S13E20: Reinventing the banking model for good, with Randell Leach (CEO, Beneficial State Bank)

Randell Leach
I remember stepping back from that and saying, okay. Well, what am I gonna do now? I gotta wrap up this business. I love finance, but I don't see this opportunity to really like help people along the way. I thought it was just gonna be out of luck. I'm like, well, these these just worlds don't exist together. And at the same time, I was really realizing that while, you know, in my personal life, what I really value is, you know, is nature and that, you know, there's I don't know how that comes into the business world at all, and it just feels like like 2 different worlds, 2 different lives. And, like, I wish I could integrate it, but that's not gonna happen. I mean, I can get finance. I can maybe get some of this, you know, truly helping people, but I'm not there's no way I'm gonna get all three together. And so I thought it was just complete out of luck. And then I stumbled across this little tiny bank.

Richard Medcalf
Welcome to the Impact Multiplier CEO podcast. I'm Richard Medcalfe, founder of X Xquadrant, and my mission is to help the world's top CEOs and entrepreneurs shift from incremental to exponential progress and create a huge positive impact on our world. Now that requires you to reinvent yourself and to transform your business. So if you're ready to play a bigger game than ever before, I invite you to join us and become an impact multiplier, CEO. Many people dream of being entrepreneurs, but it's not the only path to multiplying your impact. Randall Leach started out in a hyphine banking career and decided that actually impact needed to be through entrepreneurship. He had a go failed and then discovered a different way that played more to his strengths and his mindset. to allow him to multiply his impact in a way that matters. I'm not just saying that. This is somebody who's really purpose driven, who's reinventing the banking sector, turning it into a force for good, extremely clear on his purpose. So in the conversation, we look at that journey. What led what led him to pursue entrepreneurship When did he realize that that wasn't the path for him? What did he do instead? And how did he go about building up this concept of a regional bank that's Currently non existent. How's he doing that? What are the principles that guide him and what's it taking to be such a success? We also get into the power of a daily assessment. He has a really simple tool that allows him to check-in, understand where he's at, what his blind spots might be and how he needs to adjust himself in the moment to be more effective. It's a fantastic tool that I recommend you listen to and try out for yourself. enjoy this conversation with Randall Leech.

Richard Medcalf
Hi, Randall, and welcome to the show.

Randell Leach
Good morning. Thanks for having me, Richard.

Richard Medcalf
Hey, yeah, thank you for being here. Let's jump in. I know that you are the chief executive of of Beneficial State Bank, and you started your career probably many years ago now in, you know, in the finance sector. And then you left and you went and set up a software company, And then you ended up kind of coming full circle and coming back to Mother Finance. So tell us a bit about that journey. You know, what what what was that about? We'll got you into finance. We'll got you to leave it. We'll got you to come back.

Randell Leach
well, well, thank you, and and thanks for having me. Yeah. You know, I think how I got into it It always felt like I was sort of meant to be in business. I think just growing up, from, you know, watching my dad operate He he ran a company for a bit. and I was just always really intrigued by, you know, business and high school and so I went to college. I, you know, make, you know, major in business and studied finance. And when I found finance, it really just clicked. I just loved it. it was just a ton of fun, and which I didn't expect it to be that much fun, but I really did enjoy it. And so what I was leaving school, I, you know, I looked for opportunities that really were, you know, right up the middle in in finance. And so I went to a a national bank, which was actually a wonderful experience. I mean, there was just so much training, so much exposure, so many opportunities to see different businesses within the bank. but what I really loved at the time was this opportunity to be. I was in the commercial lending groups. So, I got a sit across from entrepreneurs and business owners and CFOs. and had just this amazing access just to, like, ask them how they ran their business and how did it work. so I learned a ton from them.

Richard Medcalf
Actually, I I can just relate to that when I started my career in strategy consulting, I think I did $2,000,000,000 of due diligence projects, fields, in syndicated debt and this kind of thing. It's a very, very top level. of people who are doing extraordinary things and you get to hear how they think and what they're banning and and going deep. So, yeah, it's fascinating experience.

Randell Leach
Yeah. It was it was incredible. So I I really enjoyed that, and and I had a, had a great run there. I, but at some point, I started to go a little bit itchy for for something different. And, at the time, I I really thought it was that I wanted to be an entrepreneur, and that I should, you know, head out of my own and and, you know, see what I could make happen in the world. And this was really, I'm gonna date myself as right around the time the internet was rolling out. And, so I had decided that, I was gonna do a software startup. basically, a financial services, different data financial services. Basically, software that was gonna help people that were not familiar with. basic, you know, finance or personal household management. So I started that and I actually I really struggled. what I found was that I was not like, I had the vision for it, but I really did not have the, I don't know, the ability to really sort of leverage all the different little pieces of credibility to make it all kind of come together out of thin air. Like, for me, there was something about, like, it wasn't real enough, and I didn't feel like, like, it was just a long shot for everybody, and it didn't feel right. sort of invite people in to take that kind of risk, I think. and so I ended up, you know, embarrassedly enough I made it was taken out raising enough capital, but I, it it really just didn't fit. It was just too early stage for me.

Richard Medcalf
if I could just ask on that, yeah, what comes to my mind is one of the things I always said to my clients and to myself is the first sale. Right? The first sale is always to yourself. So what I'm hearing is possibly in that moment, Right. You were quite sold on it yourself, right, because of your risk profile potentially as a banker. And you're like, I I'm not sure. I'd put my bank's money in project yet. It's not there. Right? So can I really go and ask people? So it might have might not have been a good idea. Who knows? I don't know, but It's out of that point. You weren't quite in your own reality distortion field enough.

Randell Leach
Yeah. Yeah. You know, I honestly, the the business was, I think, a really good concept. And then, you know, I've seen other folks execute on it and, you know, sort of proven out the point now, but, Yeah. I was not the right player for that stage of business. And but I did find something on so I I thought I was going for this entrepreneurial sort of all star kind of role, which is, I mean, a lot of us would get condition for that too. Right? I mean, it's sort of what's big and sexy. Like, hey, look at this hero out there. And, I realized that that, okay, that wasn't for me. but what I found on this way was that, that the business model was was really about, you know, trying to help people that were sort of disadvantaged in, in terms of, like, they didn't know how to manage their money. They were trying to achieve these goals so they just didn't have maybe advisors or resources or the toolkit to make it happen. And so, could be able to try and design things that we're gonna just straight up help people. It was that was really where it was at. And that was different than what I think is, you know, all these banks and most companies talk about, you know, hey, our sir, we're here to service you. We're here to serve you. We're here And and and that's different. Right? I mean, that's almost like a courtesy kind of exchange. but this was really trying to, like, how do you actually meaningful to achieve somebody's life in the court, then they help them achieve what they want to go achieve. Like, well, gosh, that is really what, was getting me juiced. So I remember stepping back from that and saying, okay. Well, what am I gonna do now? I gotta wrap up this business. I love finance, but I don't see this opportunity to really, like, help people along the way. I thought it was just gonna be out of luck. I'm like, well, these these just worlds don't exist together. And, at the same time, I was really realizing that while, you know, in my personal life, what I really value is you know, is nature and, that, you know, there's I don't know how that comes into the business world at all. And it just feels like like, 2 different worlds, 2 different lives. I'm like, I wish they could integrate it, but that's not gonna happen. I mean, I can give finance. I can maybe get some of the you know, truly helping people, but I'm not there's no way I'm gonna get all three together. And so I thought I was just complete out of luck. And then I stumbled across this little tiny bank that, was basically restarting and trying to do some, you know, greed or environmental finance. And like that actually sounds like fun. I can get at least a couple of these things in there. so I I had joined them, with the idea of, alright, let's see if we can build up you know, commercial lending business that's focused on environmental finance. And, you know, that was but over 20 years ago now, And so, all along the way, you know, I've found a way to incorporate the personal values into the business model. and there's no looking back.

Richard Medcalf
It's been a phenomenal ride. So what I'm hearing Randolph is the first clue here was in the business that you tried to create didn't quite work out, but you realized there was something there which was important to you, right, that there was a kernel in this, which was a a key to your own sense of purpose. To give you an example, for my own life, you know, when I, before I started my business, I created a blog where I was stood in my corporate world. And the blog, I think it was called purposeful people. You know? And and then I left my corporate world started my kind of coaching consulting business and then realized, selflessly, several years later that actually, what I wanted to do was to work with those people who wanted to change the world. That was the reason the reason was I knew I'd be willing to do that all those time ago because I was writing about those people who are really on a mission to change the world. in different ways and who wanted to be intentional and strategic about doing that. And, yeah, of course, I got into my own head when I said in my business, Perhaps I just need to do something a bit more conventional, play a bit lower, play a bit safer, whatever. At some point, you realize, no. No. This is actually deeply important to me. So what I'm hearing is you found this thing about I wanna support people who, especially around finance, and then you found these other areas as well that you wanted to kind of bolt on. So I think it's really fascinating how, you know, that theme ended up playing out in your in your career.

Randell Leach
Yeah. Well, you know, I think it's pretty common. Right? I mean, we don't know everything when we we get started on the journey. Like, we have an opportunity set and we pick, you know, the one that feels right. at the time. and the reason it feels right could be, you know, there's a lot of variables that go into it. It could be that it is the actual best opportunity or it's the one that we feel safest with or, you know, maybe we're the most excited about or whatever. And so we go on, you know, we start our journey we pick up skills and perspective, but I think the pieces that really help set the course are okay. Well, you gotta be sort of brave enough to go explore, externally, but also internally to know what you want. Right? Like, you know, you gotta be able to look inside and discover. And then based on those truths that you've either find out in the world or inside yourself, you gotta be able to be willing to adapt, and that's hard. right, is that you have to let something go sometimes to go for what really matters. and that's really transformative. Right? And so you make that connection and it starts to come together and then, wow, then you're a whole new level. So, you know, a lot of times, you know, we see people that aren't able to do that, right, for either because of their life circumstances, or, you know, they're they're not able to look inside. They're not able to, you know, see the opportunities in the same way, adapt. you know, there's a lot there's definitely a lot of variables in there.

Richard Medcalf
Who was the hardest moment for you when it came to letting go of something to pursue the new to to do the next chapter?

Randell Leach
You know, I think well, I mean, I it's probably different for every stage. I mean, I think when I left the larger bank, I mean, I felt like there was a lot of expectations externally that, like, I had this, you know, good corporate job. It looked successful from the outside, and it didn't reconcile with what I wanted inside. And so, you know, that was, a bit of a, you know, struggle to really come to terms. So it's like, well, you know, who am I doing this for? why am I doing this? And, am I willing to give up what is it, like, a great you know, career path that most folks would be really enviable about. And, you know, and this sort of feels like almost like a title to be able to set it aside and kinda know that, you know, you'll be okay and you can still take a different path. That was probably the first, struggle.

Richard Medcalf
And right on that one, what happened So what was the pivotal moment? Right? So you're going through this. Yeah. Everyone wants me to stay on this quote safe, corporate job, or whatever. What was there like a a moment when you're like, I'm done. I'm moving on.

Randell Leach
I think, actually, I had passed that moment for some time. Like, I I knew that I this was like it. and I was terrified. And so I took longer. Do I probably should have to to jump?

Richard Medcalf
Okay. See, yeah, you'd like you'd run off the cliff and your feet were still going and you haven't caught anything out.

Randell Leach
Exactly. That was me. That was absolutely a little wily coyote action going on there. Yeah. For sure. And, what I think really helped was that the people that were, you know, closest to me, you know, my family, dear friends, you know, talked through it. And it was like, dude is pretty obvious. You know? and whether or not you get, you know, you fail and you go in a different career path, it it won't matter. I think also I had some examples in my life of some other entrepreneurs. one dear friend who had you know, different different character, different profile, but I watched him be so resilient because he would go start businesses and each swink for the fence every time. Sometimes he hit it on the part. Other times, he's just, you know, he can get clobbered. And you always pick himself up again. Like, alright. I'm back in. and then go forward again with no reservation. And I said, okay. That's not me, but, you know, I can I can probably take some, you know, I can I can recover. I've got enough confidence, and I've got enough, resources. And, again, I mean, I think, you know, the other side of it though is, I mean, I think growing up, I mean, I did have 3 years of research since I did have this sense of just that I was gonna be okay no matter what. and not everybody has that. And so sometimes that can be unhealthy and sometimes they can be healthy and give you a chance, you know, opportunity to take some chances. But Yeah. So that that was different than when, I left, and wrapped up the starter because the startup 1 was really, like, you know, I mean, this was more of a failure. Right? Invisible failure felt like, you know, I didn't execute well. I let some other people down. I, you know, burned through some household finance for my wife and I, right, at the time. so there was just a lot of, frustration and disappointment, which was at the same time though, there was now a burning new energy that was coming up for what I wanted to go to next because I found something that really mattered to me. I just didn't know what would become of it.

Richard Medcalf
Yeah. I call that the rocket fuel, right, when you get a burning energy this genuinely matters, nothing's gonna stop me now because I know what I wanna I know what I'm more about. I think it's a key moment, you know, when people actually Art John doesn't even say this is what I wanna contribute.

Randell Leach
It and and, you know, it's it's actually a different I haven't I haven't really thought about it, but the energy with that was more authentic and coming from within. Like, I knew what I wanted that would satisfy me. Whereas before, when I went to do the entrepreneurial, you know, go, you know, shoot for the moon. Some of that really was, you know, some external expectation and pressure like this is the model. Right? This is what, you know, It's great to have corporate success, but the real the real win is to be some entrepreneur. And, and so I think I got caught up in that when I was you know, younger. And then I realized, well, that's that's actually not me. That's not actually my path. So but I'm able to take some of that entrepreneurial energy in a business that's already going, right, and apply it in, you know, just a different way. and so I I still view myself as a you know, the corporate entrepreneur, not, is that, you know, serves startup star entrepreneur. That's not me.

Richard Medcalf
Yeah. I was talking with a a a CEO, a business owner just yesterday. I think it was, who has his burning desire to be, I think, described it super successful. And we really had this conversation because it was basically eating him up. He's already very successful. Right? I mean, he's always, but but there's this burning desire. We kinda got into it, and it's this thing of, well, I How do you know that you're super successful? And and is it actually about winning love and acceptance from other people? Right? Is that why you're doing it, right, because you often it's those deep drivers, the drivers, And we try to we shifted the conversation, really, from success to impacts, you know, what's the impact that would really make it, like, what he's really all about. And I know I can be in my head. I can overthink things, all the rest of it. But then if I really drop down into myself, I could tell you I am dead serious about impact. I don't turn myself too seriously, but I know that I I want people to make an impact change the world and make a difference, not be complacent. That's what I'm about. That's what I stand for. It goes back into my past. I couldn't stand on it. And I know I'm I'm powerful when I talk about that because I 100% believe it. That's what I'm here for. Right? I wanna help people provide their impact. Boom. Right? Whereas, if I get into other goals, like, this is the amount of money I wanna make this year or this or that, oh, yeah. I can talk about that, but it's not coming from that place of absolute conviction. It's a So I had it all right. It's a it's a that's how I should do this. You know, I made this much last year. I should try to aim for this this year that it's not the same conviction. is when I talk about the core motivation. So, anyway, enough about that. Let's move on. so tell us tell me, Randall, about your ambition. You wanna build a regional impact bank, which sounds great, except that it's an existing concepts. So You're creating the non existent, which I love. That's what life's about in many ways, I think. Well, so what what is it? What is the regional impact bank? And what what's the story there? Why why is this So pick on your radar?

Randell Leach
Well, I mean, I think a lot of it goes back to, you know, what we're just talking about sort of the the personal motivation of really trying to, you know, help people flourish and my passion for, you know, the environment. and so, you know, unfortunately, that I you know, found a bunch of colleagues, you know, partners, investors, directors that all sort of share this idea that And, look, let's, you know, build this triple bottom line bank where our true purpose is is to serve the community. in a deep and meaningful way. Right? And and so our, you know, our mission is is simply to to help people, and help more people. right, and and do do so and harm you with the environment. So, you know, that's that's really what we're trying to do. And so Basically, we've we've we've taken the the bank business model and sort of hacked it for good. Right? Instead, like, so the a bank is an incredibly powerful, you know, financial vehicle. it's it's essential to the economy. it, you know, just uses leverage of people's deposits to make the lending activity happen, runs the payment rails, you know, it's It's just in the heart of the, you move money around. So, okay, if we're gonna make change, go to where there's this leverage point. And, you know, right now in the United States, you know, banks are for profit, and they're really, you know, they're they're sole purpose is to maximize their, you know, shareholder wealth, the classic capitalist ball. And it's incredibly good at doing that. It's incredibly powerful. But what happens with a bank when it uses that power for that self interest that just pure maximizing what it can take from both sides as a financial intermediary and it's like, alright. Let's increase our power base by taking, you know, as much know, we can't from our depositors as much as we can from lenders to maximize our share so that we can give it to our investors. that is the primacy, lead to some pretty dark places. And, so what we've done is pretty simple, really, is that, like, that's not us. We're here that we're we're in the middle, but we're not trying to create power by pushing these, you know, other parties away and minimizing their power. We're more of a social intermediary where we'd rather connect them, make everybody stronger, figure out how we can help each other without all these sort of negative, you know, externalities. right? It's it's not just about going and doing good things. you gotta avoid doing the bad things too. and so it's really about, you know, authentically building a business model that's gonna add value to the communities in the most efficient way that you can do that.

Richard Medcalf
I hope you're enjoying this conversation. This is just a quick interlude to remind you that my book making time for strategy is now available. If you wanna be less busy, and more successful, I highly recommend that you check it out. Why not head over to making time for strategy .com to find out the details? now back to the conversation.

So why is that hard? What what makes it difficult? Like, if it's easy, and no cost. No. Everyone would have done it too. So I it'd be nice to have. Sounds good. Probably add extra brand credibility. Right? So what what are the challenges that you've been experiencing as you build this model out?

Randell Leach
Well, I mean, I think, you know, The the first one, right, is that, you know, most companies and banks included are focused on maximizing prop And so we're we're focused on optimizing for prosperity for the community and for us. for, you know, you know, the environment. Right? So we're we're not, It's not just, you know, one facet of this. So we're we're trying to integrate the the the 2 triple bottom line. You know, people plan a profit. And so that's sort of the first challenge is to get that, you know, that north star, that mindset, that culture, and and really stay committed to that. from an organizational design perspective. But one, you know, practical example is like, okay. So we wanna serve low income communities, low income people and provide resources to those that are, you know, folks that are empowered. They're trying to lift themselves up against the system that's sort of working against them. they might be trying to help others know, those are the people that we really try and serve. Like, okay. They're on a mission. How can we how can we help them? And when you when you provide services to somebody that's low income or maybe higher risk or has some kind of financial vulnerability, this question of how do you do that in a way that is helpful for them and economically viable for you. Right? It's there's lots of folks that provide services to low income people but, you know, on the extreme, it gets predatory. It gets, it's exploiting. Right? And, like, okay, that's the classic model. How do we do this in a way? where it's financially sustainable for us. Now we're, we're not hurting ourselves to be able to help them. And so sometimes it starts with, not looking at that as the the trade off. It's just like, let's just start from, like, a fresh look of what are these people really need and how can we help them? And then we'll back into how we can take care of ourselves along the way. I think a lot of times, one of the Problems is that people think things are always an either or. Like, you can either, you know, make money or help somebody. It's like, well, Actually, maybe you can start with if you start with the premise of doing well by doing good, you you can still, like, you can make that a reality. Right? It doesn't have to be either or just because you're doing something that needs us unprofitable. That, I think, is the old way of thinking. And if you don't, explore that you can actually be successful by helping others. then you may just you're not gonna find it.

Richard Medcalf
Yeah. I love it. It's what you're saying there about going back to 1st principles and customer needs and saying, how can we actually serve these people rather than kind of a basic. Well, here's our basic model. What are the parameters we're gonna type in for this particular customer segment, right, and just kind of yeah. And that's what it is, actually. being more creative, right, innovative in solving these challenges. And I think the other thing I heard, Randall, was Yeah. Fundamentally, it was just because you this whole bank was set up, and designed from the start to have the triple bottom line approach. So, actually, some of the things which would be hard in this additional business become easier because you've already leveraged the parameters. Right? This is the way we're working.

Randell Leach
It it is it is a different challenge to take, you know, an existing business that, you know, sort of makes its money with a certain business model. has inertia. I mean, you know, people have their, you know, their livelihoods or their, you know, their their wealth tied up in that and that business model and say, we're gonna fundamentally change it. That's a that's a hard course correction compared to like, alright, let's design from the beginning where we have alignment all the way through. You know, for us, you know, our our founders, our investors, our directors, our management team, our staff, our governance model. Right? I mean, it's in our bylaws that, you know, we're gonna be that we're, a public benefit corporation. You know, we're a B corp. so we, you know, we really are committed to the practices that that make a, you know, triple bottom line organization. So everything that we do is designed to support and buttress that. And we're just, you know, aren't so what our model is is we just keep incrementally, you know, trying to improve that and learn and adapt, right? which is just very different from an institution that was doesn't have everybody on the same page. Doesn't have everybody going in the same direction. there might be some folks in the organization who wanna do that, but you know, it's gonna take a long time for something like that to shift and it's a question of can it or will it or will it shift shift enough for for what we need is you know, for our society, for our planet, because there's real issues that need to attend, and we all have mistaken and if we don't start getting after it better and more effectively than we have in the past, it's it's it's already it's already a problem. I'm just gonna get a heck of a lot worse.

Richard Medcalf
Yeah. I think, actually, you're right. I think it's incredibly hard to change existing institutions of and of many sorts, right, because you're trying to negotiate some kind of consensus. And, yeah, the only consensus that you have was that you're all kind of prepared to tolerate the current situation because you're there. And therefore, if you might have progressives and conservatives within that, but it's incredibly hard to move people together, I've seen that in many different sectors. business.

Randell Leach
Yeah. I mean, it goes it goes back to the question that you you ask. asked me as as an individual as a leader in sort of those moments of when I reflected up what I was gonna let go for what I was gonna go forward with. Right? So as hard as that is to answer as an individual asking, you know, tens, 100, or 1000 of individuals to do that at the same time. you know, that's that's monumental. So I think some, you know, sometimes the the change has to happen slowly and, you know, you know, for and, you know, that's how you sort of build a movement and then suddenly, you know, it can pick up some steam. But, I mean, it's hard to deal with an institution, especially a bank. A bank is not built for change. It's not built to adapt. It's built for, you know, control, steady process. risk conversion. Right? Well, theoretically, risk conversion. Not all big. Subscribing that.

Richard Medcalf
But well, anyway, he's a kind of field analogy. You know, it's like think of what would have to happen to persuade priests in the Catholic church, not to wear robes. I mean, there's like, you know, the other churches people don't wear robes, but, like, can you mention trying to change that institution and roll out new policy, you know, it would just that would take 100 to be it's probably impossible. Right? So changing institutions from the inside out, I think, is really, really hard work. So I think the beauty of the economy is that new things can bubble up and new models can emerge. Some some will change, but I think for many, it'll be very hard. to shift focus. So let's shift gear again, Randall. I talked about your your personal, disciplines, actually, because I was a believer that leaders who to modify their impact always have specific practices that help them to do that. And I know that one thing that's important to you is what you call a self assessment. So I think it's a daily practice for you. So just tell us a bit about that, you know, and and and how and why do you do that? And, what's the benefit?

Randell Leach
Well, yeah, I mean, and so some of this goes back to what we're talking about before, right, as, you know, Look. So one level, you know, looking out at the world, you know, based on your vantage point, you see what you see, and trying to be really clear. I had an objective about that. is is is an essential sort of skill set and practice, in my view. and then one of the things that I've done And it's not just like a daily. Sometimes we'll do it, like, ten times in a day. it's just a simple tool. And I got, you know, a few different ones I use, but, I just sort of take an inventory of, okay. Well, wait, where am I? You know, spiritually you know, emotionally, physically, you know, intellectually, relationally, Where am I right now? And, and sometimes it's like, good, good, good, And then it's like, okay. Well, wait a minute. What was that, Anne? Let me go sort of dig in a little bit deeper there. what's what's going on? And really just try and, bracket a little bit and explore it. both the the negative and, like, you know, the positive. And then It's just a simple reminder for me to, you know, explore inside a little bit and and No. And and get a better sense of what sort of energy and, what I'm really bringing to the day or what I'm bringing to the moment because, you know, then you can adapt. Right? You know, if you have a better sense of what's really going on with you and the world is what it is, that that I've got a chance to say, okay. Well, wait a minute. If I'm off, you know, emotionally or something, like, maybe I'm really sad or something. that I can actually buttress myself for what I need to go do next, or I can say, hey. Wait a minute. This is actually something I need to go take care of. and I can, you know, make space for myself to do what I need to be able to do. cause look, we're all we're all human and sure it's one thing that you can you know, sort of put put things on pause for a little bit, but, I don't think it's good or in the best use, best potential for anybody to try and just put everything in cold storage forever. Right? So it's really about, just seeing where I really'm at. so I can and show up better and show up more authentically.

Richard Medcalf
Yeah. That's nice. I have a practice which I've been doing recently. where I look each day at how inspired am I, how engaged am I on on my top kind of most, biggest project. And, and how much enjoying how much am I enjoying things? And the reason for doing that is well, these are really from, like, my biggest, what I call my possible goals, things which I don't even believe I can do, but I wanna do them anyway. And it's like, if I'm not inspired about it, you know, engaged and all in. And if I'm not having fun, And, like, there's no way I'm gonna bring the creativity, the connection, the energy, the magic, that's gonna make this thing happen. Right? I may as well literally just shut my computer and, you know, take some time off.

Randell Leach
That is some dishes or something.

Richard Medcalf
Yeah. Yeah. And and, actually, it's a great problem. Just like, okay. If I'm not now at the start of the day, and I will go on mid. Right? Yesterday morning, I was not, you know, I was bet it was a Monday. I just got back from a week's vacation. you know, the family were asleep, you know, and I was like, work. And I was not in the zone. I was really not in the zone. And so I was like, you know what? Like, let me go for a run. Let me actually remind myself what I'm all about and get to face where I can actually score myself high on those numbers.

And then we then don't actually do my work because when you're in that place of being creative and energized, you only need that one idea, that one connection, that one message, that one article, whatever you're gonna do that day to make a difference. So I love this idea of yours of, of rapidly kind of just checking in, which can be once a day or once every once an hour. whatever or just pausing, I guess, as you're walking from meeting to meeting, just doing a quick check as to how am I showing up on those different levels?

Randell Leach
Yeah. So, you know, yeah, there's another sort of part of this too is, you know, part of my own I don't know, personal perspective or sort of how I I look at a lot of things is that, okay. There's, you know, everything's sort of Rivendell of attributes. Right? And in some, you know, so, I mean, if you take a simple one, just like, you know, physically, whether somebody's tall or short or strong or, you know, like, lift a lot of weight or something. Like, in some situations, that's gonna be a tremendous advantage. In other situations, No. It's not. It's gonna be a disadvantage. And so when I do this, it's basically, I'm I'm I'm looking for things that, like, just where where am I? Because just based on what I'm gonna go do next, I might realize, hey, wait a minute. I'm I'm super strong on this right now, but that's actually not needed. that might, you know, maybe that one in a different situation would be phenomenal, but that's actually not what's appropriate. you know, I might be having a really tough conversation with somebody and, you know, there's a different energy that is needed than what I was coming in with. And it's just a simple way to check and be clear what what I can bring to the table.

Richard Medcalf
Yeah. Love it. So, Randall, as as our time is touring up to a close, let me ask you a couple of my favorite questions. so my favorite question is probably is around multiplying impact. So what would multiplying impact look at the bank level? Like, what what would you love to create over the next few years with the bank? What been amazing? You know, what's the next level?

Randell Leach
Sure. Well, you know, we're we're we're just to, a tiny bank, really, in in the grand scheme of things. And, what we're really trying to do is is build a really, you know, a business model that can really add value to the community. It's really can contribute. and not do any of the negative, right, and then it's really about optimizing how we can help people flourish, how we can help the environment, how we can help strengthen the community. And what I think is really exciting is when you look at, like, our impact measurement and, you know, how many units of affordable housing it can be or, you know, that know, how we're providing access to credit to folks or, you know, by by whatever measure. If you take our institution, which is just a fraction of 1% of the total economy. If you had 75% of the institutions with a similar business model, the impact that you would have on affordable housing, you know, giving, you know, safe and and, economically affordable housing to people. on what you could do for the actual environment. it's just absolutely profound. So so many of the social issues that we face, so many of the environmental issues we face and the economic disparity that if you scale this model, you'd be really solving these these issues by simply reallocating capital in the market. So harnessing an existing tool that's out there using the power of it for good, and doing that at scale. It's it would be profound.

Richard Medcalf
And as you look at seeing how you can be part of that profound impact, What are you gonna need to do differently to multiply your own impact? There's always a shift, right, in how we operate because what got us here won't get us there. So what comes to mind, let's talk about what what you might need to work on yourself if you're gonna move reach your next level.

Randell Leach
Well, there's there's a lot of work. I don't know if you'd add time for a podcast for all the work that I need. but Honestly, I I think it's really it's about, you know, harnessing the the the power and the energy and the spirit of of others that are out there you know, willing and, you know, trying to make things happen and, just, you know, helping support them as much as possible. So me as an individual, us as a business doing it in a sort of a a structure or platform way, that's where the real power comes from. It doesn't come from from me is, you know, one one guy. Right? Like, that's, that's not that's not enough. There's way more energy, way more skills, way more potential of all everybody else that, you know, that's trying to make some good things happen for others. So How how can I be of service? I mean, that's really my model. How can I do that part better?

Richard Medcalf
Yeah. Nice. Thank you. Thanks for sharing that. It's, it's, I think it's great to me. I think what I hear in what you talk about Randall is you go back to the same things very, very clear about contributing community, helping people flourish the environment by not doing anything negative. these are, you know, it's clear that it's very you know, cut you through, like, a stick of rock. Might not have rock in the US. I keep talking, given this ex this this analogy. People don't understand it. You know, it's a candy It's a candy, a stick of candy, and it's got the the same word all the way through the candy. So whenever you bite it, you can still read the town it was made in, whatever. And it sounds like cut you through. You're gonna find the same, you know, the same word in the middle, same set of words, around what you're up to. So I love that.

Randell Leach
It it is really. I mean, you know, I think you know, you you had touched on it earlier. you know, we talked about, you know, before I had the ability to have this vantage point where I could see entrepreneurs and, you know, it's really fascinating to see how they operate their business, but also their personal relationship with money. That that was fascinating. It's actually now I've got this incredible vantage point of all these people that are working to help others to make other things happen. to lift other people up, to to help, you know, help lift themselves up. It's absolutely beautiful. really? I mean, I mean, the the love and the community and and people coming together to support each other, that's what it's about. it's incredibly powerful. I I didn't really sort of ever tap into that. Like, a business had anything to do with that before, but it's like, well, if you're able to align with that, it's it's it's incredible. And, like, why would I do it any other way? so to me, that's where it's at.

Richard Medcalf
Beautiful. So right now as we wrap up, If people wanna get in touch with you, we'll find out more about the bank. Where do they do that?

Randell Leach
Just visit us then officialstate.com. we're, West Coast, United States, and love to see if we can partner and help.

Richard Medcalf
Perfect. Hey, Randall. It's been great to, Grace chat and and of your story and of the impact you're you're trying to make and reinventing the banking sector. in your in your own little part of the world. So thank you for your work, on this, and look forward to following you along as you continue Defenture.

Randell Leach
Thank you, Richard.

Richard Medcalf
Cheers. Bye bye. Alright.

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