You might ask, what do governance, leadership and Chile have to do with credit union boards getting it right? One thing I know to be true is the deep belief that credit union board members have in fulfilling the mission of protecting the members they serve. But I would like to propose that there needs to be increased education, accountability and better governance practices employed to ensure the soundness and security of their credit unions. Board members' passion and commitment can be channeled into better decision making and outcomes for the credit unions they serve.

It seems like the entire world witnessed the incredible rescue mission of the Chilean miners. The outcome for all citizens of the world was exhilaration. It was a testimony to the potential achieved through collaboration of mission-driven people. There are many stories that will be told in the future, but in the near term, we who are concerned about credit union members can study this event and glean lessons from this effort on many fronts, including strategic planning, brand reputation, crisis management execution and collaboration.

In a past lifetime, I served as the global CEO of Dale Carnegie & Associates. In that capacity, I traveled over 300,000 miles a year. One of the countries that impressed me was the country of Chile. Their population had the resolve to privatize public pensions, which helped strengthen their economic engine. In short, it was clear to me that this country had leadership at its core.