“Failure’s mistakes teach us so much more than our successes ever do.” – Caroline Willard

Welcome to episode 221 of The CUInsight Experience podcast with your hosts, Randy Smith, co-founder of CUInsight, and Jill Nowacki, President and CEO of Humanidei.

This episode is sponsored by The Sheeter Group - a leading executive benefits firm that meets your retention and succession needs. This includes non-qualified benefit plans, short and long-term incentive plans, compensation studies, scorecard design, performance evaluation, and more. Learn more at sheetergroup.com.

In this season, Jill and I will have conversations centered around leadership, credit unions, and living our best lives. We will have some of the most respected leaders from around credit unions who we are grateful to call friends join us in the discussion from time to time too.

In this episode, we have Caroline Willard returning to the podcast. Caroline is the President and CEO of Cornerstone League, and she joins us for this episode to discuss the importance of embracing curiosity as a leader. Curiosity is an essential leadership trait that pushes us out of familiar thinking and opens new worlds of possibility, but it also goes hand-in-hand with vulnerability, showing that leaders don't have all the answers and are open to and welcoming of new ideas.

Curious leaders are constantly learning, reading across diverse genres, and are fascinated by the creative processes of others—whether business leaders or rock stars. However, as we discuss, it does not always come naturally. After all, doing things by rote is easier, and leaders may fear failure.

We also talk about the tendency to get comfortable with the status quo, even if new tools or technologies could drive greater efficiency, and we discuss how curiosity requires vulnerability, resilience in the face of challenges and setbacks, and a willingness to pause and reflect to truly understand the root causes behind said challenges.

Curiosity is ultimately a choice and a practice and is truly one of the simplest ways for leaders to model openness, adaptability, and creative problem-solving for their teams. By remaining curious, leaders can uncover new possibilities, make better-informed decisions, and lead their teams to greater success! We hope that you enjoy our conversation with Caroline Willard! 

Find the full show notes on cuinsight.com.

Connect with Caroline:
Caroline Willard, President & CEO of Cornerstone League
cornerstoneleague.coop
Caroline: LinkedIn | CUNA
Cornerstone League: LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

Want to hear more from Caroline? Click here.