In the eight years since I've moved to the U.S. from Australia, I've attended credit union conferences and meetings in just about every state and listened to hundreds of speakers.

Many of these speakers have talked about how most existing and potential members don't care whether we are member-owned and don't care whether they are members or customers. They also talk about how the word "join" is holding us back.

I've heard speakers talk about how credit unions need to focus on treating members more like customers and less like members. I've heard speakers talk about how young people, in particular, don't care that credit unions are member-owned financial institutions.