A Direct Line Blog

By Donya Parrish, MCU VP Risk Management

As a voracious reader, the stack of books I plan to get to “soon” is rarely shorter than five or six novels. I confess, though, that I prefer to be entertained during my reading time and, it is very rare that I ever finish (or even pick up, if I’m being honest) anything that is self-help, business-related, or simply not enjoyable for my spare time.

When I share articles or books with you in this blog, it is with the recognition that I won’t read some of them myself. That doesn’t make them less helpful or relevant, but it does make me feel like a bit of a hypocrite. This week, I am sharing a resource with you that I have read, and in fact, I keep finding new things in it that could be useful to so many of your credit unions.

The America’s Credit Unions Small Credit Union Committee released their Blueprints for Small Credit Union Success earlier this month, supported by our partner TruStage. It is 172 pages, so not a quick read, but it is also laid out with short stories — written by credit unions — and a table of contents that lets you see some topics your board might be tackling. I really encourage you to download it, read a few chapters, and share with me what resonates most with you.

Don’t let the term “small” scare you away from learning how challenges are being tackled successfully in other credit unions. There are nuggets for all sizes of credit unions here. I will dig into a few of them in future blogs. In the meantime, take the time to find a few to discuss further within your credit union.

Have your own story to share of a successful program your credit union found? Let me know and we’ll find a way to share it with the broader A Direct Line blog community.