In the name of love

I am writing this week's newsletter with a heavy heart, saddened by the tragic events unfolding this past weekend and worried about my friends and colleagues in Israel.

Just this past week, I was chatting with an old friend about his work travels, and how he was planning to return to the States with his family later this year for a visit. Little did we know, everything changed overnight. Along with many others, he has since joined the call to defend his country, leaving his family and work life behind.

It is painful and hard to watch as countless stories unfold. I still vividly remember the first time I met many of my Israeli friends two decades ago. Over the years, I have come to appreciate and admire their resilience, focus, resolve, work ethic, and most of all, their passion. Of course, we had our share of stressful work moments; after all, we nicknamed one of our projects "Project Balagan", which stands for chaos in Yiddish. But we have shared so much more — and we grew together, both personally and professionally. I honestly could not have asked for better work partners than the team that I have had the honor to work with and learn from.

As I type, President Biden's words ring in my head: "We have no place else to go."

No place else to go, but fight.

I am sickened with what I have seen and heard. I cannot say to any of my friends that I understand what they are going through. Because I simply cannot comprehend. Throughout my entire life, I have had the privilege of growing up in places without the threat of violence that we have witnessed and?the barbaric acts against innocent people and families. Words failed me. I am angry and heartbroken. I am fearful for what would happen next.

The brutality and unspeakable scenes were on my mind as I was on stage yesterday to talk about access and opportunities. It is difficult to stay positive against the backdrop of the injustices, and this week has proven to be even more challenging.

How do we talk about thriving when people are barely surviving?

I am reminded of this quote from the Lord of the Rings ...

"There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for."

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I penned this month's piece for FinTech Futures with different thoughts in mind ... namely, complacency on things that matter: gender and racial equity, climate change, and wealth inequality, just to name a few.

How do we keep making all the same mistakes, you ask? It is the price of inaction, of staying inside our own bubble, surrounding ourselves with ideas and beliefs that mirror ours and ours only, oblivious to the burning fires in a world that is changing around us.

Sadly, I find the piece resonates more today in light of the appalling assault and loss of lives.

If you have the power of the pen and the mic but you choose to look the other way, then what hope do the rest of the people have?

Silence is not golden, especially now.

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Thank you Sue Britton for inviting me to the brand new podcast, The FinTech Effect. We talked about longevity, sustainability, and bank/fintech partnerships, including some of my favorites: Silvur, BOND.AI, and Cogo.

Collective action matters. Intention matters. And how we define success and impact to our society matters.

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In this week's One Vision Podcast ...

How can financial institutions best adapt to the changing world and work faster and better? From enabling wide-ranging digital experience to responding to compliance demands, can you automate the most complex decisioning processes as easily as building with Lego blocks?

In this new episode of One Vision —?FinTech Fuse, Barb MacLean and myself chat with Emily Bogan and Patrick Rivenbark on redefining process automation and being intentional.

Give this episode a listen and let us know what you think.

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