Musings from the CU Suite

Written by Anthony Demangone

Here's the best of my reading pile from this week.  Quite a few of you have told me that you enjoy this "weekend reading" email.  Feel free to pass this along to others and urge them to register to have the blog emailed to them.  

If you only read one thing...

• This article about Amazon is a must read (Slate), especially for anyone working in credit unions. It talks about how Amazon is worth so much, even though it produces very little profit. My take-away? Bezos has figured out that profit and serving his customers clash at some level.  Companies start off with a great product, but the drive for profit tarnishes the products value, and at some level, makes the company less competitive.  It is a very, very interesting read.  A few tid-bits...

"The most staggering thing about the no-profits business model is to contemplate the extent to which rivals are simply helpless in its face. “There is just no way to compete with them on price,” Sarah Rees of the English independent bookstore Cover-to-Cover told the Observer’s Carole Cadwalladr in her Nov. 30 inquiry into the store’s rise in the United Kingdom." 

And this...

"A company that’s trying to turn a profit simply can’t compete on price with one that isn’t." 

Now, on to the links...

Economy

• FDIC reports that problem bank list is down to 590. (Calculated Risk.)
• Great graph. The economy is firing on more cylinders. (WSJ.)
• The middle class is steadily eroding, according to this article. (NYT)
• NAFCU's Dr. Carrier talks about the economy. (Video via NAFCU Today.)

Business Excellence

• How Costco Creates Topics that drive long-term world of mouth. (I Wish I'd Thought of That.)
• Do you love your customers? (Godin.)
• When the credit card statement is too think to fold...(I Wish I'd Thought of That.)
• How Outback Steakhouse enables super fans to spark amazing word of mouth. (I Wish I'd Thought of That.)

Managing and Leading Better/Personal Improvement

• Here's a great interview with Dawn Zier of Nutrisystem. "Our culture has to be fact-based. I’m willing to have any conversation with you, and I like dialogue, but at the same time, it has to be based in fact. It can’t be based in fantasy or wishing that something happened that didn’t happen."(NYT.)
• Finding sanity in an insanely busy world. (Leadership Freak, who is speaking at NAFCU's AC.)
• 12 Comedian Quotes for when your job makes you want to cry. (Mashable.)
• 8 questions you should ask your boss. (Let's Grow Leaders.)
• You may not want to tackle moral issues in the afternoon. (HBR)
• Six painless ways to be a better boss. (Fast Company.)

Food for thought.

• Gurus achieve an astounding 47.4% accuracy. (Rick Ferri.)
• Groundhog Day and the Superbowl. (Godin.)
• 50 reasons why you're living in the greatest period in history. (The Fool.)
• The inefficiency of long hours. (Freakonomics.)

Consumer stuff.

• The most straight-forward, simple way of thinking about planning for retirement that I've seen. Retiring on your own terms. (NYT)
• Half of the nation's uninsured live in just 116 counties.  We have more than 3,000. (Washington Post.)
• CVS will stop selling cigarettes. (Time.)

Credit unions.

• New Clues in the Target Breach. The hacker came through Target's IT management computer software. (Krebs) The credentials were stolen from Target's HVAC vendor? (Krebs)
• When consumers open the most deposit accounts online. (Financial Brand.)
• Quotes about the future of branches. (Financial Brand.)
• Elizabeth Warren supports USPS banking. (NAFCU Today.)

Smell the roses. 

• Reflecting the ages. A winter's walk. (National Geographic.)
• Best visual effects, 1977 to 2013 Oscar Winners. (The Big Picture.)
• 2014 Sony World Photography Awards. (The Atlantic.)
• I've known this for years. Melted cheese makes everything better. (WSJ.)