I have an addiction problem – to coffee. I need it. It makes mefeel good. I love the smell. I love the taste. It keeps memotivated. It is with me all day and well into the evenings.Without coffee, I don't know who I'd be. Don't touch my coffee! Ineed it, man! I have an addiction to coffee.

Consider this article as a type of intervention. Let meexplain.

I started doing some research about addictions and inside all ofthe darkness I was reading, which was interesting and sad at times,was this common theme with many addicts – they feel like theunderdog. And they appear to thrive on it!

For instance, there was this quote from an anonymous addict whoposted an observation about herself on a blog, “I constantly rootedfor myself as the underdog and somehow that made me feel worthy.Like I was going against all odds. I was only foolingmyself.”

This had me thinking out loud, like the narrating CarrieBradshaw on Sex and the City.

“Are credit unions addicted to being the underdog?” Followingher lead, I lit a cigarette and started typing on my laptop inbed.

Editor's Note: I've never worn Jimmy Choo's; and could I bemore early-2000s with my references? Geez.

Personally, I don't like the term underdog because it impliesthat I'm already in a hole. Life is hard enough, so why label it tomake it feel harder? I know, some people are built that way andthey love the challenge. That is part of my point.

There are too many people I've spoken with around the creditunion industry who really embrace the underdog nature of theirworld. “It builds character,” one CMO said. Building character is aconstant we all should strive for, but credit unions aren'tsomething about you and your demons. Yes, strive to be better atwhat you do. Just don't do it to the detriment of your credit unionbecause you believe that your credit union should, because of somechildhood issues, be the underdog.

How do you know if you're an underdog addict? I've created thefollowing Underdog Addict Questionnaire:

1. Have you ever used underdog as an excuse for your creditunion's performance?

2. Can your credit union get through a week without using theword underdog?

3. Has being an underdog created problems between you and yourtrade association?

4. Do you use more than one word for underdog at a time, such asdark horse or scrappy?

5. Does anyone at your credit union have an Underdog tattoo?Your CEO? CMO?

Here's the only time I'm going to enable your addiction to beingan underdog – by showing you how you can use it. In order toeffectively tell an underdog story, it has to be for very specificsituations.

Rebirth: If your credit union has a story ofrenewal, of a new life, or even trying to recapture what yourcredit union once was. What's the value you're bringing back toyour membership and why did you lose it? If you can tell thatstory, you might be an underdog.

A Quest: If your credit union is trying to getfrom point A to point B. Think of The Lord of the Rings orThe Bad News Bears. If your credit union decides tochallenge the system by setting a goal of somenever-before-accomplished thing, such as convincing your membershipto use all revenue to create real meaning and change in yourcommunity by giving it all away in the form of collegescholarships, to reach a 0% homeless population or pay forteachers' salaries in your community. If you try doing that, youmight be an underdog.

Tragedy: If you really want to wallow around inyour underdogness, try this approach. This is the dark side ofstorytelling that would require your credit union to get behindissues that show the futile nature of the human experience. Yourcredit union would have to set goals such as no person will gohungry in your community, telling the hard, personal truths aboutrape and sexual abuse and what your credit union is doing to stopit for good. If you try doing that, you might be an underdog.

I get it, a lot of you use underdog as this much lighter termjust to help you feel good about what you're doing because if youstop to look at market share and growth for the banking industry,it's easy to feel victimized.

I just ask that you pull your head out for a second and look atwhat you have and the team you've hired to do the job of runningyour credit union. Those are the ones who can pull you out of theunderdog hole you find yourself in. These are the people who canreplace your underdog addiction with some real truths and storiesto tell. Try not to be like the addict, whose quote I sharedearlier, “I was only fooling myself.” Because you're not.

Second Editor's Note: To be clear, I'm not making light oftrue drug addictions in this article. Many have been impacted byaddictions and if this applies to you, you have friends. Now, gohave some coffee. 

Michael Ogden is Executive Editor for CU Times. He can bereached at [email protected].