CU 2.0 Podcast Episode 407 Hanscom FCU CEO Peter Rice on His New Book About Walking the Camino and Leadership

Come join Peter Rice, CEO of $2.3 billion Hanscom Federal Credit Union, on a walk.  A Long walk.  70+ miles.  On the Camino de Santiago in Spain and Portugal.

Rice did that walk three times for his book Break or Become: How Hard Roads Make Good Leaders.

What’s the book about? In an hour long podcast Rice explains and, listen up, it’s about the death of a spouse, raising two young boys as a single dad, entering a second marriage, and lastly a Camino with two co-workers.

Stuff goes wrong.  Stuff goes right.

In the walks Rice explores big topics: what’s a leader’s role, what’s a father’s role, what differentiates credit unions, what’s the future of credit unions, and why would a groom wear kilts to a wedding in Lisbon, Portugal?

Rice by now has added one more Camino to his achievements and, as for your host, I have done two and must admit Rice’s enthusiasm for the path has triggered in me a desire to add one more.

But know this is not so much a book about walking the Camino as it is about leadership -- but it just may be the most unusual leadership book on the shelf.

There’s a link in the show notes to the book, buy it.

Rice has been on the show before In 2021 he talked about helping members manage stress.  In 2025 he had been named CEO at Hanscom Federal Credit Union and he returned to the show to talk about credit union federal tax exemption, even the history of his native Ireland. Links to those shows are in the show notes.

When he told me he had published a book, I had to get him on.

Listen up.

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