September 8, 2025 • 23 mins
Now for a feel good show.
Lee Silber has put together a book, The Credit Union Way, that he says is inspired by the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and right away that tells you this is a feel good book.
How did it come together? On the show Silber tells how he put together the stories - each of which relates a special credit union moment.
In the episode Silber reads a chapter from the book - entitled Frank’s Fund - that was written by Anne Legg who happens to be a past CU 2.0 podcast guest.
Read the book and next time somebody asks you how a credit union differs from a bank, just give the gist of one of the stories and it’s QED.
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
And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Welcome to
SPEAKER_00 (00:06):
the CU2.0 podcast.
(00:28):
And now, the CU 2.0 podcast withRobert McGarvey.
SPEAKER_01 (00:35):
Now for a feel-good show.
Lee Silber has put together abook called The Credit Union Way
that he says is inspired by theChicken Soup for the Soul
series.
Right away that tells you thisis indeed a feel-good book.
How did it come together?
On the show, Silber tells how heput together the stories, each
(00:56):
of which relates a specialcredit union moment, one of
those moments that distinguishesa credit union from a bank.
In the episode, Silber reads achapter from the book entitled
Frank's Fund that was written byAnne Legg, who happens to be a
CU2.0 past podcast guest.
And indeed, Frank's Fund tells avery touching credit union
(01:19):
moment.
Read the book.
Next time somebody asks you howcredit union differs from a
bank, just give the gist of oneof the stories and it's QED,
baby, QED.
Listen up.
Where'd you get the idea for thebook that you created?
And what's the title of the bookand what's in the book?
SPEAKER_02 (01:39):
The idea...
Behind the Credit Union Way, Iwas a contributor to the Chicken
Soup for the Soul series ofbooks.
I just like that format whereyou could just read a story in
just five minutes and feel goodabout yourself.
And I'm a lifelong credit unionmember and I speak in the credit
union industry.
And as I went around, I wassurprised at how many people
(02:00):
didn't understand what a creditunion was.
They didn't understand how itworks.
They just didn't know.
And so I thought the best way toeducate them was through story.
and that's how it came to be.
SPEAKER_01 (02:12):
Which chicken soup book did you contribute to?
There are lots.
SPEAKER_02 (02:17):
Okay, so I live just over my shoulder about 100 yards
is the beach.
So I live near the beach and Iwas a contributor of chicken
soup for the beach lover soul.
It was perfect.
SPEAKER_01 (02:32):
What year did that come out?
SPEAKER_02 (02:34):
Let's see.
You're right.
It's a long, long time ago andthey did a lot of them.
Let's see, 2006.
SPEAKER_01 (02:42):
Wow.
If I had to guess, the first onecame out late 1980s.
Yeah.
That's because I actually knewvery well at that time Jack
Canfield, the co-author of theseries.
I knew Mark Victor Hansen, theother co-author, to a much
lesser extent than I knew Jack.
(03:03):
The Chicken Soup is thebest-selling book series in the
history of books, according toJack.
He does have a history ofexaggerating.
It's done terrifically well.
SPEAKER_02 (03:18):
Yeah, if we could all just have one chicken soup
for the soul series in our life,we're
SPEAKER_01 (03:24):
blessed.
Oh, man, that's greedy.
SPEAKER_02 (03:27):
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01 (03:28):
That's where the idea came from.
That's like saying if I can onlyhave$1 billion.
Why stop there?
Wow, that seems to be the familyattitude in America today.
Yeah.
Why stop with one when you getto 100?
But so how have you promoted thebook?
(03:50):
Well,
SPEAKER_02 (03:51):
I thought this would be a great way to, because I
love speaking to credit unionindustry and reminding them of
how lucky they are and whatgreat work they do.
So the book kind of wasn't adoor opener for me, but it's
actually selling really well.
So it's kind of done both sides.
things I'd hoped it would do.
It educates people about howgreat credit unions are through
(04:12):
stories.
And it's opened some doors forme to be a speaker at credit
union events.
So it's done a great job in bothregards.
Now, how did you getcontributors to the book?
You would think it'd be easy,right?
It's damn near impossible.
It's insanely hard.
I don't understand.
I was like pulling teeth.
(04:33):
Yeah, I had a hard time.
But like anything, once I gotone, I used that to get another
one.
And it kind of like compoundinterest.
It kept getting easier andeasier.
But even at the end, I neededone more story.
And it was it wasn't easy toget.
And how many stories
SPEAKER_01 (04:50):
altogether are in the
SPEAKER_02 (04:51):
book?
21.
That's not exactly right,because a couple of the stories
have multiple stories withinthem.
I talked about how the creditunions are right there in a
disaster, and I used PearlHarbor.
There's Katrina.
There's the L.A.
fires.
There's the Lahaina fire.
Anyway, so about 30 maybe total.
SPEAKER_01 (05:11):
I can tell you how Jack got the stories for the
first chicken soup.
he went to motivational speakerswho he knew very well from the
motivational speaking circuitand said, just give me one of
your favorite stories.
We'll put it in the book.
You're not going to pay me apenny for this and you're going
(05:32):
to get a lot of traction andnotice.
And so the people already had astory.
They didn't have to write astory.
This was a story they'd beentelling on the speaking
platform.
And so I think he put togetherthe book very, quickly,
actually.
It took a long time to sell it,but he put it together very
quickly.
SPEAKER_02 (05:53):
Well, some of the, I think, I don't, I'm not a
psychologist, but I think someof the trepidation was, I'm not
a writer, I don't know how towrite, so I ended up, just tell
me the story and I'll write itup for you, and that helped open
some people.
SPEAKER_01 (06:07):
Oh, so you wrote many of them, okay.
SPEAKER_02 (06:10):
Yeah, I had to, because they didn't, either they
were not great that's probablynot the best way to put it.
They were, they needed somehelp.
And so I was more than willingto help whatever it took.
And at the end they had thefinal approval.
So, you know, their names on it,one person in particular, I
interviewed him and then Ibasically wrote the story and
(06:30):
then he just signed off.
He's like, great.
It sounds great.
I thought you don't want tochange anything.
He's like, nope.
I like it the way it is.
Okay, great.
SPEAKER_01 (06:38):
Now the contributors are credit union employees.
SPEAKER_02 (06:42):
There's employees.
There's, uh, branch managers,there's general managers or
CEOs.
I wrote about the Actors CreditUnion.
So I went, I researched it andwrote that one myself about how
that started.
That was an interesting story.
And then I reached out to themafter the fact and the CEO loved
(07:05):
it.
He's like, this is great.
We're going to use this topromote the credit union.
I thought, great.
How many copies do you want tobuy?
So it's worked out.
It's been a good book.
SPEAKER_01 (07:18):
And now I'm going to ask you to do something I've
never asked anybody to do inthis podcast.
And we have approaching 500episodes.
Read one of the stories into theshow.
Don't pick the longest one.
SPEAKER_02 (07:31):
The first thing that popped into my head was, let me
pick a quick one.
SPEAKER_01 (07:37):
What do you like?
One that's representative.
I
SPEAKER_02 (07:42):
know the one.
Super, read it.
So it's called the Frank Fundand it was named after one of
the teller's husbands whounfortunately was diagnosed with
brain cancer.
So this is called the FrankFund.
When we say credit unions areabout people helping people, it
applies to more than just themembers.
It includes the community as awhole and the employees of
(08:04):
credit unions as well becausethey are part of the community
usually.
I witnessed this firsthand whenI worked for a credit union
based in San Diego.
One of the tellers receiveddevastating news.
Her husband had a brain tumorand needed specialized
treatment, which was onlyavailable miles away in Los
Angeles.
She'd used all her paid time offand couldn't afford to miss
(08:25):
work, so she battled traffic onFridays to be by his side and
then returned to work on Mondayswith a smile on her face, ready
to go.
Seeing her suffering and wantingto do something, we approached
Human Resources to see if wecould gift her our PTO hour.
Unfortunately...
There wasn't a policy to dothat.
The HR director went to the CEO,the CEO took it to the board,
(08:46):
and they created a new policyallowing employees to donate
their time off.
The board approved the request,and right away the new policy
was created and named the FrankFund after the teller's husband.
Instantly, the fund was maxedout when everyone gifted
everything they had to theteller.
This allowed the teller to bewith her husband until the day
he died.
She also had time off to grieveher loss.
(09:07):
The selfless action of ouremployees was not surprising,
but inspiring.
We all rallied around ourcoworker in her time of need.
The story was written by AnnLegg.
And it just goes to show that, Imean, credit unions have heart.
What
SPEAKER_01 (09:25):
was her position at
SPEAKER_02 (09:27):
that time?
She was in charge of marketing.
And Ann Legg has gone on to workand started her own business to
help.
SPEAKER_01 (09:36):
I know, I know, Ann.
SPEAKER_02 (09:37):
So she was the marketing director at Cabrillo
Credit Union in San Diego.
SPEAKER_01 (09:45):
But no, that byline just jumped out at me.
I said, I know this person.
SPEAKER_02 (09:49):
That's how it is.
It's, you know, I think that thecredit unions attract, you can't
teach compassion and caring andcustomer service, really, real
good customer service.
It just is innate.
And I think the people that areattracted to working at credit
unions just have that, whateverthat is, that niceness.
And it's why they choose to workat a credit union over a bank.
(10:12):
No offense to the banksintended.
Maybe.
SPEAKER_01 (10:17):
I think offense was intended.
You're just a credit unionperson, and you're going to deny
that you have a nasty streak.
But we all do.
SPEAKER_02 (10:28):
So true.
SPEAKER_01 (10:31):
So has anyone criticized the book?
Have you gotten any negativereaction to it?
SPEAKER_02 (10:39):
Well, not to my face, but no, I don't think so.
There's nothing in it that'soffensive.
There's nothing in it thatdoesn't shed a good light on the
credit unions.
And when you read the book, youwalk away– or after you've read
the whole book, assuming thatyou've read the whole book, the
feeling you get is I must bewith a credit union.
(11:01):
It just– that was– Maybe thatwas the goal.
Secretly, I don't know.
But I mean, I can't see how youwouldn't want to put your money
in a place where it's safe andpeople like you and they know
your name and they care aboutyou.
I mean, it just gives you a warmfeeling about credit unions.
And that's kind of what the goalwas.
SPEAKER_01 (11:20):
How long have you been a credit
SPEAKER_02 (11:24):
union member?
Since I was an embryo, becausemy parents were members, and
they took me to a credit unionwhen I was 10.
I'll never forget this.
They opened a savings accountfor me with some gift money.
And I had, I call it a passbook,but I guess it's a bank book.
And the teller would write inthe amount you deposited and
(11:48):
sign it and then stamp it.
And that was how you kept trackof your money.
And I like that personalinteraction, which we've lost
with tellers and mobile banking,but with ATM, sorry, and mobile
banking.
But so, you know, I would go inand they would say, oh, you
know, look at this cute kid andhe's saving money.
(12:08):
And I wish I'd go back and talkto that young man and say, don't
spend that money you put in thecredit union when you're 16.
Because I was 10 when I startedand I bought a car, terrible
car, but I digress.
SPEAKER_01 (12:23):
You bought the car when you were 16.
SPEAKER_02 (12:25):
Yes, I used
SPEAKER_01 (12:26):
my savings.
I was going to say you'reprecocious if you bought it at
10.
It's funny that you have thatstory because when I was a
little kid, I think younger than10, but not a heck of a lot
younger, my father took me to asavings and loan and opened an
account for me there.
A savings account, obviously.
(12:47):
And I wonder if people still dothat today.
Do they physically take theirchild into a branch and open an
account.
So I don't know.
Interesting though.
I do fondly remember that.
And like you, I liquidated thataccount as soon as I could.
And I didn't even buy somethingtangible like a car.
I don't even know what I bought.
(13:08):
At least you can remember thecar.
SPEAKER_02 (13:12):
There was an ad for the car and they took a picture
of the good side of the car.
I remember this because when Iwent to pick it up, I'm like,
where did all these dents comefrom?
Oh, that's the other side of thecar.
And it lasted for about sixmonths and then the engine died.
And so there's a lot of lifelessons in that story.
But in the end of it, I had acar for six months and I died.
(13:38):
I was cool.
I was a cool kid, 16, my owncar.
SPEAKER_01 (13:41):
Oh, absolutely.
You were cool.
Now, when you talk at creditunion events and you mentioned
the book, et cetera, do peoplecome up to you and say, Hey, I,
Hey, I have a story.
In other words, are you planninga sequel?
SPEAKER_02 (13:54):
Yes.
And the stories, uh, boy, someof them are just so inspiring
and it just makes me feel goodto be a part of the movement.
And I, Yeah.
(14:29):
like yours is great.
And a book like mine is alsogreat.
And I think they just tell theirfriends and family these
stories.
And that's why usually thefriends and families are members
as well.
SPEAKER_01 (14:44):
So when a credit union person hears this podcast
and they say, hey, I got astory, what should they do?
SPEAKER_02 (14:51):
Just call me up.
I'm that approachable, that easyto reach.
Lee Silber, S-I-L-B as in boy,E-R, LeeSilber.com.
My phone number's there or youcan email me and we'll work it
out.
I'll help you write it, whateverit takes.
We must get these stories outthere.
There's so many stories aboutcredit unions coming to the
(15:12):
rescue when...
people were at their worst.
And a lot of times it was atragedy, a flood or a divorce or
a death or something.
And the credit union was rightthere with them to help them get
through it and come through itokay, and maybe even better in
(15:33):
the end.
So I think we need to tell thesestories and share these with
people because you want to putyour money somewhere where it is
safe and it has all the greatattributes that a bank would
have, but it's more than that.
It has everything a bank has andmore.
And I don't understand whyeveryone isn't a credit union
(15:54):
member, but That's how I feel.
I feel like everyone should be amember, but we'll just take what
we can get.
And in a way, it's kind of likewhen the Macs and iPhones first
came out, you know, everyonethought, well, you're one of
those people.
Apple people.
And we were outliers.
And I liked it.
I was like, different, special.
(16:14):
And credit unions are differentin a good way.
And I think we're proud of beinga credit union member.
We feel like we know somethingthat other people don't.
We got this.
We know the secret.
But I'm sharing the secret.
And we want more people underthe tent.
SPEAKER_01 (16:29):
It's a good thing to do, too, because credit union
messaging more and more isbank-like.
for a variety of reasons, mostof them pretty good.
But there is an undercurrent incredit unions that does
differentiate it from banks,which is this actual caring
about the member.
(16:51):
Since you're not just acustomer, you're a member, blah,
blah, blah.
SPEAKER_02 (16:55):
Well, the way it's set up and designed, it's not
meant to...
You give money back to thecommunity.
You...
It's the members are part owner.
I mean, there's just the wholestructure of it lends itself to
a whole different experiencethan a for-profit bank.
And I think that's where itstarts.
And like I said, it seems likethe people that gravitate to
(17:17):
work at credit unions are justinherently nice and caring.
And then the last thing I wouldsay is, With credit unions, as
they merge, we're seeing moremergers.
As they go more to mobilebanking and they do more
automation, AI, they're losingsome of the specialness.
(17:38):
But at the core of it, it willalways be better and different
in a good way.
SPEAKER_01 (17:45):
Back to the book.
What would you say is the lengthin words of the shortest period
story and what's the length inwords of the longest story.
Just ballpark it.
SPEAKER_02 (17:55):
There's a 200-word story, and it's only there
because as I finished the book,I thought, oh, I got a hole
here.
I somehow miscalculated, and Iwrote my passbook story that I
was telling you earlier when Iwas 10.
And so that's the shorteststory.
The longest story is, as far aspages, it's about five pages
(18:19):
long, and it's got a lot ofdialogue.
The person that wrote itremembered that.
exactly what was said.
And it's a really heartwarmingstory about a single mom who
went into the bank and theteller, and she wanted to know
if a deposit was made overnight.
Her ex-husband was supposed toput money in the account, but
(18:39):
didn't.
And the teller said, well, youcan just check this on your
phone.
And she said, well, my phone'snot working.
And yada, yada, yada.
The teller told her, you know,it's your lucky day.
We, we have a policy.
If you've been with us for fiveyears or longer, you get$500.
And the teller next to her islike, looked at her like, and
she's like, we don't have thatpolicy.
(19:00):
And she said, we do now.
And so they sent her off andsaid, come back at noon.
They bought balloons and made abig deal about it, gave her the
500 and a phone and helped herto get through that trying time.
But it's a long, you can tellthere's a lot more to it, but
it's a long story, but worth,worth the pages.
SPEAKER_01 (19:20):
I got to read that one because where the heck did
the 500 come from?
SPEAKER_02 (19:25):
Oh, so she went to the branch manager and told her
about this new policy.
And the branch manager said,well, I'll put in 50.
And then all the others.
So it came from the othertellers.
It was
SPEAKER_01 (19:36):
their own money.
Oh, okay.
Because I was trying to seethis.
I was trying to see the balancesheet here.
It's an entry,$500 debit.
Where did the 500 come from?
Oh, I took it from my cashdrawer.
Oh,
SPEAKER_02 (19:50):
yeah.
That would
SPEAKER_01 (19:51):
be still a great story, but
SPEAKER_02 (19:55):
probably with a different ending.
That's
SPEAKER_01 (19:57):
singularly uncool.
It's okay.
No, that's a terrific story,actually, with an interesting
twist, since I'm sure everycredit union person is saying,
just as I said, where'd it comefrom?
You
SPEAKER_02 (20:14):
hear that a lot where the employees...
Fund, you know, when they starta fund or something, raising
money for something, they're thefirst ones to donate.
And again, I think it's just whothey are.
They're just that type ofperson.
SPEAKER_01 (20:28):
And when you speak to credit union events, what
kind of event is it?
Who's the sponsor and what doyou talk about?
SPEAKER_02 (20:37):
Well, I mean, there's there's an association
for everything.
And within the credit unions,there's you know, there's
collections, there's loanofficers, there's the you know,
the tellers, there's, you know,all different.
But the main message is you.
to just get people back in touchwith why we do what we do and
(20:57):
how to do it better.
And I feel like customer serviceor member service, it's not like
people need to be told, theyjust need to be reminded of ways
to wow people, whether it'sremembering their names and how
to do that better, or it's doingsomething outside of the credit
union in the community, which isa big thing.
(21:20):
During COVID, one of the creditunion stories is that they set
up outside so people could stilldo their banking with masks on
and spacing but they alsostarted like again another
exchange of if you neededbecause people were baking a lot
a lot of sourdough bread peoplewould bring something to give
away but just reminding themthat this is this is how we do
(21:43):
it and and why we do it and ithink that is something that
just needs to be reminded wedon't need to be told or talk
down to.
I just feel like by sharing thestories and giving people ideas
about how they can go above andbeyond, it inspires them to find
a way to do something impressiveand unexpected in a good way.
SPEAKER_01 (22:03):
And credit unions are doing some terrific things.
I mean, most of them try to dosomething good in the community.
SPEAKER_02 (22:12):
You see that a lot, you know, the the fires or
floods or whatever, the creditunions are the first ones to be
there to offer a helping hand.
And it's not by accident.
SPEAKER_01 (22:27):
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 it?
(22:49):
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 rjmcgarvey at gmail.com.
Robert McGarvey again.
That's rjmcgarvey at gmail.com.
Get in touch.
We'll figure out a way that youcan help.
We need your support.
(23:10):
We want your support.
We thank you for your support.
The CU 2.0 Podcast.
Welcome to
SPEAKER_00 (00:06):
the CU2.0 podcast.
(00:28):
And now, the CU 2.0 podcast withRobert McGarvey.
SPEAKER_01 (00:35):
Now for a feel-good show.
Lee Silber has put together abook called The Credit Union Way
that he says is inspired by theChicken Soup for the Soul
series.
Right away that tells you thisis indeed a feel-good book.
How did it come together?
On the show, Silber tells how heput together the stories, each
(00:56):
of which relates a specialcredit union moment, one of
those moments that distinguishesa credit union from a bank.
In the episode, Silber reads achapter from the book entitled
Frank's Fund that was written byAnne Legg, who happens to be a
CU2.0 past podcast guest.
And indeed, Frank's Fund tells avery touching credit union
(01:19):
moment.
Read the book.
Next time somebody asks you howcredit union differs from a
bank, just give the gist of oneof the stories and it's QED,
baby, QED.
Listen up.
Where'd you get the idea for thebook that you created?
And what's the title of the bookand what's in the book?
SPEAKER_02 (01:39):
The idea...
Behind the Credit Union Way, Iwas a contributor to the Chicken
Soup for the Soul series ofbooks.
I just like that format whereyou could just read a story in
just five minutes and feel goodabout yourself.
And I'm a lifelong credit unionmember and I speak in the credit
union industry.
And as I went around, I wassurprised at how many people
(02:00):
didn't understand what a creditunion was.
They didn't understand how itworks.
They just didn't know.
And so I thought the best way toeducate them was through story.
and that's how it came to be.
SPEAKER_01 (02:12):
Which chicken soup book did you contribute to?
There are lots.
SPEAKER_02 (02:17):
Okay, so I live just over my shoulder about 100 yards
is the beach.
So I live near the beach and Iwas a contributor of chicken
soup for the beach lover soul.
It was perfect.
SPEAKER_01 (02:32):
What year did that come out?
SPEAKER_02 (02:34):
Let's see.
You're right.
It's a long, long time ago andthey did a lot of them.
Let's see, 2006.
SPEAKER_01 (02:42):
Wow.
If I had to guess, the first onecame out late 1980s.
Yeah.
That's because I actually knewvery well at that time Jack
Canfield, the co-author of theseries.
I knew Mark Victor Hansen, theother co-author, to a much
lesser extent than I knew Jack.
(03:03):
The Chicken Soup is thebest-selling book series in the
history of books, according toJack.
He does have a history ofexaggerating.
It's done terrifically well.
SPEAKER_02 (03:18):
Yeah, if we could all just have one chicken soup
for the soul series in our life,we're
SPEAKER_01 (03:24):
blessed.
Oh, man, that's greedy.
SPEAKER_02 (03:27):
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01 (03:28):
That's where the idea came from.
That's like saying if I can onlyhave$1 billion.
Why stop there?
Wow, that seems to be the familyattitude in America today.
Yeah.
Why stop with one when you getto 100?
But so how have you promoted thebook?
(03:50):
Well,
SPEAKER_02 (03:51):
I thought this would be a great way to, because I
love speaking to credit unionindustry and reminding them of
how lucky they are and whatgreat work they do.
So the book kind of wasn't adoor opener for me, but it's
actually selling really well.
So it's kind of done both sides.
things I'd hoped it would do.
It educates people about howgreat credit unions are through
(04:12):
stories.
And it's opened some doors forme to be a speaker at credit
union events.
So it's done a great job in bothregards.
Now, how did you getcontributors to the book?
You would think it'd be easy,right?
It's damn near impossible.
It's insanely hard.
I don't understand.
I was like pulling teeth.
(04:33):
Yeah, I had a hard time.
But like anything, once I gotone, I used that to get another
one.
And it kind of like compoundinterest.
It kept getting easier andeasier.
But even at the end, I neededone more story.
And it was it wasn't easy toget.
And how many stories
SPEAKER_01 (04:50):
altogether are in the
SPEAKER_02 (04:51):
book?
21.
That's not exactly right,because a couple of the stories
have multiple stories withinthem.
I talked about how the creditunions are right there in a
disaster, and I used PearlHarbor.
There's Katrina.
There's the L.A.
fires.
There's the Lahaina fire.
Anyway, so about 30 maybe total.
SPEAKER_01 (05:11):
I can tell you how Jack got the stories for the
first chicken soup.
he went to motivational speakerswho he knew very well from the
motivational speaking circuitand said, just give me one of
your favorite stories.
We'll put it in the book.
You're not going to pay me apenny for this and you're going
(05:32):
to get a lot of traction andnotice.
And so the people already had astory.
They didn't have to write astory.
This was a story they'd beentelling on the speaking
platform.
And so I think he put togetherthe book very, quickly,
actually.
It took a long time to sell it,but he put it together very
quickly.
SPEAKER_02 (05:53):
Well, some of the, I think, I don't, I'm not a
psychologist, but I think someof the trepidation was, I'm not
a writer, I don't know how towrite, so I ended up, just tell
me the story and I'll write itup for you, and that helped open
some people.
SPEAKER_01 (06:07):
Oh, so you wrote many of them, okay.
SPEAKER_02 (06:10):
Yeah, I had to, because they didn't, either they
were not great that's probablynot the best way to put it.
They were, they needed somehelp.
And so I was more than willingto help whatever it took.
And at the end they had thefinal approval.
So, you know, their names on it,one person in particular, I
interviewed him and then Ibasically wrote the story and
(06:30):
then he just signed off.
He's like, great.
It sounds great.
I thought you don't want tochange anything.
He's like, nope.
I like it the way it is.
Okay, great.
SPEAKER_01 (06:38):
Now the contributors are credit union employees.
SPEAKER_02 (06:42):
There's employees.
There's, uh, branch managers,there's general managers or
CEOs.
I wrote about the Actors CreditUnion.
So I went, I researched it andwrote that one myself about how
that started.
That was an interesting story.
And then I reached out to themafter the fact and the CEO loved
(07:05):
it.
He's like, this is great.
We're going to use this topromote the credit union.
I thought, great.
How many copies do you want tobuy?
So it's worked out.
It's been a good book.
SPEAKER_01 (07:18):
And now I'm going to ask you to do something I've
never asked anybody to do inthis podcast.
And we have approaching 500episodes.
Read one of the stories into theshow.
Don't pick the longest one.
SPEAKER_02 (07:31):
The first thing that popped into my head was, let me
pick a quick one.
SPEAKER_01 (07:37):
What do you like?
One that's representative.
I
SPEAKER_02 (07:42):
know the one.
Super, read it.
So it's called the Frank Fundand it was named after one of
the teller's husbands whounfortunately was diagnosed with
brain cancer.
So this is called the FrankFund.
When we say credit unions areabout people helping people, it
applies to more than just themembers.
It includes the community as awhole and the employees of
(08:04):
credit unions as well becausethey are part of the community
usually.
I witnessed this firsthand whenI worked for a credit union
based in San Diego.
One of the tellers receiveddevastating news.
Her husband had a brain tumorand needed specialized
treatment, which was onlyavailable miles away in Los
Angeles.
She'd used all her paid time offand couldn't afford to miss
(08:25):
work, so she battled traffic onFridays to be by his side and
then returned to work on Mondayswith a smile on her face, ready
to go.
Seeing her suffering and wantingto do something, we approached
Human Resources to see if wecould gift her our PTO hour.
Unfortunately...
There wasn't a policy to dothat.
The HR director went to the CEO,the CEO took it to the board,
(08:46):
and they created a new policyallowing employees to donate
their time off.
The board approved the request,and right away the new policy
was created and named the FrankFund after the teller's husband.
Instantly, the fund was maxedout when everyone gifted
everything they had to theteller.
This allowed the teller to bewith her husband until the day
he died.
She also had time off to grieveher loss.
(09:07):
The selfless action of ouremployees was not surprising,
but inspiring.
We all rallied around ourcoworker in her time of need.
The story was written by AnnLegg.
And it just goes to show that, Imean, credit unions have heart.
What
SPEAKER_01 (09:25):
was her position at
SPEAKER_02 (09:27):
that time?
She was in charge of marketing.
And Ann Legg has gone on to workand started her own business to
help.
SPEAKER_01 (09:36):
I know, I know, Ann.
SPEAKER_02 (09:37):
So she was the marketing director at Cabrillo
Credit Union in San Diego.
SPEAKER_01 (09:45):
But no, that byline just jumped out at me.
I said, I know this person.
SPEAKER_02 (09:49):
That's how it is.
It's, you know, I think that thecredit unions attract, you can't
teach compassion and caring andcustomer service, really, real
good customer service.
It just is innate.
And I think the people that areattracted to working at credit
unions just have that, whateverthat is, that niceness.
And it's why they choose to workat a credit union over a bank.
(10:12):
No offense to the banksintended.
Maybe.
SPEAKER_01 (10:17):
I think offense was intended.
You're just a credit unionperson, and you're going to deny
that you have a nasty streak.
But we all do.
SPEAKER_02 (10:28):
So true.
SPEAKER_01 (10:31):
So has anyone criticized the book?
Have you gotten any negativereaction to it?
SPEAKER_02 (10:39):
Well, not to my face, but no, I don't think so.
There's nothing in it that'soffensive.
There's nothing in it thatdoesn't shed a good light on the
credit unions.
And when you read the book, youwalk away– or after you've read
the whole book, assuming thatyou've read the whole book, the
feeling you get is I must bewith a credit union.
(11:01):
It just– that was– Maybe thatwas the goal.
Secretly, I don't know.
But I mean, I can't see how youwouldn't want to put your money
in a place where it's safe andpeople like you and they know
your name and they care aboutyou.
I mean, it just gives you a warmfeeling about credit unions.
And that's kind of what the goalwas.
SPEAKER_01 (11:20):
How long have you been a credit
SPEAKER_02 (11:24):
union member?
Since I was an embryo, becausemy parents were members, and
they took me to a credit unionwhen I was 10.
I'll never forget this.
They opened a savings accountfor me with some gift money.
And I had, I call it a passbook,but I guess it's a bank book.
And the teller would write inthe amount you deposited and
(11:48):
sign it and then stamp it.
And that was how you kept trackof your money.
And I like that personalinteraction, which we've lost
with tellers and mobile banking,but with ATM, sorry, and mobile
banking.
But so, you know, I would go inand they would say, oh, you
know, look at this cute kid andhe's saving money.
(12:08):
And I wish I'd go back and talkto that young man and say, don't
spend that money you put in thecredit union when you're 16.
Because I was 10 when I startedand I bought a car, terrible
car, but I digress.
SPEAKER_01 (12:23):
You bought the car when you were 16.
SPEAKER_02 (12:25):
Yes, I used
SPEAKER_01 (12:26):
my savings.
I was going to say you'reprecocious if you bought it at
10.
It's funny that you have thatstory because when I was a
little kid, I think younger than10, but not a heck of a lot
younger, my father took me to asavings and loan and opened an
account for me there.
A savings account, obviously.
(12:47):
And I wonder if people still dothat today.
Do they physically take theirchild into a branch and open an
account.
So I don't know.
Interesting though.
I do fondly remember that.
And like you, I liquidated thataccount as soon as I could.
And I didn't even buy somethingtangible like a car.
I don't even know what I bought.
(13:08):
At least you can remember thecar.
SPEAKER_02 (13:12):
There was an ad for the car and they took a picture
of the good side of the car.
I remember this because when Iwent to pick it up, I'm like,
where did all these dents comefrom?
Oh, that's the other side of thecar.
And it lasted for about sixmonths and then the engine died.
And so there's a lot of lifelessons in that story.
But in the end of it, I had acar for six months and I died.
(13:38):
I was cool.
I was a cool kid, 16, my owncar.
SPEAKER_01 (13:41):
Oh, absolutely.
You were cool.
Now, when you talk at creditunion events and you mentioned
the book, et cetera, do peoplecome up to you and say, Hey, I,
Hey, I have a story.
In other words, are you planninga sequel?
SPEAKER_02 (13:54):
Yes.
And the stories, uh, boy, someof them are just so inspiring
and it just makes me feel goodto be a part of the movement.
And I, Yeah.
(14:29):
like yours is great.
And a book like mine is alsogreat.
And I think they just tell theirfriends and family these
stories.
And that's why usually thefriends and families are members
as well.
SPEAKER_01 (14:44):
So when a credit union person hears this podcast
and they say, hey, I got astory, what should they do?
SPEAKER_02 (14:51):
Just call me up.
I'm that approachable, that easyto reach.
Lee Silber, S-I-L-B as in boy,E-R, LeeSilber.com.
My phone number's there or youcan email me and we'll work it
out.
I'll help you write it, whateverit takes.
We must get these stories outthere.
There's so many stories aboutcredit unions coming to the
(15:12):
rescue when...
people were at their worst.
And a lot of times it was atragedy, a flood or a divorce or
a death or something.
And the credit union was rightthere with them to help them get
through it and come through itokay, and maybe even better in
(15:33):
the end.
So I think we need to tell thesestories and share these with
people because you want to putyour money somewhere where it is
safe and it has all the greatattributes that a bank would
have, but it's more than that.
It has everything a bank has andmore.
And I don't understand whyeveryone isn't a credit union
(15:54):
member, but That's how I feel.
I feel like everyone should be amember, but we'll just take what
we can get.
And in a way, it's kind of likewhen the Macs and iPhones first
came out, you know, everyonethought, well, you're one of
those people.
Apple people.
And we were outliers.
And I liked it.
I was like, different, special.
(16:14):
And credit unions are differentin a good way.
And I think we're proud of beinga credit union member.
We feel like we know somethingthat other people don't.
We got this.
We know the secret.
But I'm sharing the secret.
And we want more people underthe tent.
SPEAKER_01 (16:29):
It's a good thing to do, too, because credit union
messaging more and more isbank-like.
for a variety of reasons, mostof them pretty good.
But there is an undercurrent incredit unions that does
differentiate it from banks,which is this actual caring
about the member.
(16:51):
Since you're not just acustomer, you're a member, blah,
blah, blah.
SPEAKER_02 (16:55):
Well, the way it's set up and designed, it's not
meant to...
You give money back to thecommunity.
You...
It's the members are part owner.
I mean, there's just the wholestructure of it lends itself to
a whole different experiencethan a for-profit bank.
And I think that's where itstarts.
And like I said, it seems likethe people that gravitate to
(17:17):
work at credit unions are justinherently nice and caring.
And then the last thing I wouldsay is, With credit unions, as
they merge, we're seeing moremergers.
As they go more to mobilebanking and they do more
automation, AI, they're losingsome of the specialness.
(17:38):
But at the core of it, it willalways be better and different
in a good way.
SPEAKER_01 (17:45):
Back to the book.
What would you say is the lengthin words of the shortest period
story and what's the length inwords of the longest story.
Just ballpark it.
SPEAKER_02 (17:55):
There's a 200-word story, and it's only there
because as I finished the book,I thought, oh, I got a hole
here.
I somehow miscalculated, and Iwrote my passbook story that I
was telling you earlier when Iwas 10.
And so that's the shorteststory.
The longest story is, as far aspages, it's about five pages
(18:19):
long, and it's got a lot ofdialogue.
The person that wrote itremembered that.
exactly what was said.
And it's a really heartwarmingstory about a single mom who
went into the bank and theteller, and she wanted to know
if a deposit was made overnight.
Her ex-husband was supposed toput money in the account, but
(18:39):
didn't.
And the teller said, well, youcan just check this on your
phone.
And she said, well, my phone'snot working.
And yada, yada, yada.
The teller told her, you know,it's your lucky day.
We, we have a policy.
If you've been with us for fiveyears or longer, you get$500.
And the teller next to her islike, looked at her like, and
she's like, we don't have thatpolicy.
(19:00):
And she said, we do now.
And so they sent her off andsaid, come back at noon.
They bought balloons and made abig deal about it, gave her the
500 and a phone and helped herto get through that trying time.
But it's a long, you can tellthere's a lot more to it, but
it's a long story, but worth,worth the pages.
SPEAKER_01 (19:20):
I got to read that one because where the heck did
the 500 come from?
SPEAKER_02 (19:25):
Oh, so she went to the branch manager and told her
about this new policy.
And the branch manager said,well, I'll put in 50.
And then all the others.
So it came from the othertellers.
It was
SPEAKER_01 (19:36):
their own money.
Oh, okay.
Because I was trying to seethis.
I was trying to see the balancesheet here.
It's an entry,$500 debit.
Where did the 500 come from?
Oh, I took it from my cashdrawer.
Oh,
SPEAKER_02 (19:50):
yeah.
That would
SPEAKER_01 (19:51):
be still a great story, but
SPEAKER_02 (19:55):
probably with a different ending.
That's
SPEAKER_01 (19:57):
singularly uncool.
It's okay.
No, that's a terrific story,actually, with an interesting
twist, since I'm sure everycredit union person is saying,
just as I said, where'd it comefrom?
You
SPEAKER_02 (20:14):
hear that a lot where the employees...
Fund, you know, when they starta fund or something, raising
money for something, they're thefirst ones to donate.
And again, I think it's just whothey are.
They're just that type ofperson.
SPEAKER_01 (20:28):
And when you speak to credit union events, what
kind of event is it?
Who's the sponsor and what doyou talk about?
SPEAKER_02 (20:37):
Well, I mean, there's there's an association
for everything.
And within the credit unions,there's you know, there's
collections, there's loanofficers, there's the you know,
the tellers, there's, you know,all different.
But the main message is you.
to just get people back in touchwith why we do what we do and
(20:57):
how to do it better.
And I feel like customer serviceor member service, it's not like
people need to be told, theyjust need to be reminded of ways
to wow people, whether it'sremembering their names and how
to do that better, or it's doingsomething outside of the credit
union in the community, which isa big thing.
(21:20):
During COVID, one of the creditunion stories is that they set
up outside so people could stilldo their banking with masks on
and spacing but they alsostarted like again another
exchange of if you neededbecause people were baking a lot
a lot of sourdough bread peoplewould bring something to give
away but just reminding themthat this is this is how we do
(21:43):
it and and why we do it and ithink that is something that
just needs to be reminded wedon't need to be told or talk
down to.
I just feel like by sharing thestories and giving people ideas
about how they can go above andbeyond, it inspires them to find
a way to do something impressiveand unexpected in a good way.
SPEAKER_01 (22:03):
And credit unions are doing some terrific things.
I mean, most of them try to dosomething good in the community.
SPEAKER_02 (22:12):
You see that a lot, you know, the the fires or
floods or whatever, the creditunions are the first ones to be
there to offer a helping hand.
And it's not by accident.
SPEAKER_01 (22:27):
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 it?
(22:49):
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 rjmcgarvey at gmail.com.
Robert McGarvey again.
That's rjmcgarvey at gmail.com.
Get in touch.
We'll figure out a way that youcan help.
We need your support.
(23:10):
We want your support.
We thank you for your support.
The CU 2.0 Podcast.
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