Neil Goldman, of Goldman Consulting and Strategy, Inc., thinks you should use a stick instead of a carrot for team building. It’s actually an interesting exercise in cooperation – or was that frustration? I don’t know if Neil has ever been tempted to beat someone with those sticks, but I will tell you that it crossed my mind — but I’ll let Neil keep that exercise for his own consulting.

Neil was scheduled to cover several “Hot Topics” based on attendee input before the conference, and even though his Powerpoint presentation decided not to work for most of his time slot, Neil made several great points:

A successful marketer focuses on their strength, but brings any weakness up to competence level. They force themselves to learn things that don’t come naturally, stay open minded, listen to and then champion unpopular ideas. Think ante and raise. What it takes to play vs. what it takes to raise.

Principles of successful leadership:
1.  Focus  — You can’t be everything to everyone (e squared equals zero) so pick something to focus on.
2. When you approach any problem, think of painting (adding color and building up layers) or sculpting (subtracting to get to the essentials).
3. You have to get employees to buy in — they will make or break your ideas. Think extrinsic motivation (money) or intrinsic motivation (feel good).
4. Relevant distinction — needs to be both.

Credit unions are still lacking much awareness in the minds of the public.
Benefits are irrelevant if  people are unaware of them. Neil showed an eye-opening video of a non-member focus group talking about credit unions:
• 58% of people aren’t sure if they can join a CU, and 2 % flat out said no.
•  28,000 credit union ATMs are nothing compared to how many ATMs the average person thinks BofA has.

and my favorite:

Forget about a national CU campaign, just change the signs. Neil pointed out that Chinese restaurants usually focus on what they offer first, then their name. What if everyone changed their signs so that CREDIT UNION is first, with your name smaller and tucked underneath? Would that increase awareness of credit unions?

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Note: These posts are my takeaways from some of our fellow presenters at the MAC Conference. Great atmosphere, fun people – I highly recommend you consider attending this conference next year in Las Vegas.