Next week – May 3 to 6 – a sold-out crowd of more than 700attendees from across the U.S. will convene in the San Diego areafor the CO-OP-sponsored THINK 16 conference. With a speaker lineupthat includes Upworthy's Sara Critchfield and Fast Company's PollyLaBarre, THINK 16 will once again challenge our industry toinnovate beyond previous boundaries.

Why do we at CO-OP believe innovation is so critical? Putnegatively, those that fail to innovate run the risk of losingground to competitors,. Put positively, innovation can be the keydifferentiator between market leaders and their rivals. Innovationcan also help you discover what opportunities exist now or arelikely to emerge in the future. Successful businesses not onlyrespond to their current needs, but innovation enables them toanticipate future trends and meet those trends rapidly andeffectively.

For credit unions in particular, as smaller financialinstitutions, they must work smarter, on top of everythingelse.

Why, then, is innovation so difficult in our movement? No doubt,we are in a highly regulated industry. And, where we are committedto being careful keepers of our members' accounts, there is anatural tendency to act conservatively even where it stops makingsense.

But there can and needs to be disruption in our field so that wecan continue to deliver on our mission. It can be donesuccessfully.

Expanding the Vision

When THINK began in 2008, we started out with the simplequestion: “What if we did something different at our annualshareholders' meeting?”

We noticed that the same industry insiders were making verysimilar speeches at most credit union events. We have very talentedthinkers in our industry, but it was time for disruption – newideas and new insights that would help us all get ahead of thebanking competition and the burgeoning fintech industry.

I don't believe he had written the words yet, but leadership andmanagement author Simon O. Sinek hit the nail on the head aboutwhat we were trying to do: “Curiosity is essential for progress.Only when we look to worlds beyond our own can we really know ifthere's room for improvement.”

THINK 2008 featured the first all-keynote lineup of A-listspeakers and brands from outside the credit union industry. It is aformula that has generated within our industry the most sincereform of flattery – and it has been emulated by other credit unionforums.

From Showcase to Advocate

If an expanded vision is the starting place for disruption, howdo you keep it so? We realized THINK must be more than a showcase,but rather serve as a year-round advocate for themes and ideas thatneed constant attention and synthesis.

THINK evolved into a brand, with an online platform, magazine,app and Prize that shares trends and insights throughout the year,and connects visitors to events and activities designed to furtherinnovative thinking.

In addition to featuring speakers who are all from outside theindustry, other THINK firsts include:

THINK It Outs:On-stage, live consulting and discussion segmentsconnecting headline speakers with credit union leaders to addressindustry challenges.

Journalist Master of Ceremonies:Their jobs are to analyze creditunion initiatives and problem solve with attendees.

Original Research: From informative documentaries to liveconsumer focus groups, industry insights at THINK dive deep.

THINK Prize:THINK has been recognizing outstanding ideas frominnovators at large, whose winning ideas have informed CO-OP'sproduct strategy and development, including three live, in-marketproducts.

Collaboration and Consulting: THINK pioneered “lab” sessions,where participants have learned how to generate collaborative ideasand implement innovative strategy.

Ongoing Collaboration with THINK Speakers:After the conference,the partnership often continues with some of best-rememberedspeakers extending their involvement with us. These include IvanAskwith, Gary Vaynerchuk and innovation consultancy IDEO.

To this list can also be added live streaming and GoogleHangouts with thinkers around the world. But it can only be thebeginning. We have to keep innovating to keep THINK a resource forinnovation to the credit union industry.

We also think the industry as whole, in spite of the challengeswe face, can make innovation the secret to success in its secondhundred years of service to members.

Samantha Paxson is chief marketing officer and originator ofthe THINK brand for CO-OP Financial Services. She can be reached at1-800-782-9042, ext. 2570 or [email protected].