Milton Hunt credited credit unions serving people of color during the economic difficulties of the pandemic.
The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you discover your true purpose in life, motivation speaker Milton Hunt says.
Hunt, a Native American who manages affairs for the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, offered insight to guide attendees in defining their purpose during the African American Credit Union Coalition's (AACUC) Annual Conference Thursday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Hunt offers three tips:
1. Remember who you are and where you came from. Hunt credits key people in the credit union movement, including AACUC President/CEO Renée Sattiewhite and retired executives Bert Hash and Helen Godfrey Smith who counseled him early in his career.
“They helped me take pride in who I am,” Hunt says. “We should all take pride in who we are an where we come from. Don’t let your memory put you in jail, let it take you places. You are going somewhere.”
2. Be open to reinventing themselves. Hunt says the pandemic has provided virtually every credit union with the “blessing” of reinventing itself. “The pandemic put us all in a place we belong anyway,” he says. “We don’t belong in the comfort zone.”
He also notes that more than ever credit unions have focused on serving the needs of serving people of color and including them on their leadership teams and boards of directors. “It’s time to have representatives in this movement that look like us,” he says.
‘We have to always remember why we are here: to serve.’
Milton Hunt
3. Remain relevant. “It’s easy to stop learning, to stop reading, and to stop growing, but there’s always somebody out there that wants to pour their ideas into your members’ lives,” Hunts says.” You can’t pour yourself into somebody’s life if you’re irrelevant.”
AACUC is an example of an organization that has remained relevant and achieved greater relevance, during the tumultuous social and economic climate of the past few years, Hunt says.
“You should be proud of yourselves, but there’s still a lot of work to be done,” he says. “We have to always remember why we are here: to serve. It’s not an easy path, but it’s the one path that always matters.”
Credit Union Magazine’s Fall 2022 issue highlights credit unions’ role in cryptocurrency, the state of digital assets, cannabis banking compliance, the human side of technology implementation, and involving the board in financial discussions.
