Blog

Innovation Leaders, Learners and Laggarts

light bulbs in a row with the last one lit
James Lenz Photo
Professional Development Manager
CUES

2 minutes

The CUES Podcast Episode 33 shownotes

A worldwide expert on digital adoption, JP Nicols has seen financial institutions he thinks of as innovation learners leaders or laggarts. Which are you?

A former financial services executive, Nicols is now managing director of the FinTech Forge and chairman of Next Money, a global community reinventing financial services through design, innovation and entrepreneurship. 

“The leaders are a pretty small handful of financial institutions globally,” he says in The CUES Podcast Episode 33, “driving change and living up to the digital age we’re seeing elsewhere in the world.

“There’s a long tail of laggarts that are not getting it and, frankly, maybe don’t care,” Nicols continues. “The group I probably enjoy the most is that group in the middle—learners. They know they need to do something even if they don’t know exactly what to do or how to get started. They know business as usual isn’t good enough.”

Nicols says in the podcast that financial institutions don’t have to be way out on the edge, but they do need to keep an eye on the gap between the experience members get elsewhere and the experience they get when they do business with the credit union.

“You have to stay in the ball park,” he explains.

In the podcast, Nicols also discusses trends of digital adoption and digital transactions throughout the world and the key thing holding back innovation in most organizations.

Listen to my interview with Nicols.

The CUES podcast is an audio program hosted by James Lenz, CUES professional development manager. James talks to credit union and cross-industry experts for their perspectives on trends and topics that matter to you.

Compass Subscription