Going to Moan

It seems like just yesterday I was walking into my first day of the CUES CEO Institute I: Strategic Planning program located at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.  The program gave me a greater understanding of strategic planning including looking outside the traditional SWOT analysis that many credit unions and businesses rely on.  Above all, it gave me an opportunity to sit in a room with, converse, and learn from dozens of outstanding leaders across the North American credit union system.

So here I am again, packing my Sunday bests to head off to the Johnson Graduate School of Management located at Cornell University to take part in CUES CEO Institute II: Organization Effectiveness at Ithaca, New York.

To get a little more comfortable with my surroundings for a week, I took the time to research Cornell and stumbled upon this:

Ithaca was originally named the city of MOAN, New York.  Ezra Cornell (co-founder of Cornell University) thought Ithaca sounded better. Moan stood for “Middle Of Absolutely Nowhere”.

It is true when they say that you can’t always believe everything you read on the internet.  Unfortunately the Town of Moan is fictional, as the information I had found was located on a satirical website of great unknown facts on Cornell.

What is legitimate is all University students that attend Cornell must pass a basic swimming test before they’re allowed to graduate.  If that remains true for me, I am so screwed.  

While I am not looking forward to drowning at Cornell, I am looking forward to being a sponge:

• A sponge to learn more about strategic decision making and organization structure
• A sponge to learn more about change management and change leadership
• A sponge to once again absorb as much information as possible and learn from a plethora of North American credit union leaders

And I plan to wear my Canadianesque Lululemon pants while doing it. (Mrs. Selte bought me a business looking pair of Lulu’s for Christmas, and they are shockingly comfy!!!  Please don’t judge.)

So if you see me at Cornell, please be sure to stop, throw me a life preserver, and say hello to SpongeDevin Lululemon Pants.

Devin Selte