Helen Keller famously said: “Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.” The future of credit unions needs to be seen through the prism of new partnerships. Expanded, creative, innovative partnerships. Partnerships that bring together a variety of stakeholders and that cover unexpected topics. Partners that are a source of growth, innovation and legitimacy. Today, collaboration presents an amazing opportunity to explore new frontiers. Just ask the latest study on Fintech. State of Fintech 2017. “Collaboration is key to the democratization of finance,” said Jon Jones, President at Trulioo. “Fintechs, traditional and challenger banks, and regulators need to work together to deliver what customers want safely and securely.” Leading Digital Transformation is like Urban Planning. “Keeping up with digital upstarts that are rewriting the rules of industries, from retail to banking to energy, is one of the biggest management challenges for major corporations today. One reason managers continue to struggle with this conundrum is that they usually attempt to attack their core systems on multiple fronts all at once. Instead, they should chart a course to improve their digital capabilities by learning from major cities, which have confronted challenges on an even larger scale. Digital transformation is almost always difficult and expensive, but learning to think like a city planner can help.” The Past, Present and Future of Voice Banking. “As Gadget noted, voice technology specifically and artificial intelligence generally will give banks a fresh opportunity to customize their banking experience with tailored recommendations and advice, such as suggesting ways to save more if it detects a customer has had a salary increase. That means there’s a huge potential for a shakeup while these capabilities are still new. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top.” Consumers: Post-Hacking – ““Don’t take the stance that your data is unbreachable,” he said. “Instead, tell customers [and/or] partners exactly where it is stored and link to those privacy policies as needed. People like to know where their data lives and how it is used. They can make informed choices from there.” Our minds have been hijacked by our phones. Tristan Harris wants to rescue them. “Technology steers what 2 billion people are thinking and believing every day. It’s possibly the largest source of influence over 2 billion people’s thoughts that has ever been created. Religions and governments don’t have that much influence over people’s daily thoughts. But we have three technology companies who have this system that frankly they don’t even have control over—with newsfeeds and recommended videos and whatever they put in front of you—which is governing what people do with their time and what they’re looking at. Have Smartphones destroyed a generation? “More comfortable online than out partying, post-Millennials are safer, physically, than adolescents have ever been. But they’re on the brink of a mental-health crisis.”