As an observer of leadership, I have studied numerous profiles of successful credit union CEOs in my more than three decades of industry speaking and consulting.

What makes for great leadership has always sparked interesting discussion. Are leaders born with innate qualities or can effective leadership be taught, learned and earned? This is a very important business issue, since recent American employee surveys indicate that half of workers are unhappy because of "not being valued" due to indifferent, weak and apathetic organizational leadership. In addition, the respect of corporate and political leadership has fallen to all time lows due to ineptness or unethical practices and behaviors.

Since there is a presidential election coming up in 2016 and the American electorate is being inundated with candidate platforms and promises, I wondered, what if everyone involved in the credit union voted for their next CEO?