LAS VEGAS — In front of a packed room, NFL legend Joe Montanashared with attendees at NACUSO's annual conference Wednesdaymorning two key components that can make credit unions and otherorganizations thrive: strong fundamentals and preparation.

“The way you prepare for work is asking, 'What can we do to makeour organization better,'” Montana said. “When you look atorganizations, the ones with the strong fundamentals are thestrongest.

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Montana took the audience at the Encore Las Vegas back to hischildhood recalling his love of many sports – basketball was hisfavorite – and practicing with his father, who didn't play anysports but had a love for them, Montana shared. One day whileplaying basketball with his dad, Montana discovered he would makethe shot every single time from a certain spot on the court.

His confidence soaring, he continued to stay in that spot. Hisfather, however, made him play from around the court, playing himhard on defense. The lesson?

“It's about paying attention to the little things. You neverknow when the little things will come back to you. When I talkabout preparation, you can determine with your organization howyou're going to show your team how to do it better,” Montanasaid.

To illustrate, Montana went back to 1979 when he was drafted bythe San Francisco 49ers. It was then that he learned a hard lessonabout how crucial the fundamentals were.

“There wasn't a whole lot of acrobatic catches back then. When Ilook back at who I played with, it was about the fundamentals.”

Closely aligned with embracing the basics is having anenvironment of trust and a strong worth ethic, Montana said. Hepointed to how from day one, teammate Jerry Rice practiced hard,ran fast and was consistent.

“When I think of work ethic, I thought we had a good one untilJerry Rice came along. Every time Jerry caught the pass, he wouldscore a touchdown. Is it a coincidence? No, because that's how hecame to work, that's what he did every day.”

As the 49ers quarterback, Montana said building trust was anecessity with his teammates. For instance, trust begins early withthe quarterback and center, he offered.

“I got five fat people in front of me that I trust,” Montanasaid, referring to his offensive linemen. “I have to know that Ican stay back and not have to worry about getting rid of the ballbefore getting sacked.”

NACUSOconference attendees were able to participate in a question andanswer period after Montana spoke. The questions were all over thegamut from “what do you want your legacy to be” – “All you can hopefor is that people enjoyed the game. Not because of me but thepeople around me too” – to “what kinds of positive reinforcementdid coaches give since they were often know to yell a lot” –Montana chuckled as he replied “One of the biggest motivators was'OK, you just got fined.' Really, there was only a lot of yellingwhen someone was making the same mistake over and over.”

Since Montana talked at length about trust, preparation and howthe two emanate from the top, Credit Union Times askedMontana during his football career, did he ever have instanceswhere he or his teammates felt a lack of trust from the coachingstaff. Montana said while there weren't really any of thosescenarios from the top (he demurred a bit – ”what happens inthe locker room, stays in the locker room), he did say that ifthere was dissension among teammates, they would go off to theso-called “gravel pit” and try to work things out.

His response piggybacked onto another attendee's question aboutdealing with different personalities and leadership styles “in thehuddle.”

“We're together so much. You know when someone is having aproblem of there any changes,” Montana said. “The one thing I neverwanted anyone to see was me being nervous, so I was kind of aprankster. I had respect for (my teammates) and they had respectfor me. My philosophy is what happens in the huddle, we have tohelp each other out. If something is wrong, you have to saysomething.”