The system broke down. For stabilization to take place, the regulatory system will continue to play a major role in attempting to correct this financial systemic breakdown.

Despite this, I still believe there are still great opportunities if one is smart and agile enough to capitalize on them. But it's a very different, changed world.

Continuing to learn and developing strategic business solutions in today's highly complex, hyper-connected and fragile environment is our biggest challenge.

The information technology revolution over the past few decades has created complexity in most everything we do and in the credit unions we serve as employees or directors. Complexity makes decision-making significantly harder.

Complexity, by definition, means that things don't behave in logical patterns. Complexity is disrupting business ecosystems and competition is coming from unexpected players. It takes different skill sets to navigate complexity–understanding outliers, gathering data, identifying risks over the horizon, thinking strategically and leading people who are distracted and fearful.

Having the confidence to allow people to think, which ultimately increases their productivity and encourages a culture of innovation and collaboration, is hard to do, but is what's needed to create sustainability and growth.

As I've said before, the member is in the driver's seat today. Those credit unions that continue to maintain their member focus are those that will win. Truly understanding what they want and how you add value is critical.

Adding value means knowing how your credit union creates value for the member and how you fit in; understanding the financials of your credit union; focusing on the things that are important to adding value; caring passionately about your members; continuously improving your skills so that you can keep finding new ways to add value and coming up with and testing new ideas.

Creating a future in a complex world requires creativity and innovation. In a complex world, values and adding value are two concepts that enable creativity and innovation to take place.

By asking the right questions, new solutions and opportunities will arise. Why do members need you? Why do you do what you do? What is at the heart of what makes you unique and why do people do business with you?

We are fortunate to work with the most innovative, value-driven and ethical CEOs who are passionate about improving their businesses. They are willing to take risks and emotionally invested in what they do–focusing on the member and not themselves.

Redefining productivity in a world that is hyper-connected is not easy. It's often counter-intuitive. In working with a global technology company, we helped them to increase innovation, by learning how to think strategically.

This required time for thinking, learning and renewal. New ways of thinking strategically led to increased collaboration of ideas and creative solutions. Technology people, who are most often at the heart of innovation, need to learn these new skills.

Building the characteristics of an innovative culture requires character, taking risks, the commitment to learn new things and the ability to articulate in a clear, crisp manner.

And having the chief information officer at the table for strategic discussions with the CEO and the board, will create increased value for the organization based upon how technology is now driving innovation.

But the CIO needs new skills sets to be able to articulate strategic concepts in clear, crisp terms that management and the board can understand.

With increased regulation, changing demographics and the new reality of the consumer in control, combined with this era of global contraction and deleveraging, it's even more critical to understand these trends.

People and organizations who adapt and embrace these new realities through learning and new ways of working together to create innovative solutions, will be the winners in this new and complex world.

Stuart R. Levine is chairman and CEO of Stuart Levine & Associates LLC, a strategy, leadership and governance consulting firm.