‘Baby, What a Big Surprise’

Remember when Peter Cetera left his band Chicago in 1985? Oh Chicago, with your horn section and weirdly hip rock sound. Those early Chicago albums were my bridge from Jim Croce and John Denver 8-track tapes my parents always played in the car, to a bit more musical freedom that was rock and roll – which led to discoveries like The Police, Rush, Genesis, Kansas and Styx.

Chicago had some fun songs like “25 or 6 to 4,” “Baby, What a Big Surprise,” “If You Leave Me Now,” “Saturday in the Park” and “Hard to Say I’m Sorry.”

Side note: In 1982 a thin paper bag was handed to me at school one day. Inside of it was a 45 of “Hard to Say I’m Sorry.” It was my then girlfriend’s way of breaking up with me. My 12-year-old self’s reaction was, “What? Huh? Oh, I got a free record!” Honestly, it’s a pretty great song. Maybe she didn’t hear the whole song and how upbeat it was at the end? Anyway, I filed that on my fancy album organizer next to Blondie’s “The Tide Is High” and “Disco Duck” by Rick Dees, which I could never part with.

With Chicago’s massive hit, “You’re the Inspiration” in 1984, Peter Cetera found his personal sweet spot of creating hugely popular ballads. He left the band, went solo and released 17 albums until he retired last year. You remember some of the big hits like “Glory of Love” and that duet with Amy Grant, “Next Time I Fall.” Was he better as a solo artist or as a part of Chicago?

Earlier this month, I logged on to CUNA Mutual Group’s Discovery 2020 annual and virtual conference. Looking through the lineup of speakers and topics, like thumbing through albums in a record store, I was looking for a new group, a new sound that I could add to my collection.

To keep this analogy going, the album title that caught my attention was “Industry Leader Panel: Collaboration and Care Differentiates Our Movement.” While the title reminded me of some obscure four-part release by Pink Floyd, it was the group of artists that most interested me.

The panel on the “album” consisted of CUNA Mutual Group President/CEO Robert Trunzo, NASCUS President/CEO Lucy Ito, NCUA Chairman Rodney Hood, NAFCU President/CEO Dan Berger and CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle.

With my 80s brain, here’s how I musically view each of these credit union leaders and I sincerely mean this with the highest praise: Lucy Ito is Pat Benatar, Jim Nussle is Steve Perry, Rodney Hood is Lionel Richie, Dan Berger is Kenny Loggins and Robert Trunzo is Bryan Adams.

I listened to this whole album twice and read the liner notes very carefully. It really was an amazing group of solo artists who came together to create something incredibly valuable and important for the credit union universe in its entirety.

As solo artists, each of these people come from groups that have their own sound and vision. But when they got together for this discussion, it made so much more sense. They hit many of the right notes and the lyrics were powerful and moving.

They showed some much-needed empathy and strength when talking about the pandemic. Most believed they did a pretty good job at reacting to the economic and workplace shutdowns in March.

Ito recalled, “We were about to hold a state regulator meeting in New Orleans. It was supposed to be March 17th. We cancelled it about five days … I guess it was about a week before. The world stopped. Fast forward to today with everything else that has happened, [it’s been] just incredible, as all of us experienced switching to a teleworking mode almost overnight.”

Trunzo lamented about a previous disaster recovery drill that he, at the time, felt was irrational.

“I can recall a couple years ago doing a major exercise at CUNA Mutual, and the exercise was really around cyber. All of a sudden, halfway through the exercise, someone comes in and says, ‘My gosh, our workforce is getting sick. Something’s going to happen. There’s a virus. There’s an illness.’ We all push back from the table and said, ‘Oh come on. This exercise is getting absolutely ridiculous, right?’ Well, here we are.”

It was one of the first times I felt like this group honestly shared how they personally and professionally struggled with getting a handle on the pandemic instead of using the trope lines like, “We are fully prepared to handle any and all emergencies.”

For me, the best part of this collaboration album revolved around racism. Hood opened up about lessons from his father on what to do when the police pull him over. “It was my father who sat me down when I was 15, to talk about how you put your hands on the steering wheel if you’re stopped by a policeman, how you’re to make sure you make eye contact. If you’re reaching into the glove box to get the registration and insurance information, you let them know. You choreograph everything you’re going to be doing,” he said. When Hood mentioned that he gets pulled over multiple times each year by police for doing nothing, Berger and Ito reacted, both stating how “maddening” it was to hear this.

All of the band members agreed and promised to “look forward” with “strategic planning” surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) issues for all credit unions and their individual organizations.

Separately, we have seen announcements about DEI from their organizations, and I suppose hearing them all together agreeing and promising to be leaders, and showing real compassion and empathy, gave me so much hope about where our industry is heading.

I also hope that this wasn’t some one-time project like Jimmy Page’s The Firm in 1985. I think that this group of leaders, when they combine in this way, is really a supergroup – a mix of the Commodores, The Breeders and Tin Machine.

On a Weird Al Yankovic side note; if possible, I’d also enjoy each artist to remake some of their biggest hits:

• Lucy Ito, “We’re running with NASCUS of the night …”
• Rodney Hood, “NCUA … is it me you’re lookin’ for?”
• Berger and Nussle duet, “Don’t Fight It.” No credit union connection – it was just a fun Steve Perry/Kenny Loggins song.
• Trunzo, “I Do It for CUs.”

Please, get this band back together. It was some of the best music I’ve heard in a long time and I think they all hit the sweet spot as a supergroup.

Michael Ogden is editor-in-chief for CU Times. He can be reached at mogden@cutimes.com.