Tansley Stearns: Purpose, Courage, and the Story Behind Choose the Bear

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It was such a pleasure to have Tansley Stearns, President and CEO of orsa credit union in Michigan, as my guest on Uncommon Impact this week.
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She's had a long career in credit unions, but even more than her accolades, what I really enjoyed was her optimism and infectious spirit.
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We spent so much time talking about purpose, why we do what we do, the leader's role in that, how we can help people get on board.
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And she just is one of those people where you just kind of continue to lean in as she talks.
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She's just got so much going on, she's so excited about things, she sees the world through such a big lens.
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In his stand-up, Steve Martin had a line years ago: be obsequious, purple, and clairvoyant.
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And I think I had the obsequious part of that covered.
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I was trying not to overly praise her, but what she does is amazing at Orsta and the initiatives they've got.
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Just such cool stuff and really empowering stuff for the people they serve, but then also all those who work at orsa and get to be a part of that.
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And then you'll see she is plenty purple.
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And hopefully she's also clairvoyant because she said they are going to change the world for women and people who love them, which I think encompasses pretty much all of us.
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So I hope you enjoy.
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Tansley, thank you so much for joining me.
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It is a pleasure to have you here.
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It's an honor, Nathan.
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Thank you so much for the invitation.
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Absolutely.
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I think I've been following you, I don't know if that's the right way to say it, since maybe 2022 or so.
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Um longtime friends at Gary Ozzello, and I think Gary knows everybody from 40 years with Colorado State.
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But when he joined Canvas is when you started popping up on my feed because you knew so many people from your time there, and and but we never crossed paths.
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I actually did a keynote for them a couple of years ago, but you were already in Michigan by that time.
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So thanks so much for being on and being a part of this.
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It's a pleasure.
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Well, great.
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Well, let me jump right in because one of the things that you've been doing a lot of over time, but then lately, is this work with um economic and domestic abuse and trying to help those endeavors through the credit union.
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Can you tell me a little bit about where that originated, how you got started with that?
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Absolutely.
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I've had the honor of serving here at orsa credit union since June of 2022, as you mentioned.
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I've been in credit unions my whole career.
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And one of the pillars of our strategy here at orsa is to be a best friend to women and those who love them.
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And well before we codified that pillar of our strategy, the Credit Union has been very, very generous to organizations across the state of Michigan.
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And one of those is an organization called First Step.
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And I had the opportunity in my first month to meet with the executive director from First Step and learned about the ways that we were giving and committed to First Step and those impacted by domestic and sexual violence.
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And we talked about partnership.
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And at orsa, partnership for us is so much more than a big check, although it often includes a big check.
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And that led us to this opportunity to meet with and learn from survivors because we knew that those that are impacted by domestic and sexual violence often experience economic abuse.
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And economic abuse can be unfortunately a mechanism to keep people in situations where they are being harmed.
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And we listened because we think of listening as a superpower, and we created a loan program for survivors that really created an opportunity for survivors to make choices on their own behalf, whether that was to be able to put a down payment on an apartment, to have a safe place to live, or to have again a down payment on an auto loan, whatever it might be, those choices are theirs to make, and that economic freedom can mean so much to their next set of choices.
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From there, you might have seen that there was this social question that was happening on social media about 18, maybe 24 months ago.
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And the question was: if you're a woman and you meet a strange bear or strange man in the woods, which would you choose?
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And unfortunately, women were choosing the bear.
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Now, my husband has frequently told me that this is a silly question because bears are very dangerous.
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And honestly, his response to that is the epitome of the challenge.
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And it told us so much about what women are going through.
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And importantly for us at orsa, it sparked one of our team members to come to me and say, Tansley, I've seen what we're doing.
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I've seen that we've been giving to organizations like First Step.
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We created this loan program, and there's so much more to do.
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And this can really be a movement.
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And that sparked us to do so much more.
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And that led us to our choose the bear ride, which we just finished, and think of as a starting line because when you think about economic abuse, it's often invisible.
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The stories that I'm talking about are very uncomfortable for many to hear.
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They're certainly uncomfortable for many to tell.
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And the more we talk about it, and quite frankly, the more mechanisms we put in place, like our loan program, like our grow and give, we are changing systemically the way that women have mechanisms to choose on their own behalf and ensuring that they have the bright financial future, which underpins a bright future.
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And if 51% of the population is doing better, all of us are doing better.
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Amen.
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Well, so it brings two things together that I've thought about separately.
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And the older I get, the more, the more sensitive I am to certain things, or maybe the more I'm experienced in certain things.
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But as somebody was fired in the NFL and then decided to become a writer and struggled to ever get my first book off the ground.
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Some of these economic ideas, you know, where I knew conceptually, okay, I'm supposed to do this, I'm supposed to set this much aside.
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And then, and once you get behind, it's exhausting.
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And you're like, I I can't even see how to get my head.
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I can't even, I'd love to tread water, right?
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I mean, it'd be so great to break the surface.
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So I can see that piece, and I had viewed it as separate of this whole sexual and domestic abuse and being sensitive to that, and what do you do to help people?
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And and then intellectually, you're saying, okay, great, the way you should be setting aside X amount of your paycheck, you should be just leaving.
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Why aren't you going and starting something?
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And anyway, it's interesting to hear you talk about it and bring those things together, and kind of another light bulb goes off for me of, oh, these really are not separate things.
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This is all in entwined.
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And Nathan, I really appreciate what you're saying because regardless of your gender or who you are or your economic circumstances, money in our country is often very connected to shame.
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And it's something we don't talk a lot about.
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We have over 50 student-run credit unions across the state of Michigan.
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It's one of the reasons I came to orsa is I am so committed to helping young people create their financial future.
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And I've had the opportunity to interview tons of people about their money, in particular parents.
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And what you often see very quickly as you start to ask questions is emotion, shame, regret.
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And so our ability to talk more about money, to help people have the tools so that they have agency around those resources.
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And to your point, find ways to not tread water.
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One of the things I'm super proud of at orsa is we created something called a 52-week savings challenge.
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It's really, really simple.
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We began with saying, okay, just save a dollar the first week, two dollars the second week, increases by a dollar all the way through 52 weeks.
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And at the end of that, you've got just under $1,500 that you've saved.
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It may not sound like a lot.
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The biggest piece of feedback we received, Nathan, was what if I don't have a dollar to start?
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And so we reduced the amount that you would begin with.
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And those simple steps and automation can create something.
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And to your point, having $1,500, $500, whatever that starting place is, not only means that you're not treading water, it means that you feel less shame and you feel control of something that allows you to make choices in your life.
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Yeah, I have no doubt about that.
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I I know again from my experience, I'm quicker to tell people that I'm a recovering alcoholic than I am to say that I borrowed money from friends along the way and and whatever.
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Um yeah, it really does carry baggage.
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Then it also at times you make bad choices, right?
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There are times when I look at things and go, well, I really need this next paycheck, or I ne really need whatever, and and all of a sudden you're making choices.
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You look back and think, okay, that compounded things, but what else was I gonna do?
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Right.
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Um Yeah.
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Well, let me ask you this.
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So so I mean, it'd be easy for people to say, and maybe it's you Michiganders, because I've written a bunch of books with uh Tony Dungy, who grew up in Jackson.
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And and when we were together with the Buccaneers, Tony was quick to say that winning games is important, but that's not all we do.
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That we're a part of the community, that the way we treat each other matters, that and people kept saying, basically, you know, shut up and dribble.
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Look, this is your job.
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You're supposed to win games, quit going, you know, quit distracting the players with visits to elementary schools and whatever.
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Somebody could say the same thing here at some level, right?
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I mean, it it feels to me like this is not an initiative, like like, hey, here's something off to the side.
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You talk about it being a pillar, and it feels central.
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Do you get pushback?
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What's it like to take an organization and say, hey, somebody may say this is off mission, but it really isn't.
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This is a big piece of the mission.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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First of all, it begins with our board of directors.
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I'm really honored to serve a visionary board that cares deeply about changing the world.
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And Nathan, the story I love to tell, when I first got to orsa, I was talking about impossible dreams.
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And our purpose is to create joy and ignite Michigander's impossible dreams.
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And I had a colleague come to me and say, you know, Tansley, you keep talking about impossible dreams, and you do know that when something's impossible, that means it can't ever happen.
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And my firm belief is that leadership is the lid.
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And at whatever level of passion and vision and audacity I believe everything else will fall underneath that.
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And so it is my responsibility, I believe, in leadership, to be bold, to be audacious, to dream wildly, and to help the organization see things that others might not do.
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And the reason I believe in cooperative finance and credit unions is because the two things are not disconnected.
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The heart of our credit union is the heart of our purpose.
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And as a community cooperative financial institution, we are responsible for the lives of Michiganders and how we show up.
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And further, when you think about, I mentioned grow and give earlier, you know, essentially what this allows our members to do is every time they tap their debit card, they're paying everyday transactions.
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We're rounding up, and that allows them to pay themselves, save, or give, or some combination they're in.
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We also have another program where we are matching the roundup for folks.
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So all of this, to your point, allows us to do well in order to do good.
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You know, the credit unit has to thrive.
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We have to have a really strong financial foundation, and we do.
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And as we build these programs that are systemic and connected to our purpose and to ensuring that women have that financial best friend, both things can be true at once.
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Beautiful.
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I love that.
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And let me ask you then.
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Well, actually, before I get to that, let me let me pivot and just say I think I think your idea of vision is so important because I was reading again the other day of how many stimuli we get at any moment in time.
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And it's just millions of things, whether it's the environment, the temperature, the lighting, the whatever it is, or people walking past us, and that our brain only sees a little bit of it consciously.
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We can only process a little bit.
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And so it seems like the idea is with belief, right?
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I can I'm gonna see what I want to see.
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I can see everything negative, I can see all the things we can't do, I can see all the things that are impossible.
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Or I can also see the things that are impossible as things we should strive toward based on the inputs I'm getting, but also what I'm what I'm kind of seeing as far as what's been guided for me as far as the leader.
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Um, was there somebody who shaped you?
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Did you think of this?
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Did you come up with this whole cloth uh in your career?
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Did you take different pieces?
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What shaped your leadership in this way?
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Oh my gosh, I've been shaped by so many people.
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And I'll begin with my mother.
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You know, I had the opportunity on our podcast that we call Despite Impossible.
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She was one of the first guests that I had.
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And of course, I've known her my nearly 50 years.
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We have a very close relationship.
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And Nathan, I have to tell you, in our conversation, I became so emotional.
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Not because I love her, although I do.
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What was so resonant was how brave she is.
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And I have all these fears.
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One of my biggest fears is bridges.
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I don't want to fail.
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I always want to show up in a way that allows us to create positive impact.
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So I've been scared of a lot of things in my life.
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And as she talked and she talked about her life, I realized that she doesn't have the fears that I have.
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And so her bravery certainly was grounding for me.
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And then I've been so very lucky that I've had people across the course of my career really invest mightily in me.
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I often talk about my very first CEO at my very first credit union.
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His name was John Normandeau.
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And he saw things in me, Nathan, that I didn't see in myself.
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In fact, that one of my marking moments was there was a vice president position, and they had been working to hire for it for some time.
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And he had done some personality testing and recognized that the way that I see the world was very closely tied to what they were looking for.
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And he called me and said, you know, Tansley, I think you should apply for this job.
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The title was VP of Sales and Service.
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And so, very early 20s, Tansley's response was, I don't do sales, John.
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I'm not gonna do that.
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Thanks so much, and hung up.
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And I didn't think it about it again.
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And what a terrible response, first of all.
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I would give my early self much different advice.
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And I'm very lucky he called me back about 30 days later and said, you know, Tansley, no one else has applied that I think is the right person.
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I think you should raise your hand for this.
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You sure you don't want to think about it?
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Luckily, at that point I did.
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And of course, then he was still deciding, and it was all that I wanted once I realized.
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And one of the things that he did that I've carried with me was he surrounded himself by people that see the world differently.
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You know, he was a finance guy, he started as a CPA, very, very conservative, saw the world differently than I did.
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I was a marketer in the early stage of my career.
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And the two of us could create something much more vibrant than either one of us alone.
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And I've carried that forward.
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And then the last thing that I would mention, you know, during my time, you mentioned Colorado and when I was at Canvas, and the culture at Canvas was very special.
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And I had spent most of my career up until that point with just a buffed polish.
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I think, especially as a woman in leadership, I had this belief that there could just be nothing other than perfection.
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And when I got there, CEO at the time, Todd Marksberry, he said to me, you know, Tansley, part of that polish is making people think that you're not real.
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And it was the first time over the course of my four years there where I really started to show up as myself.
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And I hope that I'm carrying that with me here at orsa.
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So I could go on.
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I've been very, very lucky to be marked by so many human beings.
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And those are just a few of the examples.
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Boy, those are great.
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Uh, just those three: the the idea of being real and vulnerable, and people respond so much better to that, right?
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When I do share challenges I've had, people just gravitate to that and and leaders and and then this idea of seeing in in people things that they don't necessarily see, and being willing to face disagreement because you know that the group will be better if you don't have people around you.
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And then let me follow up with your mom.
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One one question about the bravery.
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Is it that she didn't see the dangers and the risks, or that she pushed ahead anyway, despite what could have been debilitating to somebody else?
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My mother is an optimist of all optimists.
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You know, it is optimist squared.
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Good.
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I don't know that it's that she doesn't see the risk.
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I do think that it's she sees the good.
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And I have seen her in the face, quite frankly, of people that didn't deserve her grace, be graceful and see good in really bad situations.
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And I think that optimism allows her to not necessarily not see things that could be risks.
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I think it allows her to see what could be exponential because she sees so much good in the world.
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Yeah.
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Again, back to that idea of the filter and what she's allowing in and what she sees powerful.
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So let me ask you about then.
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I started on this a minute ago, but this idea of folks inside the building, what's it like?
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Is it have you seen impacts, transformations, whatever, when people have a chance to not only just help uh members with things in front of them, but actually help members with be able to dig out of something or to be able to be transformed for something?
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Have you seen any sort of transformation within the building when people are like, oh, our purpose really is bigger than me just sitting here and taking deposits or whatever it may be, which is important.
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Oh my gosh, so much.
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And it really changes who wants to be on this journey.
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You know, this is not for everyone, and that's okay.
00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:43.599
And I welcome people to find other journeys if this isn't the right place.
00:18:43.599 --> 00:18:47.759
And for those that want to do this, it's life-changing.
00:18:47.759 --> 00:19:02.559
You know, it was just last Tuesday that the Choose the Bear ride came to an end, and I had the chance to stand with a couple of my colleagues, one of whom has been at orsa for gosh, the last 15, 20 years and is leading here in IT.
00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:25.519
And I said, you know, this is one of the most important moments of my career thus far, seeing not just this ride and bringing the invisibility into the light and out of the shadows, that we are on the precipice of something where the structure of the organization can change something for the better, for women, for good.
00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:30.480
And after I left, you know, the conversation after the conversation is always the better one.
00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:34.880
He asked one of our other colleagues, there's been a lot in her career.
00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:37.039
This is the most important thing.
00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:51.279
And these marking moments, right, about what's possible and how every single step that we take, even if it doesn't feel so big to everyone at the moment, comes back to that purpose.
00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:57.680
And one of the things I'm so proud of as an organization is that our strategy is something we put on a napkin.
00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:01.839
It's not a big binder that's 500 or 5,000 pages long.
00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:05.839
It's something that's very accessible that everybody can hold, literally.
00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:14.960
And when you say we're going to be a best friend to women and those who love them, you do get people that say, Does that mean you hate men?
00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:17.839
I don't know.
00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:20.000
This what does this mean?
00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:29.839
And now we're starting to get this place where we have proof points, where we've got loan programs, where using our debit card can change women's lives.
00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:38.799
And what that sparks for people is, okay, so as we build a new branch, if we're building that for women and those who love them, what does that look like?
00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:40.240
What does that feel like?
00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:42.960
It doesn't mean that the walls are pink, right?
00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:46.720
It does mean that we need to listen and walk with people.
00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:55.039
And you see the spark in people's eyes because I do believe most human beings, to your point, we spend so much time working, right?
00:20:55.039 --> 00:21:00.720
And investing in that and making choices for that so that we can feed our families and care for those we love.
00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:03.599
What if you could do that and change the world at the same time?
00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:06.480
I think many, many people want to be part of that.
00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:15.519
Well, then we spend so much time at work, and when I was in the NFL, it was unhealthy working through Thanksgiving or Christmas or whatever, but but we spend so many hours.
00:21:15.519 --> 00:21:18.720
And for me, it was the sense of when I was there with Tony.
00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:18.960
Yeah.
00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:38.319
And it was, okay, we're spending all this time, but I can go home and and tell my at the time only one young daughter, you know, hey, here's kind of what we're doing, and hey, this is a part of, and it it may not have resonated with her, but at least it made sense to me as far as I may not be able to tuck her in every night, or I may not be able to.
00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:46.240
But then when he was gone and it really was, we're gonna try to win all 17 games, and there's nothing else we're trying to do.
00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:49.359
And then you're like, wait, I'm I'm missing bedtime for this.
00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:52.079
What there's no there for me.
00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:55.440
And so I think that bigger what are we doing and why?
00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:57.920
And and yeah, there's gonna be times of friction.
00:21:57.920 --> 00:21:59.599
Um, but what's the what's the vision?
00:21:59.599 --> 00:22:02.240
In front of us that keeps us going during those times.
00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:03.359
So powerful.
00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:06.160
Well, and to your point, you know, I have a daughter, Mackenzie.
00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:08.720
She's my only, and had to work really hard to have her.
00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:11.599
One of the more important things that I've ever done in my life.
00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:14.160
And she's about to turn 16.
00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:27.839
And for me personally, creating a world that's just a little bit better for her, where she has more choices and she can see and create a path that is hers.
00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:33.599
And what will then be true for her daughter and her granddaughter, we will change the world.
00:22:33.599 --> 00:22:39.759
And being able to talk to her about that to your point, I'm not at every track mate, I'm not at every cross-country mate.
00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:41.920
I'm at as many as I can be.
00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:51.920
And being her mom is not only about presence, it's about creating a world and a space that she can change herself.
00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:52.880
Yeah.
00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:53.440
Amen.
00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:54.079
That's great.
00:22:54.079 --> 00:22:56.880
And the father of two daughters, I I totally hear you.
00:22:56.880 --> 00:23:08.559
But but there are, you know, we won't go through here, but there are certainly business cases, political cases, whatever, that if we have a strengthened segment of society that is that is struggling at times, it's good for all of us.
00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:10.400
It's good for all of us in all these areas.
00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:10.880
Yes.
00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:12.720
Let me so let me ask you this.
00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:22.960
So I I I'm not gonna delve into getting up at 3:50 in the morning, which may be so that you can spend more time with your I had I had a boss who got up at 3:16, and I was like, you know, God bless you.
00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:26.880
Um that's not I became a writer so that I wouldn't have to get up at 3:50 in the morning.
00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:33.599
But anyway, leaving that aside, um, you call orsa a "for impact" organization.
00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:34.000
Yeah.
00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:40.240
Which, of course, with the title of my podcast and and what I've done with Tony and others, just totally resonates.
00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:48.799
Can you share a little bit about, just to wrap things up, um, what uncommon impact or for impact means for you right now as as you've evolved?
00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:55.039
And and by the way, before I forget, and I'm gonna say this for the listeners, I'll put it in the notes as well, that your mascot is a bear.
00:23:55.039 --> 00:23:59.680
That Daisy the bear is the so "choose the bear" resonates on so many levels.
00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:04.640
Um, not just the scary, unhealthy one that somebody would rather choose a bear than a strange man.
00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:09.119
Um, but then also they're choosing positively and affirmatively with orsa is the hope.
00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:12.000
So, anyway, talk to me a little bit about InFact, if you don't mind.
00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:15.039
Yeah, that's what credit unions are all about.
00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:22.559
You know, I stumbled into that very first credit union in 1998, and I'd just graduated from the University of Michigan, Go Blue.
00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:26.079
Had no idea what in the world I wanted to do with my life.
00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:30.319
And that credit union, Nathan, was in the basement of a Macy's store.
00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:39.359
In fact, when we worked there, when we had vendors come to visit and they would be wondering how to get there, you'd have to say, okay, take the escalator down, we're behind men's undergarments.
00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:44.799
I mean, it was not a very flashy place to begin your career.
00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:49.440
And what I learned is that we are about impact.
00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:52.640
You know, we are not nonprofits, we are not for profits.
00:24:52.640 --> 00:25:00.319
And the promise of credit unions, there's a credit union museum in New Hampshire, and I visited there hundreds of times, and I love it.
00:25:00.319 --> 00:25:03.119
And it's in the home of the very first credit union.
00:25:03.119 --> 00:25:08.400
And there are stories in that museum of the man that started that very first credit union.
00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:09.519
He was an attorney by trade.
00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:16.480
He would cross the river every morning and practice law all day, and then come home and open the doors of his home.
00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:27.839
And his daughter describes lines of people waiting to deposit their money so that they had a safe place to put their resources, and others who needed resources who were taking loans.
00:25:27.839 --> 00:25:34.880
And that's what credit unions are all about people coming together, believing in each other enough to create impact.
00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:47.200
And at orsa, we believe that living up to that initial vision of what cooperation can bring to life is going to change the world.
00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:53.680
And doing that on behalf of women and those who love them is something that we are super committed to.
00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:59.680
And more, we're now creating those mechanisms to really prove what that looks like.
00:25:59.680 --> 00:26:06.720
We're just getting started, and I can't wait to see what the next 75 years holds in the year that we celebrate our 75th birthday.
00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:07.759
That's fantastic.
00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:08.960
Tansley, thanks so much.
00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:17.279
That sounds like George Bailey, by the way, as far as the I know that was a savings and loan, but it sounds like all the neighbors running into this guy's house for uh the It's a Wonderful Life moment.
00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:18.799
Well, Tansley, thanks so much.
00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:26.960
I really appreciate you taking the time, and it's been great to finally meet you after after following you and all the great stuff you all are doing uh at orsa.
00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:27.920
So thanks so much.
00:26:28.400 --> 00:26:29.680
Thanks for the opportunity.