“Creating space isn't accidental, but an actual decision that must be made every day.” - Jilly Nowacki

Welcome to episode 229 of The CUInsight Experience podcast with your hosts, Randy Smith, co-founder of CUInsight, and Jilly Nowacki, President and CEO of Humanidei.

This episode is sponsored by Alacriti, a leading payments fintech helping credit unions modernize money movement. Alacriti enables real-time money movement experiences for loan payments, A2A transfers, digital disbursements, and bill pay. Through a single cloud-native platform that connects to RTP, FedNow, Fedwire, ACH, Visa Direct, and Zelle, credit unions can progressively modernize without overhauling legacy systems. Learn more at alacriti.com!

In this new 2026 season, Jilly 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.

Join us for this episode as we discuss something that is seemingly simple but surprisingly difficult for leaders to do: creating space—space for the work that actually matters, space for the people who matter most, and space to think without your calendar screaming at you! Between emails, notifications, and endless meetings, it’s so easy to let the urgent take control over what's truly important, and we’re sharing how we intentionally carve out the time, energy, and focus to prevent that from happening.

Tune in as we discuss why leadership isn’t just about doing more but is also about choosing what to give your attention to. Jilly shares why protecting your energy matters just as much as protecting your time, and we explore how easy it is to let the squeaky wheel hijack your focus. We talk about strategies like the urgent-important matrix and service level agreements, but also the subtler art of saying “no” without feeling guilty. Learning to resist comparison and focusing on your organization’s mission instead of someone else’s success can make a bigger difference than people realize.

We also talk about the seasons of life and work, and how priorities shift over time. We reflect on moving from constant networking to more meaningful conversations, and we share how integrating personal and professional life helps with alignment and with what matters most! We also both share how we try to honor our natural rhythms, protect uninterrupted time for reflection, and avoid letting the “urgent” distract from the work that has the most impact.

By the end of this episode, expect to hear how intentional space—not just busy schedules or productivity hacks—creates clarity, energy, and better decisions! We are sharing honest experiences, practical habits, and a few birthday weekend laughs along the way! 

Find the full show notes on cuinsight.com.
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Books mentioned on The CUInsight Experience podcast: Book List

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