ACUMA ONpoint
ACUMA ONpoint
Technology Should Free Us To Be More Human With Members
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
If AI shows up in your mortgage operation tomorrow, does it make your credit union feel more personal or less? We sit down with Ayo Opeyemi, co-founder of Vertyx, to tackle the fear head-on and replace it with a clearer, more useful framework: technology can deepen human relationships when it’s built to serve the member, not to dodge the conversation.
We talk about what Ayo calls “tech-enabled empathy” in credit union mortgage lending. That means automating the human-intensive, tedious work that drains time from real service, and using data to surface personalized insights that help your team reach out with relevance. Instead of blasting generic offers, the goal is a post-close engagement experience that feels like guidance: timely, specific, and grounded in the homeowner’s best interest. We also get practical about mortgage servicing workflows, subservicer oversight, and why success-based pricing models can make technology adoption less risky for credit unions of any size.
From the “robot uprising” jokes to the serious realities of regulation lag and job-security worries, we keep coming back to one truth: members still want a person when the stakes are high. If you’re trying to modernize your member experience without losing what makes credit unions different, this conversation provides language, examples, and a simple way to start internal buy-in conversations with leadership and frontline teams.
Subscribe to ACUMA's ONpoint Podcast, share this with a colleague who’s navigating mortgage technology decisions, and leave a review. What’s one task you wish automation would take off your plate first?
Disclaimers And Show Opening
SPEAKER_00The views and opinions expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Acuma, its board of directors, its management staff, or its members. The podcast discussion presented is conversational in nature and for general information only.
SPEAKER_02This is Acuma's OnePoint Podcast. On today's episode, we focus on how technology can be used to deepen, not replace, human relationships. A series focused on sharing the stories of people who are making a positive impact in the credit union mortgage industry. I'm your host, Peter Benjamin. Today I am joined by Io Opeyemi, co-founder of Vertex. Io, how are you doing today?
SPEAKER_01I'm doing pretty well. It's uh great to finally be on one of these. I've listened to a few episodes, so I'm honored to have the uh fortune of speaking with you both today.
SPEAKER_02No, I I I I appreciate the fact that you listen to us. Uh that that truly does mean a lot. It means that, you know, Justin and I aren't just sitting here for about 45 minutes and just talk really talking about nothing. Well, we kind of sort of do just talk about nothing. Sometimes quite often we talk about absolutely nothing.
SPEAKER_01Those are the best podcasts, though. I'm an avid podcast listener. So a little bit of content, a little bit of, you know, just background entertainment is a good combo. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02But Ayo, as you know, uh before we get too far into the conversation, as always, gotta pull Justin into the conversation.
Acuma Events And Network Updates
SPEAKER_02Justin the hawk, please tell us what's the latest race happening over at Acno. And by the way, how are you doing today? I'm good, Peter. How are you? I'm good, man.
SPEAKER_03Thank you very much for asking. Sorry. Uh it's the allergies. You you already said it. It's the allergies. I've been fighting them since January, and here we are still fighting.
SPEAKER_02I don't know why. Like I thought I I was in, I was coasting through this allergy season, like no problem whatsoever. Went to Dallas, it hit me. Came back from came back, went to St. Louis, fine. Came back from St. Louis, it hit me like a ton of bricks literally the second I got off that airplane. And I don't know why, but it it's tough. But anyways, what's happened over at Acuma?
SPEAKER_03Uh well, you know, uh, we've officially wrapped up all of our in-person events for the first half of the year. Uh so you can hear that sad. See, I was gonna go with the sad violin music, but maybe thank God. Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_02No, I mean it it's you know bittersweet. It's it's bittersweet, but this is the first year we we we changed it up a bit. Like normally we have, you know, three three weeks, almost a month break in between our events, right? This year we did this year we did it differently.
SPEAKER_03We decided to be more brazen with our schedules and we went every other week.
SPEAKER_02And there were some weeks where you couldn't tell if you're coming or going. Yeah. I mean, I I would land from our event and then fly out to someone else's event and then come back and then fly out to one of our events. And and yeah, I mean, so happy that the first half is over. Now I can sleep for the next month or two uh in my own bed, which I I love. Uh, and yeah, but anyways.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, see, there you go. Uh, in all seriousness, seriousness though, um, summits and workshops are finally finished for the year. Uh, they were absolutely amazing. The engagement, collaboration, collaboration was always wonderful to see. Up next for our in-person events, we have our Make Your Mark annual conference that's happening in Las Vegas this year from September 20th to the 23rd. Registration is open, so head over to the Acuma website to get registered and to learn more information. We look forward to seeing you there. Um, virtually, we have our underwriting quarterly network meeting happening on June 9th. And this, I think, is the first time we'll be unveiling on the podcast that uh we have a new network that is gonna be starting up on June 17th, uh, the Women's Professional Network. So head over, see both of those network events. I'm sure they're gonna be great with a lot of great content and collaboration.
SPEAKER_02Um, and then lastly our sorry, our very own Nicole Herrick is heading up the uh the women's network. She is. And and she is is gonna bring a lot of crazy ideas to the table.
SPEAKER_03I know we kicked her, we kicked her off the marketing network. And she went and made her own because she was like, bet. That's right. I'll give my take my basketball and I'm going home. Exactly. No, we didn't kick her off. But uh lastly, we have our on-point podcast dropping every two weeks along with our insight track webinars happening uh a couple times a month. So for all this information plus so much more, head over to the Akima website. Awesome, man. Appreciate it. Thank you.
Meet Io And Vertex
SPEAKER_02All right, Io. So so just I'm gonna bring you into this little part right now. Here's a little fun fact. Io has blessed us with the fact that he is the first Harvard graduate to be on this podcast. Tell you what, we are elevating. Oh, thank God we're not playing Jeopardy.
SPEAKER_03I thought it was intentional on that, you know, switch it up. No, I've already I've I've lost some PhDs on. I don't need to add Harvard grad to that.
SPEAKER_02I I couldn't, when I saw that, I was like, oh man, we are finally getting some some some good talent on this podcast. Um anyways, that's all that's awesome. Anyways, so I owe I had a I I when I saw that I had to throw that out there that we finally have the Harvard Grad on our podcast. Um means you're extra smart. Um, but you know, I oh you you listen to the podcast, and again, thank you very much for that. And so I'm sure you've heard me go through my normal transition of you know how excited I I am, which I truly am. Uh, you know, I've gotten to know you. Uh you were in St. Louis and you most certainly contributed to the conversation there. And that's the first time I actually got to meet you in person and get to know you. And ever since then, it's really just been you know a blessing. You know, but so for those people who do not know you, you know, as always, I'm gonna start with that first question. You know, the first question is meant to go kind of go back to our roots of being a people piece. That question is really, you know, who is Io Opeyemi for those who do not know?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, happy to introduce myself. And uh, it's always great to, you know, share this space with others. So my name is Io. I run a technology QSO focused on working with credit unions, really engage their members post-close in that lifelong relationship. So the place we operate is, you know, after close, we provide technology solutions to augment that personal relationship. That is hopefully a multi-decade relationship when it comes to mortgage lending. So some of that includes working with folks on automating workflows associated with servicing workflows. Some of that is associated with engaging members as far as what we like to call relationship management and how you provide value beyond the closing table. And some of that is centered around how you engage with your subservicers to provide oversight to make sure your members are getting the best quality service. So that's kind of what we do today. You know, a little bit about myself, my background is, you know, I'm the son of Nigerian immigrants. Uh, we came to this country in 1999 or 2000. And actually, one of the first banking relationships we had was with a credit union uh who, you know, provided a bank account for my parents. And, you know, that lifelong relationship still holds true to today because, you know, my father still holds that credit union relationship. It was actually my first account as well. And so that's kind of, you know, an early introduction into the power of credit unions and some of those lifelong relationships. Uh, professionally and personally, I went to Harvard. I studied applied math and computer science, um, great university and great opportunity to really form a holistic perspective on different ways that markets touch personal relationships. So, you know, from that, worked in finance and software, spent a lot of time looking at how software can be applied to provide meaningful outcomes to folks, uh, not just, you know, cool new technology, but how you kind of measure that. And one of the spaces that, you know, sits in the intersection of finance and software is frankly the mortgage market. It touches countries, you know, global markets by the MBSs. It touches homeowners. And so it's one of the most pervasive assets that touches multiple uh people across different life paths. And, you know, that's really what's attracted me to the space. And the credit union community has been great for a lot of what we're building. So that's a little bit about myself.
SPEAKER_02No, and I I one, I love the story, right? I mean, and and it's a story that we often hear, right? It's so in, you know, just like you, you know, Joe Smith or Susie Smith or Johnny's first account was with a credit union. And you know, w ever since then, you know, they they kind of just fell in love with that movement because of I I I've likened it to, you know, the old classic TV show Cheers, like everybody knows your name, and and and there's just something a little bit more personal and and caring about that movement. So I I love hearing that even today you still are a believer in it, and and even if you you step away, you you you find yourself coming back.
Tech-Enabled Empathy In Mortgages
SPEAKER_02Um but you know, let's kind of go back to you know the technology side, because I think that's that's the main conversation we want to have today. And I was so thrilled that you know you you know suggested this topic because you know, it's a topic we talk about quite often on this show or on the pod. And you know, it it it's I don't think it's a topic that we can talk about enough, right? And I've I've said this before, and Justin's heard me say this, and you've probably you may have heard me say this that when you look at the you know the mortgage industry, right? And I'm just just focused on the mortgage industry, not just credit unions, the mortgage industry. You know, the mortgage industry is probably two to three years behind healthcare when it comes to technology or the utilization of AI or something like that. Yeah. And then when you boil it down and you look at credit unions within that mortgage industry, we're probably five years behind the rest of the industry, right? And so I I I think you know that that topic that you pose and and of how technology be can you can be used to deepen, not replace that human relationship, was so spot on because I think that that's one of the barriers to credit unions wanting or be or willingness to adopt. Right. And is that fear? And I think it's fair to call it a fear, but is that fear going to continue the negative trajectory that we're seeing in the reduction of credit union numbers? Right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And so I I I welcome your thoughts and let's kind of go down this conversation.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And I I think it's a great point because, you know, at the end of the day, the credit union mission is people helping people. And I think the way to think about some of the technology that's being introduced is not to disintermediate that mission or goal, but really to augment the amount of people helping people that one can do. So, for example, there's this concept called uh tech-enabled empathy that I like to talk about, which is really function around how technology can help, you know, improve your reach and increase your reach in the member's life. So there's kind of two dynamics involved in that. One is using technology to automate things that are human-intensive, time consuming, things that don't necessarily uh, you know, make that member uh relationship differentiated or personable in any way. So that can be if you're doing certain manual processes. Those are time, those are times and amounts that are taking away from uh touch points that can be spent helping a homeowner understand, you know, hardship options or understand opportunities to refinance or, you know, get better relevant products to what they're looking for. There's the other aspect of, you know, credit unions have grown and have a strong footprint as you have thousands and in some cases tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of members, is how you analyze data and use technology to surface personalized insights so that when, you know, somebody's receiving a message, they're not thinking about it like, hey, you know, my rate dropped 50 basis points and I'm just getting spammed. It's really, hey, you know, we saw this going on. We think that this can save you X amount of dollars. And that's why we're presenting it to you. This isn't spam. This is just because we want your what's in your best interest. And so I think it's understanding where technology can succeed and augment workflows versus, you know, I think those that will be successful in this, you know, technology revolution are those that understand the value of human insight and intelligence versus where machine intelligence operates and things like that. So I think, you know, what we try to do is really partner with folks to provide them the tools so that, you know, they're not necessarily, you know, fighting a battle with one hand tied behind their back. And so a lot of that is, and you're seeing this a lot in the market, is how technology contracts are structured, is, you know, thinking about more success-based metrics that, you know, if you're a credit union of any size, you're able to, you know, participate in that technology revolution without paying those large implementation costs or things like that. And so I think these are some of the things that are unwinding in the market. And I think it's really positive for the credit union movement because it allows folks to really use the strength of technology, but also use the strength of that human-to-human relationship that credit unions have invested decades building.
SPEAKER_02So no, uh you you you really you know did an excellent job of hitting the nail on
Fear Of AI And Job Security
SPEAKER_02the head. And you know, that that first part of the conversation, and I uh it it reminded me of a conversation I had with a loan officer who I I I, you know past life. Um I was head of a mortgage vision and and I used to have you know one-on-ones with loan officers quite often. And you know, that your your comment of you know, technology is really there just to augment and not replace, right? Reminded me of of this conversation. Granted, this was nine years ago at this point. So it was a long time ago, and technology's evolved quite, quite quite far. But this just happened, you know, a year or two after, you know, the the classic rocket mortgage commercial where, you know, on the Super Bowl and you saw the rocket shooting straight up. And I remember just sitting down with this loan officer and he was a an uh a seasoned loan officer, um, you know, had been in the industry quite some time, and I just remember him. I was like, you know, what is and I asked him, I was like, what's preventing you from going out there? Right. You know, what what's preventing you from from you know hitting your numbers? And he's like, well, I I just have this, this, this fear that takes over, and I start second-guessing myself, and that fear is that you know, I'm gonna be without a job and then the next year because technology's gonna take over and they're not gonna need me. And I I just remember, I didn't laugh at him, but I remember just saying, you know, that that's that's nonsense. Like that's that's never gonna happen. There's always gonna be that human factor. Hold on. But I I I share this story because I I I even today, we'll say nine, ten years after that, that that Rocket Mortgage commercial came out, right? I I honestly think there's just there's still a real fear that people have, you know, even within credit unions, that you know, if by by bringing on this AI, by bringing on this tech platform, by bringing on some technology-enabled efficiencies, I'm gonna be without a job. Right. And I kind of go back to robot uprising. What's that? It's the robot uprising. I mean I've I saw Terminator 2, man.
SPEAKER_03I mean, not paint the picture.
SPEAKER_02I I saw Terminator 1, 2, and and all the rest. I'm saying two as in as well. But yeah, I mean, there there's there's there's plenty of movies that that joke around about it, right? Not joke around about it. I mean Terminator is kind of scary, but um I I I'm just I don't know how we get past it. And and and going back to a comment I said earlier, is this fear, in your opinion, gonna continue to to hinder credit unions from growth to the point where I I can't remember the numbers, but I want to say in twenty in 2017, there was like 5,000 credit unions. No, no, sorry, 17,000 credit unions. And here we are today, you know, just shy of like 5,000, right? Yeah. Is technology as is technology playing a role in that because they're they're not adopting this fear.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So there's there's a couple thoughts on that. You know, I've talked to some friends in different industries, and I've kind of come around this thesis where if you study history over time, one thing you'll see is often with each new technological revolution, and you know, there have been many that have existed, is you get the wheel, the wheel, the printing press. Um, you know, even like roads, that's a technological technological revolution. And you get this abundance of options that exist. So when the printing press emerged, you know, there's more information. People need to make sense out of that noise. You know, when you get more roads, you get more endless options of places to visit. You need someone to curate that experience. And I think, you know, what you saw in history is the printing press, you had more librarians, you had more scholars who would kind of curate what the canon was for folks to focus on. With roads, you had the Michelin guide who would, you know, highlight certain restaurants worth making a journey to. And I think in a similar capacity, and I guess the most recent one is Google, actually, where you have a billion websites to visit and you have some, you know, value creation centered around the idea of, you know, which ones are relevant for me. So to your point earlier about, you know, where technology sits, is if I'm a loan officer, you know, owning a home is, you know, very personal. You know, I have questions, I need, you know, people to engage with is it's not just, you know, am I getting hit by spam and offer? It's, you know, who has my best interest in mind? And I think that's why some of these positions will always have humans involved. And the question is, how can you provide value to remain uh relevant? And I think part of that is, you know, using the tools to know what's going on in that person's life and understand how you present information in a way that's super personable. I think the arc of history, you know, supports this thesis. And I don't think, you know, while AI is a different technology, it doesn't deviate from what historical patterns is kind of shown on that front. And so I think that should give comfort to folks to kind of challenge them to embrace it because that's where value has historically lied and that's where it, you know, probably will continue to lie. And so if you're able to not just, you know, for example, the way I put it is, you know, not just output automated uh outputs, but functionally say, you know, I see from this system that's talking to this system that this is what's relevant for folks of this kind of demographic or demeanor or things like that, is, you know, that's really how you can be helpful in today's day and age. And I think that's really where the future lies. And I think the great thing is, you know, at least hearing from some of the Acuma summits I've been to, is I think there is really a lot of momentum around that. And it's really encouraging to see folks begin to not fear it, but embrace it and, you know, try to look for folks that they can work with to help them, you know, stand up some of these practices to train some of the folks to understand how these tools work because, you know, even myself, every, you know, two weeks, there's something else coming out. And it's hard to keep track of. And, you know, sometimes it's it's just really hard to keep track of and understand how it impacts your day to day. So I think, you know, what you'll start to see is folks really embrace some of these tools and see a lot of value out of it.
SPEAKER_02You know, I I I I love that you tied it back to like, you know, the printed press and roads. You know, because, you know, and and if you think about it, you know, you know, these these were inventions that that you Changed, you know, modern man, right? Humankind. You know, and so when they first came out or when they were first done, right? And you can look at roads going all the way back to, you know, the Roman times, but let's let's look at more of a modern road and the great expansion in the United States, right? Where um was it the the the New Deal with FDR where he he he did you know all the highway system basically? And look at look at us doing history lessons today. I tell you, it's that it's that Harvard grad bringing out the best. Trevor Burrus We're we're touching everything.
SPEAKER_01We're combining history, we're combining tech, and you know, it all comes together. Right.
SPEAKER_02And but when you when you think about that, and and you think about like the printing press and you think about these roads, they were created, right? And then regulation caught up to them. And they they the regulation was what was seen as a need to control what was printed. Um in some cases when you look at the printing press, it was almost banned, right? But regulation all the same. Right. Um same thing with roads, right? I mean, uh when you bring in factor in cars and highway speeds and the need for seat belts, you know, regulation comes, right? Yep.
Regulation Lag And Member Trust
SPEAKER_02I I think, you know, and I'm and I'm not arguing whatsoever. I think one of the tough I'm I'm this is more just a general statement. I think the tough part that we face right now with this new evolution, with this new although what AI has been around since like the early late 1800s, right? Yeah. Yeah. I think that that was when like the first time AI was used in in techs, something like that. Yeah. Um but you think about it, I mean, this is the first time where the technology is evolving faster than the regulation can be created. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And and I I think to that point, it's because the technology is moving so quickly that unlike some of those other innovations, it's hard to kind of see cause and impact in a way that can, you know, allow you to stem the tide of what's going on. And, you know, I think that's kind of, and you know, you're seeing it, you know, from different administration to administration and without getting involved in that, is I think that's where it, you know, you have to really ask yourself in what you're doing and what you're using is is it helping the end homeowner? Because I think, you know, regardless of how regulation ends up shaping up, it's really like, are you using these tools with the best interest in mind of folks? And I think that's really a competitive advantage that's native to folks who have been doing it like this for a while. But yeah.
SPEAKER_02So, you know, kind of going back to like this, you know, you you you said it was tech-enabled empathy. Yep.
Getting Buy-In For New Tools
SPEAKER_02Right? And so let's pretend that you know some of our listeners are let's just role play. Not pretend, but let's role play. You know, some of our listeners are, you know, looking at a piece of AI. And I think AI is a good example because it's the most controversial at this moment in time. Or most debated about. Not controversial, debated about. And you have this mortgage leader who wants to bring on a some type of AI platform to help with efficiencies. I I think there's two conversations that have to happen, right? One with the executive side, getting their buy-in to allowing this. And the other is maybe I guess it I don't want when I say operations, I I mean the the mortgage division as a whole. But on the operation side, getting your staff to buy in so they know that they're not gonna be replaced, right? Yeah. And so when when you go out and and you're talking to the these these credit unions, how are you and if there's a third conversation that has to happen, please tell me. How are you instructing them to have these conversations?
SPEAKER_01Right. Right. And I the third conversation I'll I'll maybe hit is I think folks are always concerned, especially when tools hit their underlying member or or um, you know, the folks that they're hoping to work with. And I think the the first part is really buy-in for, you know, the loan officer or the person using these tools, whether it's a loan officer or servicing agent, is really understanding how it makes their life easier. And I think part of that is kind of demonstrating, you know, where their day-to-day kind of sits today versus where it would sit, you know, after using the solution like this. So, you know, as much as people really enjoy their jobs, I think they're parts of every job that people like or that people like more than others. And so, you know, for myself and other jobs, you know, there are things that are super manual that I wish I could fast forward and do. And I think a lot of that is what we're trying to remove is, you know, the way I think about it is if, for example, I'm a servicing officer and I'm spending hours reading through insurance documents and updating some of those policy information. That takes a lot of time. It's super tedious. And, you know, chances are I, you know, probably have more impact on somebody's home by, you know, getting the context and understanding how to reach out to them when I get that update and say, hey, your insurance went up by this amount. You know, how can we help you because your escrow is going to go up in the future and things like that. So I think it's really like understanding and highlighting the manual work we're removing, because I think that kind of highlights the folks that this is the value that you're getting out of it. And I think on the admin side, I think a lot of it is, you know, what we've kind of employed is more success-based, um, you know, usage-based uh traction where you can kind of see, you know, as we grow, you grow. And I think that's what you're starting to see a lot of technology companies employ versus the traditional model, which is just, you know, you're gonna buy licenses for every person and we're gonna make it really hard for you to add new people and it's gonna cost more money. Because the reality with software deployment these days is it's easier to deploy soft more software you don't have as high of those infrastructure costs. And so any software you're employing should probably grow as you grow and have a success-based outcome. So I think that's kind of how you hit both of those, where, you know, management is, you know, looking for the impact it's having. It's nice to deploy new things, but you know, you need it to have a real impact. And so I think that's kind of how we touch both of those. And then I think the third rail is, you know, really emphasizing that when it comes to interacting with the end member, it's still a human at the end. You know, we're not doing automated, you know, outbound or out automated messaging like that. I think, you know, that's really where if I'm somebody, you know, thinking about servicing experience, experiencing hardship, I want to hear a person. I want to talk to somebody, you know, that, you know, I've been on customer service, you know, for other projects and uh other products. And it's really frustrating when I can't get to a human. And so I think it's really understanding the niche roles that technology has to play.
SPEAKER_02So uh thank you for answering that.
Opportunity Cost And Member Experience
SPEAKER_02And when you know, in the beginning, you you you said something, and you said there's parts of your jobs that you like and there's other parts that you don't, right? Yeah. And the second you said that, and I just thought back to, you know, when I I when I used to originate, you know, the thing I hated the most was actually completing the application. And when I say completing the application, like I was one of those loan officers who who always submitted uh a completed file, meaning I have already gone out and looked up the the employee employer address. Right. Uh I already completed in every single type of field you you could think of on on that, what was the 1003? Um and I hated that because it was just manual. Manual. Yeah. But now you have technology that can do it. Right. You know, but the thing I love the most about that job, and I actually still miss it, actually miss it a great deal, was asking my borrowers, my members on the phone in person, tell me about your hopes and dreams. Right. And then just having that that intimate conversation with them about before I even started typing, before I even started using my pen to take notes, just having a conversation about what they were hoping to do, you know, now in the next seven, 10 years, I missed that part of having that that conversation with them. And so I I I love that that that the way you framed it up because you are spot on.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Spot on. And and just to touch on that too, is I think sometimes what you kind of miss or folks miss in that is functionally, you know, the time that you're spending filling out, you know, for example, that uh, you know, loan application is time that has a cost attached to it, you know, not to touch into another subject of economics, but the idea of opportunity cost is a real thing. And, you know, we don't have infinite time in this, you know, world or during the working day. And so, you know, that time that you're spending, even if it's 30 minutes for every application times however many applications, meaningfully adds up. And, you know, it it deg it degrades the experience that maybe your homeowner that's going through this process is experiencing. And, you know, there's a compounding effect to that where if I, you know, start a loan application, maybe I even close the loan and I'm not feeling thrilled with the experience, that then leads into this retention issue. And then that leads into a compounding issue uh that, you know, eventually has to get solved. And so to your point, there's real cost associated with that beyond just, you know, does it get done or not? And I think that's the other thing that tech is great at is, you know, making it easier to kind of get the best of both worlds in some in some context. So well said. Well said.
SPEAKER_02Well, I oh, it's it's time for us to start transitioning.
What Drives Io Every Day
SPEAKER_02You know, but as always, before before we do, before we we head over to that second segment of the pod, always gonna ask that last question. Uh and it's really that the second part of the first. What keeps you going? We we we we we we learn about who you were, and we we we learn about what your your thoughts on this very important topic, but what keeps you going? What drives you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, uh I'd like to describe myself as a naturally curious person. And I think, you know, everybody has that memory of a kid of always asking why. And, you know, my parents, I guess, tolerated my whys a little bit more. So oftentimes I would ask questions and, you know, kind of ask why and why and why. And I think that's really led me to kind of inherit this posture where functionally, when there's a question or there's a challenge or there's a situation that exists, I always ask, why does it have to be this way? And I think that allows you to find creative solutions. And so that's kind of you know what I'm seeing today and continues to drive me and motivate me is this idea that, you know, the home is one of the most personal assets that people can own. And, you know, functionally, sometimes experiences are suboptimal because, you know, there's just so much involved. And so why does it have to be this way? And, you know, what are ways that, you know, I can kind of, you know, play my part in improving some of those experiences? So creates a challenge every day. And I think that's kind of what drives me to, you know, wake up and, you know, try to put one foot forward and find some sort of incremental solution there. So well, I I love that.
SPEAKER_02And I I'll just add this this personal antidote that as a father of three young kids who are constantly asking why, I applaud your parents for entertaining your whys because that is easier said than done, my friend.
SPEAKER_01Um I have uh three siblings. So when you get, you know, four children in total asking why, it takes a lot of patience. So shout out to my parents there.
SPEAKER_02They're saints. Well, well, I uh let's go ahead and transition to
Dad Jokes And Closing Remarks
SPEAKER_02the second segment. Now, this is where we sometimes you know play Jeopardy. Sometimes we we do a little our new game of wrong answers only. Uh, but today we're doing the most requested fan favorite, the number one of every episode. Um it's near and dear to my heart and Justin's. We are doing dad jokes. And so prior to the the episode, I actually come prepared with two to three dad jokes. So here's what's gonna happen you're gonna share two dad jokes. If one of them bombs, you have your third as a backup. Uh if and it's just the three of us just really joking around laughing, and so it's bombing. And uh Justin and I tend to be the only ones that actually bomb. But you'll do your three, Justin will do his three, I'll wrap up with my three, and then then we we're done for the day. Sounds good? Cool. Do I go back to back?
SPEAKER_01Just go back to back, yeah. All right. Well, I guess the first one, speaking of homes, is uh curious. Did you guys hear about the guy who added a second floor to his home? It's a whole other story. I hate, I hate, oh God.
SPEAKER_02Oh, you know, real yin and then hit your hit you with the It's like the worst part was like, I know this, I think I know this, I know this, but no, it was good. Perfect. Good to know.
SPEAKER_01Well, uh, you know, that's that's good that you know got a little laugh there. But um, I guess the other one was I think I was thinking about you know, jokes to tell, and I was gonna tell a joke about a dandelion, but I didn't want to blow it. So those are my two. So hopefully hopefully some chuckles from folks. Hands down. Those that was good. That was good.
SPEAKER_02All right. Hawk.
SPEAKER_03What has four wheels and flies? What? A garbage truck. Oh, flies. I see you. Thank you, Ayo, for laughing at that.
SPEAKER_01I was picturing something in the air, but then I was like, flies, that makes sense.
SPEAKER_03That gives that gives me a headache. I'm sorry. Um how do trees access the internet? How do trees uh how they log in?
SPEAKER_02All right, I'll wrap up. Um why did the math book look so sad? Why? It had a lot of problems. Oh there you go. Um why did the coffee file a police support? I don't know. It got mugged. All right. All right. Well, well, Io, that wraps up this episode segment of dad jokes.
Final Thanks And Listener CTAs
SPEAKER_02You know, I IO kind of just going back and getting all serious. I I I enjoyed today's conversation. Thank you for your willingness to to be on on our pod. This this was great insights. You know, I I love you know the what you brought to the table, and I'm hoping that you know our listeners kind of take away some good nuggets to kind of go back to their executives uh and really start considering that idea of you know tech-enabled empathy. I think that was such a brilliant idea. So again, I said it once I said I'll say it again. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01No, thank you guys for having me. This was a lot of fun, and hopefully, you know, in the future I can join again. So appreciate it. Absolutely. And Justin, as always, thank you.
SPEAKER_02Of course, it was my pleasure. And to all of you, we know your time is valuable. Thank you for tuning in to the latest episode of Acuma's On Point Podcast. We hope you enjoyed it. Until next time, be well, my friends.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time at the Acuma on Point Podcast. If not already, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating. For more great episodes and information, visit us online at Acuma.org. And to get the latest updates, head over to our LinkedIn page.
