Welcome and Introduction

Doug English: [00:00:00] Welcome back to CU On The Show, Deedee Myers. I’m, uh, delighted to get on your calendar.
It’s tough. You are one busy lady traveling all over the place, educating the credit union movement on succession and leadership development, uh, and board strategy. So thank you for coming back. Deedee,
Deedee Meyers: Doug, always good to see you and be with you and, uh, you know, thank you for what you say. It’s a, a passion of ours to get out there and, and do this work and we love every day of it, so thank you.

What’s Changing in Succession Planning in 2025

Doug English: So let’s talk today about, uh, uh, leadership, about, uh, succession planning, uh, to make sure your organization is, is ready. Uh, so what, what are you, uh, seeing in succession planning, uh, at this time in 2025? Like what sort of things are changing? What are the new, uh, key concerns and how are you.
Uh, coaching, uh, credit unions to be able to, uh, to be successful.
Deedee Meyers: Oh, great question. So, you know, we have the NCA out with their new, uh, [00:01:00] policy and what’s supposed to be in place January 1st, 2026. So there are some organizations that are getting ready for that. There’s smaller ones in the larger ones. And the smaller ones are really concerned, Doug, because it’s gonna take a lot of time.
Yet there’s also what NCA is saying that 32% of the mergers and acquisitions are. Uh, motivated from smaller credit unions who do not have successors. So that’s one piece. The larger ones, um, we’re seeing, getting calls from a lot of organizations that say, my examiner’s in here. I have to put together, uh, succession plan.
Do you have a template? So yeah, really coming out with templates and ways of doing that. Responding. But, but also we’re seeing that the need, there’s still a lot of. CEOs who are tapping out, uh, we’re seeing more, uh, CEOs now, Doug leaving early, which is putting the board on alert. So we’ve got NCUA, but we also have organizations doing the right thing and, and wanting to be strategic, at least for [00:02:00] the CEO succession.
On the board side, we’re seeing a big pressure from them, uh, that they want to advance and elevate their role in the organization and how they govern. They want to make sure they’ve got the right people on the board so they can pace with their high performing CEO. And, you know, conversations that used to take a year and a half, two years, Doug, I’m seeing expedited within a few months now they’re paying attention and wanting to stand up and do the work.
Uh, so I’m. It’s, it’s really interesting out there right now, a lot of opportunity for mm-hmm. Credit Union to, to advance their offer here.

Early Retirements and Leadership Transitions

Doug English: It is interesting, the, the, the potential acceleration in, uh, retirement. I mean, if you look at the financial markets, they, they’ve been pretty robust, uh, after 2022, and that would’ve driven, uh, 4 57 uh, balances.
401k balances up a lot. So I can imagine that may have empowered some executives [00:03:00] to be able to move their data. A bad. Right? And, and, and,
Deedee Meyers: yeah. I’m seeing some AC actually a step out too, even though they’re split dollar underperformed. There’s this place in the organization lifecycle where A CEO goes a really, I would say high performing.
CEO goes. We, we need to get into a new vision, a new way of looking at the organization, and I might not be the one to do that. Might need to step aside. Yes, maybe my 401k or 4 57 or split dollars. Not where I want it to be, but they’re actually stepping aside and going. Let’s get somebody else in here board I’ll support and onboard them and, uh, so they can help set the new vision, get the organization going on that strategic trajectory and start executing faster than I could.
So I’ll, you know, some very humble people out there that I, I appreciate their role modeling.

Examples of Doing Succession Planning Right

Doug English: Yeah, true servant leadership as, as I find so inspiring in, in this credit union movement. So let, let’s talk about. [00:04:00] Let’s talk about some organizations that do it right and wrong, and you know, I know you probably won’t, but you can name names and tell stories.
Deedee, we love that to hear stories of all right. I know you wouldn’t, but, uh, uh, you know, you could tell the right ones that did it really good. But, uh, tell us, uh, some stories about some, some boards and credit unions doing. Succession planning. Right. And what’s the process? Where does it come from? How do you know if you’re not on track to do it right.
Deedee Meyers: Oh, a lot there and you know, yeah. Sorry. Apologize. So cut me off here. But you know, I speak from top of mind. So what I’m seeing is, uh, boards and executives actually looking, uh, the distinction between replacement and strategic succession planning. Mm-hmm. So replacement is a job, opens up, let’s put somebody in there.
Right. Uh, we’ll talk about the CEO. So the board. The board is actually moving away from just saying, let’s get somebody like our last CEO. They’re moving towards what do we need in the future? What’s going on in the external [00:05:00] markets? You know, what’s going on with AI and cybersecurity? What’s going on all over the world that we need to think differently now.
So I’m very excited about that instead of saying. We have this position description from 2012. Let’s just do it again. So, so that piece is, is wonderful. So that strategic succession planning, uh, we’re still encouraging boards to, you can do this anytime. You don’t have to wait for a year out. You can, you can do it five years out.
Look at, well, what do we need to look at? Five years out, three years out, two years is getting pretty. Pretty close. Mm-hmm. And that’s what we need to look internally. Uh, at the minimum amount, I’d love three to five years, Doug, and who’s internally that we need to start developing and how do we develop ’em?
And that’s a whole track too. How do we develop the internal candidates so they can compete with the external candidates? And then a year out, you know, deciding are we gonna go internally? Or externally. So I’ll name names. So Lucinda, love [00:06:00] Lucinda. They’re in Albuquerque, one of my favorite organizations to work with.
They’ve always been very strategic on their leadership and leadership development. So they, they had a change here earlier this year, but last fall, you know, they did a great piece of work, Doug, on looking. Internal candidates and they were dedicated to promoting and advancing internal candidate. And they worked super hard.
The executives did, the board did, and they, uh, Michelle Dear Hol, got the, got the Elevate and wonderful, you can look her up on LinkedIn, doing a great job. But that board was tremendous.
Doug English: So, uh, they, I think they did it right and I love how they keep doing that kind of work. So did they, did they start the five years, two years back and then, uh, uh, activate the plan when, uh, the CEO exited?
Is that, was that the process behind it?
Deedee Meyers: Yeah, they started about five years ago and, and advanced, uh, another person who did the CE role and then he said he needed a to go, but he was also advancing his [00:07:00] three, uh, three executives, but one that is doing it 5, 7, 8 years in the future Again. I’m not saying any CEOs are declaring a date, but they’re very, very, yeah.
So I go, Chris at Potlatch. Uh, P one FCU right, is doing a great job in Idaho, many, many, many years in the future, looking at his executive team and who can he keep elevating and, uh, get CEO ready and the board’s all behind that and supporting it. So the board there did their work. I think it’s a couple years now.
Uh, the internals are still doing a great job and they’re taking on more responsibilities, which is helping the organization, uh, where they are right now, but they’re. They’re in the right, a really good spot there.

Managing Behavior Shifts as Succession Nears

Doug English: How do you balance that, that that behavior shift? Uh, you know when, when the time gets short on for the CEO and the senior VPs are jockeying for that position, it can cause some.
Some new behaviors to [00:08:00] show up. Uh, how, how do you kind of, uh, balance that, uh, in a, in a, you know, if someone says, all right, it’s 10 years until I’m gonna retire, and, and you build the, the strategic plan, and then it starts to get closer. Um. I did a, a, a research paper a few years back, and one of the things that, uh, I had, uh, said, uh, in it was to, to be prepared as the CEO. When you make your announcement that the behavior, the, the ability of your executive team to function as a team might change.
It might. Be, be disrupted by your announcement. Uh, and I, I know, uh, you well enough to know you’re way ahead of that in the guidance that you give boards. What’s the methodology for how, how to, uh, to deal with that? Uh, that if you’re, especially if you’re planning, uh, jointly with your board making the plan 10 years in advance, everyone can see that happening.
How, how do you deal with that?
Deedee Meyers: Well, it [00:09:00] is difficult. You, you know, that’s difficult. But, but you know, we’ve, we’ve had some clients along the way where they do wonderful team alignment work. So let’s say you have an executive team of five C-Suite people, uh, and, uh, maybe two or three wanna be CEO in the future, but they do that work and there’s transparency, Doug.
It’s not, um, a closed session. It’s an open. Process. So, uh, we’ve worked with these teams where three of ’em will say, yep, I’m in. And we work with all five of ’em, and they help each other, they coach each other. So if you’ve got somebody who’s really strong in finance area, but doesn’t have the operations or the people, that person was coaching, the finance person, the finance person is teaching, you know, the.
The retail person about finance and balance sheet management, alcohol and all that, that’s not typical, but it is a great practice. So I believe it comes from the board culture and the CEO, the sitting, CEO, [00:10:00] to actually encourage that and bring, bring them together. So, so there’s that. But then there’s also, you know, we always look at.
You know, if you are advanced, how will you integrate and align with those who are your former peers? And so there’s that piece, and, and sometimes it works really well, and sometimes it doesn’t. You know, it’s, it’s, can you make that decision that that person may not follow you, uh, to the new vision of the organization.
So there’s a lot of regard and dignity. Dignity that’s need there. But at the bottom line here is we have to encourage the boards and the new CEO to do what’s right for the membership versus not hurting somebody’s feelings, if that makes sense. Mm. You know, because I’ve heard that before. Oh, I can’t, cannot move that person out of this role or, uh, boom them over and down.
Might hurt his feelings or hurt feelings. Then we go long term, what is that gonna look like? If you don’t do that, think out five years. What’s the risk [00:11:00] of the organization? So looking at it from a logistical or a logical perspective, Doug, and then helping with that process. And at the end of the day, often that executive wasn’t happy anyway.
Yeah. They, they were not happy with that situation. So they, they will move or, or, you know, we’ll we can support with the outplacement process and, and get them ready to go somewhere else. So that’s where we do the outplacement.

When to Formalize Candidate Evaluation

Doug English: How do you know, you know, if you think. You think you’ve handled this as an organization.
You think you have your, uh, you’ve got an EVP and you think that is your, uh, successor. And so you, you think you’ve addressed this. What would be some things that might happen that would cause you to, to say, well, maybe I need to be a little more formal about, uh, evaluating the candidate’s capabilities or the direction of the board and how well that fits together.
What, what are the things you might see that would cause you to. Do you need to re-look at that?
Deedee Meyers: Uh. [00:12:00] That’s a good question. Let me just say, I think a formal system and structure is needed, even if you are gonna go internally. I, I think it goes back to the board having accountability for the fiduciary and leadership responsibility that they bring.
So it’s that leadership mindset on the board, you know? Uh, so we’re hoping more boards move in that direction. We still have some that. Just wanna do the easy thing and put an internal person in there, whether they’re ready or not, Doug. Uh, so it’s, it is an awakening. I think what we’ll do is actually, you know, when we have the opportunity is help them assess the internal candidates.
Yeah. And project that candidate into the future as a leader, and look at the pros and cons of that. A potential leader as CEO and putting in front of the board, if you go with this particular internal candidate, here’s what your future might look like and what do you, what do you wanna do? We can’t make the decision for them, but we can put it in front of [00:13:00] them and go.
Here’s your pluses and minuses, risks and rewards. Where do you wanna go? Uh, it’s, is it still a deliberate but difficult conversation for them?
Doug English: Yeah, so it’s, it is assessments that I know from our previous, uh, uh, interviews Yeah. That you have a wide variety of assessments that you can put the, uh, the candidate through to try to evaluate.
Their, uh, their leadership tendencies and their leadership capabilities.
Deedee Meyers: Oh, yes. Uh, and sharing with you early. So we have all this data that we’re looking at, and it’s clearly stating that external candidates score much higher, for example, and leadership and employee development and coaching than the internal candidates.
Also in, uh, futuristic thinking. So we now can say. Here’s your internal candidate. Here’s how they’re scoring. Here’s what the external market scores. What do you think about this? There are five, 10 basis points higher externally. What would [00:14:00] that bring to your organization if you had that talent inside?
And if your CEO’s not gonna retire for five years, why don’t we put a development plan in place?
Doug English: Yeah, yeah. Let’s close the gap. Let’s go close the gap between the two and create an internal win. I mean, is that, is that something you’ve seen happen where they Absolutely. They develop the skills.
Deedee Meyers: Uh oh. Yes.
Uh, there’s, uh, several of those that have done that. Tulsa. Some others, a Potlatch, P one FCU, several have done that. Um, alter’s doing a lot of that work, but when I look at the competencies for internal candidates, and you look at the top five or six employee development, coaching is not even in that set.
It’s not there. It’s not there. Diplomacy score is high. Let’s not get into that courageous, sticky conversation. Let’s be very diplomatic and can, you know, consensus building and collaborative, but not the constructive, uh, conflict management or employee development coaching. And I think that’s something [00:15:00] we wanna really amp up in our conversation, Doug, and bring, bring that to the attention of the industry.
Uh, for the sake of the industry,
Doug English: well, it seems like it creates the win-win if you can reward the. Qualified, uh, competent internal candidate with that opportunity, uh, you know, there’s, it is, you know, potentially much, much less disruptive. Uh, and it’s a, it’s a path that other people in the organization can see having been achieved.
The question is, is does the person have the ability to take what you can teach them and do it right.
Deedee Meyers: Some do. So we, we do look at that. So we look at, um, we look at what are the professional aspirations of the person? What do they think they want and why? Or someone will say, I, I, I wanna, I’m ready to be the next CEO.
Why? Well, it’s next on my list and, and my career path. Well, what have you done to develop yourself there? Well, not, [00:16:00] but I’ve been here for 20 years, right?
Doug English: I’m old, it’s my turn. But that you,
Deedee Meyers: or, or, and that has an employee development, professional development has not been part of that culture. Then you look at what are, what are the professional aspirations of that candidate?
How do they overlap with where the organizations strategically going? They may or may not, you know? And then how do they, uh, professional aspirations overlap with. How my boss sees me, how others sees me, how the board sees me. So it’s quite a, quite a small overlap between those three circles there. Mm-hmm.
However, I do wanna say this is really, really cool to hear and I keep thinking about this kind of work, is that we do have this program called the see Yourself called the See Why See Yourself CEO Readiness Program, and it is a multi-month program. Geared towards a lot towards the internal candidate, Doug.
And guess what? They stay in it. Their strategic thinking elevates their critical thinking, elevates a sense of [00:17:00] their self, has more clarity. They’re able to step into the robust conversations. They can distinguish what is a powerful request and what is an offer. All sorts of stuff. And guess what? They score higher in their assessments and I can get behind them.
I can actually write a report saying, we believe this candidate is ready and you don’t need to do an external search. I think that’s a win-win.
Doug English: Yeah, it sounds like it. So when you do that, are are, is that three executives? Is that the whole team? Like who goes through that?
Deedee Meyers: Yeah, good question. So there’s uh, uh.
Conversations, the CEO can tee it up or the chair can seat up, tee it up, can basically say I’m three years out. I’m two years out. Who, uh, amongst you executives believes that you want to be considered as a potential candidate, wants to believe to be considered, not wants to be Right. Wanna go consideration first?
Yeah. Um, [00:18:00] uh, so who wants to be a potential candidate then they come into the program? It’s usually not all five. It’s usually two or three. Mm-hmm. And then there’s a bit in there where. The CEO may say, I don’t think that third one is anywhere near ready, but let’s put her through it. Put him through it.
’cause that skip generation might be ready in five to seven years. So get, get it going. And I think that’s a blessing for the organization. That’s, that’s a need. I love that futuristic thinking.

The Bench Problem: Developing Mid-Level Leaders

Doug English: Now it seems like in, in preparation for this, I read that, that you had, uh, some concerns for the industry, that the, maybe the bench wasn’t great, maybe the bench wasn’t, uh, as strong as it needs to be.
What, what’s behind that? Is that true in the first place? And if so, what’s behind it?
Deedee Meyers: It, it is. And so what we’re seeing there is that mid-level, uh, is, um, not being developed. Yeah, we have a whole s se segment on this mid-level is not being developed, nor takes the time [00:19:00] to be developed. ’cause they’re very task oriented.
Let’s get the job done. Um, what’s happening though? Oftentimes they’re not able to get the job done or able to prioritize what needs to be done. So what’s happening, Doug, is the executives are reaching down to do the work of the mid-levels versus stepping back and saying, I’m gonna sit with you. We’re gonna look at the future, look at what needs to be done, prioritize, and put a good execution plan together.
However, I also wanna say the mid-levels are hungry. They wanna grow, they wanna develop. Uh, yet I’m also seeing a lot of the executives don’t know how to do that development. Sometimes they’re calling in outside services like ours and others to help them learn how to do that, which I, I appreciate. So there’s that.
They’re task oriented. And again, uh, they’re replacement oriented. Let’s replace this job versus looking at where’s our organization going with our vision and strategy and uptick that position [00:20:00] description. And it’s not a strategic priority to develop people because they’re rewarded. On getting projects done.
Doug English: Yeah, projects done. I, I remember that. Uh, and I apologize for not being sure if it was you or Peter, ’cause you both do such a great job in this content. You had said, uh, in a, and we were talking about, uh, getting your board to talk to think strategically. Uh, and what you said was to don’t put a tactical.
Tasks, operations tasks in front of your board if you want them to, to think strategically. Put only strategic tasks in front of your board if you want them to think strategically. And this, uh, seems like a, a, a, a similar situation where if you want strategic executives, make sure you’re asking strategic questions.
Deedee Meyers: Absolutely. And so working with the board a couple weeks ago, and they’ve super want a new CEO that’s visionary and strategic and they kept asking how [00:21:00] questions. So on a break I said, let’s reframe. When you ask a how question you’re asking for the process and the procedure, let’s change that to what do you see for the future?
What are different avenues or scenarios we need to think about? Strategies. When you ask a how question, you’re really asking about process and the candidate’s wondering, is this a, you know, board that gets operationally involved? ’cause they’re asking a lot of how, yeah, that was, that was revealing to the board.
They go, we never thought of it like that. I go, so you wanna go? What and why? Leave the how out of the room. Right now it’s what and why when you’re talking to strategic and a strategic conversation.
Doug English: So then that’s a, that, that’s another way for you to talk to when you’re trying to guide your executive team to think like that.
Yeah. To ask the what and the why questions. The what, why to be training them to think more strategically.
Deedee Meyers: Yeah. The board is asking the [00:22:00] how to the executive team in the board meeting. Mm-hmm. The executive team is giving them the how. Then later they go, why is our board so involved in the operation? I say, why don’t you ask them?
Do they wanna have a strategic conversation or a task oriented conversation? Mm-hmm. Therefore, we get that loop, that double loop there. Doug. Uh, the executives are not in a strategic conversation and they’re allowing the board to be in an operational conversation. You gotta stop it. Somebody’s gotta say, Hey, let’s, let’s pause here.

A Practical Strategic Framework

Doug English: Well let, let’s take this conversation a little tactical. You, I know you have that, uh, a process, right? There’s a five point, uh, process for developing a strategic plan or a strategic, uh, uh, culture to, can you tell us, go through that process for getting you to where you’re more strategic.
Deedee Meyers: Well, I’ll give some of it.
So we start with what’s called a strategic framework. You know, and this is some of the work we do in our See yourself and also when we’re helping an organization start to look [00:23:00] strategically. So we, we call out like, what are the premises and assumptions you’re coming into the room with? And they go, what do you mean premise and assumptions?
Well, what are your assumptions about your organization, about your culture, about your financials, about your product line, about your leadership? What are your assumptions or premises about the external culture? So bring all that out from all the actors in the room, Doug. And that’s, that’s a big conversation because if we don’t bring that out first in the discovery, then whatever plans or visions we’re putting together.
May not be on a fo uh, foundation. And then we wanna go, um, how are we gonna organize together? What’s our organizing principle? And that’s really encapsulating the why. Why are we doing what we’re doing? And I’m just giving you the five that are upfront before we actually get into a plan of execution.
Then we wanna go, what are, what are the strategic pillars? What are the foundational, uh, filters that we’re gonna use to make decisions? What are the foundational filters that [00:24:00] we’re gonna use to make decisions? So one of ours is rich and relevant content. So whatever we do, Doug, we go through the filter at DDJ.
Is it rich and relevant content? If not, why are we even in this conversation? You know, that’s one of ours, for example. And then, um, the other one is, um, what are the core competencies? And that’s like the actions we consistently take. Everybody wants to go, what do we do really well? Well, you’re gonna say.
We take care of our members, we take care of our employees, and so does everybody else say that? Yeah. Go to go to the competencies that direct the actions that you consistently take. Um, and then value one more value proposition ranking. Uh, we ask the board and the executive team and the key managers and the process.
How do you, uh, how do you prioritize the value proposition? And we ask ’em to force rank these three things. One is customer intimacy, the other is innovation, and the other is operational [00:25:00] efficiency. And they can only pick one. Guess what the board picks?
Doug English: Uh, operational efficiency.
Deedee Meyers: Typically customer intimacy, they want the member to be taken care of.
They don’t give a hoot about the operational efficiency. So, or sometimes innovation, but then you get the management team going, operational efficiency. So we’re, we’re in a polarization with each other. So the conversation is. Which one do we wanna organize around? So those are some of the, the five or six that we, we start with, there’s more down the pike, but that’s a big conversation that we think should happen in the spring.
Do that conversation for a day, day and a half with all the right people in the room. Then walk away and go, you know what? What are the things we need to be looking at from a strategic perspective? And then come back two or three months later and have that other conversation.
Doug English: Now one of those questions was a, how I noticed they were all, whats not a single how in there?
Deedee Meyers: Yeah. Thanks [00:26:00] for noticing that. We haven’t decided what we wanna do yet. We touched on why, but really, uh, yeah, you’re right. Right

AI Literacy at the Board Level

Doug English: now a AI is changing everything, right, like immediately just super fast. Uh, how is that changing these conversations? How’s that changing the skillset that you need to have to be successful in today’s organizations?
Deedee Meyers: Well, we’re seeing AI in the top three now, uh, three to five competencies from a strategic perspective that boards now want in their composition, you know, so that’s just data we’re, uh, pulling out right now. We’re gonna be presenting it in the next two to four weeks, but AI is out there. And so what we’re also seeing on our boards is that some of our board members are actually getting certified in ai, Doug.
Doug English: Really. Wow.
Deedee Meyers: You, you, you look at Ed from PenFed, you chair the board. He’s just all over it and, and really [00:27:00] just saying, yeah, we need to be certified. Doesn’t mean we’re doing it, but I need to be able to ask the right questions mm-hmm. And understand what our team is saying to us. So I think that’s groundbreaking and it should be common sense, right.
Doug English: It, it, it, it is a must win initiative for credit unions. Uh, and, uh, yeah, the more leaders that are, are plugged into, uh, AI and its capabilities and how much of a difference it can make for your credit union, I think, I think it, it must happen. So leadership like that with a board chair becoming certified in ai.
Wow, I didn’t even know that was an option.
Deedee Meyers: You know, I think we should put in every board member’s development plan.
Doug English: Yeah. Who, who’s certify? Like, do you know what that course is? Where, where is that from?
Deedee Meyers: Oh, there’s all sorts of them, you know, all over the place. I think Cornell does one. Some fintechs do ’em, but I can send you a list or put in touch with Ed and he can give it to you.
Doug English: Yeah. We’ll put, we’ll put it in the, uh, we’ll put it in the notes for, uh, for today’s podcast. [00:28:00] Well, so for let, let’s just back up as we wrap this up. So if, if you were just. Beginning down this journey of having, uh, a, a, a robust succession plan, uh, and you’ve listened to this episode and wanna kind of have a step by step series, what do you do next?

Getting Started: First Steps for a Robust Plan

Deedee Meyers: Uh, a uh, come be in a commitment to be in a succession, a strategic succession conversation, not even this succession plan. Be in a strategic conversation about succession. What is it and why should we do it? And get alignment on that at the board level and at the CEO level. That’s number one.
Doug English: Don’t you have some CEOs that don’t wanna.
Own up to it yet. Like, don’t wanna admit like I’m gonna, uh, you know, the board sometimes I, I, you know, the CEOs I work with, the board usually wants more of you. They’re not ready to let you go at 62. [00:29:00] They want, they really want you to stick around 63 or 65 and, and you, you know, if you’ve been there a long time, you’ve achieved a financial success.
You, you might be ready to go. And that, that, uh, frank conversation could be a difficult. Conversation. Do you, does that happen for you, Didi? And like how do you guide through that?
Deedee Meyers: You know, I think age is, is a, a mis uh, people use age for succession. I think. I think it’s a conversation we should have. Day one, we’re in the job, whether you’re 45 or 50 or whatever it is.
You know, I don’t, I don’t wake up any day, Doug, without saying if something happens to me today, who’s taken over? Mm-hmm. Uh, that’s always on my mind. Always on my mind. I’m always looking at people I hire, people I develop in all meetings. Can she do that? Can he step in? It should be a number one priority.
We should be evaluating our CEOs on developing the executives to be CEO ready. And we don’t do that. So I think that’s a mistake. I think we need to erase that age thing. Yes. Age is [00:30:00] a trigger money or 401k or retirement plan, all of that. But there’s some people, point person here you’re talking to like, I’m not gonna retire at a certain age.
It’s gonna be. Driven by something else, which I can happy share with you, but, uh, ’cause my boss asked me about it the other day. But it’s just, no, it’s, I think we need to shift our mindset on, make it a, a priority every day, not just an age, uh, driven factor.
Doug English: Yeah. Yeah. I’m just used to it coming up from the age driven factors.
But yeah, the, the biggest takeaway is it just needs to be a part of what you’re doing as the senior executive all the time, developing your board, developing your, uh, your bench, uh, and making it as strong as possible. So, DEI, thank you for the work you do and helping the credit union movement. Think strategically and be successful.
Uh, it’s mission critical that, uh, that we continue to spread this word and that, uh, your work continues to grow. So thanks so much [00:31:00] for the work that you do and for joining me once again on see you on the show.
Deedee Meyers: My pleasure, Doug. And I appreciate you being a voice for the industry and bringing forward thought leaders.
It’s amazing. You’re, you’re so good at this, so keep doing it.
Doug English: I will. Thanks Deedee.