CUES CEO Institute III: Final Thoughts

Words cannot express the impact of what the full Next Top Credit Union Executive experience has to offer. The past three years has included some of the most memorable moments of my career.

Strategic planning. Organization effectiveness. Leadership.  

All vital skills and knowledge we need to possess to continue to make an impact to the staff we lead, the members we serve, and the communities that we live in.

My biggest takeaways will always be the relationships and friendships that I have made.

As we wrapped up our final day together sharing each of our individual takeaways over the past five days at Darden, you could feel the emotion in the room. Some of this was generated from the vulnerability and humbleness we all experienced through completing our 360 assessments and various challenging team building activities that pushed us out of our comfort zone. I think some of the raw emotion also came from the understanding that for many of us this will be our last time together.    

Looking forward, new ways of leading, strategic planning, and organizational effectiveness will be introduced and what we’ve learned could very well become obsolete. What won’t change, if we choose it to be so, is to rely on each other when faced with challenges we have never experienced before or believe that we cannot overcome. 

I would like to thank each and every one of my classmates from Wharton, Cornell, and Darden that never made me feel like my title wasn’t high enough on the corporate ladder to significantly contribute to the discussion. You made me feel like I was one of you, and that is something I will cherish forever.

With that, I would also like to challenge each of you to nominate a young leader at your credit union for the upcoming 2014 edition of CUES Next Top Credit Union Executive competition. I believe you have all seen firsthand the impact this experience can have on a young professional. Please take the time to give someone the opportunity that I received.

Devin Selte

CUES CEO INSTITUTE CLASS OF 2014

P.S. See you all at the reunion. In Canada. In January. Bring your toques.