Part of popular startup mythology that lack of experience is a competitive advantage. Approaching an industry with a fresh set of eyes, unbound by the perceived limitations of “this is how it works,” can indeed yield brilliant insights. Challenging assumptions and industry norms is essential to driving change. However, knowing why those norms exist and the downstream implications of change while still forging ahead to carve a new path is what separates quixotic endeavors from

I spend a lot of time in the tidal pools of innovation. You know the place where the rushing wave of new technology crashes against the rocks of customers needs and real world viability. As the tide pulls back, ideas, partial products and entrepreneurs scamper about looking for product market fit before the next surge either washes them away or carries them to higher ground. Ideas end up in the tidal pools when they focus on the wave rather than the outcome. It is evident bec

Is your financial institution looking for innovation? Have you tried partnering with a local accelerator? How about startups pitching your executive team during a branded demo day? If you're still not feeling the effects of innovation, how about attending one of the trendy new fintech conferences or personalized tour of Silicon Valley? If your efforts end here, you’re looking for innovation in all the wrong places. You’ve ended up at the Fintech Petting Zoo. Happy hours with

Does your bank have an innovation lab. Millennial council? Have you taken a field trip to the local incubator or co working space? Even better, a scouting expedition to Silicon Valley to observe innovation at work? What your bank really needs is a simple sandbox. The concept of a sandbox comes from the cybersecurity world. To avoid causing system failures or creating vulnerabilities when testing new programs, the new program is executed outside of the production environment.

Innovation is all about value creation. Or at least it should be. It’s easy to get caught up in the front end of the process. Brainstorming new ideas, drawing on whiteboards, and moving different colored sticky notes around the wall is fun. But all of that should be a means to an end. That end should be about creating value; whether it’s improving the customer experience, taking the cost out of a process, or creating a new feature or a completely new product category. Most of

The financial services industry has a long and important tradition of executive education. Up and coming managers are sent off to graduate banking programs to learn industry best practices developed over prior decades, and in some cases, centuries. These programs are well prepared to teach the evolving art and science of asset and liability management, credit underwriting, portfolio management, and general leadership and management principles. However, many programs have not

Disruption is already here. It just isn’t widely distributed yet, as William Gibson famously said about the future. Most of the disruption that we have seen in financial services so far has been on the surface, at the Experience Level. Customer touchpoints are often just digital wrappers around the same-old, same-old. Especially most of those created by incumbent financial institutions. Think of a simple financial app with limited functionality, such as balances and transfers