Discussing the "Choose the Bear" movement, an orsa credit union initiative aimed at supporting women affected by violence and economic abuse, offering financial solutions for safer, empowered futures.

Choose The Bear

As a runner, one of my favorite ways to see a new area is to head out for a run. There was a time when, I would always head outside to enjoy my daily mileage, regardless of the conditions or the hour. On one such morning more than 15 years ago, I was on a work trip, and with my typical pre-4:00 AM wake-up call, I slipped on my running shoes and started pacing. I did not have a cell phone with me.

While the sky was dark, streetlights lined the neighborhood I ran through. The community was filled with beautiful homes and stunning landscaping. Due to the hour, it was quiet, and there were no other runners and very few cars. A little more than halfway through my run, a car with three men passed me. They slowed as they went by, which caused goosebumps to rise. I continued to run, and my heart started racing as I saw the car return. My mind raced with options should this situation escalate. A few minutes later, the car went by again and stopped, and the windows rolled down just a bit ahead of where I was.

I halted. I could hear my heart thudding in my ears. I was at least 20 minutes from the hotel and more should I head in the opposite direction. I did not know the area well and, without a phone, had very little idea how to find a different path back then how I’d come. I had no phone to call anyone. I knew nobody in those houses, yet that seemed the best idea. I raced over to a lighted front porch. There, I crouched. I thought about knocking or ringing the doorbell and felt frozen.

Then I saw headlights. A minivan pulled past the house where I was hiding and pulled into the driveway. I saw a woman climb out. I raced without thought to her driveway. I said, “Excuse me. I’m so sorry to bother you. I’m here from out of town, running, and I’m being followed. The car is stopped with three men over there, and I do not know what to do. I don’t have a phone, but maybe you could let me use your phone to call the hotel?” The woman smiled warmly and said, “I’m really sorry this is happening. I’m a runner too, and I’ve been assaulted while running. I’m glad to help. I also know that as a runner, you want to finish your run. How about I drive beside you back to the hotel and make sure you get back safely?”

And so, we did. As her minivan pulled out, the car drove away. This incredibly kind stranger drove patiently beside me as I ran back to the hotel. I almost broke into tears when we made it to the hotel parking lot and said our goodbyes. The kindness, generosity of spirit, empathy, and space the woman showed me that day inspired me. I felt incredible relief and gratitude.

The viral question recently posed on social media asking women who they would pick if they were alone in the woods, a strange man or a bear, reminded me of this story. As a feminist, runner, and independent human, I have a passionate perspective that I ought to be able to hold or enjoy any space, and my gender should not prevent me from doing so or create fear that causes me to act differently. In reality, I act differently all the time.

I shared the viral question with several men who immediately started to rationalize why this question is so silly and irrational since a bear is undoubtedly the more dangerous choice. That perspective negates and minimizes the impact of situations like that early morning run and, unfortunately, situations that end so much more painfully and sometimes tragically for women. Consider the following statistics summarized by the 

91% of sexual assault survivors are women

1 in 5 women will be sexually assaulted within their lifetime

1 in 3 women experience intimate partner or domestic violence

Economic abuse is cited as the main reason women stay with or return to abusers

Domestic violence is a top reason for homelessness in women in the United States

One final statistic that applies directly to this question comes from the 

Center for Financial Security at UW-Madison

: 99% of women suffer economic abuse in domestic violence cases.

The data explains why women choose the bear. Each statistic tells a story of why women choose the bear. The visceral reaction I still have as my palms sweat thinking about that morning run that almost went very wrong explains why women choose the bear. We choose the bear because, too frequently, the alternative ends in violence and destruction.

Since I started leading Community Financial Credit Union in June of 2022, I’ve been talking about bringing impossible dreams to life and inviting our team to dream boldly about how we create impact for Michiganders through cooperative finance. Less than a month ago, one of our team members took that invitation seriously. Grounded in our segmentation strategy focused on serving women who are frequently the financial decision-makers in households and fueled by the viral question and the frustration that credit unions don’t have their own verb, this team member dreamt up a movement, “Choose the Bear.”

Through this movement, we can walk with women toward stronger outcomes related to their overall well-being through the financial tools and support we can provide. We deepened our long-time partnership with 

, whose mission is “to eliminate both domestic and sexual violence and to provide comprehensive services to individuals and families impacted by these crimes.” With insights from survivors shaping our approach, we’ve been piloting solutions to support options that reduce the financial barriers to leaving dangerous situations. Our 

 provides tools to ensure women have the cash flow control they need and options to build the financial future they imagine.

As credit unions, we regularly connect the dots on how we might engage in the joyful moments in people’s lives – those matter. The dark moments also matter deeply; they are just as full of financial implications and needs for our members. We believe that by activating this movement, we can be much more than a financial institution, create a positive impact, and change the staggering statistics related to violence against women. We can’t do it alone; we know it’s a set of steps forward. Just like that woman who drove her minivan alongside me that day, we will consistently be a partner for women. We hope that others feel inspired and leap in with us.

orsa, the credit union you knew as Community Financial Credit Union (CFCU)
Content before 2026 may contain references to our former name.

Choose the Bear (Tansley) Blog Content

Explore how credit unions, inspired by the communal spirit of jam bands like the Dave Matthews Band, can deepen human connections, support local communities, and strengthen their impact by embracing the cooperative principles that define their mission.

Community Amplified: Your Credit Union as a Jam Band

One of the eight Cooperative Principles that supports the foundation of credit unions is “concern for community.” The 

 states, “While focusing on member needs, credit unions work for the sustainable development of communities, including people of modest means, through policies developed and accepted by the members.” In fact, at Community Financial Credit Union, we take this so seriously that it grounds our name.

While we often say “community,” and share an intrinsic idea of what community means to credit unions and those we serve, data supports the power of what credit unions create. Filene Research Institute 

 how collaboration with Children's Miracle Network Hospitals across our country builds resounding and immense localized community support. Producing lasting impact by connecting human beings, when done well, can transform the identity of credit unions from transactional organizations that can be commoditized into the movement envisioned so many years ago.

Community means so many things to so many people. I see my 13-year-old daughter MacKenzie and her generation expanding the bounds of community and how they stay connected beyond what often used to be geographically tied. As the summer comes to life across the Midwest, I’m planning for moments of joy within one of my communities: Dave Matthews Band fans. Earlier this year, I wrote a LinkedIn article on the topic of jam bands (

Credit Union’s Next Inspiration: Jam Bands

), and these bands demonstrate the power of community in a way that can inspire even more possibilities for credit unions to live the seventh cooperative principle, concern for community.

Community and human connection have powerful impacts on human beings. In fact, according to the 

, those experiencing loneliness and social isolation see a 25% increase in the risk of early death, up to a 30% increase in the risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease, and up to a 50% increase in the risk of developing dementia. This is startling when you consider that the January 2024 

 conducted by the American Psychiatric Association found that “30% of adults say they have experienced feelings of loneliness at least once a week over the past year, while 10% say they are lonely every day.”

Jam bands like the Dave Matthews Band and others grow community connections ensuring that human beings do not suffer the negative impacts of isolation. According to the 

, while many factors influence community attachment, five are most important: social offerings, openness, aesthetics, education, and basic services (what an organization might think of as systems & infrastructure). Consider how these same factors correlate closely to communities like jam bands:

The Knight Foundation defines this as “opportunities for social interaction and citizen caring.” At a Dave Matthews Band concert, you are surrounded by people who share a passion for the music and the experience. At a show last summer, as I approached the entrance, my friend and I saw a woman with earrings featuring the “fire dancer” logo that the band uses. We shared how beautiful we thought they were, and within seconds, she told us how she made them and pulled out a pair to give to each of us. The joy and camaraderie vibrate viscerally throughout the venue. These social offerings also happen remotely and online, with virtual communities connecting to discuss shows, new music, and tour announcements.

This describes the willingness of a community to welcome others and to invite different people to join. While many of us have been listening to the Dave Matthews Band for years, at many shows, I watch when someone brings a friend who may have never heard the band play live. Across the library of the band’s music, there are joyful anthems celebrating life, love ballads, and dark dives into the meaning of life and death. At any show, you might hear two fans debate whether they wish to hear “dark Dave” or “fun Dave.”

Across various diverse venues, the look and feel of a Dave show comes to life. You see tattoos of the fire dancer. You may see fans sharing bracelets or other gear with snippets of song lyrics. You feel the openness to dancing and belting out music. The vibe created collectively “feels” like a Dave show.

Passionate fans come prepared with ideas on potential set lists. One of the unique features of jam bands is that no two shows will be the same. My friends and I like to study the tour trajectory and develop potential set lists. We’ve not only studied the music, but we’ve explored the possibilities for what the experience may be like given the location, stage of the tour, and proximity of the show to recently released new music.

Basic Services (Or Organizationally Systems & Infrastructure):

 Each show has infrastructure built to support the experience. Frequently, there is a space to enjoy time with other attendees before the show. Often, this might be in a parking lot. You’ll see people gathered together, playing games, sharing a beverage of choice, blasting favorite songs, and dancing. Different venues provide unique amenities, and many fans enjoy traveling to various locations to see the band play, comparing these “basic services” and contrasting the experience of the show depending on where the band is playing.

Credit unions bring this top-five list to life daily. We also have an opportunity to challenge ourselves to be even bolder in the way these are imagined, including:

We have always been known for our service. How might our engagement with people elevate even further? How might partnerships with local community organizations grow from financial commitments all the way to interconnected, mutually beneficial opportunities? For example, Community Financial Credit Union partnered with renowned artist Tony Roko and the city of Plymouth, Michigan, to bring to life a second phase of a place-making art walk in the town where our credit union is headquartered. That project was a springboard into work to develop young artists, to co-locate Roko’s studio and our Relentless Care Foundation, to elevate support for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, and much more.

Retired Local Government Federal Credit Union President & CEO Maurice Smith challenged credit unions to add an 

, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Credit unions believe in collaboration and value the possibilities of human beings coming together to manifest change. How might we create more space for more people to participate in our movement? At Community Financial Credit Union, belonging is the foundation of our core values, and as an employer, we work to ensure our team members can bring their whole selves to work. The uniqueness of each individual’s experiences, passions, and differing perspectives makes us better.

Creating experiences and telling our story as an industry and as individual organizations matters. We have often undervalued marketing and storytelling and thought of branding as a cost center instead of a valued business partner. This led to low brand and market awareness and confusion related to the power of credit unions. Our Community Financial Credit Union team brought to life a brand refresh that reinvigorated our blue colors into a rich purple and orange palate and shifted the way our storytelling comes to life to demonstrate the depth of what it means to be a part of a movement instead of doing business with the typical transactional and commoditized financial institution.

 Credit unions have long elevated, invested in, and promoted financial education and literacy. How might this strength be carried forward for even more impact? Community Financial Credit Union was proud to be the first credit union in Michigan to partner with 

. This tool transformed our commitment to financial literacy with over 50 student credit union branches from classroom education to practical applied learning to support positive financial futures and loyal younger members to support financial well-being and a thriving financial cooperative of the future.

 The fundamentals have not changed. The tools, products, and options a credit union offers its members remain consistent. The delivery mechanisms have expanded exponentially. How might the experience we bring to life for our members, grounded in the cooperative finance model, transform so that we are a unique financial partner and not a task or a dreaded errand? Community Financial Credit Union’s strategy includes focusing on the darker moments in members’ lives including developing solutions focused on cancer and domestic violence. By walking with our members during times when many others walk away, we enable brighter futures and create space to be a part of the future that comes next and the impossible dreams that lie ahead.

Community is core to who we are. Credit unions have lessons to teach many other industries. We can draw inspiration from jam bands like the Dave Matthews Band to amplify our strength as community leaders and ensure our approach to financial services resonates on a profoundly personal level, creating enthusiasts eager to share their positive experiences and bring even more human beings to enjoy the vibe our movement creates.

Community Amplified: Your CU as a Jam Band Blog Content

A personal reflection on returning to Michigan after years of moving across the country, highlighting the state's beauty, challenges, and the hope for a brighter future through collaboration, economic growth, and the power of credit unions to drive positive change.

You Can Come Home Again: Pure Michigan

When I graduated from Hillsdale High School in 1994, I was terrifically excited to attend the University of Michigan, and I also just wanted to move out of Hillsdale. When I graduated from the University of Michigan in 1998, I had one goal: Move away from the state of Michigan. I was less concerned about the job I earned than my geography. I grew up on my mom’s farm, and until I left to move to Ann Arbor, I had never lived anywhere else.

Over the last twenty-six years, I’ve moved many times to chase my dream of becoming president & ceo of a credit union. I’ve lived in Rochester Hills, MI; Chicago, IL; Farmington Hills, MI; Branford, CT; Hamden, CT; Massapequa, NY; Madison, WI; and Castle Rock, CO. On June 1, 2024, I’ll celebrate my second anniversary of seeing one of my biggest dreams come to life. That also meant returning to my home state of Michigan.

As I race toward that anniversary, I had the opportunity to attend my first Detroit Regional Chamber Policy Conference on Mackinac Island this week. One of the many speakers I listened to was Valerie Jarrett, CEO of the Obama Foundation. During her interview on Wednesday, May 29, she talked about her dad’s journey to earn an opportunity to have a job he loved that only came to life because he moved around the country to gain experience. He used to say to her, “Sometimes you have to take the long way to find your way home.”

I resemble Jarrett’s father’s advice. When I got off the plane at Metro Detroit Airport in late April of 2022 for my final interview before I was hired for the Community Financial Credit Union president & ceo role, I felt a thickness in the back of my throat as I exited the plane and walked through the airport. That thickness turned into tears. Michigan felt like home. I knew the roads. I knew the geographic boundaries. I knew the way the spring air felt thick with humidity. I knew the vibrant green that April rain illuminates. I knew that if I didn’t make the turn toward the hotel for my interview and zipped another 59 miles down the highway, I could turn off in Jackson, wind down the back roads, and hug my mom.

Exploring our magnificent country helped me appreciate so much about moving back to Michigan and the Midwest. When you stand on the shores of Lake Michigan from South Haven to the Upper Peninsula, the vibrant blues, sandy shores, and crashing waves rival any ocean view. The diversity of living in Michigan ensures you can explore one of the best art museums in the country at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). (The DIA was ranked number one two years in a row by 

USA Today’s 10 Best Art Museums in the US

.) You can enjoy epic sports rivalries between the University of Michigan and Michigan State University or cheer for the gritty and determined Detroit Lions in the fall. If you love to be outside, you can find over 1,300 miles of biking trails, as Michigan has more 

 than any other state. If you enjoy a cold brew when you head west to Grand Rapids, otherwise known as “

,” You’ll find over 80 breweries. And in nearly any town across our great state, you’ll find people glad to say “hello” with a welcoming smile. They may even offer you a 

And it isn’t all glowing. According to the Michigan Center for Data and Analytics, “

Michigan Statewide Population Projections through 2050

,” “even with positive migration, Michigan is projected to continue experiencing slow growth and then population decline beginning in the 2030s.” Despite our state’s beauty and depth of possibilities, my experience of growing up and leaving is not unusual. At last year’s Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced the “

.” Workgroups were formed around education both, Pre-K to 12 and Higher Education, a “jobs, talent & people” workgroup, and an “infrastructure places” workgroup. At this year’s event, 

Michigan Economic Development Corporation

's Chief Growth & Marketing Officer, Hilary Doe, shared more about the more than 80 public events held to engage with Michigan residents. 

, “We learned an incredible amount, and what rose to the top, or that we need to really look at [is] Michigan’s median income. Our faster growing peer states, and higher and faster growing median incomes; we really need to look at our post-secondary attainment and credentialing in Michigan. And we need to look at our placemaking.”

And yet, the ideas to support our state’s bright future keep coming. On Thursday, May 30, Governor Whitmer, Oakland, Wayne, and Macomb Counties leaders and Thomas Kelly of Automation Alley shared more about 

. This 3D printing manufacturing project funded by the state enables Lights Out Manufacturing (LOM), “an automated manufacturing process where machines run independently without the need for human intervention. It enables the creation of so-called “dark factories,” which are factories that can operate through a combination of automation, remote monitoring, and artificial intelligence." The conversation about using the time and space that COVID created for small manufacturers to learn how to leverage 3D printing and imagine the possibilities that might emerge was thrilling.

Since I returned to Michigan on June 1, 2022, I’ve been talking to my team about bringing impossible dreams to life. You might feel skeptical even as you read about my passion for this epic state. Solving a problem as deep and challenging as the reversal of population decline across an entire state feels heavy. What I observed from the Michiganders at the 2024 Mackinac Policy Conference was hope. I saw Democrats and Republicans. I saw men and women. I saw young professionals and mature veterans. I saw business leaders and politicians. Our titles, our ages, our politics, and our differences were not the theme. The hope that spread across a historically distinguished island with views to both our Upper and Lower Peninsulas expanded and grew because we love this state, and we believe that together, we can create an even stronger future grounded in our rich history.

I told the Community Financial Credit Union Board of Directors in my final interview more than two years ago that I was not just excited to become the president & ceo of “a” credit union. I felt extreme passion to become the president & ceo of a credit union in Michigan and the president & ceo of Community Financial Credit Union. We believe that credit unions can be employers of choice. We believe that credit unions can fuel economic development. We believe that credit unions can play a leading role in solving housing affordability. We believe credit unions can solve wealth disparity challenges.

I know Community Financial Credit Union must contribute to shifting the significant challenges facing our great state. The financial cooperative model positions us well to do so. The dreamers and doers leading and shaping positive change will not have it any other way. Huzzah, Michigan! Bring on your vibrant summer season. The future lies here.

You Can Come Home Again Blog Content

Reflecting on the complexity of human identity, sharing how they balance multiple roles—CEO, mom, cook, volunteer, and more—and challenging the idea of simplifying people into one-dimensional categories, encouraging us to embrace the messy, multifaceted nature of who we are.

Our Many Hats: As Complex as Our Impossible Dreams Coming to Life

In the past week, if I had created a bad reality show, you would have seen me:

Preparing for and presenting at our Community Financial Credit Union Board Meeting

Cooking grilled cheese for my family and experimenting with a three-layer masterpiece

Working with our evp + chief financial officer, Scott Cameron and our chief of staff, elry armaza (he/him) to create a forecasting methodology to equip our team to adapt better to an ever-changing world more nimbly

Asking my 13-year-old to support a “fit-check” (I recently learned “fit” is how we now talk about outfits)

Volunteering with our Community Financial Credit Union team at Marygrove Conservancy

Spending time with my executive coach and exploring how gratitude can be a driver of stronger business outcomes

Participating in the Michigan Humanities Board Meeting and the Painted Hills CUSO Board Meeting

Grilling pizza for one of our Community Financial Credit Union branches

Watching videos about how to support wisteria flowering

Using Chat GPT to create a “summer training plan for a 13-year-old that plays lacrosse, runs track and cross country”

Recording a video to invite more people to support children’s mental well-being at our 

Working to Alchemize 75 as we drive operating efficiencies with our Community Financial Credit Union team and prepare for our 75th birthday in 2026 and our 150th birthday in 2101

Dancing and singing every word of 90’s rap at Prom Remodeled

” by General Stanley McChrystal, Tantum Collins, David Silverman, and Chris Fussell

Running for 80 minutes while watching episodes of “The Equalizer”

Collaborating with our Board Chair to onboard our newest Board and Supervisory Committee members

Creating a new summer playlist on Spotify and listening to Doja Cat, Wiz Khalifa, Shaboozey, The Police, and Dave Matthews on repeat

Chatting on the phone for an hour with my best friend about aging parents and how best to support our families in this season

When we think about the roles we play as humans, they are incredibly complex. I am a:

Person who wants to improve, evolve, and needs support and help

And I am also so much more. I know you are so much more than your title, relationships, political beliefs, values, and the last book you read or movie you watched. I have for years worked to earn one of my dreams: becoming a president & ceo. I have often tied my worth to that one role and my career. I no longer see myself in that limited way. I exist as a messy amalgamation.

In a time when some may wish to find simplicity and see a narrow role for some humans to play, I invite us to turn toward an alternative. My dream to be a mother started racing at me in my mid-30’s rising rapidly like a fever, and I chased it with abandon despite significant challenges. My dream to be a president & ceo developed over time, and it took me over 20 years to achieve. My dream to run the Boston Marathon grew as I ran the Chicago Marathon, Detroit Marathon, and Nashville Marathon. My dream of meeting Dave Matthews amplified from concert to concert. All those dreams matter deeply to me. My identity is more complex than any one of those aspirations. My identity is as complex as my impossible dreams coming to life.

Because of our human aversion to complexity, we may focus on just one part of any person’s identity. Humans are conditioned to distill complexity by narrowing it down to two familiar (often opposing) viewpoints. We deal with uncertainty by asserting certainty. My identity as a credit union ceo doesn’t come at the detriment of being a good parent. Being vegetarian doesn’t mean I don’t cook bacon and grill steak for my omnivore daughter. Advocating to close the gender equity gap doesn’t represent a lack of commitment to coaching and elevating talented men.

The pandemic showed women that a new model of balancing work and life was possible. Now, few want to return to the way things were. Most women are taking more steps to prioritize their personal lives, but at no cost to their ambition—they remain just as committed to their careers, and just as interested in advancing, as women who aren’t. These women are defying the outdated notion that work and life are incompatible—and that one comes at the expense of the other

The same report also addresses a glaring problem in achieving gender equity: the broken rung. There is much risk in the unidimensional thinking that the glass ceiling has been shattered and the gender equity gap will fix itself over time. Yes, we have evidence that more women are given the chance to lead organizations. As the authors share, “

Women are often hired and promoted based on past accomplishments, while men are hired and promoted based on future potential

.” This bias is exacerbated in earlier promotions, where the gender disparities originate. This ties directly to the many roles we play and how men and women wearing similar hats at times may experience different opportunities based on this broken rung bias. Addressing this bias is hard work and pushes us to see the complexity of the roles we play. Doing that work is worth the effort as it systematically generates a stronger pool of candidates to build for the future, ultimately driving stronger business results.

The gist? Professional ambition + prioritizing family = a multifaceted, complex human.

My invitation today is to consider how the simple beauty of any individual unfolds through their complexity and depth. Valuing one element of an individual’s identity narrowly and weighing any portion of a human being’s passions more heavily limits us and, more importantly, them. We can do better. When I’m deeply engaged in an eTeam meeting, dreaming about the future of our credit union, I’m no less of a mom. When I’m talking with MacKenzie about navigating middle school, I’m no less of a runner. When I’m riding my Peloton, I do not have less passion for the Dave Matthews Band.

As a people leader, I strive to embrace these paradoxes and manage the emotional discomfort of complexity. As an executive, I expand this approach to the times when I “wear the ceo hat” to challenge my team (me included) to push beyond simply tolerating ambiguity, fight the urge for unidimensional decisions, and question if other paradoxes lurk beneath the surface that might allow for even better outcomes in the future.

Many things can be true at once, and one way we turn down the volume of discord and polarization is to live in the messiness of that human truth. Huzzah!

Our Many Hats Blog Content

Discover the power of simple, focused strategy through the metaphor of a "strategic napkin," and explore how effective execution and communication can turn bold ideas into impactful action.

Execution: Unfolding our Strategic Napkin

Having been raised by an English teacher, my love for words and learning were nurtured and encouraged from an early age. As I started my career in credit unions, I fell in love quickly with the strategic documents I eventually had the opportunity to support crafting. The research, the collaboration, and the writing were all energizing. Over time, I observed that not everyone in the organization felt as much engagement with a thoughtfully produced, well-bound, beautifully designed, hundreds-of-page strategy document.

During my time at Bethpage Federal Credit Union, as I worked with Kirk Kordeleski and Linda Armyn on strategy, I felt the power of strategy well communicated. Everyone across the organization understood the simply articulated calling for impact. The strategy underneath was complex and took years to create. The way the credit union’s strategy was shared brought together human beings from diffuse operating units and with diverse perspectives and created seamless alignment.

Strategy is complicated. Sharing it should be easy. To achieve the impossible, leaders must bring bold action to life through a well-articulated, focused, engaging, and simple set of short statements. At Community Financial Credit Union, we share our strategy on a paper napkin to manifest that concept. The idea started metaphorically and is now a physical representation of our brand and future.

Many of the most legendary strategies were crafted over a coffee or beverage of choice on a napkin. Shifting from a big binder to a paper napkin ensures our intentionality stays intact and pushes us toward concise messaging, shareability, and accessibility. Metaphorically, the flexibility of paper folding and the infinite possibilities a humble piece of paper provides are remarkable.

Our napkin also supports our iterative approach to strategy. It’s a physical manifestation of our commitment and flexibility in an incredibly dynamic world where the change we are experiencing today is the slowest we will ever experience. Our strategic napkin enables living ideas. While some elements remain constant, portions evolve and improve, and we continue to iterate.

Strategy represents taking charge of your own destiny. It forces leaders to stay where they should be, imagining and building a future of impact. Strategy is not a plan with clear next steps and doesn’t represent an inevitable destiny. It jolts us from the comfort of routine that we as humans crave and requires us to envision what might be possible. It calls us to dream boldly about solving our members’ most significant challenges in compelling new ways.

As much as I adore strategy and dreaming about the impossible, the best strategies only create impact if they are well executed. The bridge between strategy and execution must be steady and sound for an organization to thrive. It’s a common misconception that organizations primarily falter due to lacking tactical planning. More often, if there are disagreements about the steps to be taken, the root cause can be traced back to ambiguities in strategy or vision itself. As David Lancefield, in his article for HBR, "

Don’t Let Distractions Derail Your Company’s Strategy

," points out, distractions can lead organizations astray. External pressures such as market shifts, competitive actions, or internal dynamics like overconfidence or lack of support can cloud strategic focus, leading to what appear to be execution failures.

Lancefield elaborates further on how distractions can derail strategic intent. He suggests that leaders delve deep into the nature of distractions, calling them out and understanding their implications for strategy. This self-awareness helps distinguish between harmful distractions and those that could be strategic opportunities.

Today’s world elevates bountiful distractions. A leadership team must support one another to discern what inputs should be considerations for strategic updates and what noise should be ignored and discarded in honor of excellence in execution. At Community Financial, we lead a rolling three-year strategic cycle and review and iterate on that plan quarterly. This provides a nimble approach to shifting our strategic target in real-time. We host ongoing conversations with different groups of human beings, sharing new insights, learning from listening posts with members, research, and expert brainfood. The operational discipline to create space for strategy hones our detection system for distractions, and our growing project management office insists on discipline. We’ve also created structures for innovation, as Dennis Campbell and Luis G Dopico outline in the 

.” We know that we must protect BOTH innovation and execution and the two need space from one another.

Leaders must build the muscle to distinguish between strategic shortcomings and execution failures to nurture the success of both. Consider:

Excellence in organizational communication takes ongoing discipline and must be codified by the executive team and across all other levels of leadership. Building the practice for cascading matters so that the responsibility and ownership do not solely reside with executives who make large decisions but also with the next tier of leaders empowered to increase the level of buy-in at all levels of the organization. For instance, if the executive team decides to launch a new product without partnering with the training and marketing teams, the ensuing chaos is not a strategy failure but a lapse in execution.

The key to successful execution in the face of strategic distractions lies in robust communication and realistic appraisal of organizational capabilities and external factors. Leaders must ensure that every segment of the organization understands the overarching strategy and their specific roles in its execution. One way to reinforce this daily through communication is to leave a team asking, “What might you do today to help us carry this forward?”

Recurring misfires or launch instability might sometimes be mistaken for strategic errors. However, these are typically execution errors where the systems in place fail to meet the strategic standards set. Often, executive teams “don’t know what they don’t know” about the systems that might either be aging or simply being embraced based on historical practices rather than being the best solutions or approaches.

External reviews of long-standing operational commitments can remove bias and the human resistance to change. Taken a step further, forensic vulnerability tests explore opportunities for efficiencies and may identify unknown risks that can stifle execution.

Chronic delays might indicate a more profound strategic misalignment or even organizational structure gaps. Isolated incidents where reasonable timelines are not met usually indicate execution inefficiencies. Building a practice for the review of execution across projects with a simple framework of asking “What went well?” and “What might we do better?” and cataloging those learnings over time can not only support the organization in continuous improvement, it helps a team take even more pride in how they are contributing to the growth in the organization’s capacity for execution.

Distinguishing between strategic gaps and execution issues requires a tuned eye, a humble curiosity, and a nuanced understanding of organizational dynamics. Turning strategic distractions into opportunities requires a proactive leadership approach that integrates feedback, refines even our favorite strategic commitments, and aligns them with practical execution plans led by a disciplined project management team. By addressing execution issues directly and refining strategies to accommodate real-world challenges and distractions, organizations can bridge the gap between plan and action, turning strategic visions into realized successes.

As your strategic napkin unfolds, we face a vibrant opportunity to change lives for the better and live up to the vision the founders of our movement had for the potential of the cooperative finance model at a time when human beings need credit unions most. Strategy and execution live together as balanced partners. Our members depend on that balance remaining, and our organizations will thrive when we bring both to life exceptionally well.

Execution: Unfolding our Strategic Napkin Blog Content

Discover how the future of payments is reshaping the financial industry, with insights on trends like digital wallets, embedded banking, and AI, and why credit unions must innovate to stay competitive and engage members.

Smashing our Piggy Banks: The Future of Payments

In an organization whose values start with belonging, we relish our quirks. One of mine is my disdain for piggy banks in credit union marketing. We have other metaphors at our disposal that elevate our story. My opinion is well known to those who work closely with me, and one day during my tenure at 

, the team loaded my office with leftover logoed piggy banks. I appreciate a good prank.

Despite my belief that they should not be leveraged to share our story as an industry, I did grow up with a piggy bank. I still have it. In fact, in my formative years, birthday money or coins I found on Hillsdale’s sidewalks landed in that unsafe vault. On the other hand, my daughter MacKenzie has never used cash unless it came from one of her grandparents. When I first began assigning her chores and agreed to an allowance, I quickly found 

 because I felt tremendous guilt every week when she asked for her allowance, and I never had the cash. She’s had a debit card and an app allowing her to “spend, save, and give” since she was nine years old. Not only is she learning foundational financial habits, but her payment experience will never include cash or checks. Unless I worked for a credit union, she would not understand the words “checking account.”

This shift in payments, like many current trends, unfolded rapidly. For decades, electronic payments have transformed the commerce landscape, painting every transaction with the brushstrokes of convenience and innovation. Gone are the days of cash being queen. Today, a mere tap or click suffices to complete transactions from mundane everyday expenses to those special purchases that may very well represent an impossible dream or two.

This evolution began with credit cards, which Bank of America first sent to a few customers in California in 1958. In 1966, they released the famous BankAmericard, which eventually became VISA. In a short period of time, consumers gained purchasing power that fueled our economy and taught wallets to hold less yet carry more. By 1974, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act ensured that women could apply for a credit card in their own name by making it illegal to discriminate against an applicant based on gender (yes, that was just 50 years ago). 

More about the fascinating history of credit cards can be found in this Forbes 2021 article

Today, electronic payments are more than a method. They are a movement. They connect crafters on Etsy to buyers and concertgoers with the latest merch to re-live the memories of epic summer evenings. They empower donations at the pace of a heartbeat, supporting causes with local and global footprints. They are an intrinsic part of what it means to be a 21st-century human. This progression to holding our financial identities in the cloud allows us to go from one purchase to another, making way for platforms like PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, and many others to emerge. Keeping an eye on these players keeps me up at night. Ron Shevlin coined the phrase “paycheck motels,” noting that these tools are places where funds spend time temporarily, with transactions so seamless that they conclude before the echo of a tap fades.

The natural evolution of electronic payments led to the demand for even more speed. As the May 2, 2024, article, “

Are Real-Time Payments Near an Inflection Point? Bank of America Thinks So

” by PYMNTS points out, there are a host of use cases and consumer demands for faster payments including access to earned wages, businesses paying suppliers more rapidly, insurance disbursements, and much more. People want more access, and they want it now. This demand will only accelerate with the next generation of members.

In a space with this much change, credit unions risk irrelevancy even if we remove the piggy banks from our marketing. With strategy and exceptional partners, we have reason to hold our hope close. Credit union executives seeking relevancy for our cooperative system must look at what the future of the human experience of payments holds beyond 2024. Although there are many trends worth paying attention to, here are my top four:

These ever-present choices are ubiquitous, and they will continue evolving. For consumers, this may look like further adoption of digital wallets and improvements over 

. I sense that the enhanced security of these features will push consumers and businesses alike to embrace this method once technology catches up to its promises. For businesses of any size, omnipresent solutions mean simplifying and consolidating platforms and vendors. From website payments to in-person transactions to mobile payments, many merchants today use different vendors for each payment method. Soon, they will be able to manage them under one simplified platform. One example worth learning from is the 

, as technology companies integrate financial products within their apps and website-embedded banking, it is anticipated that the number will grow from $2.7 trillion to $7 trillion between 2021 and 2026 in the United States alone. Tom Sullivan writes about many examples of embedded finance for Plaid in “

What is Embedded Finance? 4 Ways it will Change Fintech

.” One such example is Shopify Balance, which allows businesses to weave payments and account services nearly seamlessly into their platforms to enhance customer experience and drive new revenue opportunities.

As with many other parts of our business, AI will continue to mature and transform payments. For credit union executives, the 

 is a benchmark to follow closely. It provides insights into the AI maturity and capabilities of the 50 largest banks globally in four dimensions: talent (capability and development), innovation (research, patents, ventures, ecosystem), leadership (in public communications and strategy), and transparency (of responsible AI activities). Wired’s “

How Artificial Intelligence is Transforming Payments

” has three ideas about how AI may lead to payments innovation, including natural language spending analysis of spending. It’s just the beginning.

New business model considerations, such as 

In practice, this may look like our experience when using a ride-hailing app. Funds are transferred to the app by the rider or riders if you are splitting with others; a portion of the funds belong to the driver, some might go to a merchant in the event of a delivery, etc. All occur within one ecosystem. It is convenient for people and opens new opportunities for treasury management.

In a world where the MacKenzie’s of the world start their lives with apps and debit cards, McKinsey’s “

On the cusp of the next payments era: Future opportunities for banks

” points to a few emerging opportunities to consider:

A strong payments strategy helps to ease liquidity pressures. Resilient organizations that can pivot their deposit strategies to match new trends in buying consumer behavior will win the war for deposits.

Financial fraud will continue to grow in sophistication, and with it, credit unions must leverage generative AI solutions to automate and accelerate productivity in fraud detection and prevention.

With thinner margins, credit unions have a mandate to reduce operating costs. An effective way to do so is by modernizing our tech stack. McKinsey’s Operating Model Index, compiled from research across 150 leading financial institutions, finds that 

those scoring higher on operating-model maturity tend to grow faster—by 20 percent on average—and to be more profitable

For our credit union members, transactions transcend mere monetary transfers. Embracing the new wave of innovation in payments is not just a new way to transact. Payments are one of the more embedded connection points with our members and can engage our members with our brand more than any other touch point. Done well and with the right partners, payments can ignite loyalty, grow “stickiness” to the organization, and drive revenue. It’s time to smash our piggy banks and advance our payment strategy as a driver of our core business.

Smashing our Piggy Banks Blog Content

Gratitude and courage are at the heart of effective leadership. Learn how showing vulnerability, supporting your team through setbacks, and empowering others can help grow exceptional leaders in any organization.

Gratitude and Courage: Foundations of Leadership for Today

When I participated in a strategy session several months ago, I was directed to select two attributes from a pile of cards that best reflected my leadership ethos. From a swath of more than 40, each card with one attribute written across the top, I selected Gratitude and Courage. I carried those two words around with me for the rest of that day and upon returning to my desk, pinned them on the bulletin board where they are still stuck today.

Thankful for the good in life, expresses thanks, feels blessed.

Shows valor, doesn’t shrink from threat or challenge, faces fears, speaks up for what’s right.

In reflection, I couldn’t have imagined two attributes could so completely frame how I see the world. Yet, courage and gratitude have long been the foundations of my work. They have helped me grow strong strategic leaders who value innovation and progress, and more meaningfully, gifted me a network of humans with whom I have shared deep belly laughs, tears of triumph, and many momentous occasions.

Without a doubt, I’ve been incredibly lucky to walk alongside some of the most driven and talented individuals in the creative and credit union industries. To see my teammates, good souls I’ve coached and supported in their brilliance and careers, grow into exceptional leaders in new executive level positions is amongst my most valued life experiences. I am so very fortunate to call many of them my friends, whether we still work together or not, because of the time we spent together in our careers.

It took time for me to understand what my leadership looked like, to understand who I was and how I wanted to show up for others, influenced heavily by what I appreciated in my mentors and what I knew did not serve me well.

Your vulnerability matters. When it’s hard and when it’s fun.

Show up for them when it didn’t go well. 

Rarely is anyone better at letting us know we’ve screwed up than the voice in our head. We usually don’t need someone else telling us we should have done better. Instead, we need someone we trust telling us to get back in the game.

When they have a setback, ask yourself what your role as their leader was. 

Knowing what you could you have done differently sizes the conversation appropriately. You both get a shot to do better.

Tell your leader and your colleagues about this someone special. Position their path to success with their desires in mind. You shine when they shine.

Tell them just how great they are and mean it.

Reflect to them all the gifts you see. Point out when those strengths show up in their work and share how those gifts could be even more impactful.

Believe in them when they don’t believe in themselves.

Doing new things is so hard, it can be all-consuming. I’ve especially found this to be true for high performers who want everything to go right. Ask questions. Quiet doubt by answering challenges together.

It’s not always sunshine and rainbows. Know when it’s time to call a teammate out on their stuff.

Help them lean into their own gut. Leave pause and space for thoughtfulness. Ask bigger questions than you’ve been asked. Create reflection and spur curiosity.

Be brave and bold in your own shoes. Take calculated moonshots. Celebrate when they work out. Be sad when they don’t. In both cases, keep going.

For the big stuff. For the little things. For being them. For the gift to be a part of their career journey.

The very most important work we can do in executive leadership is to grow more leaders.

For our organizations, for the future of the industry, and for them, as humans.

For the dreams they’ve recognized and for the ones you’ll bring to life together.

I can think of no greater gift for us all than to show our teammates what they are truly capable of, and support them through it.

Gratitude and Courage: Foundations of Leadership for Today Blog Content

Explore key insights from a powerful discussion on closing the equity gap for women, tackling challenges in leadership, the dream gap, and the bold steps necessary to achieve 50/50 gender parity in the workplace and beyond.

We Can Do Better. It’s time for 50/50.

Last night, we inched closer to overcoming the equity gap. I am filled with a renewed sense of purpose and hope as I reflect on our spirited discussions at the Garden Theater in Detroit, where Community Financial Credit Union hosted a fireside chat event centered on Closing the Equity Gap. Alongside Lori Kitchen-Buschel, Teri Kuehn, and Teresa Freeborn, we ventured into hard conversations about the barriers women face and the seeds of action we can plant today for a flourishing tomorrow.

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