CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle, according to a CUNA-providedtranscript, recently made the following statement at the CUNACommunity Credit Union and The Federation 2015 AnnualConferences:

“I spent this last year asking questions, listening to peoplefinding out what leadership meant…I have some thoughts about what Iobserved over the last year. Some of them are negative I'll justtell you right off the bat, but I want to be transparent about thembecause if you don't get them out on the table it's kind of hard tofix them.

“We here at CUNA, I observed, are bloated, top heavy, siloed,and inefficient. Those are things that I observed over the lastyear … that too often our priorities are all over the place. Wehave so many priorities. There's an old quote from somebody that ifyou have too many priorities you have no priorities. We're notfocused. What is that one mission? What is that one place you'regoing?”

Refreshing. Honest. Eye witnesses described his admission aswell received by a pleasantly surprised audience.

Yet CUNA immediately contacted CU Times to challengethe accuracy of our reporting, ultimately saying he misspoke. Wekept the original statement but updated our reporting to addthat.

WHY?!?!?!?!?!

That statement has to be the most open and honest comment fromCUNA in some time. It's laudable and shows integrity to admit thehard stuff and have the difficult conversations. CUNA members andprobably more than a few nonmembers had a glimmer of hope for theorganization that was foundational for credit unions. Not tomention hundreds of attendees cannot unhear that, whether Nusslemisspoke or not.

Companies have life cycles. CUNA is 81 years old. It is a matureorganization. At that point any organization can becomeinefficient. Structure and resources, human and otherwise, need tobe overhauled to ensure future viability for the greater good.Business life cycle theory exists because it's a pattern amongorganizations; CUNA is not immune.

And that's OK. To deny it is naiveté at best, death atworst.

CUNA has many goodpeople with whom I've been working for more than a decade. They'vealso let some good people go. It's sad and unfortunate. Not onlydoes it affect the people who are out of work, but also those whoremain without their colleagues who've sat by their side whilebattling bankers or even just the sleep deprivation that comes withbeing a new parent.

CU Times has survived that environment; it wasextremely unpleasant for a few years with furloughs and layoffsacross our then-parent company. A new administration came in andtruly breathed new life into our company. It wasn't perfect, but wekept our heads down, did our jobs, and came out on the other sidemuch stronger for it.

A couple months back, I sat down with Nussle for more than anhour. In the past, he had built an entirely new trade associationon the foundation of industry dissatisfaction and stole membersaway from that maturing competitor.

That doesn't have to be CUNA's fate. I really hope it's not, butthe more nimble and direct membership organization, NAFCU, is notgoing to sit idly by. No. 2 is always hungrier than No. 1.

Despite rejecting the CUNA System Structure and Governance Task Forcerecommendations, CUNA has made a start by streamlining $1.4 millionout of the operating budget this year. Nussle also announced membercredit unions would see a dues reduction in 2016 after severalyears of increases reaching $26.4 million in 2014. No details werereleased about the dues reduction.

But that's the easy part, even if it doesn't feel like it.

The hardest part is creating the value that members feel isworth paying a dime for. So far, CUNA has shot down therecommendations handed to them after months of hard work by thetask force gathering information about what the members wanted. Thesame thing essentially happened with the Renaissance Commission inthe 90s.

CU Times hosted a poll that drew 682 responses, 34% in support of rejecting thetask force recommendation to separate CUNA and league membership,38% expressing disappointment, and 26% exploring their options. Asimple dues cut won't cut it.