Anotherpublisher from our company was visiting our Washington office fromNew York, a gentleman I'd only met once before in passing. We arein the middle of reforecasting, so financial reporting was top ofmind. CU Times is performing well, and this publisherasked me to what did I attribute to our success. I opened with aline about how our foundation is the credibility our editorial teamhas with our audience … and the publisher interrupted me. “Yeah,yeah, we have that, too.” I continued on to describe thesophistication of our sales team, how they sell integratedmarketing packages, and so on.

I later realized why this publisher interrupted me. To him, Iwas babbling the same meaningless corporate tripe that everyonespouts. I stopped to think about the drivel that had spewed forthfrom me. I was dismayed. Am I becoming one of them? Those fake MBAtypes who have the most perfectly contrived lines of crap in place,to the point where it's meaningless to elevator speech-ifiers whothrow words like strategy around incorrectly and use the termverticals all too freely.

The truth is, I do believe in what CU Times does tosupport credit unions' future. I believe firmly in the firstamendment. I believe in what credit unions were founded to do:Provide those within their field of membership, particularly thoseof modest means, the services they need. I do believe in the valueof independent journalism and the reputation CU Times hasbuilt. But who's going to get revved up with my garbage about newcorporate synergies? (OK, maybe the CFO.)

Similarly, credit unions cannot excite employees and members bybeing the third institution to offer the latest mobile widget.

Vision is what gets people excited to come towork in the morning, to volunteer on the board in their preciouslittle free time, or join a credit union because they believe inthose who believe in them. Think about Richard Branson, who's builtthe great Virgin empire. What makes him so iconic and successful? By allaccounts I've seen, he's affable, and he believes in constantimprovement and the employees who are helping to make that vision areality. From airlines to music to banking, he's looking for waysto do it better and excitedly and consistently communicating thatvision. He's not doing anything terribly innovative; he's justmaking consumers' lives better.

Credit unions are the better option when it comes to thebusiness of banking. Why? Not because their goals are to own 70% ofyour mortgage market or whatever arbitrary statistic, but becausethey help members fulfill their dreams. Goals must be born of philosophy and not the other wayaround.

Carolyn Yang is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvaniawith whom I recently spoke. She worked at UPenn Student FCU as ateller for a semester and is now starting a summer internship as amarketing manager. She felt the opportunity to generate ideas andactually implement them at the $6.8 million credit union would bean ideal way to help her figure out what she would eventually liketo do professionally, which is quite possibly true.

Like most of us who landed in credit unions, Yang stumbled uponthem completely by accident. Prior to working at the credit union,her only banking relationship was with Wells Fargo, which was whereher parents banked, and she had no idea what a credit union was.She explained all that she's learning about the credit unions'operations, and it was a good way to round out her activities. Shedescribed a unique program UPenn Student FCU offers that helpsdifferentiate the credit union: A risk-free credit builder programto help members build or improve their credit. This is all verypractical, but not terribly inspiring.

As a marketing manager, her job is to attract new members andreach more students and alums. And while she's been educated a biton the difference between a bank and a credit union, just from ourbrief conversation she didn't seem to have a good grasp on creditunions' vision and their historical significance or the cooperativenature.

This left me with the following question: Is the next generationbeing taught to manage the operations of a financial institution,or to lead credit unions into the future with a vision backed by100 years of history?