Stop Collecting Tips And Start Practicing For Real Performance

Most training programs create smarter note-takers, not better performers, and you can feel the difference when the pressure is on. We sit down with Alex Kutsishin, CEO of Fuel, to challenge the way the mortgage and credit union world thinks about learning, leadership development, and talent growth. Alex shares his journey from immigrating from Kyiv to building multiple businesses, then makes a clear case for why “information” is getting cheaper while performance is becoming the real currency at work.

We dig into what separates a learning platform from a performance platform, and why memory-based training still dominates corporate development. Alex explains why sports and the military keep improving year after year: they train for mastery through repetition, coaching, and immediate feedback. We also tackle a hard truth for the credit union mortgage industry: accepting 80/20 team performance as inevitable quietly normalizes undertraining, uneven execution, and stalled career growth.

If you’re a credit union leader, lender, trainer, or ambitious professional, you’ll leave with a practical takeaway you can use today: stop consuming ideas passively and start applying one skill immediately, with guidance, until it sticks. Subscribe, share this with a colleague who cares about growth, and leave a review to help more people find the show.

Sponsored by Optimal Blue

Transcript

30 Second Intro

SPEAKER_01 0:00

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Acuma, its board of directors, its management staff, or its members. The podcast discussion presented is conversational in nature and for general information only.

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SPEAKER_04 0:29

This is Aquason Point Podcast. On today's episode, we dive into the importance of training and leveraging every tool available for growth. But before we get to our episode, just a quick word from our sponsor.

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SPEAKER_00 0:46

Optimal Blue is the modern proven engine behind credit union mortgage lending. As the only end-to-end capital markets platform bridging primary and secondary mortgage markets, we help credit unions operate efficiently and foster lasting member relationships on every loan. Our cloud native API first platform is powered by automation, generative AI, and real-time data. With over 20 years of experience and leading market share, we deliver measurable ROI through pricing accuracy, margin protection, and seamless connectivity. Trusted by credit unions nationwide, Optimal Blue empowers smarter lending decisions so credit unions can serve members in any market. Learn more at optimalblue.com.

SPEAKER_04 1:40

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, hello, welcome to Activizant Point Podcast, a series of on sharing the stories of people who are making a positive impact in the credit union mortgage industry. I'm your host, Peter Benjamin. Today I am joined by Alex Kutsichin, CEO of Fuel Inc. Alex, my friend.

SPEAKER_06 2:01

How are you doing today? I'm doing fantastic. Good to see you. I like that purple on you.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

The funny thing is, it's actually gray.

SPEAKER_04 2:10

And I don't know why it's coming off. I uh I uh Is it really? Yeah, it is. It's like a light gray, but I changed my lights. I have like those hue lights. Yeah. And I change them to be more like a it's called concentration tone. Yeah. And so the the the lighting in my office is supposed to be uh to uh promote better concentration. I can change the colors uh of the light bulbs, but yeah, I I I do it's uh for better concentration. I don't know if it's working. It's it's probably just some some witch doctor thing that I I read about, but who knows? Only you will know if it's working. I hey man, you know we'll we'll see. A bird flies by my window and and all hell breaks loose. You gotta change the lights if that happens. That's right. That's right. Alexio, give me a second. As always, I gotta pull Justin into the conversation. I'm looking forward to our conversation first off. But um, as always, gotta pull the hawk in. Hawk, what is the latest and greatest happening over at Akibo?

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Oh, how are you doing? You know, I was like, all right, you know, man. I'm not doing that great today. I'm doing wonderful.

SPEAKER_04 3:26

Uh uh, how how are you, Peter? Good, good. I started thinking about do I need to change the color of my uh my lights? ADD kicked in. 100% kicked in.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

You just started focusing on that. Um so over here at Acumen, we're uh we're busy, but it's fun. Uh up next at our events, we're gonna be heading to our focal point workshop. We just are wrapping up our viewpoint regional summit now in Maryland. Uh the summit series has been fun, uh, been super exciting. Sad to see them go for the year, but it'll be uh fun to see what our next events have in store. Uh the Focal Point Workshop, there's still plenty of time to register for that. That's happening May 11th and 12th in San Diego. So uh head over to the Acumen website, get registered. Uh, like I said, there's still plenty of time between now and then. Uh so we're looking forward to that. And then our Make Your Mark annual conference uh registration is now open for that. We'll be in Las Vegas this year, September 20th to the 23rd. Um if you're not looking for the in-person stuff, you're looking for the virtual things that are coming up. We have our networks, uh, the YPN meeting is taking place on May 13th, and the volume-based network quarterly meeting is happening on May 20th. Both of those are at 1 p.m. Eastern. Uh still plenty of time to get registered for those. I'm sure the co-chairs or the network leads and all of them would be excited to have you guys join. And then lastly, we have our on-point podcast dropping every two weeks and our insight track webinars happening a couple times a month. So for more information on all of these, plus so much more, head over to the Acumate website.

SPEAKER_04 5:00

You know, I I know we say this all the time, but you know, it's it's kind of one of those things where it's like needless to say that we're we're we're very busy. Um but yeah, I I think just based off that that running list of of fun stuff that you rambled on about, and I mean that in the best way possible, good rambling. Um we uh we're keeping busy. We're keeping busy.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

We're we're definitely keeping busy. I've never had anybody tell me I rambled good, so thank you. Oh, you're welcome. Umliments I've ever heard.

SPEAKER_04 5:32

That's right. Hey man, hey, it's the least I could do. It's the least I could do. Got it. Thank you. Well, you're welcome. You're welcome.

SPEAKER_03 5:41

Um, all right.

SPEAKER_04 5:43

Alex, my friend. So I'm excited for this conversation. One, because you know, I I think you know, the idea of training, you know, leveraging every tool available for growth is something, especially as of late, has become you know near and dear to your heart and something you're very passionate about. It's something that's near and dear to my heart, you know, having that training background, but also really being the president of Acuma, that that's ultimately our our in our our lifeblood. Um so yeah, but before we get to that, you know, I think it's important for us to always start with the fundamentals, always start with the the roots of this podcast. You know, it goes back to that first statement I I have is you know, people make positive impacts. And we we can't really do you justice and really expand on how you're making that positive impact without getting to know you a bit better. So, first question is always you know, you know, Alex, you know, who are you and and what what makes Alex Alex?

SPEAKER_06 6:48

What a fun way to start a conversation. All right. So I'll give you a 90-second maybe version of a little background of Alex and and who he is and why we stand here today. So um I was uh I was actually born in in Kiev, Ukraine. So I'm an immigrant here. My parents came here in 1990 with my brother. I was seven, he was nine. Uh they did what so many immigrants do so well in this country, and that is recognize that this is a free economy, that you can make money and keep the money you earn. And so they both went on to build uh businesses and became entrepreneurs. And uh I followed in their footsteps completely. At 20, I started my first business, and now we're talking about business number 11. And you and I met each other at business number nine. Uh, and so uh who I am is, you know, you you said a second ago that uh using every tool possible for training and growth and performance. It's it's not something that I started to think about at age 43. It's something I started to think about right around age 20, right around the first business. Uh because uh what I realized, and it's in my name, I put it right right there in my in my name of uh Alex that says people builder. Uh what I realized is my my my favorite thing to do, it's not about building businesses. As a matter of fact, uh no founder can build a business ever. Uh uh a founder builds a team and the team builds the business. It's always a team. And so uh building teams, building people, uh using every tool possible to make every person on the team better tomorrow than they were today. That's that's not something that started, you know, with this company. Uh that's something that started at age 20 when I don't know, I just realized there's only one way to win in b in this business thing, and that's to have great people on your team. That's it. There's no other way. No other way to win in business. Uh no other way to win in life, no other way to win in sports. It's it's it's there's no other way to win uh than having great people on your team. So uh that's a little bit about me, besides being a father, musician, artist, all this other good stuff. No, I I love that.

SPEAKER_04 9:06

I love that. And you know, so let's let's kind of you know kind of head over to the conversation. So you know, here we are, you said business number 11, and and obviously you you uh one, I didn't know that, but you know, I think that's absolutely amazing and and a little mind-blowing, right? That you that you continue just to build these successful businesses and and you know put them in good places and and really these ideas that that you have continue to to the grow and and flourish. Uh flourish. Um so but I I I can I have to imagine that you got where you are because of you know that that simple idea of leveraging every tool, you know, and you know, you know, candidly, you know, you you're here you are, you know, we're sitting down with you, you're the the the CEO of Fuel, a a platform that essentially promotes that idea and tries to get people to understand that there are one million tools out there available for you for your success. Here is easy access to to understand, become, learn anyone or or anything you want to be. You know, uh so you know, knowing that, I I think the first question is obviously you have fuel, and and and by all means, please explain what it is a bit more. Sure. How did fuel come to come to pass?

SPEAKER_06 10:50

Okay. And so a couple things. Um, what I'm gonna talk about in just a second for everyone to understand is we're talking about a performance platform, not a learning platform, not an educational platform, not a learning management system, none of that. Okay. All those things were good ideas at some point. I'll leave it at that. They were good ideas at some point. Right now, the challenge that we're facing, and you're talking about, hey, there's a million tools for success, that might be one of the issues. Okay, we won't get into that completely, but that might be one of the issues is because there is so much. There is no need for another platform, right? There's no need for another uh uh uh a place to get some information, but yet more and more are coming online, okay? But they're gonna start coming online in a very different way. Because here's the thing that we have to understand, and and that we're talking about, Peter, and you said this earlier, talk about performance, okay? Mm-hmm. Performance is different than knowledge. Okay. Fuel is a performance platform, not a learning platform, not a knowledge platform. What is the difference? Here's the difference. Knowledge is saying you understand, performance is proving you understand. Okay. 99% of all training and development that happens around the world is still to this day memory-based. What do I mean by that? What it means someone is standing in front of a room talking to people and people take notes. Memory-based, not mastery-based, memory-based. And so fuel is a mastery-based platform. You whenever you learn something, you apply it instantly in the platform with the expert who just taught you. Why would we do that? Why would fuel do that? Because it happens to be a system that has worked for over a hundred years, continues to work in two industries that have never ever ever gone backwards in performance since this these industries have come online. What are those industries?

unknown 12:58

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 12:59

Sports and military. I want you to think about this for one second. But I could tell you a million reasons why if you look at the performance and the quality of the military industry and the professional sports industry or sports industry as a whole, you'll discover they've never gone backwards. Justin, do you think anyone has ever said you remember when the NFL was good in 1972?

unknown 13:26

Probably.

SPEAKER_06 13:28

Right, exactly. No one says that because it only gets better. It only gets better, right? What what'd you say, Justin? I missed the 1973 joke.

SPEAKER_02 13:38

Oh, I said just probably in 1973. That's right.

SPEAKER_06 13:41

Okay, then it's in 1972. So so look, it never happens. Why? Because they don't go backwards, they only go forwards. Okay. There's a reason for this. We're going to talk about this. Military, same thing. There's a reason for this. And so fuel has is has built a performance platform for really the the modern human and where we are going. Where are we going, by the way? I know where we're not going. We're not going into the information age. That's for sure. Information is no longer as valuable as it used to be. Just do a search on Google and you'll see. What do I what do you mean, Alex? Here's what I mean. When you do a search on Google right now, Google gives you the answer to your search. It doesn't give you the information where your answer could be found. It gives you the information. And by the way, before it gives you, I'm sorry, it gives you the answer, not the information. Here's a question, here's the answer. Below that are sponsored links, and below that is the information. So Google's saying information is not as valuable as it used to be. But the answers from the information is what we want action, the outcome, the performance, the result from the information. That is where we've headed. That is what is expected of us as human beings and our capabilities in the workforce is how can we apply what we know, not try to remember it. And so before we go any any deeper, any any further, I just wanted to pause there for a second to see if Peter, you wanted to jump in on anything.

SPEAKER_04 15:13

No, I mean, I think, you know, I I I loved where you were heading with this, right? And but I think, you know, and I I get what you're saying, you know, you know, fuel is this performance platform and it has these tools that let you perform at a higher level. You know, but and and maybe um I'm now that I'm saying this out loud, and maybe that I'm I'm talking myself in in circle, I think it's you know, I but I I'm thinking it's you know a bit more than that. Like heck, you have a yoga class, you know, on the platform, right? Um I was actually in a hotel the other day and I did it.

SPEAKER_03 15:57

Um thank you. But I i i it it's you know for me when I look at a tool, when I look at growth, right?

SPEAKER_04 16:13

It's not just about you know what's upstairs, right? It it's it's what's in what's in what's in my heart, and I'm pointing at my heart right now. It it it's it's that that mental and physical fortitude to keep going and learning how to overcome the obstacles I face on a daily basis, right? Also being able to leverage everything that's available, you know, at my fingertips, um, you know, books, you know, the the the age of podcasts you know, I'm going to. Right?

SPEAKER_03 16:59

I I'm I'm gonna try my best to be inquisitive and find the answers so I can continue to grow so I can push through on the hardest of days, right?

SPEAKER_04 17:16

Um and so I you know when I think about you know how we as a society look for that type of information. I think you're right. I mean, Google just gives you the answers. It doesn't I I actually I don't want to say it even stops citing the sources, right? When especially nowadays with it with a building, it's it's I I don't I don't what Justin, what's the name of Google's AI? Gemini. Gemini. Gemini. Okay. Especially now that Gemini is popping up answers first, right?

SPEAKER_03 17:54

Before before the actual links. Are we becoming a sort of thing?

SPEAKER_06 18:03

It's a clear signal of a shift, a change, a complete, right? It's it's it's a clear signal of that. And and and here's and here's the thing, you just said something about podcasts, books, lectures, webinars. Look, all those things are good and you should still do them. But I'm gonna tell you right now not even Alex's claim, this is just science. No one except for about five percent that's so I'll be clear, about five percent of an audience that listens to podcasts, reads books, goes to lectures, goes to webinars, about five percent of that audience is gonna have a transformation. 95% will not see or feel a difference in their life.

SPEAKER_03 18:53

Okay?

SPEAKER_06 18:54

It is the the the thing that is still what we're trying to present to the world is how two of the best industries in performance and application of knowledge, not memory of knowledge, operate. How they're able to create elite performers constantly. Can it's in business to this day, Peter. Tell me if you're if you disagree, to this day, I still hear people talking about 20% of my team, 80% of my team, 20% of my team, 80% of my team, right? Still, it's 2026. People are still talking about the Preto principle in their business like it's like it's just part of the business. This is just how business is 20% operated high level, the rest, you know, we look to replace at some point, right? Something like that. Can you imagine for just a second a Navy SEAL commander going, here are my 10 Navy SEALs going on this mission? Those two are coming home to kiss their babies. Those eight are probably gonna die. No, that like that would never happen. Like you no, no way, right? 100% success rate, that is how they approach, and they're all trained to be at 100% success rate. Same in sports, right? You don't just go, oh, the quarterback knows what they're doing. I don't know about the rest of them. Hope they understand how through how to touch a football. No, everyone knows what they're doing. But in business, okay, and even in a lot of personal life, but we'll stick to business for now. In business, 99% of training is I speak, you take notes. I speak, you take notes. And no one gets better at watching somebody else work out. Like I can't stand at the gym and watch some guy pump by and go, oh my gosh, my chest is killing me. I feel stronger already. No, no one, you can't do that. I can't want watch somebody run around a track and get faster and feel my cardio get better. It doesn't happen that way. I actually have to apply myself. But guess what doesn't happen in 99% of trainings? Application of what you just learned. It's pure memory. And then you're asked by leadership to improve, to hit new levels. And then when you don't, here's the sad part leadership takes ownership of that and says, we did something wrong. It's on us, right? When it's about actually application, how are people going to apply what you taught them? And so the the the you know, I I want to make a point for everyone here. Keep listening to those podcasts, books, lectures, web, all of that stuff. But if you listen to it, you hear something and it makes sense to you, pause that podcast and go apply it right away. If you want it to be something you can actually do, then I'd be like, wow, that was a great idea. Six minutes later, you're looking at Facebook or Instagram, and then you're looking at emails, and that great idea is gone. It's gone. Okay. Because you can only retain 5% of what you hear, period. Right? It's gone. So I'm telling you right now, if anyone's listening to this, it's like I need to make improvements in the results I produce and the achievements I have in my life. You can no longer listen passively. You must Be active in your learning. You must apply what you learned as quickly as possible so it becomes something you can see it works or doesn't work for you. If it works for you, build on that. If it doesn't work for you, try something else. But passive listening, the podcast era of I'm going to grow because I'm listening to podcasts is not going to help you grow. It's just going to inspire you. But inspiration is a flame on a candle. It will go away.

SPEAKER_03 22:28

Right. But yeah, I think you know, you know, a couple things, right?

SPEAKER_04 22:34

I listen to podcasts as an easily as an easy way to digest we're gonna go explicit, Justin, a shit ton of information, right? You know it so I'm allowed to say one now. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, go for it. Um But I mean, so it's it's like the the podcasts I listen to are all industry related, right? So i if I can listen to a housing policy or or or housing finance podcasts at the gym, that basically or a couple of them while I'm at the gym, that basically means, okay, well, that's you know, a handful of emails I don't have to read when I get back to my desk, right? Uh because I'm pr essentially listening to the podcasts that are are summarizing the emails. Um whereas what you're talking about, you know, that that that growth you know for me that that comes through truly listening to keynotes. You know, the every conference you go to always most conferences, I don't have to say I don't want to say every, but most conferences you go to always have some type of motivational speaker that talks about leadership, uh personal development, something, right? For me, it's it's truly about being a sponge in those rooms. Um, but also, you know, the actual books, right? Listening to those books. And if it if it's something or listening or reading those books, and if it's uh something I'm reading, you know, I'm breaking out that highlighter and actually highlighting us the passage and then you know, taking that post-it note and putting it on that page to come back to later. If it's something I'm listening to, I I you know, I use um uh Apple notes quite often. I'll listen to it, I'll go back and re-listen to that one section and then notate it in Apple Note. But, you know, it's kind of going back to like sports, right? Sports are are different, right? Especially in today's society. I agree. You know, when you look at 1972 football, NFL, you know, no one wants to go back there. Sports are so much better nowadays. Granted, you know, the the you can't hit the quarterback rule um, you know, is is no fun.

SPEAKER_06 25:05

But where are the athletes compared to the way there were in 1972?

SPEAKER_04 25:10

Yeah, exactly. But it also starts, I mean, as a father of you know three kids that are home from spring break currently, who are making more noise than I care for them to while I'm recording a podcast. I mean, I have two kindergartners and one second grader. All of them are in sports, right? All of them are playing and developing their skills now, right? I mean, if I look at my son, I mean he plays at a pretty high level, even for a second grader on a select team, right? So it's kids are now starting sports earlier and earlier and earlier. And so I can't even imagine what sports are gonna be like 30 years from now, not 30 years from now, uh 20 years from now, right?

SPEAKER_06 26:02

It's an amazing, it's an amazing thing that you say, and you say it that way, Peter. You say it with such confidence. You can't imagine how insane it's going to be because you know for sure it will get better. You're not guessing, you know that is what we have to solve for in business. How do we know for sure that every person that applies themselves gets better? That is something that's missing. We are constantly guessing. Um, and and so sorry, keep going. I'm just excited to hear it.

SPEAKER_04 26:30

No, and I like that you that you jumped in because I think that's a major weakness in you know the the the mortgage housing um credit union industry, right? It's very much aging, right? And to that point, it it's it's this has been uh a point of discussion, you know, made many a times. We we as an industry have not done enough to help grow that next crop of of leaders, right? Yep. Because you're right. You you hit the nail on the head. It is watch me or or it's literally, you know, watch me do this, right? Yeah, watch me do this. They're expected to just do it, right? Or listen to me and remember what I said and go do it, right? Well that doesn't work like that, right? We're we're not teaching them one we're really not teaching.

SPEAKER_06 27:32

Literally doesn't work like that, by the way. Like like m scientifically and mathematically, it does not work like that.

SPEAKER_04 27:38

Right. And and and so like and then as leaders, we don't give them that tool, the tools they truly need to grow, right? Yeah. Alex, I'm sure I'm sure you've sat through them. I mean, Justin, I'm sure you've sat through them, those ridiculous, you know, learning management system webinars that have that monotone speaker that talks about some type of regulation, you know, and why it's important to comply with uh, I'll say BSA or something like that, right? It's just repetitive, it's the same one every single year. People, you know, brush it off half the time, skip straight to the test, but they're not learning anything, right? I mean, and and we are expecting them to learn, we're expecting them to protect a credit union or protect a bank or originate a loan better or be a better leader.

SPEAKER_06 28:36

But that's but that's not how it it's not gonna work. It's not gonna work. Well, it's it's it's not it's not working, Peter, because the fact that we can still say 8020 inside any business around the world, and people are like, yeah, yeah, you're right. Yeah, it's pretty much it. Like, oh my gosh, it's not working. It's not so look, fuel has built the uh the uh system with powered by humans, by the way. This is so important. It's a it's AI supported, but it's powered by humans. Every single thing inside fuel, okay? So number one thing we focused on is understanding what industries have been successful in building capable humans over and over and over again. We figured that out. Okay, there's actually three really, really good ones. Sports, military, and the culinary industry, by the way. Incredibly similar to the military industry. It's like the same thing. They do the exact same thing in getting master chefs and executive chefs uh to be executive chefs. It's not an easy thing. It's a very complicated thing to do. And they follow the same thing. So any of those chefs that have gone through that, it's like going through the military. So the number one thing was to understand that it's possible, right? Because we could sit here, Peter, and talk about and say, Alex, those are nice pipe dreams. No, it's always this is the way. This is this is how humans are. This is the this is the this is the way. Right? We'll go Mandalorian on everybody. Uh it is the way. I love that. It is the way. Right. But it's not. It's it's absolute fallacy. Here we go. I'm getting to use my word. It's bullshit. Okay. Yay! We need yeah, in in editing, please. Fireworks and no, no, no.

SPEAKER_04 30:16

Listen, we're gonna we're gonna do uh you know the end, the old school. I keep asking Justin to do this and he won't do it. The old school rap album explicit uh stamp that used to go. Yeah, but like you know, the explicit stamp that you don't want to do. Yeah. I keep asking him to do it, but he won't do it.

SPEAKER_02 30:37

It's on my list. All right. It takes two seconds.

SPEAKER_06 30:41

We're doing it for you with AI today.

SPEAKER_02 30:43

No, no, no. It's on it's on the list. Uh it's on the list.

SPEAKER_06 30:46

It's okay. So check this out. So we have to figure out that it's possible, Peter, because if we stood here today and I told you a great idea, but it's never been proven before, we couldn't have this conversation. So we have to prove that it's possible and it's possible. The second thing we have to do, by the way, is figure out how is it that they're doing it over and over again. The fact that it's possible is great, but how in the world are they able to do it? And Peter, what's cool about this, what we're about to talk about, is that professional sports works in every language on every continent. How come? How come I can watch a great uh match in in India, uh, in China, in uh Ukraine, in Canada, in Brazil, and it's all going to be very entertaining and high quality sports.

SPEAKER_04 31:30

Even if you can't understand the language, it's still entertaining.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

Can I can I ask you a question? And this might be this might be a dumb question. I don't know. But you're you're referencing sports, you're referencing the military, you're referencing culinary as like the the three industries who are doing it right. And then you're you're saying business is sort of we'll say stagnant. For the last every amount of years, everybody says 80-20, 80-20, right? Yeah. Yeah out of the sports industry, out of the three that you named, how many do you think are of those greats that you're talking about, the ones that you're watching on TV, the culinary, the culinary experts who become master chefs, who become culinary executives, um, the military personnel who are who are influencing change? Like, I mean, overall military is 1% of those who sign up. Of that, you're talking about a minute fraction of that one percent who's actually you know impacting change. So I'm I'm not arguing or refuting what you're saying in any way, but it's just it brings into that question is it that the 80-20 rule does apply, but it's applied through evolution over how learning has evolved, and this is that next step in evolving the way we learn.

SPEAKER_06 32:48

Well, I'm not challenging the principle of 80-20. I mean, that's been proven over and over again, right? I'm challenging the fact that we use it as a crutch and as a reason for underperformance inside professional industries, uh, because we're like, that's just how it is. Only small group, small part of our team can really perform at high levels. And that's just not true. Right.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

And so, like, whenever you think of sports, though, like everybody on I don't know what team you like or what sports you like. All right, cool. Any team, we'll we'll pick on um we'll pick on Peter's team, the commanders. Like, there's there's not 20% of the three. I know. But there's not 20% of the that team who I would say are high-level elite of all of NFL.

SPEAKER_06 33:31

Okay, Justin, but let me before you go down this path, because I know where you're going, no, you're you're you're heading in the wrong direction, my friend.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

You're looking at the athletes as an athlete before they make it to that point.

SPEAKER_06 33:42

Let me ask you this question. On the commanders, on the commanders today, can every single person do their job at the highest levels possible? I mean, that could be argued a different way. No, no. They wouldn't be on the team if they couldn't play the role. Are they the best in the league? That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about a team is like a business. I'm only gonna hire people that can do the job. Could I have hired somebody better? I'm gonna maybe hire somebody better, but there's no chance that I'm ever letting anyone on my team that cannot do their job at the highest levels, by the way. At the highest levels. So, for instance, I'm not gonna go recruit for this, let's say the alignment role. Okay, I'm looking for a a 280-pound, six foot four person. I I uh I go to a club and uh there's a bouncer there. He's six foot six, three hundred and ten. Guess who I'm not recruiting? I'm not recruiting that guy. He's not a football player. He's just a big guy. That doesn't make him a football player. That's the problem that happens in business. We look at people and go, well, they look like a salesperson. Their resume says they're a salesperson, must be a salesperson, hire them, and then they don't perform for months. And it's like, wait, why first of all, why were they there for months if they're not performing? But that's a different conversation. That's the problem I'm t I'm talking about here, Justin, is the fact that a hundred percent of everyone on a sports team knows their role, knows how to do it, and does it at the highest level. But in business, we allow constantly people to get hired and in roles that either need to be trained to achieve that, and the training is not there, or should have never been on the team in the first place. But but, Justin, here we are. We can't just go slice, go, and we'll figure it out. No, it's about uh training and retraining. Okay. And so we have to believe, Justin, in a world where every person in the company knows what they're doing at the highest levels. And you know why it's happening, Justin? It's not even gonna be our choice. We're getting to a place where only the most capable people will be hired. Because everything that is automated, everything that is simple, everything that is uh uh repetitive is getting replaced already. Right? And so my point, Justin, is you are the people that play for the commanders MVPs of NFL?

SPEAKER_03 36:11

No.

SPEAKER_06 36:11

Are there people in college that could play better than some of the players on that team? Yes. Are they going to? Yes. But everyone in the NFL is at this level. Everyone, right? They don't they don't mess up. They don't have like, well, 20% of our players know what you know how to play football at a high level and 80% don't. No. A hundred percent of our players play at the highest level. Premier League, NBA, NHL, doesn't matter. Everybody that makes it there means they can play at a certain level. We have to treat business the exact same way. Every person that works here should be able to do their role. They're here's their title. This is what they chose to do. They should be able to perform. And we leaders have to be the ones to help them perform at those levels. That's the that's what we're all talking about here in general, is we can't just eliminate the workforce. So we have to do a better job training them for what is coming. What is coming is you have to be capable. You can't know stuff. Yeah, I've been here for 20 years, I know stuff. Doesn't it's knowing stuff isn't good. Peyton Manning knows everything. There is to be a quarterback. He can't play. No way he can play in the NFL. So it's about being able to do. Sorry, Justin, there's uh I I know I jumped on there. Uh, but I wanted to make sure we didn't go down that path of they're not the best in the NFL.

SPEAKER_02 37:27

No, I'm not- and I'm not saying that because I mean, obviously, I don't play in the NFL. I'm not the best by any means in the NFL. But I was just pointing out like they're they don't represent even at that 20%. And we're kind of and we were looking at the 80-20 mark, but I like the idea of what you're saying. I I and I appreciate the fact that you're saying, you know, we have to be better leaders, we have to evolve. Because that's what that's where that's really what I'm taking from this is it's that evolution and learning. It's that it's and that's where fuel really comes in. It's that evolution, it's that that's that new platform that's really doing it differently. It's not just saying, hey, what do you know? It's like, hey, let me show you, let me show you what you don't know.

SPEAKER_06 38:08

Well, Justin, and it's and it's interesting because you you're like, hey, they're doing it differently. The truth is we're not. We're doing what's been done for a hundred years and proven for a hundred plus years to work every single time. Not once has there ever been a year where the previous year had produced better athletes or military or culinary than no, culinary is different. That could be subjective. I mean, there's there's definitely and of course, uh it it, you know, you can talk about certain military people and and certain athletes that come through each of these that create, you know, that reach levels of of legend uh status. But overall, when you look at overall pack, I don't know if you saw a couple years ago in in uh the Super Bowl, they showed a stat. It was an amazing stat of the linemen compared from 2025 or 24, whenever that that was, size and speed compared to linemen, I think, from like the 90s. It was, did y'all see this? It was it they they had it on the screen for a while for the Super Bowl because they were really talking about how impressive these linemen who are almost 300 pounds that run a 40-yard dash in like under five seconds, right? That's like what? That's incredibly fast. And so they were just describing the evolution of the sport. And it was just like, wow, like it's not even comparable. And and we can't do that in business in many cases. We can't, right? Uh, and so my uh uh Justin, to your point, this is all about leadership. This is and and it's using the mathematical law. Let me make this point, Peter, before you jump in. Uh, because this is how the military, because we didn't get to this, how did the military and how how does the military and how do professional athletes become elite? They follow what's called the power law of practice, knowing or unknowing. I'm pretty sure uh the military knows this. I'm pretty sure professional sports at some level knows this. Okay. Uh the power law of practice, which you can all look up, was originally discovered by Ebbinghaus back in 1885, so over over a hundred years ago. And it basically said memory and skill follow a predictable curve based on repetition, which is kind of simple. I do something, I think about something, and I can remember it, but anyway. Where the law went, this this law of it went in 1981, it was named officially the power law of practice. And it said that performance improves in a predictable, this is very important for everyone listening. Anyone that wants to see their team improve, themselves improve, has to listen to this. It improves in a mathematical pattern based on repetition. Okay. Performance improves, not memory, performance improves. This is where the law went back in night in 1981. Performance improves this way. But in 1993 is where the actual law of what we see elite athletes becoming, elite military people becoming elite anything in any industry becoming, is they this is the law that comes into play. It's called Erickson's law. Expert guided practice is the biggest factor in performance acceleration, more important than age, talent, or experience. Think about that for just one second. If you're hearing this for the first time, think about that for one second. In the Olympics, a 17-year-old won gold, in X games, a 15-year-old won gold. Both of them were competing against people twice their age. Both of them. It shouldn't be possible, right? Twice the twice the age, way more experience. I mean, you've got to be kidding me. How is this possible? The only reason it's possible is Erickson's law. Expert guided practice. Experts who watch you perform the act that you want to get better at and give you guidance while you're performing that act guarantee mathematically that you will only improve. You will never not improve. You will only improve. Case in point, why people get personal trainers and all that good stuff. But this is taking it to the next level. Okay. This is getting that guidance as you're practicing whatever it is you need to practice in your field. This has never been available before. In sports and military, it's available to everyone. Every single person in sports and military gets an expert who watches them and gives them feedback on everything they're doing. And so they get better and better. They don't go backwards. But that's never happened before in enterprise and business, ever before. Now you can actually practice your speeches, your sales calls, your customer service conversations, your HR conversations, writing emails, da da-da-da-da-da. Everything you do in the professional space with an expert who gives you guided feedback as you practice the thing you want to get better at. That way, you are guaranteed to do better the next time you apply yourself. That's the key that that's very important to understand between learning and application for performance.

SPEAKER_04 42:52

So, I mean, I agree with you. And I hate to cut this off, but we are well over time. Um, but I will say this. The tough part is like we we we continue to use in this conversation, military and you know, sports as you know, as part of like the comparison, right? But when you look at the business world, you know, and I'm gonna drill down even more, you look at you know, mortgage, and then you look at credit unions, right? I I think you know the reason why we wanted to have this conversation is because of the gaping hole that currently exists in the available resources to do all these things that you're talking about, right? Mm-hmm. You know, when you look at the sports world, I mean, I can speak for myself, I mean it is ridiculously expensive, and the amount of money that uh that parents put out to kind of get like their kids to play at a higher level. Right. It's astronomical. Just to kind of think about, you know, that. But when we when we translate that to a business sense or or you know the credit union world, we are not investing the same level of resources or monetary contributions to helping our staff grow. I think that's that's also part of the problem, right? Massive.

SPEAKER_06 44:31

Massive. And it's always passive when people spend money on like just go to this lecture, just go to this thing. It's like, no, you can't transform that way. Right. You can't be inspired, but you can't transform.

SPEAKER_04 44:42

Right. And so that I think that's why we wanted to kind of again go down this path of com uh in this conversation is that listen, just because you know your individual institution or individual company or credit union or bank isn't investing in you, you can invest in yourself. You have to find the tools that are available for you and leverage them for your own personal growth, right? Um, I think that's I hate that it it's such a self-driven thing, especially when the things that we that that you were comparing them to are not, right?

SPEAKER_03 45:30

Um but it it's a it's a cold hard truth. Right. And I I guess I'll just leave it at that.

SPEAKER_06 45:39

Well, all all I think where we should leave this is we can all do better. There's something that's available for us to do better in and you know, Peter, the uh affordability of this is tremendous, right? Uh and so it's it's no longer an excuse ever. There's no need to have an excuse, right? Like if if you want to see yourself or your team grow, this is it's it's here now. I mean, you're talking about besides the fact that we have thousands and thousands and thousands of people from the lending industry already on the platform, uh, tens of thousands of people from around the world who are crossing the 40,000 user mark, uh, staring down the barrel of over 200,000 users uh by the end of this year. And it's it's moving at this pace. Remember, this it was only it was only like October that we fully released the platform as it is today. And it's it's having remarkable results for for people. And so I'm excited to be on the show. I'm excited to talk to the credit union industry. The credit union industry needs to be armed with something like this. You all are the best at giving back to your communities and thinking about your members and thinking about your your your team. There is no nothing that is more valuable than to give somebody the ability to perform better. Could agree more.

SPEAKER_04 47:04

Well, Alex, we got to start transitioning to the second segment of our podcast. Now, this is where we sometimes do dad jokes. I'm sorry you're not you're not part of the dad jokes. Um, but um we need to start transitioning to that that that second segment. And today we're gonna play a quick round of Jeopardy. So bear with me while I I share my screen. Where's my mouse? Mouse, mouse, mouse. There you are. I'm gonna share my screen. Um bear with me one second.

SPEAKER_03 47:36

And I'm gonna share.

unknown 47:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 47:43

Since Alex, I know how passionate you are about leadership development, right? Oh, yes. And and great leaders in general. And by the way, can you see my screen? I can. I can. Yes. Um we're gonna do a little leadership, famous leaders, Jeopardy. Now, as always, I'll quickly explain this for those who are listening. Uh, it's a standard Jeopardy board on my screen, five categories ranging anywhere from one to five hundred points. Uh, we have U.S. presidents, country, and country/slash empire leaders, movement leaders, and then we have two columns of movie leaders. Um, I don't understand why. By the way, I didn't again, as always, disclaimer, I didn't create this. I just I just Google it and I find it on the internet. You're you're the host.

SPEAKER_06 48:39

Uh you're the you're the host. Yeah, you don't know what's going on.

SPEAKER_04 48:42

You just you gotta just you're hosting. Facts. Facts. So uh for the for the sake of this, you are team one, Alex, Justin, you are team two. Um all and again, you don't have to answer who is, what is, etc. When you ask, when you pick the the category, that is your question to answer. So, Alex, let's do a couple rounds real quick of Jeopardy. Alex, by all means, go for it. Uh, movie leaders for 500. Well, we'll go one movie leaders one or movie leaders two? Which one? Oh, one. All right, so Brave Autobot Leader fighting for peace and justice.

SPEAKER_06 49:27

Brave Autobot Leader. Is this from uh robots? Is this from the move the cartoon robot? Brave Autobot. Oh, oh, oh, oh, Megatron.

SPEAKER_04 49:40

Uh Justin, do you want to steal? Optimus Prime. Oh, that's that's the answer is Optimus Prime from Transformers. Alex, I'm sorry. That's incorrect. Justin, congratulations. All right. All right.

SPEAKER_03 49:57

All right, Justin, you're up. Uh, we'll go. Um, ooh.

Marker 09

SPEAKER_04 50:04

US presidents for 200. US president who led during the Great Depression and World War II.

SPEAKER_03 50:16

Uh that would be FDR. Alex, do you want to try to steal? Oh man. I had I I just had um Johnson.

unknown 50:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 50:31

Uh the correct answer is Franklin D. Roosevelt FDR. Congratulations. Justin, look at you. Justin G. I know. Right. Alex, I'm gonna be nice. I'm not gonna steal that from you.

SPEAKER_06 50:45

Um, no, no. Yeah, yeah, you should. It was his it was his first, so yeah, no stealing. All right, you did anyway.

SPEAKER_04 50:51

That's right. All right. Let's do let's do one more round just for the sake of time.

SPEAKER_03 50:58

Alex, please pick a category. All right, let's do leaders.

SPEAKER_06 51:05

Just leaders for 500.

SPEAKER_04 51:07

Uh, the country empire leaders for 500.

SPEAKER_06 51:10

Oh, country empire leaders.

SPEAKER_04 51:12

Um, actually, let's do movement leaders then for 500. Movement leaders for 500. First openly gay elected official in California and LGBTQ plus activist.

SPEAKER_03 51:23

I can't remember the name. Shoot. I can't either. Justin, you want it, you want it? All right, so we'll Justin? I can't remember the name. I I know it, but it's like no? Okay. So Alex, since no one answered that, go ahead and pick another one.

SPEAKER_06 51:47

All right, let's do uh country empire leaders for 500. Let's go there. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 51:54

Founder of the Mongol Empire, largest can continuous empire ever.

SPEAKER_03 52:02

What? Uh Genghis Khan? The correct answer is Genghis Khan.

SPEAKER_04 52:08

Good job. That was for 2,000 points, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 52:15

All right. Justin, last question. All right, I'm gonna go with um U.S. presidents for 300.

SPEAKER_04 52:24

U.S. pres 300. The first president of the United States and leader of the American Revolution. Oh my god, give me a break.

SPEAKER_02 52:34

Um American Revolution. Oh, uh George Washington.

SPEAKER_06 52:41

Oh, that's pretty good. He's just messing with us right now. I was like, Justin. Justin.

SPEAKER_04 52:49

Justin.

SPEAKER_06 52:50

He just he read the he read the revolution thing before you read the first president thing.

SPEAKER_04 52:53

All right, George, George, George Dubbs. Good job, Justin. Well, at the end of two rounds, that's all we only have time for two. Uh so we have Alex with negative 200, and Justin. Congratulations. You are the winner of of today's round of jeopardy with 1,000 points. Congratulations, Justin. What a what a remarkable win. What a remarkable win.

SPEAKER_06 53:17

Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_04 53:19

Remarkable win. Well, Alex, thank you so much for for spending some time with us. Um, greatly appreciate you know getting to know you throughout the course of the years, but you know, your true investment in in trying to make our industry better.

SPEAKER_06 53:38

So thank you very much. It's it's it's truly it's truly an honor, and I really hope we can make that impact because this industry, credit union industry, could really benefit from it. Couldn't agree more.

SPEAKER_04 53:48

And Justin, as always, thank you. Absolutely, it was my pleasure. And to close out, thank you again to Optimal Blue for sponsoring today's episode. And to all of you, we know your time is valuable. Thank you for tuning in to the latest episode of Acuma's On Point Podcast. We hope you enjoyed it. Until next time, be well, my friend.

SPEAKER_01 54:07

Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time at the Acuma on Point Podcast. If not already, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating. For more great episodes and information, visit us online at Acuma.org. And to get the latest updates, head over to our LinkedIn page.