Bill Partin, the recently retired CEO at nearly $2 billion Sharonview Federal Credit Union in the Carolinas, went there after a long career at multiple Southern California credit unions where he ended in the c-suite at Partners, the Burbank-based institution created to serve Walt Disney Company employees.
At Partners he worked for then-CEO John Janclaes and one day Partin asked his boss when he planned to retire. He said in effect not soon.
Partin then told him he wanted to be a CEO and so he would be looking elsewhere.
His boss did the right thing: he supported him completely.
Soon Partin landed the job at Sharonview and, in the show, he tells about his journey there.
But there’s a lot more in this show. For instance: Partin started in credit unions as a part-time teller when he was putting himself through a community college. He kept working at credit unions as he proceeded to earn a bachelor’s degree – and he just stayed in the industry because he knew it was where he wanted to be.
Nowadays Partin has authored a book, The Leadership Bet, and he’s also on the speakers circuit talking up that topic.
What is the leadership bet? It’s the three-pronged formula he implemented at Sharonview –
*Be disciplined
*Execute your plan
*Take risks
Wait: take risks! Isn’t risk a four-letter word in a CU exec’s vocabulary? You bet – well, maybe you don’t bet. But, yes, risk is a tough concept for CU execs to embrace. Partin explains why it’s essential, especially today.
Keep listening until the end because just maybe the meatiest points are served up last as Partin talks about the how-to of creating a good credit union board – and why many boards aren’t what they need to be. It’s hot stuff.
