Pick up the phone and call! Rent-a-Brain operators are standing by.

Innnntroducing…Rent-a-Brain!

Are you responsible for too many initiatives, an overabundance of priorities, an excess of tasks at hand with way too few fingers to get it done? Are you a slam-packed, schedule-smacked, shell-shocked, docket-pocked shell of your former self, trying your best to appease particularly pesky purveyors of arbitrarily outrageous deadlines? In short, has the fun…

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three steps you need to take in order to start managing your boss.

Meh boss? Maybe it’s you.

You may actually have a lousy boss and work in a toxic environment. If so, then you should run, not walk, to the nearest job exit. But if your Boss is basically okay, yet your job seems to be going nowhere and you don’t seem to get the opportunities you say you want, then it may not be the…

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Think of your department as a client, and develop a marketing plan

Does your marketing department deserve more respect?

Your in-house marketing department is likely made up of capable, well-qualified and talented people, yet it may feel that you never get any respect from management or the rest of the company. You seem to get stuck doing all the small, tedious jobs while outsiders are brought in for the big, important projects. You obviously…

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Those that drive understand that Marketing revs the growth engine.

Does Marketing drive or go along for the ride?

There are two types of marketing departments: those that drive and those that are passengers. Those that drive understand that Marketing revs the growth engine. Those that simply ride along only go where the driver takes them. Unfortunately, most marketing departments seem to fit in the second category. How about yours? Where do you sit? If you aren’t sure, see if…

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Do what you love, make a difference, and stop the boring.

Five signs I might actually be growing up

Does anyone really think of themselves as a grownup? I’m definitely an adult, but I still see myself as a kid. I still make dumb mistakes, I still say stupid stuff, and I still wish I had more social finesse. I sometimes wonder out loud what I’m going to be when I grow up. And…

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Cut that big pan of brownies into bites.

How to control deadlines instead of letting them control you.

You know that you have that one project to do, and it needs to be done NOW. It’s there, hanging over your head like the black cloud that always followed Joe Btfsplk* around Li’l Abner strips. But you don’t really want to do that project. Maybe it’s too difficult, looks like it will take too long, or you just don’t…

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If I weren’t in Marketing, I’d probably be…

I never thought I’d be creating marketing for credit unions when I was growing up. I had no idea what advertising was, or a logo, or that people got paid for designing the cereal boxes I looked at every morning. Heck, I didn’t even know what a graphic designer was when I went to college.…

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every organization needs to build a healthy brand culture within their own walls.

Would you work at your job for free?

This very question was posed to a large group of Southwest Airlines employees who responded by giving their boss a standing ovation. That shows their dedication. Their belief in their boss. Their love of the company. What if you posed the exact same question to the employees at your CU? Over several anonymous surveys (CUCheck)…

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80% of CEOs don't trust Marketers.

When is the last time you heard CFOs whine about being misunderstood?

It may be disheartening to hear, but 80% of CEOs don’t trust Marketers. They believe that Marketers “are too disconnected from the…financial realities of companies.” They think that Marketers spend too much time “in their creative and social media bubble”, and when Marketers start trying to justify marketing expenses, they get sucked into the processes…

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Sometimes you run across numbers that make you go HMMMM.

Five numbers that make you wonder about a CU

Whenever we talk with a potential new client, we head over to NCUA.gov and check out their numbers. It’s all public data, and not all that detailed, but after perusing a few hundred of these, we’ve learned how to gain some insights into a credit union’s situation and “attitude” just from poring over ratios and…

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