MONTEREY, Calif. - The message hasn't changed. The question is, have credit unions? That was the overriding theme of the California Credit Union League's Big Valley Educational Conference held here March 15-17. Speaker after speaker tried to impress upon the 600 credit union leaders attending the event that no less than the survival of their credit unions was at stake in a rapidly changing environment. It is a message that has been delivered at credit union conferences for the past several years. "Good Lord, the game is changing so fast that if you don't change, you'll die. You'll truly die," warned management consultant Patrick Lynch, described as a leading futurist and authority on change. Lynch, chairman of Potential management consultants and co-author of Inside Business, cited numerous examples of major corporations that are in trouble because they were reluctant to change in the face of new technology, competition and customer demands. "The old isn't working," insisted Lynch, who labeled the current pace as "hyperchange" "We have too many people who are saying, `That's the way
we've always done it.'" Those attitudes simply won't cut it in today's connected global economy, he said. "To hold on (to the old way) is a death sentence," Lynch contended. "The game is called `grow or die' . . . The customer is now in charge." "I look at your (credit union) world and it's fascinating," he said. "You've got technology, the Internet, online financial services and competition with everybody else. You've got members who are now more savvy than they have been before and more sophisticated. They want one-stop shopping. They want new products and services. They want new delivery systems. You've got Gen X and Gen Y." Author, business executive and Financial News Network personality Chuck Martin agreed that member demands were now driving the market." Consumer behavior is changing," Martin said in a morning general session speech. "Expectations are changing." Martin, founding publisher of Interactive Age magazine and author of Net Future, noted that e-business "has incredible implications" but that marketing in the new economy was not simply about technology. "Leadership is needed for the next generation," he said. Lynch, however, stressed the importance of the Internet in being able to provide members with one-stop shopping 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. "Everything is moving to the `net," he said. He agreed with Martin that those in leadership positions at credit unions needed to embrace change or step aside. "If you move slow, you're going to have to think about retirement or checking out," he said. "You've got to love change. "You have to understand what's happening," Lynch said. "There are new opportunities being born with this new wave of change . . . the old wave is going down and you've got to let go. Most people have a hard time doing that." Even with rapid technological changes, both Lynch and Martin said that treating members right was still vital. "Add value," Lynch urged. "Do what a computer can't do: the human touch, relationships, exceptional customer service, customized advice. People are dying for somebody to care about them," he said. Lynch added that if people thought dealing with change was daunting now, it is nothing compared to what was ahead. "The change that we're now experiencing is going to get worse," he predicted. "It's going to get dramatically worse. "Seventy percent of the technology you're going to use in the next four or five years hasn't been invented yet," he said, adding, "Ten percent of what you now know should still be usable in eight years." -
pjheller@west.net
