And Disney I mean it's probably because of that mindset in those details and it
reminds me a little about some of the stories of Steve Jobs or his dad said
"Hey you got to paint the back as well as the front. Well, no one's gonna see the back.
Yeah, but you will.
"I'm Al Roker! I'm Here with Equalman!"
Word of Mouth, is now World of Mouth
Because someone asked, "What's the social play? What's the mobile play?"
Our clients and customers are telling us, "Hey, we love what you're doing here!"
"Are you doing more of that today?"
What I'm telling you here today I'm not suggesting we get rid of face-to-face
Digital Leaders are made not born
Welcome to today's Super U Podcast
I couldn't be more excited today we have the CEO of The Partners Federal Credit Union
John Janclaes and we met up in Dallas at an event and I'll tell you what I met
this guy go "Wow, he has it!" He has that energy when you meet someone that just
makes you feel better about yourself and I asked him what he does when I found
out what he does that credit union is for all the Disney members and family
members so it's just amazing that makes perfect sense you have that it quality
so I couldn't be more excited to have you here today and all the experience
that you've brought when you think about what you do on a day to day level that
credit union manages over 1.7 billion in assets and so if you think about big
numbers sometimes they're tough for us to grasp if you're to put that in years
that's over 60 years when you think about that if you take 1.7 and put that into
seconds and convert that to years that's just
insane in my mind for to get around that and they have close to 200,000 members
in John and a day-to-day basis to help facilitate that has a team of 450
So welcome to the show
Glad to be here it's an honor to be here yeah looking forward
to today's discussion
And I always like to start things off with your
journey so if you don't mind just kind of giving us the short encapsulation of
your journey and how you got here today
Oh sure! Short version would be... Gosh...
Grew up playing athletics and why that's important is just the concept of working
within a team that it's only through a team that you can accomplish things that
are so cool matter of fact if you were to look at my screensaver on my phone
it's my little league baseball team I mean it was such a powerful experience
going all the way back there but always wanting to find kind of that environment
where you can do more together with folks I first had a contracting business
and we made people's visions come true there was nothing better than walking in
your house and saying what's your vision what you want to do here and to make
that happen and the physical world was pretty cool kind of the highlight
project we did was the restoration of a museum over
three years and it was really cool to kind of bring that back together knowing
that all kinds of visitors would come to that later and enjoy this you know
spectacular place so for me it's always about doing something through a group of
people that's bigger I left construction I went into
financial services about thirty years ago and worked for several banks and
savings and loans and was doing a little bit of consulting work then and was
introduced to credit unions and when I saw that business model for financial
services it's like you know what this is awesome the way they're doing this so I
worked at Lockheed for about 15 years and then Disney came knocking and said
hey we've got this ya audacious goal you know we'd like to do is be able to
double assets and you know five to seven years and I felt like I had some insight
about how to help so I was kind of drawn to their mission and we've done it in
three years and so there was a lot of learning tremendous teamwork great
support from the board and the sponsor but that's kind of been the leadership
arc and it's been a it's been a lot of fun that's amazing obviously with what
you do in your career and all the success you've had you've come across
many top CEOs and performers are there any traits or habits that seem to be
common across these people that we can share with the audience you know if I
think of my successful peers and there's many of them a couple things I think
Eric they have in common number one is they're clear on their why they know why
they want to be in leadership and what they're trying to do and then they
connect that to the organization's mission you know so for my why is to
help individuals thrive bottom line that's what it is and so through this
mission and running the credit unit I get to do that I get to help 450 of our
cast members thrive and therefore the two hundred thousand members and then
therefore the broader Society so my why is is my cup is full right I'm doing
this kind of work my peers do the same thing they have some really deep
motivation of why they do what they do these are the leaders that over-index
not the ones that are hanging around the pier average but the ones that really
over-index I think they're really connected to their why the second thing
I think they do unique to CEOs it's a difficult thing today you'd have to have
one foot in the future and one foot right now executing and today so you
need to bring the organ along into the future and think about
those two realities one foot in the future one foot in the in the current
and executing there's a tension a dynamic tension between those two you
could almost imagine a rubberband between the future and the current state
and good leaders know how far to stretch that without breaking it compelling
organization moving up to the next level making it an energizing work environment
increasing energy and focusing on it to get the mission done but not breaking it
I like that you can do the journey together with folks to when you're doing
that that makes sense a lot of those lines who has been the
biggest influence on you and what lessons did that pearson teach you Wow
so probably a gentleman by the name of John McKinnon when I left a construction
and went to work in financial services John ran five insurance agencies he was
trained in the military the Marine Corps and they really trained us well in how
to be a great insurance professional but John was so in on my success you could
stop right there on teaching the house stuff but I'll tell you the story so I
come walking in I'm do I'm used to wearing you know jeans and boots and
stuff like that to work every day and so I know I needed to wear a suit to show
up and be this new Sales Manager guy and I'm walking by his office and all of a
sudden I hear he'll know is that about mr. McKinnon are you talking to me he
goes hell no kid in here kid he goes you can't dress like that and go out there
and represent our savings alone you just can't do that Charlotte Charlotte's his
assistant she gonna take him down right now don't wait another minute and take
him down there and have my tailor get this kid a new suit he can't go out
there I was so embarrassed cuz hey I went to JCPenney and I got the best that
was there farther than ever but here's the lesson I learned from that
that's all in leadership he knew that that one thing would make a difference
and he didn't say hey you need to do something about it just be a critic he
was actually in the arena with me saying hey let me introduce you to my people
let's handle this right now not tomorrow and let's set you up for success
complete success all in all a great leader yeah that's good and obviously
you've taken it to heart we were talking at lunch you do a lot of progressive
things one thing is if you think about it the Disney on the property you even
have a mobile credit union because it's so large there's 50,000 square feet you
guys to go where the people are so it's on
wheels the credit union is there anything that something your team does
differently that you can share with the audience
yeah it's unique to our DNA so you know Disney is known for bringing a huge
creative efforts right whether it's the Black Panther or wreck-it Ralph is what
we're doing now so as we get to that on every Friday we wear t-shirts that are
about whatever the company is doing we are all in with them our whole website
will be black panther right and so that's something unique we do is we
understand what's important to our sponsors Walt Disney Company where the
big effort and push is and we support by saying hey we all show up if it matters
to you it matters to me so let's show every way we can we're dressed up like
that the website's ready to go let's have smashing success because if you win
we all win I love it that's great as we jump ahead here is there a book
movie poem place that our audience would benefit from you know I just built a
library at the ranch and that's been a bucket list item for me so I have all my
books in there that doesn't open invitation for all the audience to go to
your ranch I'll put you to work those mucking stalls Eric there's all kinds of
work to be done so yes please come on down but we do host a lot of people here
but in that library the other day I was going through the bookshelf and Peter
Drucker's book on effective leader I was pulling that I'm looking at that and
there's just timeless things in there that every leader should get reconnected
to and learn you know he wrote over 50 books I got to study with him in my
graduate school I can hear his voice ringing in my ears as I'm picking up the
book and doing that and he's just reminding us that it starts with things
that are just fundamental like time management if you can't manage your own
time you can't manage others and just rereading that so that book Peter
Drucker's the effective executive and that's amazing so you were in graduate
school he was your actual teacher okay and then if if he were to say something
that says this is the one thing you need to take out of this class what do you
think that he would say well I think he got it right
and the one thing would be what is the purpose of the corporation and that's to
build a better society and I think we're beginning to connect
that again saying you know there are so many needs out there and some of the
most powerful brands are the richest ones and they can do so much good
so I hear his voice telling any CEO out there a little more social consciousness
and social impact I think is his legacy that's great is there just a general
favorite story I mean you're amazing you've got experience you've got your
great storyteller are there any stories it's a general story that you want to
share with the audience gosh okay so I've got a story for you this one
would be my first day on the job as being a CEO and frankly I have no idea
really what the job was about but to be able to go in there and on the desk was
a memo from the Board of Directors saying you know we're on the mission
together we're all in we've got you we know that you're not going to be perfect
and that you're gonna make mistakes but we're totally committed to your success
let's go I mean think about that to find that on your desk as a rookie CEO and
it's not just from one board member it's a statement saying we're here let's go
get the mission done that's powerful that's really really powerful and
they're lucky I mean what you've done is amazing and it's timely that story
because what's gone viral and then that recently is the note that George Bush
left for Bill Clinton on the dust can written so now that's wonderful as we
wrap things up here is there any particular ask that you have for the
audience or maybe it's a question that I should have asked no I just think the
you know the ask that I would have for the audience has to be an ask that I'm
willing to answer myself and that's to go write that 20 year old that person
when you're on the sidelines and you think you know I'm not sure I'm ready to
go that the risk-taking is worth the rewards and that's where the learning is
so lean into the future and take some risk I love it and then if you to show
up at Disney park whether it's an Anaheim whether it's in Paris whether
it's in Orlando and everyone had the same shirt so every guest that's walking
around in the park had the same shirt and I just had one word on that shirt
what would you want that word to say god it's gonna be my favorite
word dreams dreams would be the word making dreams come true well it's a good
thing to wrap up on dreams and John's making them come true the financial
dreams and it's just amazing to have you here it's been an honor to have you so
Thank you so much for joining us on the Super U Podcast
Thank you