william azaroff | blog

The last one standing.

2009-07-10T02:38:00.006-07:00

I'm alone in Bologna today, the last Vancitizen left.

It has been an intense trip. Full of experiencing the local culture, understanding new business models, learning economic theory, leadership development and powerful bonding with other Vancity employees and Board members, labour leaders, city councilors, not for profit directors and some fantastic spouses and partners of the participants. It has been intensely social and I leave here with a real love for all of those I was lucky enough to be in Bologna with, some of whom I had never met before our orientation just three weeks ago.

There is obviously a lot to reflect on. What is exportable back to Vancity and British Columbia, and what is unique to this region's attitudes and culture that might not be effective back home? What does Redefining Wealth truly mean, and how do we bring that to life? What role can cooperatives play in our local economy and how can Vancity play a role in their development and success?

Some people started catching their trains on Wednesday afternoon, most left Thursday morning, a few left today. I am the only one who stayed in through Saturday. It seemed like a good idea when I booked the trip. The last time I was in Europe was exactly twenty years ago when I traveled with a good friend who is now my brother-in-law. I wanted an extra couple of days to soak it all in.

But after absorbing everything we have done in the last two weeks, and going from such an intensely social time to being alone, and missing my wife Amy and son Ivan back home, I just feel done.

So today is a day of reflection, exhaustion and a small touch of loneliness and homesickness.

I am not looking forward to a long day of flying tomorrow, but I can't wait to be home.

Thanks for reading my blog. I write my blog as a way of making sense of my thoughts and experiences, and am so gratified and humbled that people find it worth reading. Each comment people left on my blog gave me a wonderful moment of elation. I thank each of you who left a comment, it made me feel connected to you at home, which was a much needed feeling.

Monday, I'm back in my office and will try to just be around to catch up an email and connect with people and projects. If you're in head office, please drop by at the NE corner of the 7th floor to say hi. I'd love to see you!

And now I'm going to do something for the first time since arriving - take a nap!

Where we spend our time.

2009-07-08T09:24:00.001-07:00

In our time here, we had three lectures by Stafano Zamagni, professor of cooperative economics at the University of Bologna. He is a leading economics scholar.

On Monday evening we all had dinner at his summer home in the hills outside Bologna. That day he had been in Rome meeting with Prime Minister Berlusconi about economic models that could relieve the economic crisis in Italy. It was pretty amazing that his day consisted of meeting with the Prime Minister to debate economic policy and spending the evening with a bunch of cooperators from Vancouver.

The next morning was to be our last lecture with him. But our schedule was changed and he was moved his lecture to the afternoon, and then, when the time came, he was an hour late for our lecture. The reason? He was in Rome again meeting with the Pope to work with him on his upcoming encyclical on poverty.

That has got be one of the best excuses for running late I've ever heard.

And it got me thinking: Who do we make time for in life? Here's a busy man, meeting with the head of state one day and the Pope the next and yet he doesn't cancel his sessions with us. He sees the value of his time spent with us.

Are there groups in your community that are worthy of your time but somehow never get it? Are there small cooperatives running on a shoestring that are doing good work but struggling that could use our help as credit unions?

That balance between what is large and what is small, but seeing the importance in each is pretty powerful.

Meant to write.

2009-07-06T16:03:00.006-07:00

I really wanted to write something meaningful today, but it's 1am and I need to sleep.

Lots of thoughts, and I will write up a thoughtful piece for ChangeEverything.ca in the next couple of days. I'm inventing a theory I call Independent Collectivism that I am eager to share.

I spent a day in Florence and one in Venice. Fantastic times!

Too many ideas swirling around. How to sum it all up in a post? I really have grown so fond of my fellow travelers. Having a group of people across the organization aligned in this experience is in itself an accomplishment and should prove to bring some good action back with us.

I add this one photo from a session with a union yesterday.

Photos for Vancity employees.

2009-07-03T09:26:00.007-07:00

I hear that some of my photos are ending up on our intranet, so here are some more of my colleagues and friends whom I get to work with...

At a social coop focusing on integrating people with disabilities, addictions and prison records back into society.

A print shop focused on helping to integrate those with disabilities.

At a winemaking coop.

Randy Johal at a workers coop focused on property management.

A fun moment at a Zemagni lecture.

At a coop making concrete.

At a transport coop.

What I'm loving.

2009-07-02T23:28:00.003-07:00

Just some random notes before I head out today.

It is remarkable having so much time with a group of people spread throughout Vancity. It is a treat to not just be in a meeting or have a lunch, but spend so many days, have so many meals and really get to understand each other. So much of what we need to do involves building networks, and the network we are building should prove totally useful back home.

We are here with labour leaders, the head of a not for profit focusing on integrating those with addictions into productive roles in our society and a Vancouver city councillor. Hearing their reactions and getting to discuss our experiences with them is truly a treat and keeps us from getting too in the weeds about Vancity stuff. If we are to be inclusive we gotta keep it high level.

In other news: I bought a nice Italian suit. It's being altered, so I hope I can find the little shop again when the time comes to pick it up.

The food is truly excellent, and is a critical part of our experience.

The city is really lovely. Over the weekend I plan to go to Florence, and perhaps someplace else. We'll see what the trains have in store for me.

My brain is working overtime with thoughts about what this all means and what I can do differently once I'm back home. I feel a tremendous obligation to the rest of the Vancity employeees to find something useful, not a new money making opportunity, not a short term fix, but something meaningful to help Vancity along its mission. I also owe it to future years to discover something tangibly useful about this trip, so others can go too. Any thoughts? How do you prove this isn't a junket, but is relevant to our organization at large?

Lost in translation.

2009-07-02T14:39:00.009-07:00

It should be no surprise that the models of business reflect the models of society. And yet I find myself surprised.

The nature of a cooperative is that it lives by the seven cooperative principles. These are:

Voluntary and open membership
Democratic member control
Member economic participation
Autonomy and independence
Education, training and information
Cooperation among cooperatives
Concern for community

In Canada this model is fairly rare, with a few notable examples, like the credit unions, MEC and a few others. So we keep asking the cooperatives here questions about how they operate, because to us it seems like a huge deal that they have woven a social fiber into their business operations. Some of the answers we are receiving back delve into tax law and details of their corporate structure and organization. It seems like we're not quite understanding each other, even though the translators are doing a superb job.

And then it hit me - to them the cooperative model is so expected that they think we're asking a different question. We're asking about the model because it's so novel to meet a big machinery manufacturing company doing business in 75 countries making billions of Euros a year and behaving according to the cooperative principles. To them it's just called business.

The intention with which you create a business affects the nature, culture and values of that business from then on. These businesses started with a social conscience and it is a part of how they operate. So they are free to innovate and expand, while making society stronger. It is social finance in action.

The model of businesses making a lot of money so you can give some of it back as corporate donations doesn't resonate here. Companies doing awful things give back money, and sometimes lots of it. That doesn't stop them from corruption and shady business dealings. When the people who work at the coop are involved with its ownership, governance and profitability the need to give a lot back doesn't make it socially responsible, responsibility is part of the very core of business.

My son asked for a picture of me eating gelato.

My son loves turtles and right near our hotel there is a turtle fountain that always makes me think of him.

Thoughts on cooperation.

2009-06-30T14:31:00.003-07:00

First of all, let me just say that, wow, it's been a long time since I've been in school.

We had two half day sessions today. The first was with Cooperative Economics professor Stefano Zamagni, who lectured on economic theory from Adam Smith to today. The second was with Pier Luigi Sacco, from the IUAV University in Venice. Yesterday we heard from Professor Zamagni's wife, Vera, who is also an economics professor here.

Professor Zamagni is a world renowned expert on economics, who discussed the distinction between the political economy, which is composed of the exchange of equivalence of value and redistribution, and the civil economy which layers in reciprocity.

What does that mean? It means that beyond the negotiated cost of a product or service, in the civil economy there is the concept of reciprocity. Families often work this way, in that they will give each other money or their time knowing that they might need to call in a favour at another time, but the deal of that exchange is organic and isn't set out ahead of time. I wouldn't sell my car where the agreement was that I gave over my car but we'd negotiate the price later. With social capital in place, the value of the exchange can be negotiated informally over a longer period.

Lots of interesting concepts here, but what strikes me is that the history of the region created tight communities who cared about individualism. Social capital is extremely strong. People don't care about growing singular large companies, but in creating smaller companies, often as coops, which partner and work together to create the goods or services they wish to produce. Because social capital is so strong, deals are done on a handshake, and contracts are avoided most of the time. Seventy percent of companies in Italy have less than 100 employees, and only 10% are large companies, defined as having more than 500 employees. Companies with 500 employees at home would not even be considered large companies, and here they are in the top 10%.

A lot of what seems to work here is not necessarily directly exportable to North America, which is a less trusting and more litigious society. Having said that, I think the search for partnerships and the building of reciprocity has some lessons for us back home. Imagine if, instead of starting a new division in your company, you partnered with another company to achieve what you wanted. What if these partnerships were tight and based on trust, so not everything had to have an SLA and a legal contract? Would that fly?

Another concept I find interesting is the two models of competition. As an employee of a cooperative, we discuss coopetition when I get together with my credit union peers, and that's what they have here. Traditional companies have positional competition, where companies compete to take the top position, and only one can win. Here they have cooperative competition, where competition helps companies focus and hone their edge to make themselves better, but not to drive their competitors out of business. They need each other to stay lean and innovative. This seems to me like the way credit unions compete back home.

It strikes me that we actually have a lot of cooperative competition at home, but with one key difference. I share lots of ideas with my peers at the banks and credit unions, but only once I meet them and develop some trust. It isn't the default. Because companies here are very small, they are often family run, and the default is to trust because families know each other. The trust is inherent as opposed to built.

Tomorrow we're out of the classroom to visit Imola and meet with a couple of cooperatives. Will write more in the next two days.

Also, my first of three guest columns on ChangeEverything.ca was published today.

First impressions of Bologna

2009-06-28T04:46:00.002-07:00

It is truly lovely here. The city is dense but seems very livable. Last night three of us went out for a drink after dinner, and the streets were bustling, people were out drinking and socializing. But unlike at home, where at midnight the only people out would be young people, often getting rowdy and obnoxious and drunk, people of all ages were out to enjoy each other's company. It felt more like community, rather than older people in their homes and the night owned by the young and inexperienced.

My flight over was uneventful, and I stayed up well past the point of exhaustion to make the leap to Italian time. Last I slept 10 hours and feel great today.

I wandered the streets for a bunch, having slept past the informal meeting time this morning. The agenda today doesn't start until 3pm, when we get a debrief and a walking tour of parts of the city.

I have included some photos below from my first evening and morning.

Putting the BLOG in BoLOGna.

2009-06-26T07:32:00.004-07:00

I'm in one of those odd moments where I'm ready to go but have a few hours before I have to leave for the airport. I can't tell if I'm in a bit of denial, or if I'm good to go, but I feel ready.

It's hard leaving my wife and son for two weeks. That's the hardest part. I also feel a sense of obligation and duty to discover something useful and actionable, yet strategic to bring back with me to Vancity. It's a responsibility to my fellow staff and our members that I appreciate and want, but I know that it's critical to deliver something.

As I work on our next three years online with my WEB Team (Web Engagement & Banking), we've been putting our opportunities into three buckets. The Strategic (this aligns with our vision of Redefining Wealth), the Opportunistic (what will be easy to implement based on other work going on at Vancity, especially in IT and at Central1) and the Fixit (what do we just need to get right). I like this sense of planning, because it creates clarity on what is strategic and what we just need to get done.

I feel the same way about this trip. Meeting with cooperatives in Bologna, learning about cooperative economics, seeing different models of how cooperatives operative, innovate and deliver should give me the same three levels of ideas. There will be a strategic layer that aligns with our vision, where every transaction our members make at Vancity has some positive benefit or impact on the greater region and our citizens. Those things won't be quick fixes, they will require some effort and planning and likely several steps to get us there. There will be some things we can do opportunistically, those things that are low hanging fruit or tie into other things we're doing that we can try almost for the sake of trying. And there are those things we just have to do because it would just simply make us better.

I say all that, but I'm not sure what it will look like. Will those ideas come to me? Will it be a lot of philosophy and great discussion that will be a struggle to turn into action? Or can we get some stuff done?

In the meantime, I've said goodbye to Ivan for what will be the longest time by far that I've ever been away from him, and to Amy, whose support is always so appreciated. I've set my out-of-office messaging. I've written and submitted my first of three guest columns to ChangeEverything, which Kate will publish during my time in Italy.

There's nothing to do except open my mind and go experience something.

If you have questions, let me know. If you want to understand something while I'm there, drop me a comment. Part of my obligation is to you, the people who somehow find what I write interesting enough to follow along. I am eager to engage in discussion about what I am discovering.

Assuming I can find wifi...

.eco would be a good domain to have.

2009-06-18T20:32:00.004-07:00

A year and a half ago or so, I was introduced to two guys in Vancouver who were trying to start a new top-level domain for companies and organizations doing good environmental work - .eco. Their resumes and backgrounds were impressive, and they seemed to really know what they were doing, but still, I thought, what are the chances that these two guys could actually create a new top-level domain?

Cut to last week, and I run into Trevor Bowden, one of .eco founders, and they have made truly remarkable progress.

What? from dot eco on Vimeo.

They just launched their website, doteco.info, which is great blend of useful information and videos about what they are trying to accomplish, ways to participate and help spread the message, and information about their current supporters (some of whom are truly impressive). All in a very nice looking website. Pulling off an informative and good-looking website about a new concept is very difficult.

They are gearing up for a presentation in 2010 to ICANN, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers . This is the organization responsible for the Internet's naming system.

So what is .eco?

The .eco system will display current, detailed eco-information to anyone with a browser, anytime they need it, anywhere on the planet. It will do this by collecting information from people when they register .eco domain names for their companies, organisations, products, or even themselves and then displaying that information on a standardised, open platform.

What they want to do with .eco is very impressive. They would link it to verifiable environmental action, so those using the .eco domain would be showing off a badge that they had made progress on reducing their environmental impact.

Treehugger has a great article about what they are doing.

They have one major competitor, namely Al Gore and a group who are also trying to start a .eco top-level domain. I'm a big fan of Al Gore, but it's kind of fun to watch some guys from Vancouver put together a very different and very compelling alternative to a .eco domain and see if they can give the bigwigs a run for their money.

I think the .eco domain is useful. A company like Toyota could assume that people going to toyota.eco would be at their site for specific reasons, and they could highlight their environmental products and policies and corporate initiatives front and centre. It could be a form of built-in audience segmentation (those who choose to visit a .eco version of the site instead of a .com), and not just a redirect to a main corporate site.

So check out doteco.info and see what it's all about. It may be coming to an Internet near you...

Preparing for Bologna.

2009-06-03T16:11:00.001-07:00

Things have been coming together nicely for my upcoming trip to Bologna. Just to recap, Vancity sends a small delegate to Bologna, and this year I have the great good fortune to be one of them.

We go to Bologna to learn from Stefano Zamagni, Professor of Economics at the University of Bologna, and visit several co-operatives in this area. The area around Bologna, Emilia Romagna, has 35% of the economy driven directly from co-operatives (it is estimated that they indirectly account for more than 50% of the local economic development).

I got my passport in the mail today, I have my plane tickets and hotel booked. Tomorrow I meet with a bunch of the other attendees to start prepping. I have read some of my pre-reading, including a paper we wrote for the BC Business Council about co-operatives and the part they could play in driving critical growth for our province.

In my last post, I wrote a little bit about Vancity's new vision of Redefining Wealth. I am heartened by the response I got from that. My friend Jeremy Osborn, a local social entrepreneur focused on climate change said: "What a great, broad way to think about sustainability." Not everyone gets this directly. I mean why is a credit union taking on something like redefining wealth?

We are a credit union focused on our triple bottom line objectives: economic, social and environmental. We measure our success based on a blended value in these areas. But we are a financial institution, and as such our objectives have to be grounded in the tools of our trade. Redefining Wealth, in my opinion, is an inclusive, holistic view of sustainability rooted in finances. It isn't anything amazingly new for Vancity, but clarifies our role as a financial institution dedicated to social change.

This vision will drive our objectives over the next ten years, and I'm excited to be at the ground floor in defining what it means for our members, our staff and the communities where we live and work. It also has implications on our products and services, our service delivery experience, our technology choices, our suppliers and vendors... The list goes on.

In my view it takes a triple bottom line approach and blends it into a married value. In other words, a triple bottom line approach can be one where we maximize profits in order to do good work in the environmental and social pillars with our profits. We have always done this in the form of granting. But Redefining Wealth causes us to work even harder to ensure that all the ways we do business have a positive impact on our financial bottom line, as well as enhancing our members' and employees' communities. What if our basic service offering, our sponsorships, our deals made the environment better, our communities stronger and made us money. It's complicated, but it's something to aspire to.

Photo credit - L e l e

My Bologna has a first name, it's E-M-I-L-I-A.

2009-05-19T16:41:00.001-07:00

Next month I'm going to Bologna, Italy. Not on vacation, but on a business trip.

Why is the Web Director at a Vancouver-area credit union going to Italy on business? Good question, and in answering I will be asking you for help.

view larger map

My trip will be to Bologna, which is the capital of Emilia Romagna, whose economy is driven in large part by cooperatives. Agricultural cooperatives, cooperatives delivering social services, artisan cooperatives and so on. Vancity has been sending delegates to this region to learn from other cooperatives and, in particular, from Professor Stefano Zamagni, Professor of Economics at the University of Bologna for several years. This year they opened it up to a dozen or so employees from across the organization, and I was lucky enough to be chosen.

My task is to bring the knowledge, ideas and inspiration about what it means to be a financial cooperative back to my work at Vancity, to our employees and to our members. I believe that by combining the web, which is essential to the future of our company, with our cooperative roots we can more fully live up to our potential as a credit union.

I reach out to you because many of my readers work at cooperatives, especially financial cooperatives. The sixth principle of the Seven Cooperative Principles is:

Cooperation among Cooperatives
Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures.

One of the things I am excited about in going to Bologna is that I get to reach out to you, my blog readers and have a conversation with you all about what I am learning and experiencing. And what I want from you is to participate. Comment, leave your thoughts, tell me what you think.

Vancity is embarking on a new vision: Redefining Wealth. It is an evolving mandate to look at how we create wealth in our communities and how we can do that in a way that is sustainable and equitable. I look forward to hearing from you about this journey I am on to better understand our vision and interpret that vision for our members and explore what it means (and doesn't mean) with you.

So that's my invitation. What do you think? Will you help me?

BarCampBankBC2 is coming in September.

2009-04-28T20:26:00.013-07:00

I was thinking about whether or not we'd want to do another BarCampBankBC this year.

What's a BarCampBank?

The aim of BarCampBank is to foster innovations and the creation of new business models in the world of banking and finance.

Budgets are tight, and the industry is in a very different place from when we were organizing the event last year. So I reached out to Tim McAlpine and Gene Blishen, my partners in crime from last year, to discuss.

We wondered if a smaller, scaled-back event, with a more local flavour might be a nice idea. No sponsors, no fancy meals, just a place to brainstorm about banking innovation and some amazing people to do the brainstorming.

I am very excited to announce that BarCampBankBC2 is on! It'll take place on Saturday, September 26th from 9am to 5pm at Vancity's Head Office. I especially want people at local banks and credit unions to attend and join the conversation.

View Larger Map

We're charging $10 (CDN) to cover a pizza lunch and to ensure people will actually show up if they say they will. You can register for the event now.

If you're coming, please add your name to the wiki.

10 years ago today.

2009-04-20T13:50:00.010-07:00

I'm in a reflective mood today. Ten years ago today I finished shooting what would be my last film.

The Engagement Party is a full-length comedy about a young couple trying to maneuver through a disastrous engagement party their families have thrown for them. I wrote, co-produced, co-edited and directed the film. I raised the money, I worked hard to try and sell it to a distributor. I spent several years of my life working on it from the beginning of the creative process of screenwriting to the nuts and bolts business side of negotiating a deal.

It's funny the course life takes. Looking back, I can see how making The Engagement Party led me on the journey I am now on.

I became disenchanted with filmmaking after producing that film. It was heartbreaking pouring so much of myself into a project that fizzled out. It fizzled out because of the competitive nature of the business, because of the lack of household name talent, because of the digital format, and, in the end, because it wasn't all that good (believe me, it wasn't). Film is such a precarious business, and I became frustrated with having to prove myself repeatedly.

The Engagement Party was a very early digital feature and experimenting on new digital formats and taking on a pioneer role opened up opportunities for me that led me deeper into new media, emerging technologies and the web, and onto my current career path. I would not be where I am if it wasn't for that film.

I was a mediocre filmmaker, but I'm a great producer. I'm good at bringing people together, getting them on the same page, inspiring them and getting them focused and all rowing in the same direction. My talents as a producer continue to serve me exceedingly well. And I love taking the entrepreneurial attitude and approach, which is a prerequisite for being a filmmaker, and applying it inside an organization I care about. Being an intrapreneur.

I wonder what I would have thought if you had told me then that ten years later I would be working at a financial institution. I probably would have been disappointed. And yet I love my job. I look forward to coming into work every day, and relish in the challenges, successes and occasional failures. I am a very lucky person to have what I have, and to have had all the experiences that brought me to this point.

Including making a digital feature film in Seattle in April of 1999 called The Engagement Party.

PS: I just realized that I have the words Director and Engagement in my title, so it's not all that different really.

Looking inward.

2009-04-17T06:25:00.000-07:00

Traditionally my job at Vancity has had three basic functions:

online banking stuff
online marketing stuff
social media

There's more to it than that, but most of what I have historically done falls into those three camps.

About a year ago my role was expanded and I added our Intranet to my role. This meant that I got to work with Heather Harmse, one of the rock stars in the company, who manages our internal web world. Heather had been developing a vision for how an employee portal could benefit our staff-members (we put the member in staff member) to help them better serve our members, collaborate and get the right information at the right time. For me, it was a chance to learn something new. I had never had direct experience running an Intranet.

I have learned a lot from Heather, and one thing I heave learned is that an Intranet isn't all that different from the three areas in the online world I list above. We have three basic functions:

employee self serve functionality
promoting corporate information to staff
enterprise social computing (what is that?)

Not so different. Self serve functionality automates business processes so our staff can serve our members better, in the same way online banking automates banking processes. Marketing is just a matter of getting relevant information to people in a digestible way, and this is no different within a company, ensuring our staff knows what's going on with the company and can get more engaged. And all the amazing learning we've had with social media has direct applicability inside the company.

The Employee Portal project is just starting to take off, in partnership with our colleagues in IT. After several months of talking to people throughout the company, it looks like there is a lot of alignment behind the initiative and we can pull out of dry dock. This will be one of my big initiatives for 2009 (and beyond).

I am excited to take what I've learned the past few years and apply the lessons on the inside so our staff can benefit from a highly usable, connected, efficient, differentiated platform to help them do their jobs.

I'm going to Convergence '09 on May 11th.

2009-04-14T06:14:00.000-07:00

I am very excited about Convergence '09. It may prove to be one of the best digital marketing events in Vancouver this year. There are three reasons I make this statement.

The keynote speaker is David Plouffe, Campaign Manager, Obama for America
It takes place at the new Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre (although it went massively over budget, it is the only LEED certified convention centre in North America)
Last year's event rocked (and I'm not just saying that because I was on a panel)

Take a look at the program, there are all kinds of great topics.

Here's a description of the talk by David Plouffe:

After winning the election on November 4, 2008, President Obama called Plouffe "the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America." Credited with achieving one of the biggest upsets in American political history, his campaign generated a brand loyalty program with unprecedented success. Plouffe shares with the audience the election story and the process of developing a winning social media strategy that inspired millions to engage in the Obama campaign.

It takes place on May 11th. The price is $299 for the day, but they have early bird pricing on for $199. You can register for Convergence '09 here.

Let me know if you're going... I'll see you there.

Tune in to "Spectacle: Elvis Costello with..."

2009-04-11T08:12:00.007-07:00

In 1987, my friend Eric Drysdale (now my brother-in-law) gave me a mixed tape full of songs by Elvis Costello, and told me he thought I would love him. Being friends with Eric meant being introduced to amazing music. He has great taste, and a talent for finding new artists. I listened to the tape, liked some songs, didn't much care for others and that was that.

I didn't take to Elvis immediately, but Eric's words stayed with me and when I was travelling through Europe in my year off between high school and university (part of that trip was with Eric), I noticed that Elvis was playing Amsterdam the same time as I was there. I got a ticket and saw a show that changed my life.

I have been to a few concerts in my life that were transformational, transcending above the time and place and material and audience into something amazingly unforgettable. The Elvis Costello show in Amsterdam was one of those times. Eric was right, I fell in love with Elvis and started buying his back catalog, which was a pretty major commitment. Since then Elvis has been in a class apart for me, and his songs resonate, conjuring up times and places for me like no one else.

Recently I heard that Elvis was getting his own talk show. I thought it was a little odd, but he did fill in for David Letterman when the talk show host fell in 2003.

Amy and I have watched the first two episodes of Spectacle: Elvis Costello with..., and are incredibly impressed.

It is a show about music and inspiration and connecting with audiences and how songs materialize, made by music lovers for music lovers. It isn't watered down, and it isn't the least bit sensationalistic.

Elvis also embraces his own stature as a singer-songwriter of great influence and import and uses it in the show, starting each show with a cover of the guest artist's material to kick off the show. With another host this might self-aggrandizing., but it IS Elvis Costello after all. He asks insightful questions and has conversations that help you understand the music, the artist, the background and context. In last night's episode he asked a bunch of questions to each member of The Police individually, which painted a rich picture of the band and then brought them all out and tied it all together. It's clear he loves doing the show and the moments when he plays live with his guests are like nothing else on TV.

I know the show is being carried on the Sundance Channel in the States. Check it out!

Welcome to the new vancity.com.

2009-04-08T08:34:00.001-07:00

I am so happy to launch the new look of vancity.com today!

This was truly a team effort: Julie, our recently-departed designer, did an amazing job; Wendy, our usability expert and project manager, shepherded the project through usability testing and led the team wonderfully; and Roberto, one of the newest Canadians, expertly managed a lot of the content and big fixes. Our extended team at Central 1 did all the front end development and did a great job. It's truly an honour to work with Vancity's WEB Team (WEB stands for Web Engagement & Banking)!

I already blogged about why we made the changes, so I won't repeat myself here.

Check it out and tell me what you think.

An afternoon with Majora Carter.

2009-04-02T20:58:00.004-07:00

It is days like this when I have to pinch myself for working at such an amazing organization.

Today Vancity helped bring Majora Carter to Vancouver to speak to a group called The Strathcona Business Improvement Association. They are a group dedicated to improving an area of Vancouver that could use some extra care to bounce back, and these business owners are playing an "important role in the business development, safety, security and street enhancement in Strathcona." Part of their focus is to create a green business focus, making the neighbourhood an epicentre of sustainability in Vancouver.

Majora Carter gave a talk about how she helped bring back an area of the South Bronx through environmental renewal. Her TED talk is an inspiring story of economic injustice and an environmental response to it. Well worth watching.

Web job open at BC Hydro.

2009-04-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

In these economically turbulent times, as I come across interesting jobs, I'll post them. You're welcome.

When I worked at TELUS, I knew of a guy there named Michael Newland. We never worked directly with each other, but were in a couple of meetings together. We both did web stuff, but in totally different areas.

And then a couple of years back, I started hearing about Michael Newland at BC Hydro. Michael Newland, Michael Newland, it seemed like everyone was talking about him. He was doing interesting social media stuff, he was someone I should totally meet, we would totally hit off. Yeah yeah.

And then finally, a few months back I gave in and contacted him to see what we could share and learn from each other. After a couple of false starts, one of which had me waiting in the cold at a street corner for half an hour (gotta rub it in, Michael), we finally met. And it was great! Michael is super smart and we share a lot of the same values and priorities. It was totally invigorating meeting with him, and I look forward to learning a ton from him, and sharing what I can back to him.

Why do I mention all of this? Because you might be lucky enough to work with this guy. He emailed me today about a great opportunity working with him at Hydro. If you apply, let him know you saw it on my blog (NOTE: I don't get anything for that, except a build up of goodwill). Here's his note, and good luck...

We are looking for a Manager, Digital Communications Delivery and Operations.

This role manages a web production and operations team responsible for the customer experience across both external and internal web and mobile entities. The team is comprised of staff and consultants across a broad array of skill sets ranging from visual, interactive and technical design to content management. The ideal candidate will have demonstrated experience and expertise:

- leading and managing teams with cross-functional skills in a corporate web environment;
- connecting cross-program initiatives, suggesting creative modifications, and recommending alternatives;
- communicating and setting expectations with a diverse set of stakeholders;
- developing work load forecasting and projections using production analytics;
- managing project timelines and budgets; coordinating / facilitating cross functional teams
- ten years experience in large-scale online environments;
- university degree in a related field (undergraduate business degree or MBA preferred)

If interested, or know of someone that is, please submit your interest at bchydro.com/careers (job number 599219). The posting closes on April 8th.

Hey, I'm a GonzoBanker.

2009-03-31T10:39:00.001-07:00

When I started working at Vancity in September of 2005 I was brand new to the financial services industry. My previous job was working at a telecom, and in my time there I never really learned much about that industry. From the beginning at Vancity I wanted to learn about credit unions and FIs so I could be more useful to the company and craft a more relevant business plan for what the web could do for the company.

So I began looking for good websites and online publications to teach me a thing or two about banking. One of those was the enewsletter, GonzoBanker, which gave me great insights into the industry, full of humour and street smarts. Their writers get to the heart of the issue, and certain posts have become classics - like Steve Williams' brilliant Y Bank With Us? and Tripp Johnson's Web 2.0: It's Not Just for Customers Anymore (which mentions my blog). I have always appreciated that they don't take themselves too seriously, but have good, informed opinions about the industry.

So I was incredibly honoured when they named me GonzoBanker of the Month for March. As someone who is new to this industry, recognition like this is both inspiring and humbling.

Thanks a ton to the entire GonzoBanker team, and especially Diana Ferguson!

Local Event: Sustainable Marketing by Design.

2009-03-28T20:06:00.003-07:00

One of my very good friends, Ruben Anderson is giving a talk on Sustainable Marketing by Design. Ruben is an amazing guy, and has been a friend since we first met in our early days at UVic in 1989.

Here's his bio according to the event site:

Ruben Anderson currently works for Metro Vancouver, helping integrate sustainable behaviour into multifamily buildings. Ruben consulted on future-proofed locally resilient systems for the City of Vancouver's Sustainability Group and Planning Department, as well as for BC Housing and Industry Canada. He recently co-taught Ecological Perspectives on Design at the Emily Carr University. Ruben won the Cascadia Green Building Council's Closing the Loop Energy Award in 2006, for a passive shading system designed for local manufacture and the use of Cradle to Cradle materials.

It is being put on by New Media BC, and should prove to be a great event.

Here are the details:
Date: Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
Time: 5:30 - 7:30 pm
Place: Cossette West Building: 1085 Homer street - 5th Floor

Register here.

Bullfrog Power brings renewable energy to BC.

2009-03-25T15:37:00.001-07:00

When I lived in LA, the utility company there had an option where I could pay a slight amount more for my power and as a result all my power would come from renewable sources. I jumped on board. It is important to me that I pay a little more to help fund initiatives providing green power to our grid.

When I moved to BC, I found no such option available to me. I wasn't too worried, as so much of the power we generate comes from hydroelectric and is renewable. But we sell a lot of our clean energy at peak hours to the US and buy back their mostly coal fired electricity at night when the cost per kilowatt hour is a lot less.

So recently my friend Peter ter Weeme sent me a sign up for Bullfrog Power, an Eastern Canadian renewable energy company that was moving into BC. Basically, you tell them how much you use in residential energy usage, and pay 2 cents per kilowatt hour and they will ensure that that amount of green energy is added to the BC grid, basically offsetting your usage.

You can see more info here on Bullfrog Power in BC. I think this is a very smart initiative, as it gets some competition around cleaner energy solutions in BC, and will speed up BC Hydro's good efforts in this space.

One other thing for the bankers in the room. TD Canada Trust, one of Canada's biggest banks, ran a campaign saying their Green Machine network, which is what they've always called their ATMs, is now run on Bullfrog green energy, reinforcing their position in the environment, and putting a nice spin on the branding. Read more about TD's effort here.

Listen to the Vancity Board of Directors election podcasts.

2009-03-24T13:00:00.003-07:00

This year we tried something different at Vancity. Any of the 12 people running for the three open slots on our Board of Directors could record a podcast and we published them on vancity.com.

This gives our members a chance to get a feel for the candidates, through their written statements, their Ask A Candidate responses and now through a short podcast. Take a listen.

By the way, that's my colleague Robin voicing the intros.

My visit to America's Credit Union Museum.

2009-03-23T07:34:00.002-07:00

Last week I was on vacation in Boston with my wife, Amy, and son, Ivan. It was a very nice trip - we visited the aquarium, zoo and children's museum. I had a coffee with my friend Ron Shevlin. We saw lots of friends and family, including my cousin Tiven Weinstock, a sometimes commenter on my blog.

On Thursday, we drove up to Manchester, New Hampshire to meet my friend Morriss Partee at America's Credit Union Museum.

Yes, I know, how incredibly credit union geeky of me (I know, I know...). But I'm glad I went, it was well worth my time.

First of all, it was incredibly kind of them to open the museum for the two of us (my wife and son went to the nearby Manchester Science Museum, and who could blame them really). We had a great guided tour by a volunteer named Gloria.

She explained that the museum is in the house where the first credit union in America was founded. It was founded thanks to three people who saw a need for the local mill-workers to save their money safely and get access to affordable credit: Monsignor Pierre Hevey of the nearby St. Marie's Church recognized the need among his parishioners; local attorney Joseph Boivin was the first president of the credit union and allowed the CU to operate from his home (his home is where the museum is today); and Alphonse Desjardins, who led the creation of Canada's first credit unions (Caisses Populaires Desjardins) in Quebec, advised on the project.

There is something touching about the museum - it's history and simple, honest roots. It is emblematic of local community members coming together to pool their resources for the common good. And it is that common good which is so easily lost as communities grow, and local organizations gain a vested interest in their own growth and existence, sometimes totally divorced from the initial community needs that spawned the organization in the first place.

Afterwards, Morriss and I got into a great conversation about the role of CUs today. I am sorry we didn't get more time to finish our conversation.

In my three and a half years in CU-land, I have been torn between really believing in credit unions as a vital democratic form of financial institution and, well, just not really caring all that much. Clearly today's financial crisis proves we need ethical and responsible places to conduct our financial business. FIs rooted in long term thinking, and not just out for the quick profit.

Many in the CU movement believe CUs are superior to banks from this point of view. And on a certain level I agree with this. When your profits go to shareholders, you can more easily become corrupted and lose sight of equitable business practices.

But I also believe there are lots of incredible banks out there doing great work (ShoreBank anyone?). I'm not sure what is gained from pitting CUs against banks, we're just alternatives that in most cases are too subtly different from each other for any regular consumer to really know the difference. Perhaps we just need a Goliath to make us feel more like David (I think Morriss wondered that aloud, but I'm not sure if I'm quoting him correctly).

I know in the CU world the bank versus credit union debate is a big one, but I'm not so wrapped up in it. It was very interesting seeing the birthplace of the American credit union, and I recommend anyone in the credit union movement/industry/system to visit it if you're in New England.

Actually, scratch that, anyone in the entire financial services industry should pay the museum a visit, because ultimately we were all born out of a need, still incredibly relevant, for people to access savings and credit vehicles. We should not be in business to serve our own needs or make shareholders wealthy, we should be there with solutions to basic consumer needs. Solutions that work for the common good, where it isn't about profits, nor about charity, but about service, as a sign in the first room of the museum says. I don't think credit unions have a patent on that concept in the FI world, but being a co-operative helps CUs stay grounded in that concept.

In my experience, it is mostly CU people who struggle with that debate and feel a sense of connection to the roots of community banking. And perhaps that, in and of itself, speaks volumes about the heart of the movement.