David L. Peterson

International Speaker, Bestselling Author, Serial Entrepreneur, Shipwreck Survivor

Innovation ThinkTime

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Best Bank in Valdosta … and Not Just Cause I’m Sayin’ It

I referenced my bank, Citizens Community Bank (CCB) in a recent blog post discussing how difficult it is to be a bank. Many non-banks wanting to offer financial services find that existing rules and regulations make it difficult to do so. However, CCB performs a wide variety of banking services with a perfect blend of technical acumen. It also makes use of tools, such as mobile banking apps and personal service, that are usually associated with community banks. While being a member of their board of directors may make me appear biased, there is still no doubt that CCB simply consists of good honest bankers who genuinely care about serving their community. You don’t even have to just take my word for it. Let the media convince you. For 2019, our regional newspaper, The Valdosta Daily …

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The Innovation Challenge – Are You Up For It?

Most companies are well-run and operate with a reasonable level of efficiency. The very best companies, though, are not satisfied with being “just ok” and work to constantly improve, innovate, and evolve to enable creativity that leads to innovation-driven growth. I have written extensively on the need for Innovation-Driven Growth (you can check out these articles on my LinkedIn page), but it’s one thing to talk the talk about being innovative, and another to walk the walk. Member Driven Technologies (MDT), located in Farmington Hills, MI, is one such company. I had the honor of working with them for several years providing consulting and strategic planning for their senior leaders and board of directors. CEO Larry Nichols is one of the most engaging, thoughtful individuals you will …

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If Banking Was So Easy, Everyone Would Already Be Doing It: Part 2

If you have read my recent post on banking with online non-banks (if you haven’t, it can be found here), a good follow up to it would be a recent article from The Financial Brand, “Eight Challenger Banks Traditional Banks Should Worry About.” I would highly encourage you to read the article before continuing to the rest of this post. Of the eight banks listed, four are offered by traditional banks or are partnering with them. Of the remaining four, three are from non-U.S. companies attempting to find a U.S.-based partner to provide services here. The remaining company is Varo Money, a fintech company attempting to use the new OCC charter for fintechs to offer financial services. I found this statement about them to be the most interesting: “Varo Money became the first mobile-only …

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If Banking Was So Easy, Everyone Would Already Be Doing It!

While perusing my daily news stories related to financial services, I came across this article from The Financial Brand. It discussed a study concluding 58% of potential account switchers, including those already looking to move from their existing financial services provider, would consider an “alternative” provider like Apple, Facebook, Google, or Amazon. Not surprisingly, Millennials and Gen Z were more likely to consider a non-bank to provide banking services than Gen X or Baby Boomers. It seems the 58% was a blend of all demographics surveyed. This insight is not surprising to me. In fact, I was only surprised the overall percentage was as low as 58%. Let’s break this down—someone is doing a survey and asks, “Would you consider Apple, Facebook, Google, or Amazon as a financial …

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If You are Perceived to be Delivering Bad Service … You Are

Recently, I was in Houston running a bit late to the Hobby Airport. The Hertz return center is off-property, but they have a separate lane for those who can get an electronic copy of their receipt. Normally, you can simply pull up, grab your stuff, and walk away, but since I wasn’t at the airport yet, I had to have a Hertz shuttle bus deliver me to the terminal. Typically, there is a five-minute or less wait. That was not the case this afternoon. Initially, I was the only person waiting, so it’s possible a shuttle had just left before I arrived. From where I was, though, I could see two parked Hertz shuttle vans with drivers inside, not coming to pick up passengers. After about 10 minutes, one shuttle van moved about 150 feet away, but still did not come to get us. More people were …

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