“I’ve never met a regulation I can’t work around.” - Diana Dykstra

Welcome to episode 16 of The CUInsight Experience podcast. Hosted by Randy Smith, co-founder and publisher of CUInsight.com. The President and CEO of the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues, Diana Dykstra, is today’s guest! Diana is also on the WOCCU board, the current President of the Western CUNA Management School, and much more. Listen in to our conversation, which will explore everything from why it’s so important for her to be involved on the national and global level, what she’s learned from her experiences, and various aspects of innovation.

Diana learns a lot from the international credit union system, she points out. Seeing credit unions in other countries helps you remember and appreciate how important the credit union movement is worldwide. She also enjoys learning from these international sources, as well as sharing her own insight and knowledge with them.

As you may have gathered by now, Diana is an incredibly busy and productive woman. We’ll chat about her time management system and how she manages to get so much done! She doesn’t really use to-do lists, but always knows what she needs to do the next day, she points out. Thanks to always having been busy, she naturally knows how to manage it and juggle everything she has to do.

Tune into the episode to hear all about these topics, as well as the greatest strengths of Diana’s team, what they’ve heard her say so many times that they could finish her sentence, what inspired her to start working in credit unions (and whether that inspiration has changed), and much more. Enjoy!

Find links to everything we talked about in the show notes on CUInsight.com.

How to find Diana:
Diana Dykstra
President and CEO, California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues
[email protected]
www.ccul.org
Twitter | Linkedin 

In This Episode:

[00:03] - Randy welcomes listeners back to the show, and introduces Diana Dykstra.

[02:48] - Did Diana enjoy preparing for the Wegner Award, or was she troubled because she still feels like she has so much to do?

[03:58] - Diana talks about why it’s so important to her to learn from credit union systems internationally.

[05:54] - Does Diana have a favorite experience from her work outside of the United States?

[07:02] - Diana shares the advice that she would give someone who has an interest in the global good and would like to be a part of that system.

[08:22] - We hear about what has continued to motivate Diana over her years of work in credit unions. She also talks about her time management system, and whether she’s good at switching off from work.

[11:10] - What’s Diana’s reaction to the phrase “that’s the way we’ve always done it”?

[12:12] - Is there a belief in credit unions that Diana thinks will have to fundamentally change in the relatively near future?

[13:32] - Diana talks about the war for talent in California’s credit unions.

[15:49] - We hear Diana’s thoughts on the fear of change, and how she helps minimize this for the people who she leads. 

[18:39] - Diana chats about whether she has a network of people to lean on for honest feedback, even when it might not be positive.

[19:30] - What inspired Diana originally to ta