Linda Armyn, President and CEO of FourLeaf Federal Credit Union | CEOs You Should Know

Linda Armyn, President and CEO of FourLeaf Federal Credit Union | CEOs You Should Know

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, this is Carolyn Whitwim with another episode of CEOs
You Should Know. Today, I have the pleasure of sitting
down with Linda Arman, the President and CEO of four
Leaf Federal Credit Union. Linda, welcome, Thank you so but
glad to be here. Oh, We're so great to have you.
So with that, I know there's a lot of new
exciting things happening for four Leaf. You're going through a

(00:20):
nice little rebrand that's coming out and happening. But with that,
I would love to dive in and learn a little
bit more about your background and how you got to
the position that you're currently in.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Sure, So, I have been in banking for most of
my career and I started with two commercial banks way
back when, pre two thousand and one, and then in
August of two thousand and one, I came over to
the credit union and at the time we were beth
Page Federal Credit Union. Yeah, and I grew up there,

(00:52):
I raised my kids as an executive at beth Page
Federal Credit Union and got to see so many people.
We have a lot of longevity the credit union, So
there's so many people that have been there as long
as I have, if not longer.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
So it's been really a great experience.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
So I, you know, worked my way up through the
through the organization, through the front of the house, not
necessarily always a CEO path. So I did marketing and
business development and communications and you know, the financial stuff
I do and I learned, but that was not my

(01:28):
you know, primary strength, and that tends to be where
the past CEOs would come from. I like to say
that the front of the house, the marketing side of
the house, the communication skills, it's ninety five percent of
what I do as a CEO, and those soft skills
that people like to call them, I like to call
them core skills because honestly, I do that all day long.

(01:51):
The finance people take care of the finances all day long,
and I get involved. But having that ability to build
relationships and to listen and to communicate and to bring
the village together, so to speak, is really what matters.
So I feel my background really helped to position me
to get to this point and it's been a really

(02:13):
interesting ride along the way.

Speaker 4 (02:15):
So it's amazing.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
But yeah, I've been with the CRDIT Union twenty three years.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
Yeah, CEO of the last year and a half. Wow,
and it's flying by.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
And as you said, we're embarking on this major rebrand
turning Beth Page into four Leaf and incredible.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
We're super excited.

Speaker 4 (02:32):
Congratulations, Thank you.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
No, that's so exciting and I think even like a
testament to you three years yea. Now, that's impressive, especially
in this day and age, and being able to understand
the business from all different angles and all different aspects.
That's a type of CEO every company should have.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
Yeah, And you know it's interesting.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
I do haargin back to my first job in banking,
which was at the Bank of New York, and I
went through their management program and I don't even think
those programs exist anymore, but they were popular back then,
and I went through a good year two year program.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Where I learned literally every aspect of the bank.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
And that still stays with me to today.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
So I definitely credit that experience from way back when
I don't want to date myself.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
No, it helps you better understand your employees and your
ecosystem and really helps you kind of align the path forward.
And with that you've built this incredible career where you
are the first female president and CEO of four Leaf,
which is an accomplishment in itself. What does that mean
for you personally and professionally.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
You know, it's interesting. I didn't give it a lot
of thought.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
I really didn't, and but what I will say is
my team did. So, you know, I was preparing and
within the succession lines and to become the CEO, and
I was preparing for all the things that I thought
I needed to really be prepared for on day one,
and it was all about, well, I grew up here,

(04:01):
I know everybody, I know the inner workings of the organization.
I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing right,
but now I'm going to just do it at a
different level. And I was completely taken back and a
little off guard.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
I had so.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
Many of the young female you know, staff and executives
coming up to me and saying this is amazing to
see and emotional about it, right, And I was like wow,
I didn't realize the impact it was going to make
on others. Of course, I was proud of it, and
I was so excited to be named the CEO because

(04:39):
I love this organization so much and to be able
to be the head coach or the steward of this
fine organization was a thrill of a lifetime for me
and still is obviously, But I just didn't think of
what it would mean to other people. And it was
really important and impactful to a lot of the female
staff that we have to see themselves in their CEO,

(05:02):
and I just think it's amazing.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
Yeah, I think there's there's some women that are kind
of paving the way and setting the tone, and you
don't necessarily think about it until you get there. And
then there's other women that don't see themselves there until
they see someone like them in that seat.

Speaker 3 (05:16):
Agreed, So you.

Speaker 4 (05:17):
Completely paved that way.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
And I think when you look at four Leaf, it
is not just a credit union, it is the largest
and one of the most successful and such a pinnacle.
And with that, you're driving force behind that, and so
is your entire team. What do you think has led
to that success?

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Collaboration, teamwork, and not just in a cliche way. We
really operate where you know, one of my big things
is it takes a village.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
And clearly I didn't make that up.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah I saw that, but it resonates, right, It resonates
with people. And one of the things that we have
talked about for years is you know, it's really important
that everybody is in tuned to what's the company goals.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
And the company goals is to have happy members.

Speaker 4 (06:01):
Right.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
We want to have happy employees and we want to
have happy members, and the only way to do that
is for us to work together. If you have different
business lines at odds with each other, where one's not
going to make their goals because the other one did,
that doesn't work. We need to be in a situation
where we win together and if we have to, we
lose together, and we pivot quickly so that we win together.

(06:22):
But it's all about doing it together. And everyone has
to run their unique business lines, but everybody has to.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
Do it in mind with the greater good of the organization.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
And sometimes we have to prioritize and reprioritize and maybe
pivot from different things, and maybe something has to get
delayed to make something, you know, take off, like the rebrand, Right, there.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
Were things that we had to say that was all
hands on deck. Yeah, that was the whole village and
then some.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
So you know, we have to make sure that we're
all working together because when you don't do that, then
that's when things fall through the cracks, and that's when
there's problems. So and if there's something that has to
be fixed, we all rally together to fix it. And
if there's something we have to celebrate, we all rally
together to celebrate. And I truly think it's the secret sauce.
I tell our team all the time. Our ability to

(07:06):
build relationships with each other, with our members, with the
communities that we serve, is our superpower.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
And I think that's where I was discussful.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
No, that makes that makes so much sense. And communication
is key in so many different ways in shape and form.
If everybody knows the direction the company is going in,
then everybody's leaning into the same mission and the same goal.
And there's not communication. People are working in all different
directions and you can never get to your endpoint.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
You can't, you can't.

Speaker 4 (07:28):
You have to.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
There has to be alignment and understanding of what is
important and that end goal of making sure that our
members feel the love and the value that they get
when they come into one of our branches or our
contact center, or wherever the case may be, with anybody
that you know that they feel that. I would like
you used to call it the warm Beth page hug.

(07:49):
Now we call it the four leafhug, but they need
to feel that.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
And you said something as you were describing that communication,
and it's more than just internal, it's external too, and
it's part of the community, and it's being a part
of the communit. You have a program for Leaf Cares.
Can you tell us how you've really created this partnership
with the community and how you've built that and what
that means.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
Yeah, it's critical.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
I always say to the team, if four Leaf failed
to exist tomorrow, right and we just got plucked out,
would we be missed? You know, would we leave a void?
And the answer to that question should be yes. So
the only way to do that is to be a
part of the communities that you serve. So we for
years now have really focused on developing the literally the

(08:36):
communities where our branches are, but then the greater for
many years long Island Community and now we stretch that
into New York City. We were of a branch in
New Jersey and then any place where we do business.
It's important that we are involved in those communities so
that they understand that we're not just trying to take
from them get their business, but we also give back,

(08:57):
and we do it in a lot of ways. You know,
some financials, some companies just write checks.

Speaker 3 (09:02):
Yes, So we don't believe in that.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
We believe that we need to have a comprehensive, holistic
program and that's what Beth Page Cares is.

Speaker 3 (09:09):
So we write checks.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
We write grants, We have all of our employees volunteering.
We last year we did close to six thousand volunteer hours.
We we also do a lot of education programs, so
we have a team of people that just do educational
programs and all of that comes together to really, you know,

(09:34):
let the community know that we're here for them. And
it's not just about oh, come do business with us,
Oh come open a checking account or take a loan.
It's that you know when you come and open a
checking account, when you come and take a loan, that
we're going to take a portion of that and invest
in the community so that the communities are stronger.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
And that's why we do it. And it's important.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
Utiful now and I think it's it's important for a
financial institution to be a part of the community because
you're a part of our lives and an important part
because finance is a part of our day to day
it is so so giving back and making yourself known
to the community is important.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
And finances is intimidating to a lot of people.

Speaker 4 (10:11):
Oh yes, right, sign me up. I'm one of them.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
I mean, people come into the branch and they're so nice,
especially you know, for the first time. They're so nervous,
like what do I have to do?

Speaker 3 (10:19):
Right?

Speaker 2 (10:19):
And if we can be endearing to the community, then
that makes that walk into the branch not so scary,
or that when they pick up the phone because they
need a car loan.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
And am I going to get approved? And what is
this going to mean?

Speaker 2 (10:31):
And you know, being a part of the community makes
people at ease when they come in, and that's what
we want.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
One hundred percent. It's almost like giving them a welcome
at yep, yep, you already know us. We're here, let's talk,
which is nice to kind of break down that barrier.
Now you've done so much for the community, You've built
this incredible brand under Beth Page, and now you're merging
into this new brand. Tell us about what the name
means and sure, really how this journey came to be?

Speaker 2 (10:55):
Yeah, you know, so it was interesting for the last
five years we've been toying with the idea of changing
our name, and you know, we were all kind of
attached to it, right, Bethpage. I'm Linda from Beth Page.
It became like a part of our identity. However, when
we started branching out to new areas, you know, the
City Jersey. You know, we have a charter that allows

(11:18):
us to do business in all fifty states. So the
more we do business outside of the area, people don't
resonate with Beth Page. It's this small town on Long Island. Actually,
when we asked people, you know, what do you think
of when you think of Beth Page. The largest word
in the word cloud. Consultants love to give you big
word clouds. The largest word in the word cloud was nothing.

(11:38):
They don't think of anything.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
And I was like, oh, that's a little bit of
a gut.

Speaker 2 (11:41):
Punch, right and then and then the second biggest word
was golf course.

Speaker 3 (11:45):
You know, the fine print was where we saw credit Union.
So it wasn't resonating.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
And we tested it locally too, right, so for some
people it resonated, for others it didn't. And from an
expansion perspective, especially as we can to grow outside the area.
We felt it was really important to come up with
a name that could resonate with everybody. So then that
brought us to We looked at hundreds of names and
kept narrowing it down and narrowing it down, and we

(12:13):
fell in love with a whole bunch of them. And
at the end of the day, we ended up testing
the names and four Leaf came out on top every
single time. And the reason it came out on top
is it makes people feel happy, right. They think of
prosperity and luck, and they think of four Leaf Clover
as being rare, and it's just something that makes people

(12:35):
feel happy.

Speaker 3 (12:36):
So it was a good name.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
It was a name that I don't know if I
necessarily would have chose, but it happened, it became apparent.
And one of the things that we are at the
Credit Union, and also very important to this decision, was
to make a data driven decision. You can't just pick
a name that you fell in love with and it
doesn't resonate with people, because then it defeats the purpose

(12:57):
of going through this exercise. So you know, the data
told the story, and we tested it head to head
with a couple of the other names. Came out on top.
Tested it head to head with Bethpage, blew it away.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
I mean it was a huge margin.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
So and you know, we tested it locally, regionally, nationally,
and the same results every single time. So but what
we did was is we leaned into the prosperity.

Speaker 3 (13:22):
We leaned into.

Speaker 2 (13:24):
Just our mission and values and how it related back
to what we hope to achieve helping people find their
hopes and dreams. And then we created a mark that
was made of two infinity circles about the infinite possibilities
and for everybody, right. And that's so that's how it
came to be. We're super excited about it. Our members
seemed to be pretty excited about it. You know, we've

(13:46):
had some hate mail, but very little and for the
most part, people are excited. We picked the colors to
represent our heritage. So we had originally started as the
grumm And Credit Union before we were the Beth Page
Credit Union, and they had a blue, so we said,
let's lean into that blue, which also represents New York. Yes,
and when we said let's keep a little bit of
that orange, which was.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
All about Beth Page.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
And when you put the two colors together, it's near colors, right,
and it evokes emotion to our legacy and then lets
us they're also very rich, fun callers that will take
us into the future.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
Love it.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
That's how we did it.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
It's an interesting thought process because I think sometimes in
naming and rebranding and that whole process, I think some
people just think comes out of nowhere. But it seems
like there's so much thought and dedication and time and
sensitivity that went into this.

Speaker 4 (14:34):
I'm excited to see it come to life.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeah, it's exciting, it really is.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
So you talked about your philosophy and kind of the
imaging behind four Leaf and where.

Speaker 4 (14:45):
That came to be.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
But let's dive a little bit into the philosophy of
the company and talk a little bit about member ownership.
What does that mean to you as a leader and
what does that kind of work towards in your decision
making process.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah, so, you know, a not for profit cooperative that
is a mouthful, which is what credit unions are. We
have a responsibility to our owners, which are our members.

Speaker 3 (15:11):
We don't have outside shareholders.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
So public companies, you know, you're driven by quarterly decisions
made based on your stock price, right, and your fulfillment
to your shareholders. Our stakeholders are our members and they
own us, and we have to make sure that every
decision we're making, and this is key, is in the

(15:33):
benefit of the membership. So I can't just make want
a lot of one off decisions to benefit one member, right,
that's not the spirit of the cooperative nature. But it's
about what's in the bench interest of the entire membership.
So we may not be able to have the highest
deposit rate on every single product because that might not

(15:55):
be financially prudent, but we're going to make sure that
the ones that we know people care about today, we're
going to make sure we give them the highest value
that we can and we're going to also offer the
lowest loan rate that we can possibly offer because it's
in the best interest of the membership and making sure
that there's a balance between the two. That you know,
we can invest in our branches and invest in our

(16:17):
technology so that everybody has something that makes them want
to be a part of us, right, and everybody has
different expectations, and oh geez, the Internet and all these
apps and Amazon and all the places that have set
consumer expectations. It's really hard for financial institutions to keep
up with that, so we have to constantly be reinventing

(16:40):
ourselves and reinvesting in technology.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
Just to catch up.

Speaker 4 (16:43):
Sometimes, Oh yeah, it's overwhelming. There's always something new.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
There's always something new that's driving customer expectation, right, and
so we need to make sure that we understand the
member needs. That goes back to listening, right, So what's
important to our membership and then make sure that we're
working every day to deliver it. And it's important because
at the end of the day, that's why we exist.
And we need our employees to be happy, right, because

(17:07):
the only way the members are going to be happy
is if the employees are happy. So we put a
lot of time and attention into cultivating a really strong
employee culture where they all feel valued and it is
it pays off for itself because every day they're meeting
that same mission of what's in the best interest of

(17:28):
our members.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
It's important and I feel like the more your employees
are happy and confident and content, the more your customers
are going to feel it. And it's kind of this
full circle moment that really brings business back because you're
starting at the core and the foundation, right.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
I mean, have you have you ever been into a
business where you walk in and the computer's not working
and they're like, I hate this company, hate this computer.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
They're grunting at you, and you're like.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
Oh, I don't think I want to be here, right,
And I've had that happen. I walk into a store
and I hear someone two people plating to each other,
and it's like, oh, I don't.

Speaker 3 (18:02):
Want to be here.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
You know, our people when the computer the computers don't
always work, but when they're not working, they're smiling at you.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
It's like being in trying to figure out, like, we'll
get it. We're gonna make this work, you know.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
But you have to have that persona and that personality
of your team that really resonates. Because our our especially
even with the brand change, right because our members were
like is this a merger and we're like, no, it's not,
We're just changing our name. Well is you know, Susan's
still going to be in the branch that I love.

(18:33):
Of course, Susan's still going to be in the branch
that you love. It's important the members connect with our employees.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
Smart, and it's important you hit it right on the head.
When you walk into a business you feel it, you
do and you feel welcomed or you don't, and that
kind of really impacts your decision before we even talk
to somebody. Yeah, so I love that you focus on
that and talking about other things that you focus on
and really important initiatives. It is International Women's Month, so
I did definitely hit on this. Tell me more about
Money Like a Woman.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
Oh my god, it is so fun and exciting. I
actually just had the opportunity to speak at a gender
equity conference in Detroit about Money Like a Woman, and
it was so excited to introduce it to a new
group of people that have never heard about it. So
Money Like a Woman was really inspired. When we were

(19:18):
going through the brand changes, we said, you know, something
we really want to do is support something in culture, right,
and a movement is about jumping into something that's in
culture today that we can really support and get behind
and believe in, not just a campaign, and it comes
with activations and really saying we're going to go all

(19:41):
in on supporting women and it's not about fixing women,
it's about celebrating women. So we came up with this
idea of Money like a woman, And it had a
lot of different names and iterations along those lines, but
it wasn't about being better than It was about how
do we take all the wonderful attributes and values that
women to the table, right, like empathy, being able to communicate, collaboration,

(20:06):
giving that warm hug, right making people feel welcomed. So
how do we take all these things and all the
value that women bring to the table. So, whether you're
the CEO of your living room or the CEO of
your company, you're still adding tremendous value to the people
around you, whether it's your family, your friends, or the
greater community. So we wanted to celebrate that, and then
we also wanted to reinforce our commitment to helping women

(20:31):
to succeed and to get that next level right, so
we are supporting through a campaign that we're doing right
now called bath boards. We said, why do they have
to be called billboards, Let's just change it up and
call them bath boards, and were keeping the name even
as for a leaf because it's fun. Yes, And what
we're doing is is we're donating expensive digital boards to

(20:54):
women owned businesses and giving them that opportunity and awareness
of their companies that they might not be able to
afford to do, but everybody should know about them, and we're.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
Doing it in a really fun way.

Speaker 2 (21:06):
Yeah, people get to apply, right, and then we have
a committee that you know, vets everything and vets the companies,
and then we you know, we had two women owned
businesses that we launched with on the NASDAK board in
the middle of Times Square, right in the heart of November.
And you know that was fun, right, and I'm looking
at this thing twenty stories aye and saying, holy cow,

(21:27):
I can't life just did this.

Speaker 4 (21:28):
It was a pitch stream moment, right.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
And then you know, now we have the train stations
and train trestles, and you know, a coffee shop in Huntington,
Long Island might not need to be on the Nasdaq board,
but they might really want to be on the trestle
of the train in Huntington or on the railroads and
things along those lines. So really excited about that. We're
also going to celebrate women through what we're calling the
vision Money, like a Visionary Awards, and we're going to

(21:53):
we're gonna start accepting nominations shortly, and it'll be celebrating
a woman that's a corporate leader and not for profit leader,
an entrepreneur and a young professional, and we're going to
give them significant value in the prizes where we're going
to give them training or marketing, consulting.

Speaker 3 (22:12):
Or whatever it is that they need to help develop it.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
And we have this menu of options for them that
again have value to it. But we want to help women,
you know, take their journey to the path that they
want to success, right and give them a little help
along the way. And then we're also developing an app
that's going to come out in this summer. And you know,

(22:37):
we did a lot of ethnographic research, and basically that
means we talked to a lot of women and then
we took six women and went into their homes for
a week and watched how they did things and interacted
with their family and figured out how they do their
finances and really.

Speaker 3 (22:52):
Learned a lot.

Speaker 2 (22:53):
And from that research, they said, you know, there's a
lot of apps out there, but they're all different. You
want one for child care, parent care, you know how
to navigate getting you know when you're pregnant, you know
what to expect, all those things, right, So there's nothing
out there that is in one thing right, So we
are creating an AI driven app that feels like you're

(23:16):
talking to your friend and you're going to get to
chat with somebody and you're going to get to ask
your questions about multitasking and all the different things that
women sign me up yeah, right, all the different things
that women you know, need to google today, right, And
we're going to try and put this all together in
one place. And we hired you know, the professionals from
all the major app developers to say, how do you

(23:39):
how do we do this?

Speaker 3 (23:39):
How do we achieve this? So that's underway. We're super excited,
exciting more to.

Speaker 2 (23:44):
Come, and that'll be open to everybody, not just members, and.

Speaker 3 (23:51):
You know, so I'm really excited about that. And then
we're also.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
Working on a family baking program where how do you
teach children the importance of understanding money? And that's called
Money like a Mom, right, because how we all learn
this from our moms and our dads. But we're going
to lean into Money like a Mom and create this
family banking program where people can really talk to the
kids about money.

Speaker 3 (24:15):
Even each other.

Speaker 2 (24:16):
Right, we all still have things to learn about money,
but really make it fun. It's gamified and you can
you know, give points and dollars for chores and different
accomplishments and awards that they win, and grandparents can get
involved and all that kind of stuff. So that's also
under development too.

Speaker 4 (24:35):
So so yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
It's fun. It's really fun. And again it's really resonated
with people.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
You know.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
Yeah, there's always going to be people that don't like it,
you know, because I well, what about the men. Well,
the men love us, right, So women are fifty one
percent of the population and they have an association with
the other half of the population, which are men. Right,
So this is about being inspired by women women, but
it's not excluding anybody. So like even the app, it's

(25:03):
inspired by women. But trust me, anyone can use it.
In fact, my husband would say, I can't wait for
that app, right, I cause there's things I need.

Speaker 3 (25:10):
To figure out. Yeah, right, I'm ready to.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
So so it's about that and and it's about being inclusionary,
but really just celebrating the spirit of women and everything
that we bring to the table.

Speaker 3 (25:23):
I mean, you know, it was funny one of my
staff people said.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
You know, when you see athletes win like the Olympics
and all these you know, with the Super Bowl, they
always thank their mom, right, and so it's inspired a
little bit by some of that connotation, right, Like, you know,
the mom seems to be the one that everyone wants
to celebrate right away, and not that the dads don't,
but it's we're just leaning into that. So it's fun,

(25:48):
We're having fun with it. People seem to love it.
We actually had a member come in and said, you know,
I've been thinking about doing business with you.

Speaker 3 (25:57):
I've been looking at your rates and I.

Speaker 2 (25:59):
Want to bring my some of my money over here
because I have a single daughter who is working hard
and killing it, and I love.

Speaker 3 (26:07):
To support an organization that's supporting women. So I was like,
that's great.

Speaker 4 (26:11):
Yeah, no, it kind of leads the way.

Speaker 1 (26:13):
And I think for women to have that place to
go to and that destination to find the education and
the acceptance. I love the fact that you went into
women's homes and kind of took that deep dive because
there's this whole new expectation I think on working women
right now, where we're doing so much and sometimes it's
so hard to manage. And we're also not the type

(26:33):
to be complain, right because our families are important, our
careers aren't important, and it's like, how do you complain
about either one of them? Because they're both incredibly important
to us. Sometimes it's just hard to manage. And then
you add money into it and finances and you're like,
how do I make all this work?

Speaker 4 (26:46):
But I'm excited for this to come out.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah, you know, one really important point from what you're
saying is one of the things we found in the research,
and it was probably the number one thing that was said,
is you know, we always focus on the pay gap, right,
which is about it goes up and down every year.
It closed to about sixteen percent. It's binding again a
little bit now. But it's the time gap. It's called

(27:11):
an invisible time gap because women just have to figure
out how to find the time, why to do all
this stuff wild And they said that they were less
concerned about the pay gap, not that they wanted to
get bigger, right, They still want the pay gap to close,
but the time gap, which is invisible to most people,
is where they're the most frustrated because they just have

(27:33):
to a lot of people are caring for their parents,
caring for their kids, you know, and then they have
to figure out when are they going to care for
themselves and then and then how do you have fun?

Speaker 1 (27:42):
Right?

Speaker 3 (27:43):
You got to get that where's the fun? Where's the fun?

Speaker 2 (27:45):
So it's how do you juggle work and all these
different responsibilities. And you know, I do think it's changing
a little bit with the generations.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
Right.

Speaker 2 (27:54):
So my generation, I went back to work, and my
husband and I a partnership, right, He does as much
as I do, and we really try to split the multitasking.
The younger generation, I'm starting to see is doing it
even more. And I do think it's because they saw
what we did and that it was hard for us.
So they're figuring out ways to be partners with each

(28:17):
other so that they can help each other, you know,
navigate work and life. And you know, I've heard people
say work with balance, and I've heard other people just.

Speaker 3 (28:28):
Call it life balance.

Speaker 4 (28:29):
It's life balance.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
But it's like, yeah, work is just a component of it.
There's so many other things. So I kind of feel
like even with money, like a woman, it's it's celebrating
everybody with an emphasis on women, but it's really about
how do we all manage and balance life?

Speaker 4 (28:50):
So smart I'm going to take that home tonight.

Speaker 1 (28:52):
Life balance life, You've already done so much like in
your career for for Leaf, what's on the horizon, what's next?
Where do you envision different things coming? Like what where's
your next?

Speaker 2 (29:05):
You know, I am just so excited about where we
are today that I'm actually trying to live in the
moment for right.

Speaker 3 (29:14):
Now because we just went through this huge.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
Rebrand and Money like a Woman is just fantastic. So
I want to continue to see where we can take
Money like a Woman. I want to see, you know,
all the great things we're going to do is four
Leaf again. We're really trying to up our digital game
because that's where it's at. And I really just want
to see where I can take this company for the

(29:37):
next ten years.

Speaker 3 (29:38):
Right, I feel like I have a.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
Time a period of time where I have such a
fantastic team and great staff, and how are we going
to you know, take four Leaf to the next level
from a regional perspective, a national perspective and just keep
the company growing. And you know a lot of people
are like, well, is this about growth or is this
about your members? And I would say both, right, we

(30:00):
have to keep growing. We're a big credit union, We're
a small financial institution. If we're talking about the reality
of all this, and the only way to keep serving
our members in the way that we want to is
to keep growing and developing new ideas and better ways
to serve them.

Speaker 3 (30:17):
So I'm just excited about that.

Speaker 2 (30:19):
I want to see where we go and hopefully lead
the ship in the right direction.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
No, honestly, from our time together today, it is I'm
excited to see where everything goes because you are inspiring,
you're thoughtful, you appreciate not just your employees, but your members,
and that's really refreshing to see with that looking at
your career, looking back at what you've built and where
you're going, and all your aspirations today tomorrow. Now, what

(30:46):
is one piece of advice you would give our listeners
who are looking to plan their career, they're looking for
the next step, they're looking to elevate themselves.

Speaker 4 (30:54):
How would you guide them in that process?

Speaker 3 (30:56):
Authenticity, be true to yourself.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
And you know again, and a lot of people say
it's become a little bit cliche these days, but it's not.
And throughout my career, I've always tried to be what
I thought somebody else wanted me to be. What's that
stereotype of a female executive. Right, And I've learned and

(31:20):
had some bumps and bruises along the way, and listening
to employees and listening to my peers and people who
have mentored me and coached me along the way have said,
you know, be yourself. You know, don't try to be
this with this person thinks you should be, and don't
try to be with that person is be yourself, be

(31:42):
genuine and honestly, if I started all over again, that's
what I would want to do, because when you try
to be someone you're not, or you try to fit
into a stereotype that you think you need to be,
it doesn't work right because it's not who you are naturally.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
Right. And I would say my.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Career became more successful where I was on this trajectory
of saying, wow, yeah, I could do that, because honestly,
years ago, if you would have said to me, are
you going to be a CEO? I'd be like, are
you crazy? No, that's not what I want to do.
I like to make things happen, you know, and do
it for somebody else.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
Right.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
But then at a certain point across my career, I
was like, no, I want to do this. I want
to I do want to be the CEO. I do
want to help guide and coach people because that's what
the job is. It's not telling people what to do,
it's guiding and coaching them along the way so that
we can all be great together. And you know, the
only way to do that is to be authentic, Yeah,
and really be true to who you are and what

(32:43):
your values are.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
And find what you love, right. I mean, I love
what I'm doing right now. You know, it's so important
to find what you love.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
You know, everyone has this expectation when you're eighteen years
old and you go to college, you pick a major
and that's what you're going to do for the rest
of your life. I don't know. I wanted to be
a pre secretary, you know. I wanted to be at
the podium asking all the questions. And I went to
school for you know, English literature and communications, and here
I am the CEO of financial institution And I wouldn't

(33:12):
trade a minute of it, right because firing it's fun
and I'm learning a lot and I get to deal
with great people every day. And you know, honestly, what
I studied in school helped me. But I never thought
that's where I was going, So I guess that's my
event so relatable.

Speaker 1 (33:30):
I think so many of us try and change the mold,
and we try and change who we are because they
think we have to be this certain person to get
to a certain place. And don't you just have to
be yourself because yourself is good enough, right, And that's
that's a memo that I'm going to leave everybody with
today is to be authentic, be yourself, and take some
inspiration from Linda, who I feel so inspired from today,
which is it's incredible to see your trajectory and your

(33:52):
journey and the care that you put into everything that
you do.

Speaker 4 (33:55):
Thank you so much for joining us. We truly appreciate
having you. I could talk to you for hours, might
have had another episode, he me too.

Speaker 3 (34:01):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (34:02):
Oh no, I appreciate you having me here one hundred percent.
Thank you everybody for tuning in to CEOs. You should know.

Speaker 1 (34:08):
Hopefully there's more to come and we're going to follow
your journey and celebrate this rebrand. So congratulations and we
were excited to see everything that comes your way in
the future.

Speaker 3 (34:17):
Oh, thank you.