Bad times are coming at you. A recent Credit Union Times headline screamed: Preparing for COVID Loan Losses. The subhead multiplied the miseries: CUs are preparing for a wave of COVID-related loan losses, delinquencies, and bankruptcies.
Many credit unions will find their own futures in doubt. Some experts say 20% will close in the next few years.
You need new, sharp thoughts. Help!
What you need just may be a mastermind group.
Motivational writer Napoleon Hill spelled out why a mastermind group works magic in his book, Think and Grow Rich: “Analyze the record of any man who has accumulated a great fortune, and many of those who have accumulated modest fortunes, and you will find that they have either consciously, or unconsciously employed the ‘Master Mind’ principle.”
Wrote Hill: “It is a well-known fact that a group of electric batteries will provide more energy than a single battery. It is also a well-known fact that an individual battery will provide energy in proportion to the number and capacity of the cells it contains.”
He elaborated: “Through this metaphor it becomes immediately obvious that the Master Mind principle holds the secret of the POWER wielded by men who surround themselves with other men of brains.”
A man who sang praises of Mastermind groups is Andrew Carnegie, who often dueled with John D. Rockefeller for the title of the richest American. The founder of what became known as U.S. Steel, Carnegie was worth many billions of dollars.
If you have never heard of such groups, a reason is that many swear their members to secrecy: what happens in the group, stays in the group. Other groups are more relaxed about that.
A contemporary success story who attributes a lot of his success to a mastermind group is motivational speaker-author Jack Canfield, co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series, one of the biggest sellers in the history of publishing. There are 250 books in the series and total sales are more than 500 million copies.
Canfield likes mastermind groups so much he even offers a free online guide.
The Importance of Mastermind Groups
Where do you come into this—and how does any of this help you with the very real problems that credit unions will soon confront?
CU 2.0 has announced formation of a Mastermind group exclusively for credit union executives and fintech leaders.
In this podcast, CU 2.0 founder Kirk Drake talks in detail about why now is the time for credit union leaders to get involved in masterminds because, quite simply, multiple heads are better than one… Especially when tough times loom—and even more so when the tough times are like nothing we have ever seen before.
Drake also talks in the podcast about his many years as a member of mastermind groups and how they have helped him succeed and, in particular, accomplish more, specific goals.
That’s the bottom line about a mastermind group: it exists to help its members achieve more of the successes they wish for.
In the CU 2.0 Mastermind format, small groups consisting of both credit union and fintech leaders will meet regularly in facilitator led sessions.
Why facilitators? Drake said that a facilitator can help keep sessions on track and moving in constructive directions.
Why a blend of credit union and fintech leaders? Because now is the time for them to learn from each other and a Mastermind group is a perfect setting. Credit union leaders are looking for help from fintechs as they seek to take their institutions down new, digital paths. And fintech leaders, the smart ones, acknowledge the more they know about the real problems credit unions face, the better they will be at crafting solutions to those problems.
Occasionally, multiple CU 2.0 Mastermind groups will pull together into large, group sessions, with guest speakers and considerable shared energy. For now, all sessions will be digital and remote, although Drake indicated that in-person meet-ups will be on the to-do list as soon as they are safe.
Credit unions are ideal for mastermind groups because, by their very nature, they are accustomed to sharing ideas with other credit unions. That’s a spirit that puts a credit union leader on the fast track to mastermind success.
Want to know more about the CU 2.0 Mastermind program? Go here.
