Eating the Elephant: Economic Upheavals

There’s a silly old joke that goes something like this: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”  In this series, we’re talking about taking a bite out of some of the “elephants in the room” – big, obvious, uncomfortable problems that everyone’s trying to ignore. We’re hoping to inspire credit union people to…

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CUs need to be involved in blockchain from the get-go, or they risk being frozen out.

What I’d like to know about blockchain

Like everyone else in the credit union world, I’m a little tingly these days about Blockchain technology. It’s also, and possibly more properly, known as Distributed Ledger, but I suspect the short punchy term “blockchain” has already won. I’ll skip yet another explanation of what blockchain/distributed ledger is — there are many definitions and imaginative…

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Free Shared iDiz Books

Back when we started Shared iDiz in 2007, our concept was simply to chat with those working in credit union marketing. We wanted to provide insights, share expertise, challenge unproductive thinking, celebrate fresh viewpoints, and hopefully keep it interesting and fun to read. It’s apparently a long conversation, since we are headed into our 10th year of Shared…

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True Innovators prepare for obsolescence.

Thinking big. Really big.

Every so often, I think it’s a good idea to think big. Really big, like on a macroeconomic level. What’s our species up to, anyway? I’m not always sure where I fit in or even where credit unions fit in, but here are a few of the big, fundamental things I’ve been thinking about lately.…

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Design is now everyone's job.

If Big Blue can pivot, so can you.

When asked to think of an agile, design-focused business, Apple or maybe Tesla probably come to mind. IBM probably won’t – but maybe they should. Having invented everything from mag stripe cards and the ATM, to floppy disks and disk drives, UPC barcodes and SQL programming, IBM has been the prototype Big American Corporation almost since it…

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She glances at the flexible holo-phone wrapped around her wrist...

Fitting in is the future of financial tech

Pardon me just a moment while I don my wizard hat and polish the ol’ crystal ball… yes, the swirling images are getting clearer, the clouds of possibility coalesce… I see… an average, mild-mannered credit union member. She glances at the flexible holo-phone wrapped around her wrist, smiles, taps twice, and continues with what she was doing.…

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No "vision" or "mission" gobbledy-gook.

Where’s your Master Plan?

Elon Musk, best known as the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has a very interesting document on his company’s blog — the second half of his “Master Plan”. He’s achieved or is close to achieving the goals he laid out in the first half of his Master Plan, and he’s now working on the rest.…

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My geeky heart rejoices at this near-future vision

Widgets, wearables, watches, and things

We’re only in the very early stages of a flood of interesting and cool capabilities enabled by “IoT” devices. Credit unions can be a vital part of the IoT revolution and develop even closer connections to members by making smart choices and sticking to their core principles.

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Go where the big boys can't follow

Five Big Ideas for transforming your CU

It’s a tough time to be on the smallish side as a credit union. It’s getting harder to compete with larger FIs of all stripes, and it’s tougher to stay in the black while offering the same things everyone else does. Maybe THAT’s the problem. You don’t need to offer everything to everybody, especially what…

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Everyone brings different talents to the table

Always pleasantly surprised

One of the great things about working with so many different clients all over the country is the variety. I am always pleasantly surprised by the talents of new clients, mostly because I never know what to expect. Some are very outgoing people, others not so much. She is very logical and analytical, he is…

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