My Wharton Experience

Attending the CUES CEO Institute at Wharton far exceeded my expectations. When I was asked to write something about my personal experience, four words came to mind; invigorating, refreshing, humbling and motivating.

Invigorating – I can’t say enough about the quality of the facilitators and my fellow attendees. Every day, I ended the day “invigorated” and excited to start the next. Each day was filled with “A-ha” and “Oh I get it” moments. I learned from everyone around me and I am forever grateful that we were able to work in such a collaborative and co-operative environment.

Refreshing – I have attended many types of training and conferences in both Canada and the U.S. This training was at a different level and extremely engaging. It was so “refreshing” to learn new tools and exercises that stimulated my strategic and innovative thinking.

Humbling – My current leadership role tends to be focused on the short term, one to 12 months out. Learning about scenario planning, setting vision, assessing core competencies, challenging my beliefs and assumptions, I realized the opportunity before me to fill my knowledge gap in this area.

Motivating – I truly learned skills, tools and “lessons” that I will be able to apply in my regular work life.  In fact, in my first week back, I have already worked through an exercise with our Head Office managers at our quarterly team meeting. It has also motivated me to continue to develop my “executive” leadership skills.

I can’t say how thankful I am for the Next Top Credit Union Exec competition, for CUES and for Currency Marketing. They had the foresight to realize the opportunity available to the credit union system by engaging our young leaders. While Wharton I am sure provided the CEO and Executive attendees with great value, it is a prime opportunity to show young leaders the future they have as executive leaders in the credit union system. It highlighted for me the skills, the mindset, the focus and the new challenges I will hopeful have the opportunity to face in the future.

Jodi Chambers
Director, Business Excellence
Assiniboine Credit Union