“Hopeful.” – Many CEOs started 2021 with a pretty rosy outlook. After all, it’s a new year, a new beginning.
In January, Fortune/Deloitte asked 100+ CEOs to sum up in one word their views on the events of 2020, and their forecasts for 2021. So they unpacked their adjectives, which for each year were compiled into that trendiest of data visualization tools, the word cloud. And after the perfect storm of 2020, the predictions for the 12 months ahead were a welcome ray of sunshine.
There are many valid criticisms of word clouds, but in this case they are effective in illustrating a stark “before and after” contrast. Because frequency of use determines a word’s relative size in the word cloud, the 2020 cloud is dominated by the word Challenging, with close runners-up being Change and Tough. If there’s any surprise there, it’s in the mildness of the language used.
For 2021, on the other hand, CEOs sounded an optimistic tone with Hopeful and Hope coming out on top, followed by Opportunity and Recovery. The overwhelmingly positive descriptions for 2021 are, of course, tempered by the understanding that CEOs were making these calls in January, and we are thus far only in March! We will have to see how coming events live up to these expectations.
How are you doing so far in 2021?
Does your current assessment of your own institution’s situation fit with CEO predictions? Are you putting your Hopeful into action? Are you realizing a Recovery? Capitalizing on Opportunity? Executing on your Hope?
It’s one thing to issue a sunny forecast when faced with the prospect of a blank calendar ahead of you. Part of a CEO’s role, after all, is to instill a confident vision for the future. But you still have to roll up your sleeves and execute a strategy for bringing that vision into reality. And that strategy should be a lot more than just “hope.”
Many companies had to write their own crisis response playbook on-the-fly last year, addressing each challenge as it popped up. Now that you have your roadmap. 2021 should be the time to shift from “just going along for the ride” to being back in the driver’s seat. Are you committed to your destination? Do you have the resources to get there? Are you agile enough to make adjustments when obstacles get in your way?
More than ever, your imperative focus should be on staying aware of your members’ needs and the problems you can help them resolve. Helping credit unions adapt to the dramatic changes of the past year confirmed our long-standing beliefs about member experience delivery:
- Dynamic MX measurement is essential for keeping pace with shifts – whether abrupt or gradual – in member mindset and sentiment.
- Commitment to a data-driven approach (leading indicators of data rather than lagging indicators) pinpoints the most pressing problems emerging from the member experience.
- Member feedback is the best way to highlight areas where service can be improved to ensure consistent and seamless delivery of the member experience, in an understanding and empathetic way.
Even with a clearly dominant tone for each year, words in the periphery of the clouds cast a deeper shade. It is reassuring to see that, in the background of the largely negative 2020 word cloud, words like Discovery, Energizing, and Transformative provide a “silver lining” that hints at the promise of better things in 2021. Effective leadership involves recognizing and seizing the opportunity that presents itself, even in the midst of disruption. Those with the vision to see strategic possibilities in a changing and challenging environment will be the ones who turn the potential of hope into the reality of success.
On the other hand, CEO suggestions for descriptors of 2021 include Dystopian and Silent Complicity. Make of that what you will and prepare accordingly. All in all, do EVERYTHING you can to make 2021 worthy of the confidence the majority of these CEOs place in it.
What word would YOU use to describe your credit union’s 2020 experience, and your outlook for 2021?
