I was fortunate to be hired as the CEO of Landings Credit Union in January 2020 at the age of 38. Although I had been very involved in the Young Professional movement, I felt that becoming a CEO might remove that qualifier of “young” from in front of the word “professional” for me. Don’t get me wrong, I had completely embraced my time as a Crasher, a member of CUNA’s and Mountain West’s Young Professionals committees, and all the growth that had come with those experiences, but I was ready to move on to the next stage of my career.
Then, in 2021 I had the opportunity to be part of an executive leadership program cohort with some amazing colleagues and friends of mine. During that program, I had the opportunity for some one-on-one calls with an experienced coach. This coach was a retired and accomplished professional that could help guide us on our professional journey. On one such call, I related some recent experiences with him and talked about how I felt about being called a young CEO. After listening to me elaborate, my coach sat there for a few seconds, then responded, “You know, someday they won’t call you young anymore, and you’ll wish they did.”
It hit me that I was lacking the proper perspective in this situation. This coach, with his ability to look at where I was and relate to me from a different position in life, told me exactly what I needed to hear. You see, I viewed being called young as a negative. I felt that it was defining who I was at that moment and somehow diminished what I was accomplishing in my career.
As a 74-year-old man in 1934, credit union pioneer Edward Filene addressed a group from the National Student Federation of America, sharing wisdom that he had learned over what many would deem a successful career and life. I am impressed with how relevant his words are still today, including the following:
“I do not know, and do not much care, whether you are radical, liberal or conservative. But I know that you are younger than we, with all the fire of youth, and yet that you are a later and therefore socially more mature generation. In that lies our promise of a better world. That fact, it seems to me, is the very foundation of our faith in human progress. Because of that, we were able to find our way out of the dark ages, with their ignorance and their cruelty. It was not that the people of any generation did or could become wholly enlightened, but that the succeeding generation carried on.”
Young professionals, no matter their title, bring a new energy and excitement that we need in the credit union movement. I have colleagues from my younger years that have become mentors and friends and are leading us in new and better directions. Youth gives us the benefit of learning from previous generations’ mistakes and building on of the foundation that has been left for us. I now know that being a Young Professional is less about our age, and more about our ability and desire to enact positive change.
Edward Filene famously said, “Progress is the constant replacing of the best there is with something still better.”
We are privileged to work in a movement that embraces change and progress, focused on creating a meaningful impact for our members and communities that we serve. To all my young friends out there, and even us middle-aged professionals, let’s carry on the growth of this movement and the promise of a better world.
