First Glance
EDITOR'S COLUMN
Listen With Your Head and Your Heart
5
Bunn Reflects
Helen Bunn wanted to make
sure the merger of Fannie Mae
FCU wasn’t a takeover but
more like a partnership with
another credit union.
6
Women to Watch
Rebecca Lytle, senior vice
president at San Francisco
FCU, says she gets a thrill by
being able to make a positive
difference in the lives of others.
Sarah Snell Cooke
Editor in Chief
scooke@cutimes.com
8
Small Processing
Core data processing provider
FedComp is proud of its commitment to serving credit
unions with less than $100
million in assets.
10
Sherman’s Orders
Rep. Brad Sherman, a longtime
credit union supporter, urges
credit unions to mobilize members and small businesses.
10
Mica’s View
The new Congress will pay little
attention to long-term credit
union issues and a potential
major battle on taxes looms,
writes Dan Mica.
Departments
Usury Madness
Bill Brooks finds it absolutely
mind boggling that the NCUA
may raise the usury ceiling during a historically low interest
rate environment.
12
Technology ........................... 8
The New Congress............ 10-11
Guest Opinions ............. 10 & 12
Q&A ................................... 10
Infographic ......................... 11
Cartoon .............................. 12
In Brief ............................... 14
ou’re sitting at your desk,
poring over spreadsheet
after spreadsheet, making correlations, drawing
conclusions and often coming up
with more questions than answers.
Reports flow in on new vendor possibilities and issues with existing
ones that require you to analyze and
determine the best course of action.
Many tangible matters come across
your desk each day that are important or even crucial to your credit
union’s overall success.
All of these matters also contribute
to stress, an emotion that many people have trouble coping with, but (and
because) it can be a powerful feeling.
Feeling? Emotions? Those don’t belong in the workplace, especially not
a financial institution. Wrong.
There’s no way around it. An interesting article by Daniel Gole-man, “The Emotional Intelligence of
Leaders” that appeared in the publication Leader to Leader, points
out that your brain literally can’t
work that way. Everything you know
or ever will know passes through a
piece of your limbic system, the part
responsible for emotions, before it
arrives at the cortex, the part that
performs logical analysis.
So, yes, the numbers on the
spreadsheets make you feel some-
thing. That can range from “yippee”
to “this is hopeless,” and your reac-
tion to whatever’s going on filters
down. Then your members will be
greeted by an angry teller or a ner-
vous loan officer. This is not the im-
pression that should be conveyed to
members, particularly by represen-
tatives of a financial institution.
Everything you know or ever will know passes through
a piece of your limbic system, the part responsible for
emotions, before it arrives at the cortex, the part that
performs logical analysis. So, yes, the numbers on the
spreadsheets make you feel something.
something you’ve experienced in
the past and that helps form your re-
sponse today. So when the results of
a lending program are not going as
planned, your brain automatically
thinks back to a time when some-
one questioned your judgment now
that you’re questioning your own.
It doesn’t feel good. Unless you’re
willing to acknowledge and accept
it, the results can be a meeting that
turns into a scream-fest because the
boss is unwilling to look inward and
instead points fingers at everyone
else. If you’re certain you’re on the
right path, you should be able to
mild-mannered executive can’t be
a positive and effective tool. It just
can’t be the only tool. Regular ex-
plosions hurt morale and become
easier to tune out, which is counter
to the intended effect.
Nex T STePS
EMAIL comments to
scooke@cutimes.com
CU
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Get Your events Online
We’re constantly updating the
industry’s best-read events
calendar. Send yours to Lindsey
Brown at lbrown@smbedia.com
to make sure yours is on there,
too. CUTimes.com/Events
Mobility Matters
A data dump from a mobile
vendor shows what members
are actually doing when
banking on their Droids and
iPhones. CUTimes.com/
MobilityMatters
Threat of the Week
Will hackers of the worst variety
soon be targeting credit unions
with their Distributed Denial
of Service attacks? Expert
opinions differ. CUTimes.com/
ThreatoftheWeek
8 Congress Members
Credit Unions Need to Know
When credit union leaders visit Washington
this year, they should be aware of these key
committee bosses.
CUTimes.com/8Congress
Badger State Fights Off Recession
An analysis of the latest NCUA numbers from
Wisconsin has been added to the interactive
map on our home page. Just click on the
states in the updated map for complete
analysis. CUTimes.com/NCUAMap
Credit Union Lawyer
Michael Bell Tabbed
as Trailblazer 40 Below
“Can’t” is not a word Michael Bell will
say when the young suburban Detroit
la wyer goes to bat for his credit union cli-
ents. CUTimes.com/T40BMichaelBell
W2 W Tabs Shari Storm
For Shari Storm, senior vice president at
Verity Credit Union, periodically applying
and interviewing for other jobs has helped
reinforce that she is exactly where she
belongs.110110111
CUTimes.com/W2WShariStorm
Not Horsing Around
St. Mary's Bank is serious about its
commitment to the community,
including supporting a therapeutic
riding center.
CUTimes.com/Community
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There’s Still More Room
to embrace Social Media
It’s been slow going for social
media at credit unions but
things are getting, accord-
ing to the new media manager at CUNA
Mutual Group. CUTimes.com/Blog
THE CUTTING EDGE
Tech News for CUs
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