The “Employees-First” Approach, also Known as “There is No #2”

• Feb 11, 2023
• By Kenneth C. Bator

  “The member is number one. All of you are number two!” This was part of the introductory remarks by a leading credit union executive during an employee orientation I attended many years ago. Thinking of the references of my classmates way back in grade school I thought “Boy do I feel like crap now.” (Pun intended.) And that was only my first day on the job. I found that the culture at that credit union seemed to lack the u, r, and e portion of the word. Given that independent thought was widely discouraged my employment with that institution was very short lived. During that employee-orientation speech, as well as every time I think back on that day, I think of what many marriage therapists teach. That is if one partner is continually and consistently subservient to th...

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