Clarence Lloyd joins Lynne to talk about the Kalamazoo experience…from our open-to-all community room at our Downtown Office to working from a heart of servant leadership, today’s episode has it all for you.

Money, I’m Home! From finance to fitness.

 

Transcript:

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00:06 Lynne Jarman-Johnson: Money, I’m Home! Welcome on in, I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union, we’re talking finance to fitness and today we have a gentleman who really is the heart of downtown Kalamazoo in Consumers, Clarence Lloyd. Thank you so much for being with us today.

00:22 Clarence Lloyd: Thank you for having me.

00:24 LJJ: Alright, so tell… I’ve known you now for nine years. I know, isn’t it fun?

00:29 CL: Yeah, it is fun.

00:31 LJJ: Tell us a little bit about your journey and how you became really a center voice for what the growth is like in downtown Kalamazoo.

00:40 CL: So yeah, when I got downtown, it was important that we wanted to grow our office and the office was relatively new. It was about a year and a half old and so it was relatively slow. I had a couple of previous relationships that I knew were connected to education and the school system, and so I figured might as well start there, the school seemed to be a hotbed of activity. So, let’s connect to them, and see what we can do. And through that connection I got connected to a group called Communities in Schools, which is a great organization. They are a resource organization that helps students fill some gaps in their lives to make it easier for them to learn. So, some students get to school and don’t have lunch or don’t have socks, or don’t have eyeglasses or whatever those things are, and they help fill those needs. But through that, we were able to start to connect to some of the other players in the community, and it’s kind of been off to the races ever since.

01:39 LJJ: So really, when you think about it, Clarence, tell us about your journey on getting to Consumers and the passion. The thing about that many people might not know is in our organization, all of us are entrepreneurs, we love to hear that word and Clarence, you are the leader of the Kalamazoo downtown office, their entrepreneurial spirit. What led you here?

02:04 CL: You know what led me here? Honestly was a great recommendation from a family friend. So, I came to Consumers Credit Union because another office manager was already working here, and we had similar backgrounds in sales and retail. And he basically said, “I think you’d love it here, I think you’d be a great fit. And so, you should check it out.” And so, I did and so many other connections from our previous work showed up right away. So, the lady who did the first interview at the time, she’s the wife of a former colleague. That colleague also works here. So, so many people were connected here. I felt at home right away and as I got in, I was really able to be myself and just allow things to flow naturally. And to your point about entrepreneurship, I always felt like I could own whatever our office was going to be. And to use those relationships to connect to the brand and the team and the energy of our office and that’s what’s really helped us be successful is just making those connections, everyone being able to be themselves and that feeling of connection and family.

03:12 LJJ: I think one of the first things that you did that I remember that I think connected the community so strong is the community center that is in our office. Tell us about that.

03:23 CL: That is a really, really great part of our office, we love it, we get a ton of compliments on it. And it has worked out really well we’ve always had this space in the back of our office that for a long time, didn’t really have a great use it was just kind of space, but what we wanted to do is we wanted to make it easier for organizations in town, not just in downtown, but anywhere in town really to be able to connect with us. A lot of times people are looking for meeting spaces and there just aren’t a ton of them that either don’t have a huge barrier to entry like, maybe parking is super tough or maybe it’s expensive, or maybe they don’t have audiovisual that they can access. And we want it to be able to provide all those things for free to allow people to come in and connect with our team and get to meet us and shake our hand, and just spend some time in our space and that’s been really, really key actually, to some great relationships that we foster.

04:18 LJJ: So, Clarence, your passion is community. And when you look at the community space that’s built, I think one of the key components is, that a non-profit or a community group or business group may not even know us yet, but we still open the doors to say, “Hey, come on in and try us out.”

04:35 CL: Absolutely, it really is the easiest way to get to know us, and people come in and we provide coffee, so we have an opportunity to serve them, and to make things easy for them, to show them where the restrooms are and to make sure that they have pen and paper and so there’s just some of those small touches that start to give us an opportunity to maybe get in the door as far as “Wow, the service level here is really something that’s unique.”

05:05 LJJ: Do you think when you first started… It was funny, I was talking this morning with someone, and I said, when I first started and the culture was mentioned, I thought to myself, “Okay you have that tendency to think, “This can’t be true every single day.” And yet the focus and the work on keeping that culture of servant leadership is just incredible.

05:33 CL: I’ve been really fortunate in my past to have worked under a number of servant leaders. And at the time. I didn’t really realize that that’s what they were. But over time, I’ve learned that servant leadership is, it has become the way that I lead now as well, and so I try to ensure that my team not only feels that, but that they can also start to lead themselves and those around them as well. And it’s really a big part of who we are. There’s a class actually that I teach here at Consumers Credit Union called Servant Leadership, and it’s really one of the foundational classes for anyone who’s looking to grow their own leadership in the company, or in their career. Servant Leadership is really I think one of the most effective ways to lead not only because it helps grow and develop the people that you’re leading, but it just, it makes you better in your life, it makes you better in your relationships at home with your friends, and family. I really believe in Servant Leadership.

06:39 LJJ: Have you found that that is a taught component? Is it innate? When you… I think one of the things I first learned which I… I mean, shoot, I was in business for years and our CEO asked me a question one day, and said, “What’s that monkey on your back? It’s not your monkey. When do you get to take something off and look someone in the eye and say, “You know what, go speak to somebody face-to-face if you’re having an issue with a colleague,” as an example. Floored me because you want to instead listen and let someone vent, but there’s a difference between that and leadership. So, with Servant Leadership, and you just mentioned the fact that there are things that you learn on a day-to-day basis, is that innate to you, is it innate to others?

07:33 CL: I think what’s innate about Servant Leadership is, at its core, it comes from a desire to serve it doesn’t come from a desire to lead and so people who are natural servants will take to it easier but your focus has to be on the other person, if your focus is ever on yourself, and getting ahead and what you want. Like, “I want to be a leader.” If that’s why you’re doing it, then Servant Leadership, will never sit on you correctly.

08:02 LJJ: Won’t feel like your skin.

08:03 CL: Absolutely.

08:04 LJJ: Right. Oh, that’s great. So downtown Kalamazoo, vibrant.

08:08 CL: Love it.

08:10 LJJ: Growing like crazy.

08:13 CL: So fast.

08:14 LJJ: Tell us about what changes you’ve seen.

08:14 CL: So, one thing you might not know is when you are just driving around downtown, the second floor is pretty much all residences. It doesn’t really look like it. Well, people live there.

08:24 LJJ: Right in downtown Kalamazoo?

08:26 CL: Right in downtown Kalamazoo. And I think that that’s one thing that a lot of people don’t realize. So, now one thing that’s more visible about that is there’s three different structures being built right now. One actually just was complete. And when these are done, there’ll be over 500 new residences right here in the city center, right within half a block of each other, and at least assuming all those people who aren’t by themselves, there’s going to be close to 1000 new residents in downtown. That’s awesome, that changes everything. So now, we’re not just reliant on business employees during the day and then food and beverage, at night now, you have who are moving around to and from those buildings and that’s totally going to add a new vibrancy to downtown. So, we’re really excited about welcoming all these new people into downtown.

09:17 LJJ: You know it’s funny, they always say that the core of any city has to be very, very strong, the core needs to be strong for the growth of the communities that surround it and that’s what I’ve seen in Kalamazoo is just such an intentional growth.

09:33 CL: Absolutely. One thing I heard someone say that I had never really considered before is that we all are proud of our neighborhood and the communities that we’re in, and there’s a lot of different great communities around Kalamazoo County and just beyond but downtown is everyone’s neighborhood. Downtown is everyone’s community, it’s not just for people who live there, it’s for everyone, it’s for everyone in the county, it’s the county seat, it’s the downtown of the county seat. So we want to put a ton of intentional focus on making things easy for people to access for having great businesses, places to park all those things we want to really focus on and make them as attractive as possible so that people can come down and feel like there’s something for them.

10:18 LJJ: We had the opportunity, Clarence to visit the YWCA in downtown Kalamazoo, totally blown away. Not by the mission. The mission is something that is dear to everybody’s heart eliminate racism. Understand your community and build from within the success of every person. Blown away by the commitment of all of the partnerships that have to happen to make success happen in town.

10:49 CL: The YWCA really is doing a phenomenal job. I would say if there’s one thing that they want to do better is just to tell that story. They are really providing such a necessary resource for women and families and children in our community and the Kalamazoo chapter of the YWCA is the biggest one. They have had the most support over many, many years and they continue to do this great work, and so they’re just looking for partnerships that help them continue to expand and provide more resources to more and more people. Unfortunately, it’s a need, unfortunately, there are just so many people who need a hand, who need support, who need to get out of a bad situation who need to get back on their feet and it is about empowering those women, and those families to be all that they can be. It’s not just the charity that is giving for the sake of giving it is specifically designed to help someone get out of a rough spot in their lives and get on track, so that they can be their best selves.

11:58 LJJ: When you decide, because obviously, you’re a leader in the community, so there’s many organizations that will look for volunteers, look for leadership opportunities perhaps board opportunities. What do you, Clarence, think about in your own heart about that Servant Leadership, and where you put your time because you can’t be everything to everybody?

12:01 CL: Yeah. It’s been tough. One thing that I struggled with early on was saying, “No”. What I have learned is that saying no is not just to protect myself, it’s also to protect my family, is to protect the organization. You want people who are invested in the organization who have the time to give and could be all in while they’re there, and anything that’s going to detract from that really takes away from getting the full person that you’re anticipating to getting. And so, saying no to me now feels more like a gift than something that I’m taking away from somebody. In doing that though, I’ve been able to really focus in on a couple of organizations that I do feel really passionate about. One actually that comes to mind is Can-Do Kitchen. Can-Do Kitchen is an amazing organization they are a food business Entrepreneurship Incubator.

13:26 CL: So, we’ve all got a friend that makes like the best something. So, you fill in the blank. I have a friend that makes really good cheesecake, and everyone says to that friend, “You could sell this.” Who knows how to start that? Nobody knows how to start that. So, where do you go? You can go to a place like the Can-Do Kitchen. So not only do they have a commercial kitchen that you can rent so you can access it because you have to make these things in a commercial kitchen, a licensed kitchen, but they also show you how to come up with a product name, and how to do things appropriately from a food safety standpoint, and marketing and packaging and distributors and all the things that people don’t think of when they say, “Yeah, I’m going to sell this.” And they have a great relationship with farmers, markets, and local grocers and so they can help get that distribution started, and it all really starts from that work, where people connect to Can-Do Kitchen and they help remove barriers, whatever the barriers are. They can help remove those things and get people on the right track to starting their own business.

14:34 LJJ: Clarence, on Money I’m Home. One of the things that we love to find out is, were you ever at a place where you just needed a little financial advice? That’s what we’re about here, finance to fitness. Who gave you the best advice? When? How?

14:49 CL: So, I grew up, it was just me and my mom and my sister was there too. It was me, my mom and my sister.

14:56 LJJ: You love that sister.

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14:58 CL: She’s great, she’s great. So, I had graduated college and I kept getting overdraft fees over and over again, I had my first car loan, I’m trying to pay my student loan, I got rent, all these things right, and I just… I kept overdrawing my account.

15:15 LJJ: You’re adulting.

15:17 CL: I was adulting poorly. [laughter] And somehow, I must have come up. I was pretty frustrated, I felt like all my money was going towards these fees and my mom, who had managed single income our whole lives and never showed me how to do anything. When I mentioned this to her, though, what she told me was, “You’ve got to write it down.” She says, “I know you’re a visual person, you make task lists already, and you cross them off when you’re done.” She said, “Do the same thing with your money.” And I still do that to this day. I might not do it on paper, but I still do it to this day.

15:50 LJJ: You’re a techie.

15:52 CL: I am. So, I have the same idea, just electronically now, but that was… It really changed things for me because it made every dollar have to go someplace.

16:03 LJJ: You know Clarence, one of the things that you said that we find today at Consumers is, a lot of times, even today, you’re not learning financial education at home and it might, and it’s no fault of a parent, it’s because possibly someone feels like they don’t want to talk about it, they think they’re talking about it, but they’re really not. Do you find that on your everyday experience like, you’re often in schools helping educate?

16:32 CL: Teachers, parents, most adults had to learn how to do it on their own, too. And so, it’s hard to teach someone else how to do something that you learned on your own, that you just figured out, you’re barely hanging on yourself. And so what we need really is some sort of structure that we can help young people learn how to manage their finances and we’ve had a great opportunity with Consumers Credit Union, and some of those school partnerships, we talked about to go into the schools to help students walk away with some of that structure, some of those best practices and tips and tricks so they can adult better once they get there.

17:10 LJJ: Clarence Lloyd, thank you so much. Your servant leadership is showing every single day in our downtown office, we really appreciate you today. Money, I’m Home! I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union. We’d like to thank Aaron Bowersox our wonderful, producer, today. Hope you’re having a great week. Tune in next week.

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