As I reflect on my travels to over 20 cities in 2011, I amstruck by a conversation I'd like to share with you. Upon arrivinglate one evening in Las Vegas to speak at a credit unionconference, I asked the cab driver, “How's business?” I heard aprofoundly sad story. His face is seared in my brain as areflection of the impact of the contracting and deleveraging in ourcountry that began in 2008.

Eight years ago, he moved to Las Vegas and purchased a home for$180,000. A global financial institution provided him with a lineof credit, and he proceeded to build a new deck and buy large newcars every year as his home value increased to $400,000.

Today, his home is valued at $120,000. He is 67 years old,hopeless, with no possibility of retirement and stuck driving a cabto pay off his mortgage obligations.

I am sorry to say that this contracting and deleveraging willprobably last at least another two to five years. Once the normalstandards of lending were discarded, everyone felt entitled to owna home and live beyond their means.

The system broke down. For stabilization to take place, theregulatory system will continue to play a major role in attemptingto correct this financial systemic breakdown.

Despite this, I still believe there are still greatopportunities if one is smart and agile enough to capitalize onthem. But it's a very different, changed world.

Continuing to learn and developing strategic business solutionsin today's highly complex, hyper-connected and fragile environmentis our biggest challenge.

The information technology revolution over the past few decadeshas created complexity in most everything we do and in the creditunions we serve as employees or directors. Complexity makesdecision-making significantly harder.

Complexity, by definition, means that things don't behave inlogical patterns. Complexity is disrupting business ecosystems andcompetition is coming from unexpected players. It takes differentskill sets to navigate complexity–understanding outliers, gatheringdata, identifying risks over the horizon, thinking strategicallyand leading people who are distracted and fearful.

Having the confidence to allow people to think, which ultimatelyincreases their productivity and encourages a culture of innovationand collaboration, is hard to do, but is what's needed to createsustainability and growth.

As I've said before, the member is in the driver's seat today.Those credit unions that continue to maintain their member focusare those that will win. Truly understanding what they want and howyou add value is critical.

Adding value means knowing how your credit union creates valuefor the member and how you fit in; understanding the financials ofyour credit union; focusing on the things that are important toadding value; caring passionately about your members; continuouslyimproving your skills so that you can keep finding new ways to addvalue and coming up with and testing new ideas.

Creating a future in a complex world requires creativity andinnovation. In a complex world, values and adding value are twoconcepts that enable creativity and innovation to take place.

By asking the right questions, new solutions and opportunitieswill arise. Why do members need you? Why do you do what you do?What is at the heart of what makes you unique and why do people dobusiness with you?

We are fortunate to work with the most innovative, value-drivenand ethical CEOs who are passionate about improving theirbusinesses. They are willing to take risks and emotionally investedin what they do–focusing on the member and not themselves.

Redefining productivity in a world that is hyper-connected isnot easy. It's often counter-intuitive. In working with a globaltechnology company, we helped them to increase innovation, bylearning how to think strategically.

This required time for thinking, learning and renewal. New waysof thinking strategically led to increased collaboration of ideasand creative solutions. Technology people, who are most often atthe heart of innovation, need to learn these new skills.

Building the characteristics of an innovative culture requirescharacter, taking risks, the commitment to learn new things and theability to articulate in a clear, crisp manner.

And having the chief information officer at the table forstrategic discussions with the CEO and the board, will createincreased value for the organization based upon how technology isnow driving innovation.

But the CIO needs new skills sets to be able to articulatestrategic concepts in clear, crisp terms that management and theboard can understand.

With increased regulation, changing demographics and the newreality of the consumer in control, combined with this era ofglobal contraction and deleveraging, it's even more critical tounderstand these trends.

People and organizations who adapt and embrace these newrealities through learning and new ways of working together tocreate innovative solutions, will be the winners in this new andcomplex world.

Stuart R. Levine is chairman and CEO of Stuart Levine &Associates LLC, a strategy, leadership and governanceconsulting firm.