The CUInsight Experience podcast: Type 2 Fun (#219)

Welcome to episode 219 of The CUInsight Experience podcast with your hosts, Randy Smith, co-founder of CUInsight, and Jill Nowacki, President and CEO of Humanidei.

This episode is sponsored by The Sheeter Group, a leading executive benefits firm that meets your retention and succession needs. This includes non-qualified benefit plans, short and long-term incentive plans, compensation studies, scorecard design, performance evaluation, and more. Learn more at sheetergroup.com.

In this season, Jill and I will have conversations centered around leadership, credit unions, and living our best lives. We will have some of the most respected leaders from around credit unions who we are grateful to call friends join us in the discussion from time to time too.

In this episode, we are talking about Type 2 Fun—experiences which feel miserable in the moment but become cherished memories later on—and we share some personal stories that, while difficult at the time, ultimately led to growth and incredibly meaningful connections!

We explore why discomfort is necessary for personal and professional development—without facing challenges and pushing past our comfort zones, we can't build the necessary resilience to take on challenges in the future. We highlight the importance of leaders normalizing discomfort in the workplace and celebrating the accomplishments that come from it, ultimately supporting their teams through the difficult moments.

Our conversation also touches upon building a culture that embraces growth via challenges. We discuss strategies for hiring and retaining team members who are willing to step outside their comfort zones, as well as the pitfalls of trying to create an environment of constant "Type 1 Fun." We ultimately come to the conclusion that the stories and memories we cherish most often come from those Type 2 Fun experiences—the ones that push us to our limits but leave us stronger and more connected on the other side.

We encourage you to reflect on your own Type 2 Fun moments, recognize the value in the discomfort, and build teams and organizations that can navigate those growth-inducing challenges together. We hope that you enjoy our conversation!

[1:09] – Type 2 Fun involves enduring hardship that later builds growth, pride, and meaningful connections.
[4:33] – Personal and professional growth comes from embracing discomfort to reach valuable outcomes.
[5:56] – True growth requires necessary challenges, not superficial perks, to push past current limits.
[8:10] – Leaders need to embrace discomfort and tough conversations to build resilience, growth, and long-term success.
[11:37] – Shared hardship builds stronger teams and leaders by fostering resilience and confidence.
[14:12] – Resilience means embracing discomfort with optimism and celebrating meaningful accomplishments.
[17:36] – It’s important for leaders to recognize individual growth, celebrate achievements, and embrace continuous challenges.
[20:40] – A growth-focused organization requires leaders and team members to embrace discomfort and continuous development.
[23:50] – It’s important for effective leaders to demonstrate long-term perseverance through challenges and not just seek short-term comfort.
[26:33] – Type 2 Fun experiences become rewarding in hindsight when effort leads to meaningful results.
[29:27] – Shared challenging experiences create lasting joy, connection, and memorable stories with others.
[32:03] – Difficult work leaves meaningful impact, requiring resilience and dedication beyond immediate enjoyment.
[33:35] – Growth often comes disguised as struggle, producing lasting stories, impact, and expanded capabilities.
[35:07] – True fulfillment comes from shared challenges (Type 2 Fun), not surface-level perks or empty struggles.