Releasing with Patty Corkery (#213)

“Every time I’ve just been myself, it’s really worked to my advantage.” - Patty Corkery

Welcome to episode 213 of The CUInsight Experience podcast with your hosts, Randy Smith, co-founder of CUInsight, and Jill Nowacki, President and CEO of Humanidei.

This episode is sponsored by The Sheeter Group - a leading executive benefits firm that meets your retention and succession needs. This includes non-qualified benefit plans, short and long-term incentive plans, compensation studies, scorecard design, performance evaluation, and more. Learn more at sheetergroup.com.

In this season, Jill and I will have conversations centered around leadership, credit unions, and living our best lives. We will have some of the most respected leaders from around credit unions who we are grateful to call friends join us in the discussion from time to time too.

In this episode, we are joined by repeat guest Patty Corkery, the president and CEO of the Michigan Credit Union League. She comes on board to discuss the idea of "releasing to evolve" as leaders, sharing some truly insightful reflections on the mindset shifts and unlearning that often must happen as we take on more senior roles.

One big theme that resonates with us is this idea of having to let go of the need to be liked, especially when you're in a position in which you must make tough decisions. Patty talks about how she has had to work on being more direct and not worrying so much about everyone approving of her and we talk about the human desire to be an approachable, fun leader, versus having to put on the CEO hat and make uncomfortable calls.

We also dive into the challenge of adjusting your communication style as you move up, with Patty sharing a great piece of advice that she got about how "your whisper is a roar" at the executive level. It is a fine line to walk—being authentic while also being mindful of the weight that your words carry.

This is a truly thought-provoking conversation about the evolution required to be an effective senior leader, and Patty offers a lot to reflect on and think about. Enjoy our conversation with Patty Corkery! 

Find the full show notes on cuinsight.com.
Subscribe on: Apple Podcasts and Spotify

How to find Patty:
Patty Corkery, President & CEO of the Michigan Credit Union League
mcul.org
Patty: LinkedIn
Michigan Credit Union League: LinkedIn | Facebook | X | YouTube

Want to hear more from Patty? Click here.