know their credit union can walk with them toward making everyday living more manageable including solving housing affordability. The investment in communication, storytelling, thought leadership, and public relations is not a “nice thing to do” when times are good. It is a business imperative that ensures we survive and thrive, ultimately leading to more Americans having more secure, joyful futures.

Even on a day when I hear MacKenzie say “I’m sorry” 20 times, I love her fiercely. I love our movement fiercely as well. Some of us have stopped calling it a movement. I won’t. I see the potential that I know many of you see as well. Former NCUA Board member Rodney E. Hood said in a 2021 speech, “The credit union of the future will be limited only by its vision. With courageous leadership, imaginative leadership not afraid of precedent, we shall open up new avenues of cooperative effort which must lead inevitably to the brotherhood of free men.” To live up to that vision, we must act and lead more boldly than we have.

Together, let’s be better, bolder, braver, and more relentless. It will ensure we won’t look back and be sorry.