Today’s conversation is about Financial Well Being… well actually to be more specific, financial well being for all. For a substantial portion of households, day-to-day financial struggles remain profound in the face of persistent financial fragility and inequity. According to the Financial Health Network’s U.S. Financial Health Pulse, 2 out of 3 Americans are not financially healthy and stark disparities remain across gender, race/ethnicity, and income. This is not new information, and it is frustrating to feel like this persistent problem will only continue to persist or worsen in today’s social, economic and political environment. But there are things that credit unions can do and are doing to make a difference in people’s lives, one member at a time. Putting this consumer sentiment at the center of credit union decision-making and product and service delivery not only supports a credit union’s business goals and mission around advancing financial health and well-being through responsible lending products, higher savings rates, and financial education – but it also helps credit unions navigate supercharged digital transformation in a financial industry where fintechs have completely changed the competitive landscape. Today's expert is Michelle Christie, Senior Manager, Financial Inclusion and Impact, at the National Credit Union Foundation—she brings a wealth of knowledge and boots on the ground tangible experience on how credit union are, and can continue to, advance financial well-being for all whom they serve. Follow along with this interview by downloading the guide we reference at filene.org/557

Today’s conversation is about innovation. I know, right. Innovation this, innovation that, everyone is saying the word innovation so much, it's like the center square on a corporate jargon bingo card. But here’s the thing: Jeffrey Robinson, Fellow for Filene’s Center of Excellence for Innovation and Incubation tells credit unions “If we don’t innovate, we die.” So, if it’s here to stay, and we do have to innovate – not just say that we are innovating -- what does that actually look like? We put that question out to our most innovative credit union connections, the members of our i3 program. Earlier this year, they were tasked to scan the entire credit union environment and bring back the best innovations they saw happening. In the end, 36 i3ers on 8 teams picked their best finds and put them to the test. They presented on why what they found was the most innovative thing around and we asked you all to vote. After more than 1200 votes were cast, one innovation had the most votes – nearly 40% of the votes, in fact. That innovation? Bank Dora. So in today’s episode we have Alaina Froton and Jeff Medeiros from Dora to tell us all about what Bank Dora is, why it is the embodiment of innovation, and how it is helping the credit union industry grow, thrive, and stay alive. Let’s get to it…

Let’s take a trip back in time to big.bright.minds 2021 where we ran into a very enthusiastic supporter of the Filene i3 program – Randy Stolp. Now, Randy promised he had a very unique and interesting story about how he came to be part of i3 and he definitely delivered. But before we get to that…let’s look back in time again, this time if we look ALL the way back in history, we see the organizations that implement innovations are the ones that succeed. But to be that kind of organization, we need to grow and develop innovative people. This is exactly what Randy is doing, and he serves as a model for not only how organizations can develop their people but how individuals can take hold of their own destiny, push out of their comfort zone and get there even faster. Filene’s latest edition of The Asterisk magazine is all about Innovation & Incubation. For more on innovating out of the comfort zone, check out The Asterisk Vol. 9 on Filene’s website at filene.org/theasterisk. In it, you will learn how Filene Fellow Dr. Jeffrey Robinson of our Center for Innovation & Incubation defines innovation. He says that “innovation is really applied creativity and that it’s nice to have ideas but turning them into practices, products or approaches that improve upon something else is really what innovation is about. If you know much about the i3 program, you know that it is comprised of the industry’s most innovative leaders, so this episode is dedicated to the ones that push boundaries and expand their comfort zones. The secret sauce of Filene’s recipe for innovation is not just talking about ideas but rather taking them to the next step-- into incubation and maybe even, if they prove worthy, into implementation. Dr. Robinson works with all sorts of organizations from start ups to fortune 500s and he reminds us that credit unions will need to focus on innovation within their organizations to remain competitive. He’s never been subtle about his point: if we don’t innovate, we die. This may be true – and Chief Information Officer Randy Stolp from My Community Credit Union is doing something about that…here’s his story.

Today’s conversation is one you’ve likely thought about before if you work in the credit union industry -- we’re talking about credit unions and cryptocurrencies. The purpose of this conversation is to enlighten our credit union listeners to what they need to know about the current state of digital assets and cryptocurrencies, what risks and opportunities exist, what credit unions are doing now, and what it might look like on the horizon. This is a special conversation however, because we’re not just talking about it in hypotheticals and theories. We’ll start with one of the world’s leading experts in the topic, researcher Quinn DuPont, talking about how the pandemic changed the crypto landscape, advice for credit unions getting into crypto and more. We’re also lucky to have two credit union cryptocurrency practitioners -- Cynthia Schroeder and Joe Keller from Visions FCU--talking about what they’ve been up to in the space, and where they’re taking it next in support of their credit union’s strategies, growth goals and bottom line. Thanks for listening and be sure to stick around till the end for some interesting ideas on use of NTFs and crypto wallets.

1 in 5 credit union members report that they would be willing to leave their credit union for a bank if innovation was not a priority. If you’re a regular listener of this podcast, you know that we often bring our research fellows on so that you have a chance to hear directly from them, get to know a little more about the work they are doing and learn about the focus of the research centers they lead. In March, we officially launched our 6th and final research center of excellence on credit union innovation and incubation. This center studies current trends for how credit unions can respond to members’ desire for greater financial service innovations that meet their evolving needs and preferences. It also explores the general state of innovation across the credit union system. To help credit unions succeed in building cultures, processes and systems for innovation, Filene has enlisted Dr. Jeffrey Robinson, Associate Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship and Academic Director of the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development at Rutgers Business School to lead this Center. We're excited to welcome Dr. Robinson on the show today. Also joining in our discussion and making his first appearing on the podcast is Filene’s Senior director of Incubation, Joshua Sledge. Together, Josh and Jeffrey are a tremendous resource for credit unions seeking ways to build their innovation muscles as well as give guidance to leading innovative credit unions on what’s on the horizon from their perspective. Register for our upcoming Innovation research event at filene.org/events

Last fall, Filene launched a new research center to focus on the power of credit unions’ social and community impact — not only to explore the way that this type of work being done by credit unions, if strategically maximized, partnered and amplified, has potential to significantly and positively transform entire communities, but also to explore the way that, through putting a focus on making transformative change for those they serve, credit unions can rightfully claim a key differentiation point in a crowded financial services space. To move this focus into action, we needed to find exactly the right person to lead the work. This is where Dr. Mai Nguyen comes into the Filene picture. Officially, through her role as fellow for the Center for Community Social Impact, Dr. Nguyen seeks to measure and expand credit unions' social impact and help credit unions develop strategic advantages in their communities as they affect long-term positive community transformation. Dr. Nguyen, however, is known to be refreshingly unconventional through her work that speaks to the power of what research can do to move people to action when it is translated in ways that are emotionally compelling. For an example, look no further than her multi-media project called “In the Shadows of Ferguson” that tells a 100 year history of how housing and urban policies have racially divided U.S. communities, through an empathetic and accessible approach that bridges research, social science, history, performing art, media, and digital humanities. Dr. Nguyen’s research is inspired by the goal of creating equitable and resilient communities through structural and systemic change. She is the director of the design lab at University of California San Diego, a professor of city and regional planning and a housing and urban scholar who seeks to improve the lives of vulnerable and underserved populations. In this episode, you’ll get an introduction to her work and her vision for the opportunities credit unions have to change their members lives, positively transform their communities and strategically grow and differentiate their businesses while doing so. More on Mai's research with Filene: filene.org/socialimpact Watch "In the Shadows of Ferguson" https://vimeo.com/247598465

Data is an amazing thing. It tells us who we are and what we do. And while predicting the choices, preferences and behaviors of one person is nearly impossible, predicting this for many people is a lot easier through the power of data analysis. Once-hidden patterns are revealed, structure emerges, and our data becomes our vision into the future. If you were told that 4 out of every 10 members will have an interest in product X after they use product Y, would this be valuable information to have? While generally interesting, it’s more than a headline that gets article clicks. We’re able to use data analytics to make decisions in our strategies that will give us more of what we want and less of what we don’t want. Think about the time and money saved alone in better targeted marketing campaigns. It’s undeniable that successful data analytics can create immense value for your organization. This power though, like any other, can be used for the good of many or exploited for the good of few. This is why there is both challenge and opportunity especially for credit unions to use their vast amounts of data to grow and lift their mission, to fulfill their purpose of serving the needs of those otherwise left out of the financial services equation, and to take a step in front of the crowd and lead as an example of what ethical use of data looks like. In today’s episode you will hear what credit union leaders told us interests them about building cultures of and ecosystems for better data analytics in their organizations – and ultimately why this led Filene to dedicate a research center of excellence to this topic. You’ll get the inside view on what this research will entail directly from the academic heart of the whole operation – aka our research fellow for the Center, Dr. Cheri Speier-Pero, Professor of Information Systems at Michigan State University. It is her mission to help leaders move ideas forward through the ethical implementation of new value-creating technologies and systems. Take a listen now as Dr. Speier-Pero and Filene’s Paul Dionne enlighten us to why no matter where your organization is on its data analytics journey, this research will appeal to and is essential for everyone on the path. For resources mentioned herein, visit filene.org/data for all reports produced in this Research Center; visit filene.org/blog to find Cheri's webinar content; and visit filene.org/analyticsecosystem to register for Filene's first-ever Data Analytics research event on January 26-27.

So much has turned uncertain about our world this year – one thing that helps in times of uncertainty is to stay focused in the realm of what we can control. And while we can’t control the future, there is a trick that does give us a bit of control over the shape the future will be in. When we act in good faith to the question of “How can I become a good ancestor?” we start to behave in a way that helps us set the stage for the best future for those who will exist in that future. And in that way, we realize we do have control over what the future will be. We have a lot of opportunities before us, personally and professionally, to be part of that stage setting. One opportunity that we’ll be focusing on in today’s podcast is through Filene’s i3 program. In case you’re not familiar with it, Filene i3 is a two-year innovation leadership program and community equipping top credit union professionals with the mindset, tools and network to lead and shape the future. Through this cohort-based program, participants work in cross-functional teams to explore and address many of credit unions' most pressing challenges. This is a tremendous leadership development opportunity for senior leaders to connect with others, make their ideas bigger and advance their innovation mindsets. Every year Filene opens up the application process to find the next i3 team. Applications are now open, and we are here to talk about what it takes, and what you get when you become part of Filene i3. We are lucky today to be joined by not only the program’s leader, Brent Dixon, but also two experienced program participants -- Kathy Chicas, who is the Chief Operating Officer for Farmers Insurance Group Federal Credit Union, and Mark Volz, Relationship Development Officer, at Corporate Central Credit Union. In many ways, just like it did for many other things, the COVID pandemic forever changed the way we view credit union innovation, and the role of creativity and urgency in the concepts and locally specific focus of the i3er’s projects. As you’ll soon learn from Kathy and Mark, if you have an insatiable need to make good change in the world, i3 will give you all the tools you could need. I invite you to drift away with us over the next hour to this island of misfit toys and peer into the minds of these brilliant weirdos. Chances are you’ll realize you’ve been there with them all along.

We’ve witnessed how much of our societal and economic infrastructure has failed--or is brought to the precipice of failure--with any amount of stress put on it over the last handful of months. Smart organizations right now are looking for ways to infuse innovation into their very DNA: their organizational culture – and create solutions to the most pressing needs of their customers, while energizing their leaders and teams. I wanted to learn more about how an organization gets there – how they shift their organizational culture to be one where innovation is fundamentally centered – and I know no better resource on the topic than my friend and colleague at Filene, Erin Coleman. Erin is Filene’s Senior Director of Advisory Services and has a long history of working with credit unions. What follows is a wide-ranging discussion on why innovation matters in tried-and-true business like financial services, how an organization becomes innovative--the real kind, not just the buzzwordy use of it on websites and in press releases-- and most importantly, in a year as crazy as 2020, have the rules changed about innovation? Done well, real innovation helps your organization jump the line – to be first with a real solution your members really seek, applying your organization’s real-time greatest strengths to deliver what is needed. Through both structured and informal testing and iteration, real innovation is within anyone’s reach – your greatest opportunities are there for the taking, you just have to take them first. To all our listeners here, I hope you do reach out and grab hold of those failures you see happening all around us, and apply a mindset of innovation to turn those into the opportunities we, as both consumers and business professionals need. I know Filene and Erin can help you get started on your path to get there. Reach out to Erin at [email protected] -- but first, take a listen…

In this episode, we introduce you to our newest Filene Fellow for the Center of Excellence for Consumer Financial Lives in Transition. Dr. Lisa Servon is the Kevin and Erica Penn Presidential Professor and Chair of City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design. The Center for Consumer Financial Lives in Transition studies the changing financial lives and livelihoods of consumers, new forms of economic struggle and financial fragility, and how these changes impact the North American credit union system. As Lisa shares in this interview -- "The work from this center will help credit unions serve people facing different kinds of transitions – income volatility, retirement, physical health and inequalities. If we can understand the frequency of these kinds of transitions and when people are going through them, we may be able to help alleviate the financial burdens that have been historically created.” One thing of note about this interview – we recorded this in March, before we knew as much about what would soon unfold with the COVID-19 pandemic, so in a way, it is a bit of a time capsule look at the way things used to be…we recorded together in our small podcast studio, something unlikely to happen as such again for a long time. But still, the ideas and challenges Lisa talks about are only ever more relevant today for having lived through this pandemic and being where we are at with it all now. Stick around until the end to hear Lisa’s answer to her provocative question that led her to start one of her main research pursuits -- if alternative financial services are so bad for people, then why are so many people using them? – There’s got to be a better reason than that people are stupid.