December 3, 2025 • 44 mins
The conversation with West Community Credit Union’s Josh Rodriguez started in Ashland OR at the CU 2.0/ Room (39) a event in late September and in this podcast it picks up again.
Fodder for the show came in the form of a questionnaire distributed to event attendees and Josh had dutifully filled his in. He agreed to discuss his answers on this show and we take as the jumping off point West Community Credit Union’s podcast “Banking on You.” It’s a good show and ought to inspire other credit unions to try something similar.
We also talk about West Community Credit Union’s implementation of an AI bot - this is ambitious stuff for a $400 million credit union but West is proving it can be done.
Also dazzling are Josh’s plans for more video and more audio content that will be surfacing in West Community.
Along the way we discuss work being done by Anne Legg and Saroop Bharwani - and regular listeners know about this from podcast #378.
There’s also mention of an episode with Lee Silber, editor of The Credit Union Way. There’s a link in the show notes.
Listen up.
Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Welcome to the CU2.0 podcast.
SPEAKER_00 (00:05):
Hi, and welcome to the CU2.0 podcast with big new
ideas about credit unions andconversations about innovative
technology with credit union andfintech leaders.
This podcast is brought to youby Quillo, the real-time loan
syndication network for creditunions, and by your host,
long-time credit union andfinancial technology journalist
(00:27):
Robert McGarvey.
And now, the CU 2.0 podcast withRobert McGarvey.
SPEAKER_01 (00:35):
The conversation with West Community Credit Units
Josh Rodwick has started inAshton, Oregon, at the CU2.0
Room 39A launch event in lateSeptember.
And in this podcast, theconversation picks up again.
Fodder for the show came in theform of a questionnaire
distributed to event attendees,and Josh doodlessly filled his
(00:57):
in.
He agreed to discuss his answerson this show, and we take the
jumping off point, WestCommunity Credit Union's
podcast, banking on you.
It's a good show andauto-inspire other credit unions
to try something similar.
It's a different kind of show.
We also talk about WestCommunity Credit Union's
implementation of an AI bot.
(01:19):
This is ambitious stuff for a 40million eye credit union but
West is proving it can be done.
Also, Dazzlinger Josh's plansfor more video and more audio
content that will be servicing aWest community.
Along the way, we discussed workbeing done by Anne Leggins to
Root Barwani.
And regular listeners know aboutthis from podcast number 378.
(01:43):
Link in the show notes.
There's also mention of anepisode with Lee Silber, editor
of the Credit Union Way.
There's a link in the show notesto that episode.
Listen up.
Yes.
And what's the status of thepodcast you're doing?
(02:08):
I gotta tell you, as as alistener, I got a bone to pick
with you.
Oh yeah, what's that?
I really like seeing the showSt.
Louis Part One.
But I don't see St.
Louis Part Two.
unknown (02:23):
St.
SPEAKER_01 (02:24):
Louis Part two.
And St.
Louis Part One posted in July.
This is now uh late October, andI looked again today.
I said, where the hell is parttwo?
SPEAKER_02 (02:34):
All right.
Well, let me let me explain, andthis will this will be helpful.
So when we first started thepodcast, my original idea was to
do um audio stories.
So a little different than justtraditional interviews.
SPEAKER_01 (02:48):
You're doing you're doing very different kind of
podcasts, and I really like it.
Yes.
I I I like the one that you didbefore that uh about the uh
community art museum, the creditunion art museum.
That was great.
It was a lot of fun.
Um you're doing very differentkinds of things.
This is not uh question answer,question, answer.
(03:11):
No, you're you're you're you'reyou are telling a story.
And in the St.
Louis one, what I thought was sogreat about that podcast was
that it reminded me that St.
Louis, like Baltimore, Baltimorewasn't mentioned.
It used to be they were greatimportant cities a hundred years
ago, really important.
(03:33):
And and it's it's wonderful tobe reminded of that, that
history.
And you did a really nice jobwith your guest on that show.
SPEAKER_02 (03:43):
Jared is Jared is a longtime St.
Louis lover, uh born and raisedhere.
He spent some time away fromcollege with well while in
college and for you know a fewother things, but came back, and
he's just a he is St.
Louis's number one fan.
I loved having him on.
And and you're gonna hear againfrom Jared in part two.
SPEAKER_01 (04:00):
So okay, so what's the status of that podcast?
Let's go back to that question.
SPEAKER_02 (04:05):
So it's gonna launch November 17th, it's coming up
here in a couple weeks.
The reason why is part two isactually gonna focus on um the
devastating tornado that hithere uh in the city May 16th of
this year.
So the last time the city washit by a tornado, you know,
we're here in the Midwest, weget tornadoes all the time, but
(04:27):
rarely does it happen in thecity.
I believe it was in the 1950s, Ithink 1958 was the last time a
tornado actually touched downthe city.
So the reason why there's such agap in between there is I've
been gathering information,getting interviews, and and
talking with people because whatthe tornado it went through um
(04:48):
some of the poorestneighborhoods in the St.
Louis region and just devastatedthem.
Um I've been there myself.
I've we've got some interviewswith some people that are on the
ground.
I've actually got anotherinterview scheduled for tomorrow
with a doctor that is workinghard to restore the area to get
(05:08):
we're almost six months out,Robert, and there are still a
lot of needs.
Um, so the reason for the delayis we are working to keep
awareness, uh the awarenessalive about the effects of the
tornado and the individuals thatare directly affected because
winter is coming.
And you know, winters in St.
Louis are not quite like wintersin Phoenix.
(05:30):
They're a little bit warmer inPhoenix, but we have homes that
are still covered with tarps.
We have homes that areuninhabitable.
We've got people that are livingin tents on their front lawns
because they're not allowed toaccess their homes.
Um, we've got tarps that arefalling off of homes or have
long since fallen off of homesthat were, that were heavily
damaged um in in the spring.
(05:51):
And so um we are building,building this next episode.
The first part of banking on St.
Louis was to talk about howgreat we were and where we can
go.
And then this one is to reallyhelp open up people's eyes to
where to about um what we needto do to to to to make to
(06:11):
correct or to fix not just theeffects of the tornado, but
these neighborhoods have beenfalling into disrepair for many
years.
Um, a lot of these individualsdon't have any mortgage
insurance or insurance,homeowners insurance on their
properties.
They have been passed down fromtheir parents and oftentimes
from their grandparents.
(06:32):
And so these the titles that areon these, on these, uh, on these
deeds, the names that are onthese deeds, oftentimes are not
even the individuals that areliving in the homes at this
time.
They're from you know previousgenerations.
So this has caused a hugeproblem when it comes to
repairing these homes andgetting these people back on
their feet.
They simply don't have thefunds.
They're underinsured oruninsured, and they need help.
(06:56):
And so part two is gonna take alook at these neighborhoods,
these individuals, and thepeople that are helping restore
St.
Louis.
And we're gonna try to get someawareness out about what needs
to be done and how we cancontinue to help our people, our
neighbors in need, all part ofthe community mission of the
credit union, uh, to help ourcommunity, to be people helping
(07:18):
people, to shine light in areasthat need attention and to be
part of the uh part of thewhole, you know, the whole
program ourselves, to be part ofthe whole effort ourselves.
And we've done that.
And uh we're gonna continue todo that.
So I think you'll like part two.
It's a little different thanpart one, but it still continues
the storyline of this wonderfulplace called St.
(07:39):
Louis and how what we can do andhow we can improve um the lives
of the people that live here inour region overall.
SPEAKER_01 (07:46):
Are you aware of other credit units that have a
podcast?
I know CUNA, whatever it callsitself today, has a podcast.
Um but and are do any othercredit unions have a good idea.
SPEAKER_02 (08:00):
I so I have I have scoured um the internet.
This was part of my researchbefore launching Banking on You.
Scoured the internet for allcredit unions that uh do have
podcasts.
And there are there are quite afew out there.
Uh in my research, I'vediscovered that most of them are
um from the C-suite or CEO pointof view, and they're often
(08:21):
focused on leadership, which isfine.
You know, leadership is is isimportant.
Our credit unions can all, youknow, we can all, every one of
us can use uh a good, you know,a good helping of leadership
encouragement and and um andinstruction.
But you know, leadership is notonly it's not just based in
credit unions, right?
(08:41):
There's hundreds, thousands ofcredit of, I'm sorry, there's
hundreds and thousands ofleadership podcasts out there.
So while other credions are inthe podcast space, um we wanted
to do something a littledifferent.
We wanted to really dive intothe lives of people into our
community and tell effectivestories to get the attention of
(09:04):
of um of those that are in ourfield of membership and those
that are in our industry.
I think credions have done a notso great job of telling our
story.
You know, we we we we love tohelp people and we love to,
we're we're empathetic.
Uh, you know, credibleprofessionals often many of us
didn't intend to get into thisindustry.
(09:25):
We kind of like fell into it orfound our way into it, and we
have a heart for people.
Um, unfortunately, along withthat heart also comes a bit of
timidity, and and we don't getout there and tell our story
very well.
So we do some incredible things.
Every credit union doesfantastic things for the
community, for the members, butwe've not done a very good job
(09:45):
of actually telling the worldwhat we're doing.
So that was one of our is one ofour strategies with Banking on
You is hey, let's actually telleveryone what's going on in the
form of an audio story.
And we're gonna have as as weget into the new year, we've got
a ton of things planned.
Um, we're gonna branch out alittle bit beyond just member
stories, and we're gonna havesome more of these, like we're
(10:06):
having right now, theseone-on-one interviews.
Um, and we're gonna be puttingout a lot more content uh within
the next couple of years andkind of you know broaden our
spectrum as to what we're doing.
The audio stories, Robert, takea lot of time um to produce.
They they um it that's just thefact of the matter.
(10:27):
It takes time, a lot of time andeffort to produce, and uh we got
we we have a kind of a smallteam, and so that's another
reason why there's this largegap between part one of Banking
on St.
Louis and part two.
We've been working on gettingthis this the second half of the
story put together.
So in order to do that, we'regonna we're gonna focus on
different other formats ratherthan just the uh just the audio
(10:49):
storytelling.
We're not abandoning that by anymeans, but we're gonna continue
putting out good stories and wewant to put out good good
content that helps not only ourcommunities but also the credit
union industry as well.
So look look for that next year.
SPEAKER_01 (11:02):
Yeah, I would say my sense of what you're doing in
that show is more analogous to anon-existent medium that written
the radio play, which was verypopular in the 40s, 30s.
And those those were produced.
It wasn't just four peoplesitting around reading a script.
(11:23):
There would be sound effects andall kinds of stuff, all kinds of
cool stuff, which doesn't happenin your standard podcast QA.
SPEAKER_02 (11:31):
I I'm flattered a bit that you mentioned the
old-time radio place becauseI've been an old-time radio fan
since I was about nine yearsold.
Um, and I've made my childreninto fans as well.
Uh, my inspiration for thispodcast, for Banking On You, has
been uh This American Life, um,another and some other similar
(11:52):
shows that are mostly aired onNPR, but there are a lot of
other podcasts that are you knowproduced in the same way.
Um This American Life isfantastic.
I mean, I just love listening tothese really great stories, and
they such they do such a goodjob at producing those, and
they've done it for, oh boy,like 25 or 30 years now.
It's been maybe not quite thatlong, but it's been it's been a
(12:13):
long time.
And uh I didn't see the thattype of storytelling in the
credit union space.
And so when I approached my CEOabout the possibility of putting
together this type of of a of ashow, it was it's something new.
And like I said, I've scouredthe podcast apps and the
(12:34):
internet for all credit unionpodcasts, and I don't see
anything out there like bankingon you.
Um I think it needs to beduplicated.
I mean, I'm doing my best.
I'm sure others could probablydo it better, but uh it needs to
be to be duplicated so webecause everybody is on, you
know, everybody's listening topodcasts these days, from the 10
and 11-year-olds all the way upto you know, every age.
(12:56):
So um it's a great medium, it'sconvenient, and we can, you
know, we can listen to itanytime, whether we're brushing
our teeth or on our commute orjust sitting out on the porch
with our morning coffee,whatever we're doing, working
out, you know, doesn't matter.
And so it's a great opportunityfor credit unions to tell our
story, but we have to do itwell.
(13:17):
I guess that's that's the that'sthe key.
And I like I liken it too when Iwas when I first started before
we launched um the show, Itraveled around to all of our
branches because I wanted to getas many member stories as I
could.
And where else do you get memberstories than those that deal
with members every day, right?
The front line.
And the way I explained to themhow we're approaching
(13:37):
storytelling is you know, whenyou sit down to watch the Super
Bowl, which is coming up here ina few months, there's two
different types of people, maybemore, but people that watch the
Super Bowl, first of all,there's football fans, they love
to do it, and there's othersthat are there for the company
and for the commercials, right?
And uh, they just maybe justhave a good time being at
parties, but it's thecommercials and they loops, it
(13:59):
just grabs them.
Well, when a company isproducing a Super Bowl
commercial, let's just say it'sa bank.
The worst thing they canpossibly do is talk about their
rates or their product or theirhistory or any of those things.
No, you'll immediately just getup and go get another soda,
another plate of wings or chipsand dip or whatever, if that's
(14:20):
the case.
But a Super Bowl commercial isstructured to grab your
emotions, right?
Right out the bat, whether it'sit's um sympathy or empathy or
laughter comedy, whether it'smaking you tear, making you
maybe a little bit angry or makeyou think it is structured to
grab the emotions.
And that's why Super Bowlcommercials have become the
(14:41):
monolith that they are, right?
These things are talked aboutfrom December to middle of
February, and they're justthey're just top of mind.
Why?
Because they move us.
SPEAKER_01 (14:52):
Hey, I've I haven't watched a Super Bowl in many
years.
But most years I watch at leasta half dozen of the commercials
nowadays on YouTube.
Right, and that's great.
You can do that now, you don'thave to go through the whole
thing.
You can just watch thecommercial.
Yeah, well, they're aggregated,so you you just it's it's you
don't even have to hunt for thething.
SPEAKER_02 (15:12):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (15:12):
It's uh and so th those commercials do have a life
of their own.
And you know, what one of thegreat commercials like ninjo
ninjo green with color.
I mean, that's a and and tell mewhat the argument is there.
There is no argument, it's pureemotion, but it's beautiful.
Right.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (15:29):
Way back in the day, right?
The Bud Riser Frogs.
I mean, just funny.
There's just silly stuff.
But it you don't forget aboutthese things and they they move
you in one way or another.
Now, it's funny that youmentioned not having watched the
Super Bowl.
I hadn't watched the Super Bowluntil for many, many years.
I think since I was, I don'tknow, a young child, until about
three years ago, I was out inCalifornia and just didn't have
(15:50):
any interest in it.
I was out in California withwith family, and they had a
Super Bowl party, so we wentahead and watched.
Um, one of the commercials was,and I don't remember what the
car maker was, but it was it wasuh it was like Audi or I don't
know.
And it was the the commercialhad nothing to do with a
vehicle.
It was a a young girl that wasice skating at a competition,
(16:12):
and the shot showed her her dad,and there was this empty seat
next to her.
Her her mother obviously wasn'tthere, a little bit pulling out
the hard strings.
So then it switched over to thiscabin where her grandfather was,
and the it was an electricvehicle, and the father plugs
these outdoor lights into hiselectric vehicle, which shines
lights on this frozen pond.
(16:34):
The grandfather comes out andgets to see his granddaughter
skating, right?
And so it made me want to buy anelectric vehicle.
It's like, wow, this is amazing.
Of course, I'm not gonna do thatnecessarily, but it was all
about pulling at theheartstrings, right?
Pulling at the emotions, and itwas effective.
Now the ROI on the commercial, Icouldn't tell you.
It doesn't matter.
It affected me uh emotionally.
(16:55):
That was the whole point of thecommercial.
So that's our approach.
We want to tell great storiesthat really affect people move
people to action and really hitthem in their emotions, whether
it's you know, laughter or or orwhatever it is.
We want we want to tell a greatstory that moves people and
tells them about our story.
SPEAKER_01 (17:16):
Um, that's really the whole the whole uh look in
my credit union the podcastlibrary.
This is a fairly recent show, aguy named Lee Silber, uh who's
written a book or edited a bookcalled The Credit Union Way.
Which is uh loosely based, shallwe say, on chicken suit for the
(17:38):
show, usually and uh short show,it's it's uh 25 minutes ago.
But you might you might get someidea from that you might not be
interested to talk to.
And one of the authors in thatis M Land was that you were at
(18:00):
in Oregon.
That's when he was working for afree unit in San Diego County.
It's a very small world.
Yeah, I I asked him, okay, readread one story in the book put
it in the show, you read it.
And then I said, Who wrote that?
I think uh guests on the show.
(18:26):
It's a it's a credit union worldcan be a very small world.
Yeah, and unfortunately, theyall believe their own stuff and
are very poor at communicatingit in ways that touch other
people.
And I I'm more cynical aboutcredit union marketing than I
think you are.
And I totally agree, you tell mewhat the auto rate is, I don't
(18:48):
care.
I'm a minor car today.
Who cares?
You you you you have a emotionalthree or something, and then
you're gonna be going you saythat uh if you were celebrating
(19:08):
the glass of three in a yearfrom now, what would you be
celebrating?
Celebrating 3,000 podcastdownloads and two additional
audio projects.
What would those audio projectsbe?
SPEAKER_02 (19:24):
So that the the podcast downloads is more of a
professional um goal orcelebration.
The audio projects are aresomething a little more personal
to uh outside of my credit unionwork.
Although there might be somecrossover there, and there is a
little bit.
(19:44):
So I have been, as I mentioned,has been a long time um fan uh
of of what's known as audiodramas, um, radio plays, also
known as old-time radio shows.
And I'm part of a group that umit's called the Audio Drama
Alliance.
And uh we're a bunch of ofhobbyists, enthusiasts that
(20:05):
create, write, create, produce,act in, sound design, um audio
dramas.
So audio, audio plays, audioshows.
Some people refer to them as asmovies for the ears because they
they just kind of encapsulateyou and just draw you into the
story, give you everything butthe visual, because the visual
is on the theater of the mind,which I think is a thousand
(20:28):
times more fascinating thananything that could be created
in a in a in a cinema.
Nothing wrong with movies.
Movies are great, but thetheater of the mind is is is
there's no limits to to what youcan create there.
And it's a lot less expensive,to be honest with you.
So um I have one project that Idid actually September of last
(20:49):
year.
It's out on audio.com onLinkedIn, and it's just a simple
five-minute story um about a uhthe beauty of the love between
the longtime love between ahusband and his wife.
And so the this goal would be acouple of those that that I
wanted to produce.
I'm I'm in the middle ofproducing one right now.
Um it's supposed to be readyhere in a few days, but maybe
(21:12):
but over the weekend.
Um, but just just audio projectsto, you know, it's kind of my
own thing.
Now, on another, on anothernote, we also do some internal
projects uh with the creditunion.
These aren't released to thepublic.
Um, these are both audio andvideo.
Actually, we've moved moretowards video this year.
Uh I'm part of our workforcedevelopment committee.
(21:34):
And we do in some internalprojects um around our workforce
development committee to inspireour employees um to to um give
them a better workplace to toreally help them out as far as,
and I'll just give you anexample.
So we have a series, we're onthe second season now that's
(21:56):
called My CU Journey, My CreditUnion Journey.
And the first season was uh Isat down and interviewed
everyone of our seniorleadership team and just talked
about their career journey.
Um not necessarily all relatedto credit unions, but just
whatever they had, whatever paththey had taken to, you know, to
the vice president position hereat West Community.
(22:19):
Some fascinating information.
Um, things that that that manyin the staff had never heard of.
We have one one uh member of thesenior leadership team that
spent 14 years managing a movietheater uh before moving into
accounting, which she workedwith a temp agency in accounting
and then uh worked her waythrough a credit union to become
the CFO.
So just wow people oftentimes Ithink when you're when you're
(22:43):
younger and you see a vicepresident, you think that they
just you know they graduatedfrom college and boom, they can
became a vice president.
That's not necessarily the case.
There's always a there's alwaysa path, there's always a
journey.
So we put together these audiouh stories for the staff and
they just absolutely love them,which is fantastic.
Just really like humanized ourour senior leaders.
(23:05):
And you know, that that's kindof a it's kind of a of a of a I
guess of a natural thing thathappens when somebody is in
senior leadership in a seniorleadership position.
Um, sometimes those that are inthe lower levels of the
organization look at them andthink, well, I could never be
that, or they're untouchable, orthey're better than me.
And it's just a natural, naturalthought.
(23:26):
But so we really wanted to likehumanize them.
They really wanted to bring themand make them relatable to
everyone else, and it reallyhelped to do that to show the
journey that they had been on intheir career.
And so this year with the newseason, we're doing we're doing
video.
I'm actually working on oneright now.
Uh it's on my screen.
Uh, we're doing video instead ofaudio.
(23:48):
And uh we're interviewing, we wedropped down a level or two and
we're interviewing some of themiddle level, middle level, if I
can say that right, themid-level managers and some of
the others that are not inmanagement and just talking
about how they came to thecredit union, what they
experienced and why they fell inlove with the credit union, and
you know, what they want to donext, where they want to go
next.
(24:08):
We're looking to inspire our umour teammates, our employees to
really take control of theircareer.
And this is an encouragement tohelp them to fill out, which is
another part of the workforcedevelopment team, an individual,
an individual development plan.
So whether they want to be a VPat the credit union, or they
(24:30):
want to be an architect, or theywant to be an artist, it doesn't
matter.
What the focus is on theindividual's desire, what do
they want out of their career?
And the credit union is here tohelp you, to give you the proper
resources, to give you thetools, to give you the guidance,
to get to wherever you want togo.
And yeah, even if it is outsideof the credit union, we know
(24:52):
that many are not going to stayhere for their entire careers.
It's just a given.
We know that some have ambitionselsewhere.
But what can we do as aleadership team to help these
individuals reach their goals,to help them get to the next
level and to really pour backinto them to help them to get
to, we know where they want togo, whether that's here or
somewhere else.
Just pour back into people.
(25:12):
So that's all part of thoseprojects.
Um, that's the big picture asfar as those, you know, those,
those, uh, the my see youjourney project and others that
we're doing, which was justreally to pour back into our our
uh our workforce and help themget to the next level, whatever
that might be.
SPEAKER_01 (25:28):
Why video as opposed to audio?
SPEAKER_02 (25:32):
I made the mistake of saying we could do video and
then there's no going back.
You know, this video is socaptivating.
And these are these are intotheir interviews, they're
they're kind of done in adocumentary style.
And we what we did the firstyear is we had um, we debuted
them at an all together, whichwas what we call our uh uh our
(25:53):
quarterly meeting, and then wehad a monthly call where
everybody would get together viaZoom or via Teams, and then we
played these through that way.
And so we found that having avisual when we're doing things
virtually like that reallyhelped to keep everybody's
attention.
Um, now it wasn't just audiolast time.
(26:14):
We had, I would, you know, weput in a few pictures and shots
and different things of theindividuals as we were talking
about them.
So we kind of had like aslideshow that supported the
audio.
Um, but it did kind of, youknow, it did kind of lose some
some of the uh individuals'attentions at times.
And so having that videoproduced and and uh and uh just
(26:34):
getting that out there in frontof in front of the staff seems
to be seems to be a better wayto engage because we also
changed our delivery system thisyear where we're not meeting
together via Zoom to debutthese.
We put them out on our internetand then we just continue to
encourage the staff to to viewthose until we you know we we
can look at the metrics and seethat you know like 90, 95
(26:55):
percent has actually partakingof and viewed it.
So that's why we kind of movedover to video.
I'm an audio guy, I'll foreverbe an audio guy.
It's been a bit of a challengemoving into video, um, but I
like challenges, so so maybethis can open up some other
opportunities and some otherdoors for us internally and
externally as well.
SPEAKER_01 (27:13):
At this point, as as you know, many, if not most,
podcasts are also coming out invideo format.
And I I resist it for a verysimple reason.
I listen to 90 minutes ofpodcasts every morning when I'm
walking.
I never listen to them any otherplace.
(27:34):
And how can I watch a video whenI'm walking for 90 minutes?
It's I I couldn't do that, I'dfall.
SPEAKER_02 (27:40):
Right, exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (27:43):
So I'm aware that video is a trending thing in
this this podcasting world whenI'm existing.
SPEAKER_02 (27:49):
I'm I'm kind of on the fence about it.
There's there are very few videopodcasts that I consume.
SPEAKER_01 (27:56):
It's it's mainly just talking heads.
I mean, it's I it's like why arewe even bothering with the
pictures?
But uh I guess that's just mebeing cracking what it's doing.
SPEAKER_02 (28:06):
Well, no, I I think I think there's part of it
though, it's it's a lot easierto create content for social
media when you have have video.
Oh sure.
So you can create a 10 or 15 or20 second clip with video um,
you know, for any of the socialmedia pages.
SPEAKER_01 (28:24):
I that's that's the main difference it face to
watch.
Like I look at my screen, theremust be half the page must be
filled up with little shortvideo clips.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um you know, I like 10 secondsis a tiny, tiny click.
SPEAKER_02 (28:40):
Yeah, that's our shrinking attention span.
That's uh contributing to that.
SPEAKER_01 (28:45):
And it's all about attention span.
Yeah, and unfortunately withthings like Facebook attention
spans get really road.
Or TikTok trends.
That's all different things.
Yeah, and in that you also saythat you successfully
implemented a generative AI foran internal chatbot.
(29:08):
What's involved in that?
SPEAKER_02 (29:10):
So Les Community slash Tigers Community, we have
two brands, we're one creditunion, um, has been in the AI
game for well, since 2017 or 18.
Uh, predates my actual, youknow, my being uh part of the
the credit union effort.
I was at my previous creditunion back then.
Very, very early to to debut ata chat bot.
(29:33):
Uh my CEO Jason Peach has alwaysbeen very forward-looking, very
progressive.
Um, he's a he's a fascinatingindividual in that he's I
wouldn't call him a techie.
As a matter of fact, he'd bejust the opposite.
I wouldn't call him an earlyadopter himself.
But he's a great businessman anda great leader.
And so he sees um he sees the uhthe coming landscape, whether
(29:55):
that's AI or or whatever itmight be, he sees it very well
and very clearly.
And he's he's good at getting inon, at least as an early
adopter, in some cases, youknow, a bleeding edge.
Maybe not so much anymore.
Things are changing so quickly,but still, he's been fantastic
at it.
So we had an AI chatbotinternally and externally for
many years now.
(30:16):
And then, of course, with youknow Chat GPT and generative AI
and all these, all these otherLLMs just uh you know popping up
all over the place.
I think it was 2022 or 2021,can't remember now.
It's been a couple of years.
Um we moved from just the it'sfunny to say the traditional AI
to generative AI.
It's silly to me to even saythat because everything's just
(30:38):
moving so quickly.
And so our internal chatbot, whowe have we have uh nicknamed
Watson, he's quite the fellow,um, does uh chats back and forth
rather effectively.
And uh we've been able to uh toincrease the amount of knowledge
on the frontline by giving themquick access, easy access to
(30:59):
Watson and his ability to gatherinformation from all of our
archives, from our from ourdata, from our information that
we have in our data pool, and toto communicate that back to our
frontline employees in a waythat's easily understood, that
is, you know, encapsulates whatthey actually need, that has
just revolutionized our abilityto serve our membership.
(31:22):
And a lot of credit unions areyou know are jumping on this
this bandwagon.
It's more available now than itever has been.
Um we were able to take ourhistory working with uh a local
company here in St.
Louis, actually, capacity.
They're based here in St.
Louis, but they're they'rethey're worldwide.
And and uh uh utilizing theirskills and their their product,
(31:42):
um, their chatbot products toreally give our our uh frontline
and even even back office, youknow, just a really fantastic
tool.
We're also using it for uh forIT.
So uh IT queries, if you have aquestion about the network
about, you know, if you needhelp with something, you can
jump on there as well.
And Watson does a really goodjob at at responding to those
and giving you the informationthat you need.
(32:04):
Uh really basic stuff.
Of course, you can alwayscontact the IT department
through the ticketing system.
But it just gives another layerof information that's easily
digestible to our frontline sowe can effectively serve our
members and serve one another.
SPEAKER_01 (32:17):
So give me a scenario where an employee uses
this.
What's the setting?
Where are they?
And what do they ask what?
SPEAKER_02 (32:25):
And sure.
It's as simple as something likerates.
So traditionally, credit uniontellers would have a rate sheet,
right?
And every time the rate changes,you here's a rate sheet,
everyone, shred, destroy the oldone, and then put this where you
can have easily where you caneasily access it.
Or um, you know, that was theold school way of doing things.
And it went to, of course, youknow, we have an intranet, you
(32:48):
can get rates there.
Uh, we have our website, you cango out there and get that
information.
It's it's posted in differentplaces.
I remember the binders we usedto have at a at the old teller
line, right?
You have to flip through all thebinders and the plastic sheets.
I hated those things.
And they were, you know, theygave our members uh a little bit
of reason to question if wereally knew what we were doing.
So pulling out a binder everytime.
(33:08):
Of course, not everybody had todo that.
But say somebody comes up andjust wants to wants to get
information about a specific CD,the rate, the term, the all the
all that information.
All the employee has to do ispull up Watson, which is on
every page of our internet andavailable with every time we're
open.
It's a little chat button on thebottom right-hand side of the
(33:29):
page.
They pull it up and say, andjust ask a question like you
would ask any LLM, which mostpeople are accustomed to doing
that now, like ChatGPT or any ofthe others.
You know, can you give meinformation about our six-month
CD or three three-year CD andthe details about it?
Boom, it's got all thatinformation immediately.
They can relay that, relay thatto the member.
(33:51):
And and then, you know, if theywant information, additional
that or printing information,they'll obviously have resources
to do that as well.
Um, but and that's just a reallysimple example of like a CD, but
anything that we have in apolicy or that we have in a
procedure has been entered intoWatson and can easily, in a
conversational style, give thatinformation to men to a
(34:13):
frontline employees so they canthen relay that and serve our
members.
SPEAKER_01 (34:16):
Now I know the root of Censo did a project like that
for one Navano.
SPEAKER_02 (34:23):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (34:23):
And one of the things they discovered in that
process was that oftentimesthere were documents that
contradicted each other.
Did you run into any of that?
SPEAKER_02 (34:37):
That is that is an ongoing uh um issue.
Uh yes, that's so that's that isa problem.
You've got to have properdocumentation in your data pool,
and it has to be kept up todate.
So even though AI is fantasticand and can grab that
information, it it's only asgood as it's the data that you
have.
And that's something thatRobert, we're looking at on a
(34:59):
much wider lens now, or much youknow, a bigger scope than just
generative AI as far as an achat bot for our front line, is
if we're going to dive into umartificial intelligence,
generative AI, using bots, usingautomation in in different areas
of the credit union, which weare currently exploring and
(35:20):
actively moving in thatdirection, what we have to make
sure first is that our data isgood.
And this was something thatAnlig talked about um, you know,
in Oregon in September at theconference that we both
attended, is the the AI or thebot is only going to be as good
as the data that it'sresearching.
(35:41):
We see the same thing onlinewith Chat GPT or any of the
others, right?
There's a little disclaimer atthe bottom of those results that
says this information may not be100% correct.
Why?
Because it's pulling from thethe wealth of knowledge of the
internet, and we both know noteverything on the internet is
correct.
So the uh the key is having andupdating that information
(36:04):
correctly um in your individualdata pool with something like
you know, a gender of AIinternal chat bot.
That is a problem.
And so I know that specificallySarup is is is doing some really
cool things as to having thatdata, cleaning up that data, and
making sure that the bot ispointed in the right direction
and not you know towards twodifferent documents that are um
(36:25):
that are with conflictinginformation.
SPEAKER_01 (36:27):
Yes, it's not like documents issued on the same day
are contradictory, it's one from1995, one from 2025.
Well, that's how they contradicteach other.
It's understandable, but it's areal bother for the the credit
union employee who's trying toanswer a member's simple
question.
And you're you're getting twocontradictory things from the
(36:50):
machine.
Just talk to me, man.
Just tell me what's true.
SPEAKER_02 (36:53):
Right, right.
So that's that's not sodifferent of a problem as the
old binder and printed out PDFs,right?
Well, my binder says this.
Well, the teller next to me'sbinder says something different.
So it's kind of the same thingof getting correct information
in the area where it needs tobe.
You know, they they didn't shredtheir rate sheet from last week,
and now suddenly we've got twodifferent rates up at the front
(37:15):
line.
Oh, that's a problem.
Well, it's just a a high-tech,you know, problem all over a
high-tech uh uh uh rebirth of aof an old tech problem.
SPEAKER_01 (37:25):
Well, it's it's what I've been working with computers
since the early 1980s, and backthen the matter was garbage in,
garbage out.
It's still a pace.
SPEAKER_02 (37:33):
It's still the same.
Right.
So the the importance of thatdata cleanup, that's and like I
said, that's what we're lookingat on a larger scope.
If we're gonna implement youknow different areas of
automation into the creditunion, if we're gonna take
another big look at, you know,using bots, and this is
something that we've done.
Um, even if we're gonna do thisinside of our core, you know, is
(37:54):
our database clean enough, quoteunquote clean enough?
Is it is it slick enough to beable to uh have the this
technology run inside of oursystems, or is it just gonna put
out a bunch of garbage and bemore confusing than it was in
you know, anyway?
So that's where we have to takea look at is is uh data cleanup,
we have unnecessary fields outthere, you know, all these
(38:16):
different things.
We have to make sure that we'regiving these new emerging
systems good in data to to to uhto read from, otherwise it's
just gonna be more morefrustrating.
SPEAKER_01 (38:28):
Last question, and this again is from that document
you circulated and organ.
Question What current industryopportunity are you trying to
seize your answer, and I quoteeffectively telling the CU my
story.
What does that mean?
SPEAKER_02 (38:48):
So I think that's a little bit of a typo.
It's supposed to just sayeffectively telling the credit
union story.
SPEAKER_01 (38:52):
I think Alrighty.
West community is confused aboutJosh Rodriguez.
And you're gonna go in there andsay, hey, no, here's who Josh
is.
Okay, good.
SPEAKER_02 (39:07):
I'll we could do that.
I we could talk about my story,but it I don't know.
I think I'd rather talk aboutthe credit union story and
members' stories.
No, this just jumped out of meand I said, This is getting very
existential.
SPEAKER_01 (39:19):
What the hell is he trying to say here?
SPEAKER_02 (39:21):
I scratched out my on my my copy of the book
because I yeah, I'm pretty surethat was a typo.
Or I I left it in when I was,you know, maybe I went to do
something else and came back tofinish the question.
SPEAKER_01 (39:31):
You might have just I I typed mine out in like five
minutes or at the maximum.
I and I don't know that I evenproofread it before I said.
I mean, it's it's uh no, yeah.
This was the most existentialthing I read in this book.
I'm saying, wow.
SPEAKER_02 (39:50):
Not nearly so deep.
Actually, pretty simple.
The credit union story, let'stell everybody about the great
things that we do, and let's doit in a in a in a in a great
way.
Tell great stories about somesome uh incredible individuals
and some incredible, you know,our members.
SPEAKER_01 (40:05):
And and remember, yeah, a large credit trade
association, I will not mentionthe name of, has spent millions
of dollars telling the creditunion story to no effect than
I'm aware of.
SPEAKER_02 (40:17):
They're telling it incorrectly.
Exactly.
They're telling it incorrectly.
Let's go back to the uh to themodel of the reluctant hero,
right?
Let's tell let's make ourmembers the hero and not the
credit union.
You know, we do some greatstuff, but let's talk about how
these individuals have overcome.
Yes, we were there, we were theObi-Wan that led them through
that.
(40:37):
But let's let's highlight theseindividuals, these members as
the hero, as the Luke Skywalker,as the overcomers.
SPEAKER_01 (40:44):
Hey, who are the original heroes in the credit
union movement?
It's those French-speaking guysin New England who who are
annoyed because the communitydoesn't recognize them, the bank
won't deal with them because thebank's in English and they're
French speaking.
And they say, Let's start acredit union.
And the original documents, mostof them were in black, French.
I mean, these are the heroes.
SPEAKER_02 (41:06):
Well, they were the heroes.
They were, but people don't careabout them anymore.
SPEAKER_01 (41:11):
Oh, I I hear you that.
I'm concurring with you thatthis is the kind of story.
And this was member activity, itwas not a credit union staff
activity because there was nocredit union staff.
Right.
Right.
These are the the stories thatthat empower the credit unions
and tell people how creditunions are different from a
(41:31):
bank, etc.
etc.
SPEAKER_02 (41:33):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (41:34):
It's uh, you know, if you just cite a chapter and
verse from some NCUA document,which no one decides you with
thread, not you, but no one'stelling me this.
It's uh I don't care.
I really just don't care.
I'm gonna fall asleep.
SPEAKER_02 (41:49):
Right, right.
So what about me right now inthe in the financial situation
I'm in?
How can you help me get to thenext the next level?
Right?
How can you help me correct mymistakes?
I've done, you know, that thatuh the consumers do a good job
of of uh jumbling up theirfinances, but we we can be there
and we can show them and tellthem exactly how we've helped
others and they can identifywith that story.
(42:09):
And before you know it, we'redoing it for them, and then
we've got a member for life.
SPEAKER_01 (42:12):
So it's important to Yeah, well, right now I'm seeing
a lot of credit unions sayingwe're going to help our members
who are directly impacted by thefederal shutdown and the lack of
paychecks.
Wonderful, wonderful.
Why doesn't a member tell methis?
I'm delighted to hear that youyou say you're going to do this,
(42:34):
but I don't know that you'vedone it.
So whereas if the member says,hey, this is how I'd want
groceries for my kids this week,uh, blah, blah, blah.
Now you got my attention.
It's uh right.
SPEAKER_02 (42:47):
And I think I think I think as an industry we're
coming alive to that.
I think we're getting there.
There's some really great umtestimonial video videos.
Uh credit union up in Montana umhas done some really, really
amazing stuff.
Um, more of a documentary-stylevideos are very short.
I think they're like 10, 12minutes long, but just and you
know, using the backdrop ofMontana and the mountains and
(43:11):
the forest, just beautiful,beautiful, beautiful short
films, and really uh do a greatjob of having the members tell
how the credit union had had youknow helped them mostly in small
businesses, I believe.
But they're there they're moreand more, we're seeing some some
really good stuff out there umas far as mostly in video.
And um most credit unions don'thave the budget to do video and
(43:33):
uh can't do it well on theirown.
But I think that we could all atleast dip our toe into audio,
and that's where a lot of peopleare, anyhow.
And so this is this is I'mhoping others will you know uh
uh catch some inspiration fromwhat we're doing on with Banking
on You and begin to tell greatmember stories through audio.
SPEAKER_01 (43:54):
Before we go, think hard about how you can help
support this podcast so we cando more interviews with more
thoughtful leaders in the creditunion world.
What we're trying to figure outhere in these podcasts is what's
next for credit unions.
What can they do to really,really, really make a difference
in the financial scene?
Can't all be mega banks, can'tit?
(44:16):
It's my hope it won't all bemega banks.
It'll always be a place forcredit unions.
That's what we're discussinghere.
So figure out how you can help.
Get in touch with me.
This is rjmeggarvey atgmail.com.
Robert McGarvey again.
That's rjmcarvey at gmail.com.
Get in touch, we'll figure out away that you can help.
We need your support, we wantyour support, we thank you for
(44:39):
your support.
The C U2Domino Podcast.
Welcome to the CU2.0 podcast.
SPEAKER_00 (00:05):
Hi, and welcome to the CU2.0 podcast with big new
ideas about credit unions andconversations about innovative
technology with credit union andfintech leaders.
This podcast is brought to youby Quillo, the real-time loan
syndication network for creditunions, and by your host,
long-time credit union andfinancial technology journalist
(00:27):
Robert McGarvey.
And now, the CU 2.0 podcast withRobert McGarvey.
SPEAKER_01 (00:35):
The conversation with West Community Credit Units
Josh Rodwick has started inAshton, Oregon, at the CU2.0
Room 39A launch event in lateSeptember.
And in this podcast, theconversation picks up again.
Fodder for the show came in theform of a questionnaire
distributed to event attendees,and Josh doodlessly filled his
(00:57):
in.
He agreed to discuss his answerson this show, and we take the
jumping off point, WestCommunity Credit Union's
podcast, banking on you.
It's a good show andauto-inspire other credit unions
to try something similar.
It's a different kind of show.
We also talk about WestCommunity Credit Union's
implementation of an AI bot.
(01:19):
This is ambitious stuff for a 40million eye credit union but
West is proving it can be done.
Also, Dazzlinger Josh's plansfor more video and more audio
content that will be servicing aWest community.
Along the way, we discussed workbeing done by Anne Leggins to
Root Barwani.
And regular listeners know aboutthis from podcast number 378.
(01:43):
Link in the show notes.
There's also mention of anepisode with Lee Silber, editor
of the Credit Union Way.
There's a link in the show notesto that episode.
Listen up.
Yes.
And what's the status of thepodcast you're doing?
(02:08):
I gotta tell you, as as alistener, I got a bone to pick
with you.
Oh yeah, what's that?
I really like seeing the showSt.
Louis Part One.
But I don't see St.
Louis Part Two.
unknown (02:23):
St.
SPEAKER_01 (02:24):
Louis Part two.
And St.
Louis Part One posted in July.
This is now uh late October, andI looked again today.
I said, where the hell is parttwo?
SPEAKER_02 (02:34):
All right.
Well, let me let me explain, andthis will this will be helpful.
So when we first started thepodcast, my original idea was to
do um audio stories.
So a little different than justtraditional interviews.
SPEAKER_01 (02:48):
You're doing you're doing very different kind of
podcasts, and I really like it.
Yes.
I I I like the one that you didbefore that uh about the uh
community art museum, the creditunion art museum.
That was great.
It was a lot of fun.
Um you're doing very differentkinds of things.
This is not uh question answer,question, answer.
(03:11):
No, you're you're you're you'reyou are telling a story.
And in the St.
Louis one, what I thought was sogreat about that podcast was
that it reminded me that St.
Louis, like Baltimore, Baltimorewasn't mentioned.
It used to be they were greatimportant cities a hundred years
ago, really important.
(03:33):
And and it's it's wonderful tobe reminded of that, that
history.
And you did a really nice jobwith your guest on that show.
SPEAKER_02 (03:43):
Jared is Jared is a longtime St.
Louis lover, uh born and raisedhere.
He spent some time away fromcollege with well while in
college and for you know a fewother things, but came back, and
he's just a he is St.
Louis's number one fan.
I loved having him on.
And and you're gonna hear againfrom Jared in part two.
SPEAKER_01 (04:00):
So okay, so what's the status of that podcast?
Let's go back to that question.
SPEAKER_02 (04:05):
So it's gonna launch November 17th, it's coming up
here in a couple weeks.
The reason why is part two isactually gonna focus on um the
devastating tornado that hithere uh in the city May 16th of
this year.
So the last time the city washit by a tornado, you know,
we're here in the Midwest, weget tornadoes all the time, but
(04:27):
rarely does it happen in thecity.
I believe it was in the 1950s, Ithink 1958 was the last time a
tornado actually touched downthe city.
So the reason why there's such agap in between there is I've
been gathering information,getting interviews, and and
talking with people because whatthe tornado it went through um
(04:48):
some of the poorestneighborhoods in the St.
Louis region and just devastatedthem.
Um I've been there myself.
I've we've got some interviewswith some people that are on the
ground.
I've actually got anotherinterview scheduled for tomorrow
with a doctor that is workinghard to restore the area to get
(05:08):
we're almost six months out,Robert, and there are still a
lot of needs.
Um, so the reason for the delayis we are working to keep
awareness, uh the awarenessalive about the effects of the
tornado and the individuals thatare directly affected because
winter is coming.
And you know, winters in St.
Louis are not quite like wintersin Phoenix.
(05:30):
They're a little bit warmer inPhoenix, but we have homes that
are still covered with tarps.
We have homes that areuninhabitable.
We've got people that are livingin tents on their front lawns
because they're not allowed toaccess their homes.
Um, we've got tarps that arefalling off of homes or have
long since fallen off of homesthat were, that were heavily
damaged um in in the spring.
(05:51):
And so um we are building,building this next episode.
The first part of banking on St.
Louis was to talk about howgreat we were and where we can
go.
And then this one is to reallyhelp open up people's eyes to
where to about um what we needto do to to to to make to
(06:11):
correct or to fix not just theeffects of the tornado, but
these neighborhoods have beenfalling into disrepair for many
years.
Um, a lot of these individualsdon't have any mortgage
insurance or insurance,homeowners insurance on their
properties.
They have been passed down fromtheir parents and oftentimes
from their grandparents.
(06:32):
And so these the titles that areon these, on these, uh, on these
deeds, the names that are onthese deeds, oftentimes are not
even the individuals that areliving in the homes at this
time.
They're from you know previousgenerations.
So this has caused a hugeproblem when it comes to
repairing these homes andgetting these people back on
their feet.
They simply don't have thefunds.
They're underinsured oruninsured, and they need help.
(06:56):
And so part two is gonna take alook at these neighborhoods,
these individuals, and thepeople that are helping restore
St.
Louis.
And we're gonna try to get someawareness out about what needs
to be done and how we cancontinue to help our people, our
neighbors in need, all part ofthe community mission of the
credit union, uh, to help ourcommunity, to be people helping
(07:18):
people, to shine light in areasthat need attention and to be
part of the uh part of thewhole, you know, the whole
program ourselves, to be part ofthe whole effort ourselves.
And we've done that.
And uh we're gonna continue todo that.
So I think you'll like part two.
It's a little different thanpart one, but it still continues
the storyline of this wonderfulplace called St.
(07:39):
Louis and how what we can do andhow we can improve um the lives
of the people that live here inour region overall.
SPEAKER_01 (07:46):
Are you aware of other credit units that have a
podcast?
I know CUNA, whatever it callsitself today, has a podcast.
Um but and are do any othercredit unions have a good idea.
SPEAKER_02 (08:00):
I so I have I have scoured um the internet.
This was part of my researchbefore launching Banking on You.
Scoured the internet for allcredit unions that uh do have
podcasts.
And there are there are quite afew out there.
Uh in my research, I'vediscovered that most of them are
um from the C-suite or CEO pointof view, and they're often
(08:21):
focused on leadership, which isfine.
You know, leadership is is isimportant.
Our credit unions can all, youknow, we can all, every one of
us can use uh a good, you know,a good helping of leadership
encouragement and and um andinstruction.
But you know, leadership is notonly it's not just based in
credit unions, right?
(08:41):
There's hundreds, thousands ofcredit of, I'm sorry, there's
hundreds and thousands ofleadership podcasts out there.
So while other credions are inthe podcast space, um we wanted
to do something a littledifferent.
We wanted to really dive intothe lives of people into our
community and tell effectivestories to get the attention of
(09:04):
of um of those that are in ourfield of membership and those
that are in our industry.
I think credions have done a notso great job of telling our
story.
You know, we we we we love tohelp people and we love to,
we're we're empathetic.
Uh, you know, credibleprofessionals often many of us
didn't intend to get into thisindustry.
(09:25):
We kind of like fell into it orfound our way into it, and we
have a heart for people.
Um, unfortunately, along withthat heart also comes a bit of
timidity, and and we don't getout there and tell our story
very well.
So we do some incredible things.
Every credit union doesfantastic things for the
community, for the members, butwe've not done a very good job
(09:45):
of actually telling the worldwhat we're doing.
So that was one of our is one ofour strategies with Banking on
You is hey, let's actually telleveryone what's going on in the
form of an audio story.
And we're gonna have as as weget into the new year, we've got
a ton of things planned.
Um, we're gonna branch out alittle bit beyond just member
stories, and we're gonna havesome more of these, like we're
(10:06):
having right now, theseone-on-one interviews.
Um, and we're gonna be puttingout a lot more content uh within
the next couple of years andkind of you know broaden our
spectrum as to what we're doing.
The audio stories, Robert, takea lot of time um to produce.
They they um it that's just thefact of the matter.
(10:27):
It takes time, a lot of time andeffort to produce, and uh we got
we we have a kind of a smallteam, and so that's another
reason why there's this largegap between part one of Banking
on St.
Louis and part two.
We've been working on gettingthis this the second half of the
story put together.
So in order to do that, we'regonna we're gonna focus on
different other formats ratherthan just the uh just the audio
(10:49):
storytelling.
We're not abandoning that by anymeans, but we're gonna continue
putting out good stories and wewant to put out good good
content that helps not only ourcommunities but also the credit
union industry as well.
So look look for that next year.
SPEAKER_01 (11:02):
Yeah, I would say my sense of what you're doing in
that show is more analogous to anon-existent medium that written
the radio play, which was verypopular in the 40s, 30s.
And those those were produced.
It wasn't just four peoplesitting around reading a script.
(11:23):
There would be sound effects andall kinds of stuff, all kinds of
cool stuff, which doesn't happenin your standard podcast QA.
SPEAKER_02 (11:31):
I I'm flattered a bit that you mentioned the
old-time radio place becauseI've been an old-time radio fan
since I was about nine yearsold.
Um, and I've made my childreninto fans as well.
Uh, my inspiration for thispodcast, for Banking On You, has
been uh This American Life, um,another and some other similar
(11:52):
shows that are mostly aired onNPR, but there are a lot of
other podcasts that are you knowproduced in the same way.
Um This American Life isfantastic.
I mean, I just love listening tothese really great stories, and
they such they do such a goodjob at producing those, and
they've done it for, oh boy,like 25 or 30 years now.
It's been maybe not quite thatlong, but it's been it's been a
(12:13):
long time.
And uh I didn't see the thattype of storytelling in the
credit union space.
And so when I approached my CEOabout the possibility of putting
together this type of of a of ashow, it was it's something new.
And like I said, I've scouredthe podcast apps and the
(12:34):
internet for all credit unionpodcasts, and I don't see
anything out there like bankingon you.
Um I think it needs to beduplicated.
I mean, I'm doing my best.
I'm sure others could probablydo it better, but uh it needs to
be to be duplicated so webecause everybody is on, you
know, everybody's listening topodcasts these days, from the 10
and 11-year-olds all the way upto you know, every age.
(12:56):
So um it's a great medium, it'sconvenient, and we can, you
know, we can listen to itanytime, whether we're brushing
our teeth or on our commute orjust sitting out on the porch
with our morning coffee,whatever we're doing, working
out, you know, doesn't matter.
And so it's a great opportunityfor credit unions to tell our
story, but we have to do itwell.
(13:17):
I guess that's that's the that'sthe key.
And I like I liken it too when Iwas when I first started before
we launched um the show, Itraveled around to all of our
branches because I wanted to getas many member stories as I
could.
And where else do you get memberstories than those that deal
with members every day, right?
The front line.
And the way I explained to themhow we're approaching
(13:37):
storytelling is you know, whenyou sit down to watch the Super
Bowl, which is coming up here ina few months, there's two
different types of people, maybemore, but people that watch the
Super Bowl, first of all,there's football fans, they love
to do it, and there's othersthat are there for the company
and for the commercials, right?
And uh, they just maybe justhave a good time being at
parties, but it's thecommercials and they loops, it
(13:59):
just grabs them.
Well, when a company isproducing a Super Bowl
commercial, let's just say it'sa bank.
The worst thing they canpossibly do is talk about their
rates or their product or theirhistory or any of those things.
No, you'll immediately just getup and go get another soda,
another plate of wings or chipsand dip or whatever, if that's
(14:20):
the case.
But a Super Bowl commercial isstructured to grab your
emotions, right?
Right out the bat, whether it'sit's um sympathy or empathy or
laughter comedy, whether it'smaking you tear, making you
maybe a little bit angry or makeyou think it is structured to
grab the emotions.
And that's why Super Bowlcommercials have become the
(14:41):
monolith that they are, right?
These things are talked aboutfrom December to middle of
February, and they're justthey're just top of mind.
Why?
Because they move us.
SPEAKER_01 (14:52):
Hey, I've I haven't watched a Super Bowl in many
years.
But most years I watch at leasta half dozen of the commercials
nowadays on YouTube.
Right, and that's great.
You can do that now, you don'thave to go through the whole
thing.
You can just watch thecommercial.
Yeah, well, they're aggregated,so you you just it's it's you
don't even have to hunt for thething.
SPEAKER_02 (15:12):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (15:12):
It's uh and so th those commercials do have a life
of their own.
And you know, what one of thegreat commercials like ninjo
ninjo green with color.
I mean, that's a and and tell mewhat the argument is there.
There is no argument, it's pureemotion, but it's beautiful.
Right.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (15:29):
Way back in the day, right?
The Bud Riser Frogs.
I mean, just funny.
There's just silly stuff.
But it you don't forget aboutthese things and they they move
you in one way or another.
Now, it's funny that youmentioned not having watched the
Super Bowl.
I hadn't watched the Super Bowluntil for many, many years.
I think since I was, I don'tknow, a young child, until about
three years ago, I was out inCalifornia and just didn't have
(15:50):
any interest in it.
I was out in California withwith family, and they had a
Super Bowl party, so we wentahead and watched.
Um, one of the commercials was,and I don't remember what the
car maker was, but it was it wasuh it was like Audi or I don't
know.
And it was the the commercialhad nothing to do with a
vehicle.
It was a a young girl that wasice skating at a competition,
(16:12):
and the shot showed her her dad,and there was this empty seat
next to her.
Her her mother obviously wasn'tthere, a little bit pulling out
the hard strings.
So then it switched over to thiscabin where her grandfather was,
and the it was an electricvehicle, and the father plugs
these outdoor lights into hiselectric vehicle, which shines
lights on this frozen pond.
(16:34):
The grandfather comes out andgets to see his granddaughter
skating, right?
And so it made me want to buy anelectric vehicle.
It's like, wow, this is amazing.
Of course, I'm not gonna do thatnecessarily, but it was all
about pulling at theheartstrings, right?
Pulling at the emotions, and itwas effective.
Now the ROI on the commercial, Icouldn't tell you.
It doesn't matter.
It affected me uh emotionally.
(16:55):
That was the whole point of thecommercial.
So that's our approach.
We want to tell great storiesthat really affect people move
people to action and really hitthem in their emotions, whether
it's you know, laughter or or orwhatever it is.
We want we want to tell a greatstory that moves people and
tells them about our story.
SPEAKER_01 (17:16):
Um, that's really the whole the whole uh look in
my credit union the podcastlibrary.
This is a fairly recent show, aguy named Lee Silber, uh who's
written a book or edited a bookcalled The Credit Union Way.
Which is uh loosely based, shallwe say, on chicken suit for the
(17:38):
show, usually and uh short show,it's it's uh 25 minutes ago.
But you might you might get someidea from that you might not be
interested to talk to.
And one of the authors in thatis M Land was that you were at
(18:00):
in Oregon.
That's when he was working for afree unit in San Diego County.
It's a very small world.
Yeah, I I asked him, okay, readread one story in the book put
it in the show, you read it.
And then I said, Who wrote that?
I think uh guests on the show.
(18:26):
It's a it's a credit union worldcan be a very small world.
Yeah, and unfortunately, theyall believe their own stuff and
are very poor at communicatingit in ways that touch other
people.
And I I'm more cynical aboutcredit union marketing than I
think you are.
And I totally agree, you tell mewhat the auto rate is, I don't
(18:48):
care.
I'm a minor car today.
Who cares?
You you you you have a emotionalthree or something, and then
you're gonna be going you saythat uh if you were celebrating
(19:08):
the glass of three in a yearfrom now, what would you be
celebrating?
Celebrating 3,000 podcastdownloads and two additional
audio projects.
What would those audio projectsbe?
SPEAKER_02 (19:24):
So that the the podcast downloads is more of a
professional um goal orcelebration.
The audio projects are aresomething a little more personal
to uh outside of my credit unionwork.
Although there might be somecrossover there, and there is a
little bit.
(19:44):
So I have been, as I mentioned,has been a long time um fan uh
of of what's known as audiodramas, um, radio plays, also
known as old-time radio shows.
And I'm part of a group that umit's called the Audio Drama
Alliance.
And uh we're a bunch of ofhobbyists, enthusiasts that
(20:05):
create, write, create, produce,act in, sound design, um audio
dramas.
So audio, audio plays, audioshows.
Some people refer to them as asmovies for the ears because they
they just kind of encapsulateyou and just draw you into the
story, give you everything butthe visual, because the visual
is on the theater of the mind,which I think is a thousand
(20:28):
times more fascinating thananything that could be created
in a in a in a cinema.
Nothing wrong with movies.
Movies are great, but thetheater of the mind is is is
there's no limits to to what youcan create there.
And it's a lot less expensive,to be honest with you.
So um I have one project that Idid actually September of last
(20:49):
year.
It's out on audio.com onLinkedIn, and it's just a simple
five-minute story um about a uhthe beauty of the love between
the longtime love between ahusband and his wife.
And so the this goal would be acouple of those that that I
wanted to produce.
I'm I'm in the middle ofproducing one right now.
Um it's supposed to be readyhere in a few days, but maybe
(21:12):
but over the weekend.
Um, but just just audio projectsto, you know, it's kind of my
own thing.
Now, on another, on anothernote, we also do some internal
projects uh with the creditunion.
These aren't released to thepublic.
Um, these are both audio andvideo.
Actually, we've moved moretowards video this year.
Uh I'm part of our workforcedevelopment committee.
(21:34):
And we do in some internalprojects um around our workforce
development committee to inspireour employees um to to um give
them a better workplace to toreally help them out as far as,
and I'll just give you anexample.
So we have a series, we're onthe second season now that's
(21:56):
called My CU Journey, My CreditUnion Journey.
And the first season was uh Isat down and interviewed
everyone of our seniorleadership team and just talked
about their career journey.
Um not necessarily all relatedto credit unions, but just
whatever they had, whatever paththey had taken to, you know, to
the vice president position hereat West Community.
(22:19):
Some fascinating information.
Um, things that that that manyin the staff had never heard of.
We have one one uh member of thesenior leadership team that
spent 14 years managing a movietheater uh before moving into
accounting, which she workedwith a temp agency in accounting
and then uh worked her waythrough a credit union to become
the CFO.
So just wow people oftentimes Ithink when you're when you're
(22:43):
younger and you see a vicepresident, you think that they
just you know they graduatedfrom college and boom, they can
became a vice president.
That's not necessarily the case.
There's always a there's alwaysa path, there's always a
journey.
So we put together these audiouh stories for the staff and
they just absolutely love them,which is fantastic.
Just really like humanized ourour senior leaders.
(23:05):
And you know, that that's kindof a it's kind of a of a of a I
guess of a natural thing thathappens when somebody is in
senior leadership in a seniorleadership position.
Um, sometimes those that are inthe lower levels of the
organization look at them andthink, well, I could never be
that, or they're untouchable, orthey're better than me.
And it's just a natural, naturalthought.
(23:26):
But so we really wanted to likehumanize them.
They really wanted to bring themand make them relatable to
everyone else, and it reallyhelped to do that to show the
journey that they had been on intheir career.
And so this year with the newseason, we're doing we're doing
video.
I'm actually working on oneright now.
Uh it's on my screen.
Uh, we're doing video instead ofaudio.
(23:48):
And uh we're interviewing, we wedropped down a level or two and
we're interviewing some of themiddle level, middle level, if I
can say that right, themid-level managers and some of
the others that are not inmanagement and just talking
about how they came to thecredit union, what they
experienced and why they fell inlove with the credit union, and
you know, what they want to donext, where they want to go
next.
(24:08):
We're looking to inspire our umour teammates, our employees to
really take control of theircareer.
And this is an encouragement tohelp them to fill out, which is
another part of the workforcedevelopment team, an individual,
an individual development plan.
So whether they want to be a VPat the credit union, or they
(24:30):
want to be an architect, or theywant to be an artist, it doesn't
matter.
What the focus is on theindividual's desire, what do
they want out of their career?
And the credit union is here tohelp you, to give you the proper
resources, to give you thetools, to give you the guidance,
to get to wherever you want togo.
And yeah, even if it is outsideof the credit union, we know
(24:52):
that many are not going to stayhere for their entire careers.
It's just a given.
We know that some have ambitionselsewhere.
But what can we do as aleadership team to help these
individuals reach their goals,to help them get to the next
level and to really pour backinto them to help them to get
to, we know where they want togo, whether that's here or
somewhere else.
Just pour back into people.
(25:12):
So that's all part of thoseprojects.
Um, that's the big picture asfar as those, you know, those,
those, uh, the my see youjourney project and others that
we're doing, which was justreally to pour back into our our
uh our workforce and help themget to the next level, whatever
that might be.
SPEAKER_01 (25:28):
Why video as opposed to audio?
SPEAKER_02 (25:32):
I made the mistake of saying we could do video and
then there's no going back.
You know, this video is socaptivating.
And these are these are intotheir interviews, they're
they're kind of done in adocumentary style.
And we what we did the firstyear is we had um, we debuted
them at an all together, whichwas what we call our uh uh our
(25:53):
quarterly meeting, and then wehad a monthly call where
everybody would get together viaZoom or via Teams, and then we
played these through that way.
And so we found that having avisual when we're doing things
virtually like that reallyhelped to keep everybody's
attention.
Um, now it wasn't just audiolast time.
(26:14):
We had, I would, you know, weput in a few pictures and shots
and different things of theindividuals as we were talking
about them.
So we kind of had like aslideshow that supported the
audio.
Um, but it did kind of, youknow, it did kind of lose some
some of the uh individuals'attentions at times.
And so having that videoproduced and and uh and uh just
(26:34):
getting that out there in frontof in front of the staff seems
to be seems to be a better wayto engage because we also
changed our delivery system thisyear where we're not meeting
together via Zoom to debutthese.
We put them out on our internetand then we just continue to
encourage the staff to to viewthose until we you know we we
can look at the metrics and seethat you know like 90, 95
(26:55):
percent has actually partakingof and viewed it.
So that's why we kind of movedover to video.
I'm an audio guy, I'll foreverbe an audio guy.
It's been a bit of a challengemoving into video, um, but I
like challenges, so so maybethis can open up some other
opportunities and some otherdoors for us internally and
externally as well.
SPEAKER_01 (27:13):
At this point, as as you know, many, if not most,
podcasts are also coming out invideo format.
And I I resist it for a verysimple reason.
I listen to 90 minutes ofpodcasts every morning when I'm
walking.
I never listen to them any otherplace.
(27:34):
And how can I watch a video whenI'm walking for 90 minutes?
It's I I couldn't do that, I'dfall.
SPEAKER_02 (27:40):
Right, exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (27:43):
So I'm aware that video is a trending thing in
this this podcasting world whenI'm existing.
SPEAKER_02 (27:49):
I'm I'm kind of on the fence about it.
There's there are very few videopodcasts that I consume.
SPEAKER_01 (27:56):
It's it's mainly just talking heads.
I mean, it's I it's like why arewe even bothering with the
pictures?
But uh I guess that's just mebeing cracking what it's doing.
SPEAKER_02 (28:06):
Well, no, I I think I think there's part of it
though, it's it's a lot easierto create content for social
media when you have have video.
Oh sure.
So you can create a 10 or 15 or20 second clip with video um,
you know, for any of the socialmedia pages.
SPEAKER_01 (28:24):
I that's that's the main difference it face to
watch.
Like I look at my screen, theremust be half the page must be
filled up with little shortvideo clips.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um you know, I like 10 secondsis a tiny, tiny click.
SPEAKER_02 (28:40):
Yeah, that's our shrinking attention span.
That's uh contributing to that.
SPEAKER_01 (28:45):
And it's all about attention span.
Yeah, and unfortunately withthings like Facebook attention
spans get really road.
Or TikTok trends.
That's all different things.
Yeah, and in that you also saythat you successfully
implemented a generative AI foran internal chatbot.
(29:08):
What's involved in that?
SPEAKER_02 (29:10):
So Les Community slash Tigers Community, we have
two brands, we're one creditunion, um, has been in the AI
game for well, since 2017 or 18.
Uh, predates my actual, youknow, my being uh part of the
the credit union effort.
I was at my previous creditunion back then.
Very, very early to to debut ata chat bot.
(29:33):
Uh my CEO Jason Peach has alwaysbeen very forward-looking, very
progressive.
Um, he's a he's a fascinatingindividual in that he's I
wouldn't call him a techie.
As a matter of fact, he'd bejust the opposite.
I wouldn't call him an earlyadopter himself.
But he's a great businessman anda great leader.
And so he sees um he sees the uhthe coming landscape, whether
(29:55):
that's AI or or whatever itmight be, he sees it very well
and very clearly.
And he's he's good at getting inon, at least as an early
adopter, in some cases, youknow, a bleeding edge.
Maybe not so much anymore.
Things are changing so quickly,but still, he's been fantastic
at it.
So we had an AI chatbotinternally and externally for
many years now.
(30:16):
And then, of course, with youknow Chat GPT and generative AI
and all these, all these otherLLMs just uh you know popping up
all over the place.
I think it was 2022 or 2021,can't remember now.
It's been a couple of years.
Um we moved from just the it'sfunny to say the traditional AI
to generative AI.
It's silly to me to even saythat because everything's just
(30:38):
moving so quickly.
And so our internal chatbot, whowe have we have uh nicknamed
Watson, he's quite the fellow,um, does uh chats back and forth
rather effectively.
And uh we've been able to uh toincrease the amount of knowledge
on the frontline by giving themquick access, easy access to
(30:59):
Watson and his ability to gatherinformation from all of our
archives, from our from ourdata, from our information that
we have in our data pool, and toto communicate that back to our
frontline employees in a waythat's easily understood, that
is, you know, encapsulates whatthey actually need, that has
just revolutionized our abilityto serve our membership.
(31:22):
And a lot of credit unions areyou know are jumping on this
this bandwagon.
It's more available now than itever has been.
Um we were able to take ourhistory working with uh a local
company here in St.
Louis, actually, capacity.
They're based here in St.
Louis, but they're they'rethey're worldwide.
And and uh uh utilizing theirskills and their their product,
(31:42):
um, their chatbot products toreally give our our uh frontline
and even even back office, youknow, just a really fantastic
tool.
We're also using it for uh forIT.
So uh IT queries, if you have aquestion about the network
about, you know, if you needhelp with something, you can
jump on there as well.
And Watson does a really goodjob at at responding to those
and giving you the informationthat you need.
(32:04):
Uh really basic stuff.
Of course, you can alwayscontact the IT department
through the ticketing system.
But it just gives another layerof information that's easily
digestible to our frontline sowe can effectively serve our
members and serve one another.
SPEAKER_01 (32:17):
So give me a scenario where an employee uses
this.
What's the setting?
Where are they?
And what do they ask what?
SPEAKER_02 (32:25):
And sure.
It's as simple as something likerates.
So traditionally, credit uniontellers would have a rate sheet,
right?
And every time the rate changes,you here's a rate sheet,
everyone, shred, destroy the oldone, and then put this where you
can have easily where you caneasily access it.
Or um, you know, that was theold school way of doing things.
And it went to, of course, youknow, we have an intranet, you
(32:48):
can get rates there.
Uh, we have our website, you cango out there and get that
information.
It's it's posted in differentplaces.
I remember the binders we usedto have at a at the old teller
line, right?
You have to flip through all thebinders and the plastic sheets.
I hated those things.
And they were, you know, theygave our members uh a little bit
of reason to question if wereally knew what we were doing.
So pulling out a binder everytime.
(33:08):
Of course, not everybody had todo that.
But say somebody comes up andjust wants to wants to get
information about a specific CD,the rate, the term, the all the
all that information.
All the employee has to do ispull up Watson, which is on
every page of our internet andavailable with every time we're
open.
It's a little chat button on thebottom right-hand side of the
(33:29):
page.
They pull it up and say, andjust ask a question like you
would ask any LLM, which mostpeople are accustomed to doing
that now, like ChatGPT or any ofthe others.
You know, can you give meinformation about our six-month
CD or three three-year CD andthe details about it?
Boom, it's got all thatinformation immediately.
They can relay that, relay thatto the member.
(33:51):
And and then, you know, if theywant information, additional
that or printing information,they'll obviously have resources
to do that as well.
Um, but and that's just a reallysimple example of like a CD, but
anything that we have in apolicy or that we have in a
procedure has been entered intoWatson and can easily, in a
conversational style, give thatinformation to men to a
(34:13):
frontline employees so they canthen relay that and serve our
members.
SPEAKER_01 (34:16):
Now I know the root of Censo did a project like that
for one Navano.
SPEAKER_02 (34:23):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (34:23):
And one of the things they discovered in that
process was that oftentimesthere were documents that
contradicted each other.
Did you run into any of that?
SPEAKER_02 (34:37):
That is that is an ongoing uh um issue.
Uh yes, that's so that's that isa problem.
You've got to have properdocumentation in your data pool,
and it has to be kept up todate.
So even though AI is fantasticand and can grab that
information, it it's only asgood as it's the data that you
have.
And that's something thatRobert, we're looking at on a
(34:59):
much wider lens now, or much youknow, a bigger scope than just
generative AI as far as an achat bot for our front line, is
if we're going to dive into umartificial intelligence,
generative AI, using bots, usingautomation in in different areas
of the credit union, which weare currently exploring and
(35:20):
actively moving in thatdirection, what we have to make
sure first is that our data isgood.
And this was something thatAnlig talked about um, you know,
in Oregon in September at theconference that we both
attended, is the the AI or thebot is only going to be as good
as the data that it'sresearching.
(35:41):
We see the same thing onlinewith Chat GPT or any of the
others, right?
There's a little disclaimer atthe bottom of those results that
says this information may not be100% correct.
Why?
Because it's pulling from thethe wealth of knowledge of the
internet, and we both know noteverything on the internet is
correct.
So the uh the key is having andupdating that information
(36:04):
correctly um in your individualdata pool with something like
you know, a gender of AIinternal chat bot.
That is a problem.
And so I know that specificallySarup is is is doing some really
cool things as to having thatdata, cleaning up that data, and
making sure that the bot ispointed in the right direction
and not you know towards twodifferent documents that are um
(36:25):
that are with conflictinginformation.
SPEAKER_01 (36:27):
Yes, it's not like documents issued on the same day
are contradictory, it's one from1995, one from 2025.
Well, that's how they contradicteach other.
It's understandable, but it's areal bother for the the credit
union employee who's trying toanswer a member's simple
question.
And you're you're getting twocontradictory things from the
(36:50):
machine.
Just talk to me, man.
Just tell me what's true.
SPEAKER_02 (36:53):
Right, right.
So that's that's not sodifferent of a problem as the
old binder and printed out PDFs,right?
Well, my binder says this.
Well, the teller next to me'sbinder says something different.
So it's kind of the same thingof getting correct information
in the area where it needs tobe.
You know, they they didn't shredtheir rate sheet from last week,
and now suddenly we've got twodifferent rates up at the front
(37:15):
line.
Oh, that's a problem.
Well, it's just a a high-tech,you know, problem all over a
high-tech uh uh uh rebirth of aof an old tech problem.
SPEAKER_01 (37:25):
Well, it's it's what I've been working with computers
since the early 1980s, and backthen the matter was garbage in,
garbage out.
It's still a pace.
SPEAKER_02 (37:33):
It's still the same.
Right.
So the the importance of thatdata cleanup, that's and like I
said, that's what we're lookingat on a larger scope.
If we're gonna implement youknow different areas of
automation into the creditunion, if we're gonna take
another big look at, you know,using bots, and this is
something that we've done.
Um, even if we're gonna do thisinside of our core, you know, is
(37:54):
our database clean enough, quoteunquote clean enough?
Is it is it slick enough to beable to uh have the this
technology run inside of oursystems, or is it just gonna put
out a bunch of garbage and bemore confusing than it was in
you know, anyway?
So that's where we have to takea look at is is uh data cleanup,
we have unnecessary fields outthere, you know, all these
(38:16):
different things.
We have to make sure that we'regiving these new emerging
systems good in data to to to uhto read from, otherwise it's
just gonna be more morefrustrating.
SPEAKER_01 (38:28):
Last question, and this again is from that document
you circulated and organ.
Question What current industryopportunity are you trying to
seize your answer, and I quoteeffectively telling the CU my
story.
What does that mean?
SPEAKER_02 (38:48):
So I think that's a little bit of a typo.
It's supposed to just sayeffectively telling the credit
union story.
SPEAKER_01 (38:52):
I think Alrighty.
West community is confused aboutJosh Rodriguez.
And you're gonna go in there andsay, hey, no, here's who Josh
is.
Okay, good.
SPEAKER_02 (39:07):
I'll we could do that.
I we could talk about my story,but it I don't know.
I think I'd rather talk aboutthe credit union story and
members' stories.
No, this just jumped out of meand I said, This is getting very
existential.
SPEAKER_01 (39:19):
What the hell is he trying to say here?
SPEAKER_02 (39:21):
I scratched out my on my my copy of the book
because I yeah, I'm pretty surethat was a typo.
Or I I left it in when I was,you know, maybe I went to do
something else and came back tofinish the question.
SPEAKER_01 (39:31):
You might have just I I typed mine out in like five
minutes or at the maximum.
I and I don't know that I evenproofread it before I said.
I mean, it's it's uh no, yeah.
This was the most existentialthing I read in this book.
I'm saying, wow.
SPEAKER_02 (39:50):
Not nearly so deep.
Actually, pretty simple.
The credit union story, let'stell everybody about the great
things that we do, and let's doit in a in a in a in a great
way.
Tell great stories about somesome uh incredible individuals
and some incredible, you know,our members.
SPEAKER_01 (40:05):
And and remember, yeah, a large credit trade
association, I will not mentionthe name of, has spent millions
of dollars telling the creditunion story to no effect than
I'm aware of.
SPEAKER_02 (40:17):
They're telling it incorrectly.
Exactly.
They're telling it incorrectly.
Let's go back to the uh to themodel of the reluctant hero,
right?
Let's tell let's make ourmembers the hero and not the
credit union.
You know, we do some greatstuff, but let's talk about how
these individuals have overcome.
Yes, we were there, we were theObi-Wan that led them through
that.
(40:37):
But let's let's highlight theseindividuals, these members as
the hero, as the Luke Skywalker,as the overcomers.
SPEAKER_01 (40:44):
Hey, who are the original heroes in the credit
union movement?
It's those French-speaking guysin New England who who are
annoyed because the communitydoesn't recognize them, the bank
won't deal with them because thebank's in English and they're
French speaking.
And they say, Let's start acredit union.
And the original documents, mostof them were in black, French.
I mean, these are the heroes.
SPEAKER_02 (41:06):
Well, they were the heroes.
They were, but people don't careabout them anymore.
SPEAKER_01 (41:11):
Oh, I I hear you that.
I'm concurring with you thatthis is the kind of story.
And this was member activity, itwas not a credit union staff
activity because there was nocredit union staff.
Right.
Right.
These are the the stories thatthat empower the credit unions
and tell people how creditunions are different from a
(41:31):
bank, etc.
etc.
SPEAKER_02 (41:33):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (41:34):
It's uh, you know, if you just cite a chapter and
verse from some NCUA document,which no one decides you with
thread, not you, but no one'stelling me this.
It's uh I don't care.
I really just don't care.
I'm gonna fall asleep.
SPEAKER_02 (41:49):
Right, right.
So what about me right now inthe in the financial situation
I'm in?
How can you help me get to thenext the next level?
Right?
How can you help me correct mymistakes?
I've done, you know, that thatuh the consumers do a good job
of of uh jumbling up theirfinances, but we we can be there
and we can show them and tellthem exactly how we've helped
others and they can identifywith that story.
(42:09):
And before you know it, we'redoing it for them, and then
we've got a member for life.
SPEAKER_01 (42:12):
So it's important to Yeah, well, right now I'm seeing
a lot of credit unions sayingwe're going to help our members
who are directly impacted by thefederal shutdown and the lack of
paychecks.
Wonderful, wonderful.
Why doesn't a member tell methis?
I'm delighted to hear that youyou say you're going to do this,
(42:34):
but I don't know that you'vedone it.
So whereas if the member says,hey, this is how I'd want
groceries for my kids this week,uh, blah, blah, blah.
Now you got my attention.
It's uh right.
SPEAKER_02 (42:47):
And I think I think I think as an industry we're
coming alive to that.
I think we're getting there.
There's some really great umtestimonial video videos.
Uh credit union up in Montana umhas done some really, really
amazing stuff.
Um, more of a documentary-stylevideos are very short.
I think they're like 10, 12minutes long, but just and you
know, using the backdrop ofMontana and the mountains and
(43:11):
the forest, just beautiful,beautiful, beautiful short
films, and really uh do a greatjob of having the members tell
how the credit union had had youknow helped them mostly in small
businesses, I believe.
But they're there they're moreand more, we're seeing some some
really good stuff out there umas far as mostly in video.
And um most credit unions don'thave the budget to do video and
(43:33):
uh can't do it well on theirown.
But I think that we could all atleast dip our toe into audio,
and that's where a lot of peopleare, anyhow.
And so this is this is I'mhoping others will you know uh
uh catch some inspiration fromwhat we're doing on with Banking
on You and begin to tell greatmember stories through audio.
SPEAKER_01 (43:54):
Before we go, think hard about how you can help
support this podcast so we cando more interviews with more
thoughtful leaders in the creditunion world.
What we're trying to figure outhere in these podcasts is what's
next for credit unions.
What can they do to really,really, really make a difference
in the financial scene?
Can't all be mega banks, can'tit?
(44:16):
It's my hope it won't all bemega banks.
It'll always be a place forcredit unions.
That's what we're discussinghere.
So figure out how you can help.
Get in touch with me.
This is rjmeggarvey atgmail.com.
Robert McGarvey again.
That's rjmcarvey at gmail.com.
Get in touch, we'll figure out away that you can help.
We need your support, we wantyour support, we thank you for
(44:39):
your support.
The C U2Domino Podcast.
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