Lessons from Space: Building Stronger Bank Teams with Monica Parks.

In the latest episode of Digital Banking Podcast, host Josh DeTar welcomed Monica Parks, Chief Information Officer at Bank3. The episode centered around the importance of keeping the human element at the heart of banking and technology, drawing lessons from Monica’s unique experience as an analog astronaut.

Monica shared how her time in space simulations taught her the power of empathy, focus, and honest communication—traits she brought back to lead her banking teams. She described how strict routines and clear processes, vital for mission success in isolation, also help banking teams perform under pressure. Monica stressed that even in highly technical roles, staying connected with people matters most. She encouraged leaders to step out of their silos, listen to staff and customers, and create room for unscripted, authentic conversations.

Throughout the discussion, Monica and Josh explored why process, direct feedback, and crew mentality drive both space missions and successful banking operations. Monica’s practical approach showed how small shifts—like prioritizing mental well-being and open dialogue—can help teams deliver better results and build stronger connections in community financial institutions.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Monica Parks: as long as you are still being cognizant of the fact that whatever you're doing, it's still has impact on people, we have to never forget that human element. many organizations, teams, people, all the things in between, they forget about the human element a lot 

[00:00:17] Monica Parks: they lose sight of that big picture and the human element. that's one thing that all of the space things that I've been fortunate enough to participate in, have really been strong reminders and created these really static, fixed points within myself to keep me reminded of that.

[00:00:35] The Digital Banking Podcast is powered by Ty phone. Ty phone is the creator of Infiniti, a dramatically better digital banking platform for community financial institutions, as well as several platform agnostic revenue generating point solutions. Our highly configurable platform and broad ecosystem of third party partners ensure our entire suite is scalable and extensible to meet the needs of any fi.

[00:01:05] On our podcast, you'll hear host Josh DeTar, discuss today's most pressing financial technology topics with seasoned industry experts from every possible discipline.

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[00:02:14] Josh DeTar: Welcome to another episode of the Digital Banking Podcast. My guest today is Monica Parks, the Chief Information Officer at Bank three. Don't let her accent fool you. There is no bless your heart. And Monica, I've been absolutely dying to get Monica on the podcast for a while, and I almost had to drag her on because she's one of those people that just doesn't want or need to be put on a pedestal.

[00:02:40] Josh DeTar: That being said, Monica is just rad. I could try to think of bigger, more sophisticated words to describe her, but I think that's the one. She's just rad. She's unapologetically, authentically herself. Monica's comfortable saying the uncomfortable thing. She's fearless in challenging the status quo. She doesn't take no for an answer.

[00:03:02] Josh DeTar: She has a super cool sleeve of tattoos. She went from a credit union to a bank. How often do you hear that? But make no mistake, this doesn't mean she's some crude, rough and tough Neanderthal, actually quite the opposite. She's wicked smart, incredibly thoughtful and caring, and way too humble for someone that has done as much as she has done.

[00:03:26] Josh DeTar: And fun fact, Monica is a digital banking podcast first. She's the first ever analog astronaut I've ever had on the show, and I cannot wait for this episode to start. So without further ado, let's get to talking about what space banking and doing the right thing all have in common.

[00:03:45] Josh DeTar: So Monica, welcome to the show.

[00:03:48] Monica Parks: Thanks, Josh. A very kind introduction. I appreciate it. While I'm over here hiding behind my hands, I embarrassed, but, but thank you. I accept and receive it.

[00:04:00] Josh DeTar: you should, seriously, I've been absolutely dying to get you onto the podcast for a very long time. spoiler alert folks, you're probably gonna figure this out throughout the rest of this episode. But, I've told Monica this before, but she is like in my top three must follow LinkedIn.

[00:04:16] Josh DeTar: people like just the no shenanigans stuff you want to hear and stuff that's happening in the industry. And like the, just lay it out their perspective on it. It comes from Monica. Like I always take good stuff away from your LinkedIn posts. so yeah, you're a must follow, you're a ton of fun to be around and yeah, you've just got a really interesting perspective on life that, translates into how you think about the banking world and I think that's such a cool topic for us to talk about today.

[00:04:52] Josh DeTar: So before we go any further though, I'm sure everybody is going to want to know what is an analog astronaut and tell us the story. So I'm gonna sit back, I'm gonna grab my popcorn and you tell us the story.

[00:05:09] Monica Parks: Yeah. Okay. So an analog astronaut,it's not in the terms of analog versus digital's, so that's where a lot of people get confused over the years where I've been approached with that. They're like, so what's the opposite of analog? A digital? And I'm like,no. it's not like that.

[00:05:26] Monica Parks: so basically, think of it like in American football. You've got your game day that you're gonna go play, but before you have game day, you have your scrimmage, right? So that's where you're going. And the coach is testing all of the plays that they're thinking about doing. They're doing research on their opponent and seeing, hey, we, we need to look at all of these processes and protocols and all of these things.

[00:05:49] Monica Parks: And you're testing it out to see how you're going to do it when game day actually hits. So an analog astronaut is no different. NASA started this program many years ago where they have analog missions where it is everything that you would experience on mission day, except you're not leaving the atmosphere.

[00:06:10] Monica Parks: So it is still contained in a bubble. It's a sandbox environment. So no different than the tech space that we all live in. you testing processes, protocols, crew interaction, isolation, communications. All of it. so my mission was about four years ago, and I was, at the time only one of a handful of what I would call true civilians that has been blessed with the opportunity of getting to call themselves an analog astronaut.

[00:06:45] Monica Parks: Now, since my mission, we've had a lot more people, and more programs and just, there's been a lot of evolution and innovation in that space where there's a lot more involvement in things, which is great because it's giving people experience and then learnings that you can take from those experiences that we haven't really had before because it used to really be locked down, if you will. To just a select, niche group of people. It was the same rinse and repeat. but again, we all know, if you do what you've always done, you're gonna get what you always got. And so it's the same thing. so for me, I've always been an advocate for. The terminology that we've been hearing since the eighties, which is spaces for everyone.

[00:07:36] Monica Parks: but up until the last couple years or so, you really weren't seeing that in reality. for me, my love for space started in first grade. I was, in first grade in 1986, and like many other people in my generation, we were sitting in our classrooms, on January 28th, 1986, the day that we lost Challenger.

[00:07:59] Monica Parks: And, Krista McCullough was set to be the first civilian astronaut to get to go to space and teach from space. And she was the one who started saying spaces for everyone because she's look at me like I'm getting to go. and she got to, Start that journey that unfortunately she didn't get to finish, but the impact that she had on so many people has just been rippling through time.

[00:08:27] Monica Parks: from 1986 to now, it's something that I have often heard and it had a lot of impact on me. matter of fact, I wear a bracelet, now on my arm, it says spaces for everyone and I wear it, just about every day of my life. but it is, it's, and it's, it can mean many things to me. It's not just in the space industry.

[00:08:47] Monica Parks: You don't have to be in the space industry for space to be for everyone. It's also a reminder too, that here on planet Earth, we are all citizens on this planet. Regardless of where you come from, what language you speak, what religion you follow, if you follow one, it doesn't matter. It's it. This is, we are one big giant cohort, as a humanity.

[00:09:09] Monica Parks: And, So my space journey began where there was a nonprofit that was starting up that their primary mission was to provide a way where every day civilians, like myself and you and anybody else that is not in the astronaut core, to be able to have a way to go to space to experience the overview effect.

[00:09:38] Monica Parks: And if you're unfamiliar with the overview effect, I highly encourage you and listeners to Google that. And look, Dr. Frank White, coined that term many years ago where the overview effect is for all of humans to be able to see earth from space and understand how, there are no borders, there are no walls.

[00:09:59] Monica Parks: We, we are all one person, one people, one humanity on this planet that we all exist on. And,it's a very interesting, concept for sure. so this nonprofit had formed wanting to. have fundraising ways and et cetera to be able to pay for the everyday civilian to go on the rides that are becoming available through programs like Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic,other, there's other entities out there that are up and coming.

[00:10:32] Monica Parks: The space of it has, in and of itself has changed a lot, even since my mission. But, most people have a general, oh my gosh, it's just a, it's just a millionaire's play toy to be able to catch a ride on Virgin Galactic or Blue Origin or anything else that's similar. But there's also, of course you're gonna have some of that.

[00:10:56] Monica Parks: but that's not where I wanna focus. Where I wanna focus is there's also some beautiful things that are happening with some of these people that are being awarded these opportunities to get to go. some of these people that have. Being able to participate in this are making monumental changes to all kinds of things.

[00:11:16] Monica Parks: And I highly encourage people to look past the Playboy playbook scenario and really start looking at some of these crew members that are fortunate enough to go on these flights. So with that aside, this nonprofit was called Space for Humanity. they were really pitching to try to drive that initiative and I had applied for a program, to be chosen to go on one of these space roads.

[00:11:43] Monica Parks: And it was a long process. You go through all this application stuff, you had to submit an essay of why I should be chosen, and then there's all these rounds, you make it past this round and this round. And that whole application process in the early days went through a couple of years and through all of that, one of the offerings that came up was, Hey, while we're waiting for this process to happen, we wanna introduce you to this other program that's available called Space Kind and Space Kind. But you can look@spacekind.org and learn more about that. That was founded by Loretta Whitesides and Loretta and her husband, who is George Whitesides. He was former Massachusetts Chief of Staff, and now he is, and I'm finding myself, he's a politician now in, in the state of California.

[00:12:33] Monica Parks: I cannot remember if he's a senator or a congressman. I believe he's a congressman. so my bad, I don't remember at the moment, but,

[00:12:41] Josh DeTar: gonna say, I'm like, I know the name, but I'm, now I'm struggling. Yep.

[00:12:44] Monica Parks: yeah. But he is,he's in California, in the la sector. but anyway, he also was the, president and CEO of Virgin Galactic for a long while, which was founded, of course, by Sir, Branson.

[00:12:56] Monica Parks: anyway, It wasn't a leadership training that they had on site for a while. And then Loretta's mission in life was to put that in the hands of, everyday people and really take those learnings that you could learn from this 10 week session to be able to go through your own hero's journey and move away from the 1960s version of the Right stuff where it's the bourbon and whiskey and smoke filled rooms of all of the same people, copy, paste, regurgitating the same mindset, the same baggage, all of those things.

[00:13:34] Monica Parks: And just putting the same thing out there. Again, if you do what you've always done, you get what you always got. and really put this in the hands of everyday people where you could learn what is really the right stuff. And it's really learning how to process, manage, and deal with the things that we carry as humans.

[00:13:55] Monica Parks: because at the end of the day it's about you and your crew, whether it's you and your crew of one or two or 202 or 22 or anything in between and beyond. so it really is a beautiful, program that she has built. they are now on cohort, like 20 something I believe, and I was in cohort number two, so I was there at the beginning.

[00:14:17] Monica Parks: and it's, I highly encourage people to check it out. and she has, several books published about it that you can find on Amazon and that kind of thing, but it's, it really is a beautiful program. But, so while going through, multiple iterations of space kind, it kinda came up multiple times from several of my colleagues in that space and Loretta herself encouraging me, Hey, you should apply to be an analog astronaut. And I'm like, you're crazy. It's never gonna happen. I didn't go to college. I don't work in the aerospace industry. I don't work for one of these universities that's connected to the aerospace industry that does research that directly contributes to the aerospace industry. I got a nobody,I'm a wife and mom in 10 Tennessee in the south.

[00:15:05] Monica Parks: sometimes I'm so country corporate spills out of my mouth. I get it. Like I'm not,I'm not your candidate that you would choose for this. And it just kept coming up and they kept encouraging me and finally I said, you know what? I'm gonna do it so that I could copy and paste and show you the rejection and be like, ha, I told you I'd never get picked. Much to my surprise. I apply and sitting in the parking lot of the bank, I get a notification on my phone, you need to check your email. I look at my email and I was like, wait, what? What this says, I've been selected. I don't understand what's happening right now. Did they send this to the wrong person?

[00:15:53] Monica Parks: so I got picked and it was a 16 day, mission. And this mission, was outta Habitat known as, high Cs, which is an acronym. Yay. We love acronyms. which stands for, Hawaii Space, a Hawaii Space Exploration Analog. Space simulation, something like that, I'm totally butchering it, but,

[00:16:18] Josh DeTar: You gotta love a good

[00:16:20] Monica Parks: I know

[00:16:21] Josh DeTar: on forever.

[00:16:22] Monica Parks: too many words.

[00:16:23] Monica Parks: but this, this habitat is in the same location where the Apollo astronauts trained for the lunar mission. So yes, it was Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Everybody knows those names. So it's in the, it's in the same location where all of this history took place. And so we're those of us that were fortunate enough to train at that facility and part participating in these missions, we quite literally were in the footsteps of giants.

[00:16:51] Monica Parks: And,so you take someone like me who has loved space since first grade. Didn't go to college. I'm not a scientist by traditional means, self-taught. Never in a million years thought anything like this would happen. I find myself while on mission, standing on the planet's largest, most active volcano, Monte Loa, and I'm standing there going, what?

[00:17:18] Monica Parks: Like, how did this happen? And I'm just, I remember standing there at 1, 1, 1, 1 of the days that we were there, we were in suit. going through an EVA, an extra vehicular activity, mission, and it's where you're in suit, your testing comms, testing suits,the helmets. We were testing all kinds of things.

[00:17:38] Monica Parks: And I stood there for a moment and I thought to myself, this is the most Indiana Jones thing I've ever done in my life. I'm like,

[00:17:47] Josh DeTar: the snakes.

[00:17:49] Monica Parks: you're right without the stakes, but how did I get here? it was really quite humbling. My crew was fantastic. there were six of us.

[00:17:56] Monica Parks: the facility itself, it took, several hours to get to you. you, the everyday people could not get to the facility. Of course, you had to have all kinds of passes and permissions and credentials to be able to get there. And, once you go into that airlock though, it's you and your crew and your mission and everything else.

[00:18:16] Monica Parks: That's it. Everything else is the outside and it must remain outside as such. we are, we were testing everything from personal research projects that each of us brought. Then there were projects we completed as a crew. And, you're testing everything from communications to, your life support systems such as your oxygen, your solar, your water,the structure itself, your habitat, that, that's your home, your food.

[00:18:44] Monica Parks: Yes, we lived on space food. Yes. We used, Alternative restrooms. We will say,space living is, not for everyone. It's not for the week, I'll tell you that. yes. Space food is unenjoyable, as you can imagine. And it, it's a challenge. there's so much there that really pushes you mentally, it pushes you physically.

[00:19:09] Monica Parks: and then you have to perform. They're very, the crew days were very long days. you start very early. And you go very late. There's no couches that you're sitting on. There's no put putting on Netflix to, to Netflix and chill for the rest of the afternoon. There's none of that.

[00:19:27] Monica Parks: You're working basically 24 7 because you gotta monitor everything. You've gotta look at your water. I remember, one of my, water, containers that I used for my drinking water. I had measurements on it. Just think of an old school Nalgene Cup. And I remember when I would feel my water to drink from at the end of the night, whatever was left in your water, whether it be just a couple of cups or so, a few inches of water left at home.

[00:19:55] Monica Parks: What do you do with that when you're getting ready to go to bed? you probably just dump it in your sink, right? Most people probably do, or they might dump it in. If they have a living plant, they might dump it in there or whatever, if you're thinking about it. But most people are just gonna discard it.

[00:20:09] Monica Parks: But in, in these types of environments, you can't. It was very precious because we'd only had so much, we were only allotted so much water for your trip. So everything in your personal orbit becomes critically important. So it's your water, it's your food. Nothing is wasted, everything is repurposed, and you have so much thought with every tiny little thing, but those things you could translate to, into your everyday life too.

[00:20:39] Monica Parks: And I'll say everything that I learned, all of my takeaways from that mission, I've had a profound, a deep impact in my life, every single day since I've come outta mission. I still think about it. I still think about,Wasting water while I wash dishes or brush my teeth or anything.

[00:20:58] Monica Parks: That kind of becomes a mundane non-thought in your everyday life outside of it becoming a real reality, when you're faced with it. so yeah, it was pretty incredible. like I said, it was two weeks. we tested and performed lots of research. I could go on and on probably a whole EE episode in and of itself just about that mission because there was, there's just so much.

[00:21:20] Monica Parks: So I say,if people want to hear all of the super granular details and geek out on pictures and hear stories, I certainly can connect with them,out outside of this episode, to deep dive on that. 'cause I could go on and on. 

[00:21:35] Josh DeTar: what I think is so cool is how many different. How many different things you took away from that you've put into practice in your life and how you even think about how, you run operations at the bank come from that. But I want to go back to something that you were talking about earlier.

[00:21:53] Josh DeTar: I, I've always liked space, right? I would definitely say I'm nowhere near on your level of my infatuation with space. I never really had the desire to go to space or to be the astronaut type of thing. but one of the things that when I learned about it has always fascinated me, Monica, was was that overview effect. And what I think is so interesting, especially for listeners of this podcast, right? You think about the industry, you and I work in, community financial services, it attracts a certain type of personality from what I've found, right? Like for the most part it is the people that really want. To do good that really wanna have an impact.

[00:22:35] Josh DeTar: we talk about it probably ad nauseum on this podcast, but whether we like it or not, money is a, a core element of our lives now just is, right? And so being able to help people with their finances and be somebody that's in their corner can have measurable impacts on their life outcome.

[00:22:54] Josh DeTar: that's crazy to think of, but it's the reality. And so I'd like to think that tends to attract the types of people that really want to do some good. And we talk about how, there's just so many different people with so many different walks of life and there are so many different starting places or places today in terms of their finances.

[00:23:19] Josh DeTar: And as you were talking about that overview effect, right? It's like we, we are, we're just a bunch of like semi-intelligent beings on this rock hurdling through space. that's, that is literally the reality of it. And I think sometimes when you put it into that perspective, it's interesting because then you realize, and I just, I think it would be so cool.

[00:23:41] Josh DeTar: Like I said, I don't really have the desire to go to space. I don't really, I think it's cool, but it's not like my super, nerdy hobby. But I would love to go to space and experience that overview effect because when you put it into that perspective, you realize that you're both pretty meaningless and actually super meaningful, like both at the same time.

[00:24:04] Josh DeTar: And that's what I keep thinking about in that sense is, and that's the same thing here, is it's like sometimes we think, in the grand scheme of things, like how many, hundreds of millions of people live here in the US and you know me as one teller at a bank, like how many people could I really impact?

[00:24:21] Josh DeTar: I'm meaningless, but at the same time, you impact one person and make all the difference and you are pretty damn meaningful. And it's just, I don't know, I think there's a really cool parallel there.

[00:24:35] Monica Parks: absolutely it is. And it's, I go back to, we've all heard and used the phrase it takes a village, and there is so much truth in that,you can take any project, that you're working on, whether it be in banking or tech or in tech banking, it's all the things. It's, or anything outside of that.

[00:24:57] Monica Parks: it really does take a village and so I love being able to. Really peel things back that my team is responsible for because in, in it, we are not the customer facing, I'm not engaging and interacting with most of our customers. And then same thing for people in tech, in the credit union space, they're not interacting and speaking with their members.

[00:25:22] Monica Parks: but none of the functions that makes your financial institution work or be whatever it is, could exist without the technology. Now, once upon a time, that wasn't the case. but of course now it is the case. It doesn't matter what that bank is, how big they are, what's going on. It cannot exist without the tech.

[00:25:48] Monica Parks: So we quite literally touch everything and the impact that we have, whether good, bad, indifferent,it's there. It's there. So I love being able to. Look at something, almost a potter does clay or a child does with Play-Doh. If you look at it and say, Hey, I can take this lump of nothing and I can turn it into something that is going to help and not hinder, it's going to, let things blossom and bloom rather than degrade and be, meaningless.

[00:26:23] Monica Parks: I'm gonna make it meaningful. And 

[00:26:26] Monica Parks: I think as long as you are still being cognizant of the fact that whatever you're doing, it's still has impact on people, we have to never forget that human element. So many organizations, teams, people, all the things in between, they forget about the human element a lot and they just really get focused on their.

[00:26:52] Monica Parks: Product goals or their deadlines or their checklist, and they lose sight of that big picture and the human element. And that was, that's one thing that all of the space things that I've been fortunate enough to participate in, have really been strong reminders and created these really static, fixed points within myself to keep me reminding, reminded of that.

[00:27:22] Monica Parks: So I, my hope for myself is to never forget that human element. Always keep that first and foremost.

[00:27:29] Josh DeTar: I think, yeah, I would love to think that more of us could experience some of what you experienced or what some of these astronauts that have experienced that overview effect have experienced. could you imagine just how different of a world we would be? Like more people just realized man, some of this little stuff, dude, it just doesn't matter.

[00:27:52] Josh DeTar: Like it really doesn't, in the grand scheme of things, like it really doesn't. And how do you reset what is a real priority? And when you go about your day and you realize at the end of it that little thing didn't really matter that much that did. I should have put more effort there. Like just being more thoughtful and intentional about those.

[00:28:16] Josh DeTar: And. I think about for myself, like I wish I look back at different stages of myself over my own, like personal development, right? And I'd like to think I'm nowhere near done developing and becoming hopefully a better version of myself. But like I look back on, and it wasn't even that long ago where I feel like, I was still really learning even the base, like how to figure out what was important and what wasn't.

[00:28:50] Josh DeTar: And I know for me, one of the big things that sometimes it takes something big, right? for me it was watching my wife go through breast cancer and it was like, man, that was just such a complete and utter like black and white line in the sand reset. And it made it, this is gonna sound weird, but like it made it so easy.

[00:29:08] Josh DeTar: To just say that crap just doesn't matter. Like honestly, it really doesn't, yes, I could make it matter, I could make it a big deal, but it just really doesn't, like does that materially move things forward in a positive manner? And if the answer to that was no, it just became so much easier to let go.

[00:29:27] Josh DeTar: And I think we all go through so many different, journeys in life. And for you being able to experience what you experienced, that was a really impactful journey for you that it sounds has had like really profound effects on how you've just approached life and being around other humans.

[00:29:50] Josh DeTar: And I think that's so cool. And again, just like how different would we be if we were able to all experience looking down on the earth and being like, yeah, you know what, we are kinda all on this rock, just flying through space together. We should probably just be a little nicer to each other.

[00:30:06] Josh DeTar: I don't know, like that. That'd probably be pretty easy.

[00:30:09] Monica Parks: empathy goes a long way, and I think that's something that I have seen. A huge decline in, in society, I would say, especially since the days of COVID. There's something about that kind of being a data point in, in, in society. because what did it teach us? Hey, guess what?

[00:30:30] Monica Parks: We all got our own version of an analog astronaut experience by being in the COVID lockdowns because it's very similar. we all ex, we all experienced versions of our food and, anything, any con any consumption was altered in different, everything looked different, right? Yeah. your ba your bathroom usage was, possibly impacted. it obviously was impacted with society and the disconnect that we all experience. The isolation and isolation is a huge driver. Whether a crew makes it or not, because it has profound impact on, on how you perform, how you do anything.

[00:31:14] Monica Parks: and I'll say for us, for our mission, it was a lunar mission. And, these analogs, they usually focus on, two things. You're either a lunar mission or a Mars mission, because with Mars missions, there is a huge difference in loss of communications because there's a delay. So Mars missions, you have a huge delay window, for communicating to the outside world.

[00:31:37] Monica Parks: And so that's a little bit scary. If you think about yourself on a ship hurdling, that far away in Mars, from Earth and you're over there doing your mission, doing your thing with your crew, but you've got like a 30 minute delay in calms that can be life or. So you as a crew have to, you have to be prepared.

[00:31:58] Monica Parks: You have to be on point. You've got to be in line together. And your leadership has got to be stellar. you gotta have your together, you got, you've got to, and then with lunar missions, it was, it's seconds versus minutes. So there is a delay, but it's not a 30 minute delay. It's 30 seconds,

[00:32:19] Josh DeTar: that big of a

[00:32:20] Monica Parks: it's very short. So for our linear mission,in those 16 days, I didn't speak to another human outside of my crew, didn't hear the voice other than my five crew mates. there's, there's no talking on the phone, there's no texting, there's no getting on WhatsApp and Signal, there's no getting on Slack or Facebook.

[00:32:39] Monica Parks: we had, protocols for absolutely everything you did. I've never seen so many protocols and rules for things as simple as using the bathroom in my life. It's, it was, it's almost comical. you're just like, what? but it was, and, again, there, there was an end goal, there was an end goal there.

[00:32:58] Monica Parks: but the isolation can really pose a problem. I know that, following our mission, DARPA was doing submissions at that facility shortly thereafter, I got invited to go to, be on that crew, and that one would've been a 29 day, stint versus 16. I declined. I declined, simply because it was challenging enough not being able to communicate with my family.

[00:33:26] Monica Parks: I know I could email, but again, we were on a completely different time zone and all those things. it was massive delays. So it wasn't like I could send an email and then get an immediate response. So you still get the feel of being able to have real time conversation. It was more like, I'm like five, six hours ahead of them.

[00:33:49] Monica Parks: So I send communications, but I'm not gonna see it till my next day. And by then, like the information's old or dated, it was just, it was very challenging and it wasn't all the time. so for me, I have a daughter that has some special needs, and so it was for me, beyond those 16 days, I was not interested.

[00:34:09] Monica Parks: it just didn't work for my family. and so I was say, okay,I had a mission. It was great, wonderful experience. I'll go apply these things in life, but, I couldn't turn around and do another one even longer, twice as long, right after, there was just no way. But I say all that to say DARPA was doing some fascination studies with isolation.

[00:34:29] Monica Parks: and they've even done some studies at that, at that Habitat where they had some technology that was wearable that you as a crew. it was measuring by color and light, how crew isolation and interaction worked, or the lack thereof. And so it would, the colors of it would change when you were working in unison and you were all physically connected together and doing things.

[00:34:55] Monica Parks: it would show the colors and the lights would show how everything was symbiotic. It was wonderful. But then when you weren't working together, it showed the disconnect, like literal, it was really a really interesting study. so yeah, isolation or crew disconnect, can have a major impact.

[00:35:16] Monica Parks: And you don't have to be in sta in space to experience that.

[00:35:20] Josh DeTar: Yeah. I wish I had the, the a hundred percent facts of this, but I remember seeing something a while ago. I can't remember who was doing the study, but it was like one of the big major colleges, or maybe it was even literally NASA or something. Maybe you'll know, has this completely like the world's darkest, quietest room.

[00:35:44] Monica Parks: Yes, I've heard about this

[00:35:45] Josh DeTar: no light. No sound, no, no nothing. And they have a challenge for one human to stay in there by themselves for 24 hours. And apparently no one's ever done it. They can't do it. they completely lose their marbles and have to be pulled out before they

[00:36:02] Monica Parks: what I hear.

[00:36:03] Josh DeTar: 24 hours. You're like, dude, you could sleep for 12 of those.

[00:36:08] Monica Parks: I know. I'm so intrigued by that. I'm like, I really wanna try it. But

[00:36:13] Josh DeTar: I do too.

[00:36:14] Monica Parks: I'm just like, am I crazy for that? Because I feel like

[00:36:17] Josh DeTar: do too.

[00:36:18] Monica Parks: like I could do it.

[00:36:20] Josh DeTar: I know. So I'm with you like, 'cause I sit there as an outsider and I'm like, I think I could do that. I think I could have the mental resiliency to pull it off and I would love to experience it and lose my marbles and get pulled out. And then what would I learn about myself in that, And what would you learn by going through that and thinking so confidently? 'cause you gotta imagine anybody who's done this. Said exactly what you and I just said. They were, I could totally do this. Come on, let's go. Put me in that thing. And they didn't make it

[00:36:47] Monica Parks: Yeah.

[00:36:48] Josh DeTar: right. So there's something to it

[00:36:51] Monica Parks: Oh yeah, for sure. and I'll say, I'm not gonna share too many granular details on it 'cause I wanna maintain, this person's privacy. But there was a crew, that embarked on, an analog mission. It was the crew before mine. And, one of the crew members did not have the mental resiliency to complete the mission.

[00:37:17] Monica Parks: And as a matter of fact, they had. They had some type of mental episode that required,some pretty heavy intervention. the mission had to be disrupted. there had to be some, medical and law enforcement assistance come on site and break the mission and this person had to leave.

[00:37:43] Monica Parks: And it was, some people just can't handle it. They're just not built for it. And, but that's what these analog missions are for. That's what the scrimmage games are for, is to test these things. And it, it's just like in tech when you're. Building a product and you're stress testing, you're looking at load balance, you're looking at all those things.

[00:38:04] Monica Parks: That's what all this stuff is for, is to see how it's gonna perform under this pressure, under this stress. Because when you really are in mission, when you're really deploying your product, or you're launching your digital banking platform, or doing those things,that's it. There's no redo.

[00:38:24] Monica Parks: When you're in that moment, there's no redo. you,but when we are in these very stressful moments, like on our team for example, there's oftentimes where we've had of course, super high stress days, at the end of the day, my teammates and I, we are all like, okay, we're gonna take a deep breath.

[00:38:45] Monica Parks: Because at the end of the day, we're not holding somebody's heart in her hands. This isn't somebody's. Life on the line. We're just gonna take a moment to take a step back and say, all right, let's regroup and collect ourselves. And sometimes you have to digest that elephant one tiny little bite at a time.

[00:39:06] Monica Parks: Sometimes it's huge chunks and it, there's no right or wrong. You just, as a crew, you still, you just have to do what you need to do as a crew. together.

[00:39:18] Josh DeTar: I can't even just listening to you talk about this, I cannot imagine how many parallels and little life lessons you took outta that mission

[00:39:30] Monica Parks: Yep.

[00:39:30] Josh DeTar: for how you approach the workplace. you think about, like you were talking about just like the number of processes to even go use the restroom, And the rules around that. And it's because you think about, yeah, to your point, if you are truly out there in space in a little capsule heading to the moon. There's just, there's zero room for error. There's just none. And you think about, you're in a very controlled and isolated environment with a group of people that are very clearly aligned to a shared mission.

[00:40:06] Josh DeTar: And to some degree, yeah, use whatever your, your core banking or digital banking or your cards conversion like yeah, you've got a ac crew of people in a fairly isolated environment that are all aligned towards a mission, right? But to your point, it, the stakes are a little bit different.

[00:40:20] Josh DeTar: Let's just be honest. You are having to, navigate around different people, different personalities, different strengths and weaknesses. Just somebody being able to have the mental fortitude to go through a space mission or not, right? You're gonna have people that are gonna have different reactions and interactions to, things that happen along the way in a project.

[00:40:45] Josh DeTar: But at the end of the day, the more you're process driven, the more prepared you are, the better you communicate, the better the outcome is gonna be, period, end of story. The more variables you can control, the more you're able to predict the positive outcome. And yeah, you think about something like a space mission, they're like, yeah, no,we are going to write instructions for how you go to the bathroom.

[00:41:06] Josh DeTar: Sorry.

[00:41:08] Monica Parks: Yeah.

[00:41:08] Josh DeTar: But it's are you gonna write instructions for how your team's going to use the restroom while going through, conversion day? I would hope not that

[00:41:15] Monica Parks: Probably not.

[00:41:16] Monica Parks: might get a little pushback from hr. But I will say I, I have written into our go live plan. I have written, reminders for breaks because those things that, while some people don't even think about it or they may seem insignificant in the grand scheme, things like stepping away. Getting some fresh air. Go on a smoke break. If you smoke, take a break to go, eat a cookie, drink some tea, get you a glass of water, just step away for a second.

[00:41:49] Monica Parks: Those things really can have so much positive impact on reframing and resetting that mind. and just because if you just keep pushing, pushing, at some point your brain's gonna say, ah, you've got too many tabs open, bro. I'm gonna shut down. I can't, I cannot, I can't compute and it's just gonna stop.

[00:42:09] Monica Parks: I, that's something that I made sure that we have. Consistent reminders. And then we have things, in my office, for example, I have a lot of, refreshment stuff in my office. We have a mini fridge. We've got an electric tea kettle. We have a whole tea set like with the teapot and cups and platters.

[00:42:33] Monica Parks: We have baskets of things, like we have a basket that probably has 32 different types of hot tea and hot chocolate and apple cider in it. And we've got a basket that has different types of cookies and crackers and jars of peanut butter and there's all this stuff and it's in there all the time because, because, to me it's, I encourage that team for one.

[00:42:56] Monica Parks: I can get so dialed into what I'm working on, that I don't go into the tech loft where the majority of my team sits. I don't get to go in there very often because I'm incredibly dialed in to what I'm doing. But I still don't wanna lose those social engagements and those pulse checks with them because I can monitor and look and see where they are with their projects and tasks.

[00:43:22] Monica Parks: But I wanna know how you are as a person. I wanna know that you're okay. And so by having those, those moments for social engagement, by keeping those refreshments and things in my office, not only is it giving them that moment to step away, but they sit down, it's inevitable. They sit down or stand and we'll sit there and catch up.

[00:43:42] Monica Parks: And I'm like, so what'd you do last night? Or how was that restaurant you and your friend went to, or your spouse went to? Hey, what are you doing this weekend? Or. How was your weekend or whatever. We always have those because I don't, that's, to me, that's keeping check of where they are mentally and not, and physically, and not just where their project is.

[00:44:05] Monica Parks: I can look at that stuff. That stuff comes secondary. Again, human element. Keeping them first 'cause that's what matters.

[00:44:13] Josh DeTar: and I think what's interesting too, this podcast has been a really great reminder of that for me is, you know it, it's why the podcast got started, right? We were even talking about that earlier is the podcast is just literally like Monica and I had an idea of where we were gonna go and some of the things that we were gonna talk about, but we didn't script any of this.

[00:44:33] Josh DeTar: We have no idea what we're talking about. Like we're just going. And I feel like that is where the most fascinating conversation lies, right? and so that's why I think it's so pretty incredibly important to recreate that, like water cooler talk. That's a real thing, right? Where there's no agenda, there's no bullet points, there's no PowerPoint, there's no, set objective that the conversation needs to get to or outcome that needs to come out of it.

[00:44:58] Josh DeTar: Like Monica and I could literally just start talking about whatever it is a bourbon she likes, and then all of a sudden somehow that snowballs into, we are actually talking about a work project. But we came at it from a totally different lens and we may never have had that conversation if it didn't start by just talking about bourbon.

[00:45:19] Monica Parks: Yeah.

[00:45:20] Josh DeTar: You know what I mean? And that's, I think that's just how humans work and understanding and respecting that, and then creating opportunities and spaces for just. I don't really love the word safe, but like safe unscripted dialogue where it's like, Hey,I'm not expecting something of you. I'm not expecting anything out of this conversation.

[00:45:40] Josh DeTar: I just wanna talk to Monica and we're gonna talk about who knows what kind of thing, but I guarantee you like I'm gonna walk away with something far more valuable out of that conversation, than something that's forced.

[00:45:54] Monica Parks: Yes. I'll say going again, it's still keeping at the center, it's that organic authenticity that I love and often want to make sure, remains at the center, at the core. And so when I go back to the first time that I went to the space kind, training, the first session I went to it was on a Zoom.

[00:46:18] Monica Parks: We get on a Zoom and there's 32 other people and I'm already nervous 'cause I don't know what I'm walking into, And so we're sitting there and I'm one of the last people to have to be, to introduce myself. But as they're going through the room, you've got someone in the room who's I am the chief designer for SpaceX. I'm the head engineer for the perseverance rover that's on Mars. I'm not. And I'm sitting there going, oh my God. And in my mind I'm like, okay, this thing said that you didn't have to be in aerospace. You didn't have to be in all these things to join this. That just anybody regular old person could join this.

[00:47:04] Monica Parks: And I'm like, I'm in the wrong room. They sent me the wrong zoom invite. Oh my God. So I'm scrambling looking at my stuff going, I think I'm in the wrong room. This is like for the advanced people. And then they get to me and I'm like, I'm a wife and a mom in Tennessee. I'm in it. Yeah. So I'm just sitting there going, I got nothing.

[00:47:29] Monica Parks: All these people are like, have all these credentials and I'm sitting there going, I have nobody, this is awful. This is gonna be terrible. But through all that, then when I got the, to the end of the 10 week session, after going through the entire My Heroes journey, I kinda had my own version of a, of an overview effect.

[00:47:49] Monica Parks: And I was like, wait a minute, I do have a seat at the table. I do have something to contribute. I don't have to be in somebody's box or be some, what somebody in society has deemed important, kind of thing. So that's why I've always been an advocate for the unsung heroes. I've always been an advocate for alternative learning, because not everybody's meant to go to college.

[00:48:15] Monica Parks: And then there's even still some spaces where if you didn't go to the quote, college, then we don't listen to you. guess what? You still have a seat at the table. And that was what I think Krista McCullough often was really trying to drive home with her quotes of spaces for everyone because she really wanted her students, I think, to understand that, none of that stuff matters.

[00:48:41] Monica Parks: This is all for everyone. You don't have, you don't have some criteria or quota to be involved in some way. And now there's. There's been a lot of change, in the government space as far as with NASA and things like that, where they've reduced some of the education qualifications for certain things.

[00:49:03] Monica Parks: if you're gonna work as an IT analyst or a cybersecurity analyst for any of the jobs posted on usa.gov, there's now changes where you don't have to have, 32 years of college and 17 certifications to come and get one of these jobs. There's, there's other ways of achieving, any type of prereq prerequisites to get in.

[00:49:24] Josh DeTar: So it does open it up a little bit more. and I hope to see, not just that, but even in banking and in tech, that we don't put so much restriction and boxes around things that we don't give opportunity for some of these. Other individuals that have wonderful things that they could contribute, we would never get the opportunity of learning from them if we don't scoot over and have room for them at the table, My, I'm like furiously trying to take notes. You gimme so many things that I want to talk to you about here. But, one of the things that, that I really wanted to talk about is, because this comes up a lot on the podcast, is if you do the same thing the way you've always done it before and expect different results, you're not gonna get 'em.

[00:50:18] Josh DeTar: And you've touched on that a few times and I think this leads into a couple of things that I wanted to talk to you about that are like similarly threaded. But I wanna start with that concept of yeah, if you just keep reproducing the same thing, the same scenario, the same variables over and over again.

[00:50:35] Josh DeTar: You're not going to get all of the edge cases, you're not gonna get all the ideas. You're gonna limit yourself. And it's why I think, diversity and specifically diversity of thought is so incredibly crucial in having different perspectives. And I have to imagine that, thinking about, you're sitting there terrified, like all these, NASA engineers and SpaceX engineers and all these people, and they're like, and then there's just Monica.

[00:51:01] Josh DeTar: But there's a good chance that at some point they were like, oh man, we're so happy to have her perspective. 'cause she's not gonna think like I am. At least I would hope that they would think that way. And even like I,I was thinking about, I remember, I don't remember even the exact specifics anymore, but it totally jogged my memory.

[00:51:20] Josh DeTar: I remember being a part of an issue that was happening for one of our customers years ago. And it was something that was happening with their core. I know nothing about a core, I've never worked at a bank or credit union. I, yes, I work at the technology company, but I'm not the technologist. I'm not, I don't have a background in this.

[00:51:42] Josh DeTar: And I'm in this room with all the smart people, all the smart IT people are trying to figure this out and they're all going down this path. And I literally like thought to myself, I'm like, I am an idiot. what am I doing in here? What value am I gonna add? And the funny thing was I asked a really stupid question and I thought, I was like, this is such a stupid question.

[00:52:07] Josh DeTar: And I felt really awkward even asking it. And I asked the stupid question. And the crazy thing was it ended up being what was wrong. And it was because everybody was like, so focused on this really sophisticated technical thing. And I don't remember, I mean it wasn't this, but I think I was literally the one that asked is it plugged in?

[00:52:27] Josh DeTar: And like it wasn't plugged in. You know what I mean? And so I think it is so incredibly important for us to have that. And what, what I think that kind of leads to is you touched on something earlier that I think is just a really cool lesson for, if people can take away from this is you were talking about it.

[00:52:46] Josh DeTar: I've had a similar realization even recently, of the, like, how did I get here? Scenario. And,I'm so incredibly fortunate to work with CVA and pba, our CEOO and CEO and co-founders and cva, iss a PhD from MIT and Pro Baer's, Chicago, Boston School business. And these guys are just brilliant and their backgrounds are unbelievable.

[00:53:12] Josh DeTar: Their stories are crazy. And then I'm sitting in the room with them and I'm like, what am I doing here? I didn't go to college. I'm not the smart guy. And at some point you gotta realize, you're like, no, you know what? I just gotta keep taking advantage of these. I am here and like I

[00:53:25] Monica Parks: you didn't go either.

[00:53:26] Josh DeTar: Uhuh,

[00:53:27] Monica Parks: I didn't know that about you. I love learning that about you. Oh my gosh,

[00:53:32] Josh DeTar: Yeah, no, I just, I, and I always thought I was gonna go down the mechanical engineering track and that was like where I wanted to be. and I just learned, I loved working with people and I went a totally different route. And no, and again, it's one of the, I'm forever grateful to have a PhD from MIT.

[00:53:51] Josh DeTar: let me sit on their executive team without a college education. And I just, it is you look back sometimes and you're like, man, how did I get here?

[00:54:01] Monica Parks: yes.

[00:54:02] Josh DeTar: if you always think, I'm never gonna get there, then you're probably never gonna have the scenario where you're sitting there going, how did I get here?

[00:54:10] Josh DeTar: 'cause I'm here.

[00:54:12] Monica Parks: I'm grateful that I had in my orbit at the time, people that I guess saw something, I don't know how, but that was for them to see, and maybe not for me because they were, the universe used them, I guess to encourage me to apply and I did. And I totally thought that I knew what the outcome would be.

[00:54:35] Monica Parks: I never in a million years would've thought that I would've been selected. And what's so funny is I. I even in my application, I called them out. I was like, Hey, you've been saying since 1986, the space is for everyone and, jokes on you 'cause you hadn't been doing that. So I called them out because again, thinking they're never gonna pick me.

[00:54:59] Monica Parks: So I'm just gonna go ahead and say what everyone else wants to say officially. because it doesn't matter anyway, because they're not gonna pick me. then jokes on me 'cause I got picked. But then the commander of our right, the commander of our crew, who is a brilliant, beautiful soul of a person whom I have so much love and adoration for Dr.

[00:55:22] Monica Parks: McKayla Mus Lova. She is from Slovakia, and Slovakia as a country has been through tremendous hurdles. Since World War II and probably way even deeper seated than that, than I could ever give it justice to talk about. but she has spent literally her entire adult life, I would say, trying to encourage and inspire the next generation of STEM and steam individuals, especially little girls, to pursue these careers because, most of them, she, they have grown up in a country that has been pretty chauvinistic and misogynist, if you will.

[00:56:15] Monica Parks: it's just been the, I guess it's just something that's deep seated into their culture as a country. And she has tried so hard to fight that and push beyond some of those barriers and push through that glass ceiling and say, Hey, look, so she went on, she became an astrobiologist.

[00:56:33] Monica Parks: she's, she has worked for nasa, she's done projects for NASA and as a crew commander. She has performed, I believe the last time I checked it was 33 analog missions.

[00:56:48] Josh DeTar: Dang.

[00:56:49] Monica Parks: and it's incredibly impressive. But she told me, I had a moment to sit with her one-on-one, just me and her in the habitat because the other crew members were on an EVA that she and I did not participate in.

[00:57:02] Monica Parks: We were meant to be back at base so that if there's any problems or issues, we were the comms there on base. And so we were sitting at the table just having tea and I asked her, I said, can you tell me why me? why did you pick me? Because even the day that our crew met in person, having landed in Hawaii getting together so that we can all get on our shuttle to go to the base camp, we were, all meeting in person for the first time.

[00:57:35] Monica Parks: Now we had zooms. And been in WhatsApp for a while, but this is the first we're all meeting in person and I'm still listening to them talk. And this program was highly competitive and I'm still standing there going, oh my God. Like why am I here? All these people are crazy, brilliant.

[00:57:53] Monica Parks: People like this still feel like, I felt so little and insignificant compared to what these people were doing. And I thought I bring nothing to this table. Oh my God. So imposter syndrome was huge and. Mikayla told me, she said, she said, I really resonated with the fact that you called out the man, if you will, NASA and just the general STEM industry as a whole, you called it out and was like, Hey, you've been saying spaces for everyone, but you're just regurgitating the same thing and you've put so many barriers and boxes up that you're not allowing for any type of diversity.

[00:58:31] Monica Parks: And it's not just diversity from a, from a race or culture. it's just general diversity of people. you've still, there's there's just so many layers of diversity there that you cannot just limit it to only race and culture and religion and those things that we've all always leaned into.

[00:58:53] Monica Parks: it, it goes a lot deeper than that. And so she loved that. I had called it out and she said, that's what stuck out to me, because similarly, I have been in that same fight with the people of Slovakia that I saw so much of what I have fought with you, that I wanted to bring you in to be at the table.

[00:59:14] Monica Parks: And so I was like, wow. So the thing that I thought would keep me from being selected is what got me selected. So it was funny. Very serendipitous.

[00:59:25] Josh DeTar: I think that's is, that's one of the other things that I really wanted to come back and talk to you about is you've talked a lot about communication and even just your communication style. And I'm, I may be reading too much into this, but it feels like you've even doubled down more so on this communication style ever since this mission.

[00:59:42] Josh DeTar: But is, it's like you have to be comfortable saying the uncomfortable thing. And it's not to say Josh, I think you're really ugly. It's not that. Maybe it is and that's probably, a little true, but it's not about just being able to be rude, Or be, say something that doesn't need to be said.

[01:00:02] Josh DeTar: there, I think there's a difference between something that just doesn't need to be said versus something that needs to be said that may be uncomfortable. And the uncomfortable thing that may need to be said is you're not pulling your weight and

[01:00:17] Monica Parks: Yep.

[01:00:17] Josh DeTar: in a space mission. That may be uncomfortable to have to tell somebody.

[01:00:22] Josh DeTar: That's uncomfortable to have to tell somebody on your team at work, but in a space mission like, Hey dude, you're not pulling your weight. that could kill all of us. It's a really big deal. And there's a lot of value in being comfortable saying the uncomfortable thing. And again, I might be reading too much into this.

[01:00:42] Josh DeTar: I don't think so, but it's like you seem to have really brought that forward in, Hey, we've gotta be able to have just really brutally honest conversations. We've gotta be able to be very direct. Look, we still have to be respectful. We have to take the human element into this, right? But at the same time, like.

[01:01:01] Josh DeTar: You and Tim need to be able to have a conversation and you gotta be like, Hey, look, here's the thing, dude,

[01:01:06] Monica Parks: yes.

[01:01:07] Josh DeTar: is what we gotta do. This is what we're seeing. This is how we have to think about this is what we've missed, whatever it may be. You've gotta be able to have those conversations and you've gotta be able to, again, balance being respectful and human and not having to be I hate to say it, but politically correct

[01:01:26] Monica Parks: Correct,

[01:01:26] Josh DeTar: be like, Hey, look, this, I'm not gonna be rude, but this may hurt your feelings,

[01:01:31] Monica Parks: Yes. Yes,

[01:01:33] Josh DeTar: but we gotta get past this.

[01:01:34] Monica Parks: Yep. And it's, again, it's piggybacking off the fact that you said it's, you're not, your intention should never be to impose hurt and harm. It should always be that there's still a layer of kindness and grace there. 'cause everybody could use kindness and grace.

[01:01:52] Monica Parks: But we as a society have taught people that. It's those quote saying the uncomfortable thing. why is it uncomfortable? It shouldn't be uncomfortable. It shouldn't be uncomfortable. It should just be that you are being honest and you are being just very open and authentic and saying, Hey, this isn't working because of X and why can we peel that back? Can we talk about this? I need to explore this 'cause in order for this mission or for this project or this task to reach the output I'm expecting or to be successful, here's the things that I need to be in line and this isn't getting us there. So we need to see why it is. And sometimes it could be egos are in the way.

[01:02:37] Monica Parks: I find a lot of times over my career, it's been, it's been, egos have been a problem. And the other thing that's been the problem is, people have. By default. I think as a species, we tend to carry, whether you wanna admit it or not, insecurities. And I think that insecurities play a lot, a part in how we are as workers or as we are as colleagues, how we are as friends, as we are, leaders.

[01:03:11] Monica Parks: if you've got somebody that has a lot of insecurities, and they're leading a process and their ego is also in the way, that project, that process is never gonna succeed because they didn't check all that stuff at the airlock. They brought it in and now what purpose is it gonna, it's not serving anything.

[01:03:30] Monica Parks: You, you have to check that stuff at the airlock. You cannot bring it in.

[01:03:34] Josh DeTar: Yeah. I, but again, these are the things that it's man, it's so easy to talk about right here. know what I mean? When we're in this context, in this frame of mind and we're talking about it on a podcast and yada, yada, it's so easy to say, but it is really hard to live that stuff and practice sometimes.

[01:03:51] Monica Parks: it is.

[01:03:52] Josh DeTar: it's funny, you and we were talking about, somebody that we both mutually admire, a guy on our team, Jimmy. 'cause he's just one of those guys that just says it like it is. Right? And it's one of the things that I love about him is I just always know where he stands. We don't have to have these long drawn out conversations over something.

[01:04:09] Josh DeTar: But I, you gotta tell you this, honey, but I, this is a hilarious story. That's gonna be one of those stories that like, I'm gonna it, it's a silly story, but it was a really good reminder for me and I just, I don't know, you'll see where I'm going with this, but, so Jimmy and I were on a trip recently.

[01:04:28] Josh DeTar: I think the end of last year, and we were on site visiting a prospective customer, and like we always do, we had gone to the gym together in the morning and we were staying at different hotels and we needed to go straight to the meeting. So I just changed in Jimmy's, hotel room so that we could leave together from there and all of that.

[01:04:50] Josh DeTar: And and I had,put my work clothes into my backpack that had also had my gym clothes in it. And, and we're, I'm getting changed and we're getting ready to go. And Jimmy, I can't, I'll never be able to remember how he said it. Because as soon as he started talking, I just started dying laughing.

[01:05:09] Josh DeTar: And and basically he gave me the most incredibly thoughtful and politically correct way of telling me I stunk. And I was just dying. And I was like, Jimmy, dude, you're just tell me I smell bad. oh my gosh, And he was like, yeah, dude, you really need some cologne, like before we go to this meeting.

[01:05:30] Josh DeTar: And, but it was just, it was, I know it sounds like a silly little example, but it was like, it was such a reminder of, I really, one, I appreciated the fact that he would just say anything, right? Like I, I obviously didn't realize it, and I would've been so embarrassed if I had gone through the day and gone through that meeting and smelled like crap.

[01:05:47] Josh DeTar: And everybody was talking about me behind my back about how bad I smelled, right? And he was like. Dude, you should probably take care of that before we get going. And but two, it was just, it was funny for him and I to be able to have that conversation about at the same time, like one of the things I value so much about our relationship is you can just tell me like, you don't have to come up with this fancy, just be like, Hey dude, you stink.

[01:06:14] Josh DeTar: I have some cologne. Lemme give you some. and anyway, it was just, it was a small, simple example that, but think about that in a bigger context of like big things that we're trying to get done and big conversations that we really need to have about how to really do the right thing for our business and our customers and our employees and then being able to have that kind of relationship where we don't have to tiptoe around it.

[01:06:39] Josh DeTar: It doesn't just get buried under the rug. We just talk about it and we just deal with it. And I've never experienced that, but I love that analogy of just hey. Check all that stuff at the airlock, like when we're here, it's about the mission and that's it. And it's, it is, it's way easier said than done, but I think it's really valuable advice of just thinking about how do we really be effective in our communication, but at the same time, keeping that human element at the center of it.

[01:07:10] Monica Parks: It's like we go back to think about in times of our life where we've sat across from somebody and we're enjoying our conversation, but you notice they have broccoli or pepper in their teeth. Are you the person that's gonna say, Hey, my friend, I just wanted you to know that you've got a piece of something right here.

[01:07:32] Monica Parks: most people won't tell you.

[01:07:34] Josh DeTar: yeah.

[01:07:35] Monica Parks: Because they're too embarrassed. Why? Why are we embarrassed about that? Why are we too embarrassed to tell somebody something like that? Because to me, I hope that whoever I'm talking to tells me, because what if I have now left this meeting and I've gone to present something in front of my board of directors, or I'm on a podcast and there's video or something, and I didn't notice that there was like some big piece of something sitting there.

[01:08:01] Monica Parks: I want you to tell me. So it's like an easy little practice of, okay, I now I want you to keep in the back of your mind that, forget what you've been taught and make yourself say it. Start there if that's where you need to start. Start telling people that they've got lipstick on their teeth or broccoli in their teeth or whatever.

[01:08:19] Monica Parks: Or Hey, your fly is open. how embarrassed would you be to walk in a room and you've got toilet paper on your shoe or your flies open or something? You'd be mortified if someone didn't tell you, and you're like, I just interacted with five of the people that I see more than my family, and none of them cared enough to tell me.

[01:08:38] Josh DeTar: Yeah.

[01:08:40] Monica Parks: So yeah,

[01:08:42] Josh DeTar: Yeah. But it is, it's one of those things that it's harder, it's easier said than done. We all know that good communication solves a lot of problems, yet we're all human and we all suck at it sometimes, right? I think good communication is probably one of my favorite things to talk about on the podcast.

[01:09:02] Josh DeTar: We end up talking about it a lot, and you get a lot of different perspectives from people and then I guarantee you, I probably went straight from this podcast talking about awesome communication and I'm gonna go do some really crappy communication on a call with my team. You know what I mean? Like it's just, but But I think keeping those different things in perspective and then to your point, like having those different experiences in life and then being able to find, okay, how can I draw parallel into this, or from this into other things that I do in my world. And that's why I think it's just, it's so cool that you got to have this experience.

[01:09:34] Josh DeTar: And what I think is even cooler than that, and I, you're going to hate me for saying this, but like I think is so cool about you, is that you really maximize that opportunity. You maximize that opportunity to say, what can I learn from this? Like how can I apply this? How can I be a better communicator at work?

[01:09:54] Josh DeTar: How can I be a better project planner for big things like conversions? How can I, be more thoughtful about the processes we have in place for our technology at the bank? How can I also not lose sight of the fact that I sit behind the walls of it within my bank, but my bank still deeply cares about the people in its community and how can I make sure that shines through our technology?

[01:10:18] Josh DeTar: Like you've been really thoughtful about taking those life experiences and I think that's the coolest part about it, that you should be really proud of. 'cause it, it definitely shows in how you approach things.

[01:10:27] Monica Parks: thank you. It's one of the things that, you heard me mention earlier is that each of us as a crew member had to take a research project to this mission, and when I was notified that I thought. what the heck am I gonna take? I'm not a scientist by these traditional means, by which I have formed in my mind and expect that's what I'm supposed to meet these criteria to do.

[01:10:50] Monica Parks: I'm sitting there going, okay. So I decided, I was like, all right, I just wanna study people. I wanna hear from every person what their personal and professional trajectories have been. I wanna know how they got to where they're at in their careers. what happened in your life or didn't happen in your life that led to this moment that you're now in this crew.

[01:11:15] Monica Parks: So I did these interviews with people, documented it all. I ended up writing an abstract, didn't know how to write an abstract. So I called friends of mine that were in my space kind cohort that were college graduates, and I was like, Hey, friend, I need to know how to do the college things that I didn't go to college for. Help. And they helped me, okay, here's what you do. And they walked me through it. so I spent a good bit of time, writing this abstract. And after I completed it, I was like, all right, now what do I do with it? Okay. I did my homework. Like we, I did my research. That's what I was supposed to do.

[01:11:51] Monica Parks: Check the box. Okay. I wrote my findings from it. Okay, I did it well now, what do we do with it? So then it was like, all right, you can submit it to be published. I'm like, oh God, no. I, why would I do that? Why would I ever let anybody read something I wrote? I, this is just 'cause I was supposed to do it.

[01:12:09] Monica Parks: So I did what I was supposed to do. Okay, that's it. so little did I know there were other conversations being had kinda behind the scenes where I had a couple of scientific journals approach me. Hey, we really want to read your abstract. We hear that it's something that would benefit our readers. We really wanna consider publishing it.

[01:12:28] Monica Parks: I'm sorry, what? I got my abstract, got published in two scientific journals, one of which is a higher learning, stem based scientific journal. And I'm the only non-member of academia quote, non-educated person that's ever been published in their journal.

[01:12:52] Josh DeTar: That's so cool.

[01:12:53] Monica Parks: but what's so funny is my paper talks a lot about my non-traditional path to learning how I didn't go to college.

[01:13:03] Monica Parks: And again, still calling out things kinda still in that same vein. And I'm published and I hire education. Like the irony of it is so funny to me that I'm calling it out. But I'm published in the same journal that they produce. I'm like, this is so funny. but I am very proud of that because again, never in a million years did I ever think, that would ever happen.

[01:13:30] Monica Parks: and it did not once, but twice. And so I am proud of that because I feel like, again, being selected in and of itself was a huge thing. Getting to go, huge thing. And then getting to write that and then get published from it was a huge thing. but I credit it all to you. All of those things that were in line for me to be successful.

[01:13:55] Monica Parks: It wasn't just me, it took a village. I had supporters, I had friends, I had things that I learned. I had gone through two of those space gun cohorts. I had been trained and developed in a way that it set me up for that success. So it wasn't just that I woke up one morning and did it, I had things in my orbit that got me there.

[01:14:20] Josh DeTar: not, I think that's again, such a cool life lesson for you also now have the opportunity to pass that on to the next generation of people that you interact with, right? And you sit there and you look back and especially while you were in it, right? You were saying, you're sitting there looking around going, what in the hell am I doing here?

[01:14:43] Josh DeTar: Like, how did I get here? what does Monica Parks deserve to be a part of this thing? But yeah, you did. You know what I mean? And. And then being able to take that and whatever it may be, it may not be, being a part of an analog astronaut mission. It may not be to be the CEO of a company. It may not be like you called out earlier, whatever some traditional metric of success may be.

[01:15:13] Josh DeTar: But we all have our own different definitions of success, and we all have our own unique ideas and aspirations and goals. And being able to just empower other humans to go after those things, to see a path, to see an opportunity, to look back one day and say, how did I get here? and taking that even just into your bank and as you bring in new people into your team and into the bank, how can you really empower them to see the opportunity that they have in front of them and help them to capitalize on that?

[01:15:49] Josh DeTar: And, those are pretty cool things in and of itself. And if that's all you did in life, that would still be pretty awesome. You know what I mean? so how has that translated into your Exactly. That, being in banking and what I think is so interesting about your story too is we called this out earlier.

[01:16:11] Josh DeTar: How many times have I had people on the podcast, right? That are like, I used to work at a bank and then I, I got saved from the dark side and I work at a credit union now and. I always like to push back and joke a little bit that it's hey, I think, community financial services, credit unions and community banks, they like to talk a lot of smack about each other, But I'd like to think that a lot of it is a little, lip service just from the standpoint of Hey, we gotta give, our arrival team some crap. But we still respect each other for the fact that we both are really doing the same mission, right? The same mission is to build up strong, healthy, financially, sound people and communities.

[01:16:51] Josh DeTar: We just do it a little bit differently. don't get me wrong, I think you and I would both agree that there are absolutely some four letter words out there,

[01:16:59] Monica Parks: Hundred percent.

[01:17:00] Josh DeTar: We're not talking about those guys, but. you went from a credit union to a small community bank that's really doing a lot of the same things.

[01:17:09] Josh DeTar: And so how have you taken just some of, your time at a credit union, your time in,the space program and all of these different things that you've learned to say, okay, now I am a CIO for a community bank, so what, what am I gonna do with that?

[01:17:27] Monica Parks: in my credit union years, which were long, I was there in that space for a long while. having served at two different credit unions, that no longer exist in the same way. They've both have changed lots of things. but my favorite thing about both spaces when I was there, it was the members.

[01:17:47] Monica Parks: I loved the people. Oh my God,I loved being able to interact with people, learn from people, just those relationships and stuff. It was just, it was like chicken soup for the soul. Like you just love it. I just, I absolutely loved the people and in that space for all those many years, we were always taught that bank is a four letter word and it was like, oh my God, you don't wanna ever go to a bank.

[01:18:16] Monica Parks: They don't care about you. And so I leave the credit union space, I go into the non-profit space for quite a while, and then recruited from that, from with, from a former colleague that was in that space, had come over to the bank and I recruited. And I really was kinda like, Ooh, I don't know that I wanna come from credit unions to the bank.

[01:18:41] Monica Parks: that's, nobody does that, and it did feel, it felt very counterintuitive. and then I, the man that was recruiting me said, I want you to meet our founder. Just have a 30 minute conversation with him. And I sat down and our founder of the bank has been in the, bank space in Memphis for a very long time.

[01:19:06] Monica Parks: Bank Three is his third bank that he has founded. he very much is a leader and, pioneer in that space. brilliant man. adore him dearly. And I knew 15 minutes after speaking to him, I needed to work for this man. And I thought, this is nothing what I thought it was. It was so closely in line with.

[01:19:36] Monica Parks: What I always felt was the mission for credit unions and the same goals that I thought, my God, we have been, shaming these banks for so long that they really aren't as bad as we think it is. And I had, I really wanted to be a part of it. And so I got on board and was like, oh my God.

[01:19:59] Monica Parks: it's the same goal. They care about people. They really do want to, produce something, for people. People are, that human element is still at its core. And it didn't feel like we were the bad guys. It didn't feel like the bank was the dark side. But again, there are some, those big banks that are very out of touch, very disconnected from their customer base.

[01:20:22] Monica Parks: They are still a lot of the four letter word, persona. But, I have truly enjoyed. Being where I'm at, they, there are some phenomenal people and even as the CIOI am not, in a customer facing role. But there have still been, plenty of opportunities where I have had that chance to engage,with some of our customers and have conversations and and things like that.

[01:20:55] Monica Parks: And that was so unexpected 'cause that's not typical. but I have loved all of the conversations and, ideas and things that have spawned from those engagements because, again, I'm just doing my own path. Just because CIOs don't, doesn't mean they shouldn't thing, why don't you talk to some of the customers?

[01:21:17] Monica Parks: Why don't you. Because you're a chief or because you're in it, why don't you have those conversations? Go, have, go work with some of your colleagues that are like, the, whether it's the head of lending or the head of your business banking or whatever, and tell 'em, say, Hey, I wanna, I wanna hear from your customer.

[01:21:38] Monica Parks: If you have a customer that has told you that such and such doesn't work, or they wish that such and such was different, can you bring me in on those conversations? I'd love to be a fly on the wall. I wanna hear from them. and then just start to listen because there's always something that can bloom from listening.

[01:21:56] Monica Parks: And again, that's something that I, I. Took away deeply from my time with space kind, which was Jedi listening and Jedi speaking, and it really taught you how to truly engage and wholeheartedly and holistically listen to someone that is speaking to you and sharing with you. So instead of being in that mindset of, I'm already thinking about how I'm gonna respond and react to what they're saying, but you're missing some of what they're saying because you're not actively, truly listening from your heart, your head, your ears, your eyes.

[01:22:35] Monica Parks: You're not really listening. So to me, if someone is speaking,I am really listening to what you're saying to me. I'm not already in that thought of what I'm gonna say and respond. And so then it's really training your brain to really listen. We can gain so much of that from our customers and our colleagues of course, but especially from whoever your customer base, whether it be bank customers or credit union members or anything in between.

[01:23:04] Monica Parks: you have to listen to your people. You have to really listen to 'em. And if you're not in those spaces that condone those environments, then change the conversation.

[01:23:15] Josh DeTar: Say, I wanna be in those spaces just because I'm in a role. That typically doesn't mean it's what you have to keep doing.

[01:23:21] Monica Parks: Tell 'em you wanna be in the room, listen in, be a part of it, put yourself in there, change it. you're in a position where you can change the conversation. It doesn't have to be just, we've never done that, or we don't do that. why

[01:23:35] Josh DeTar: Yeah.

[01:23:36] Monica Parks: it? Say, let's make it different. let's be a way maker on this and say, okay, I'm gonna change that.

[01:23:41] Monica Parks: We're not gonna do it like that anymore. 'cause it clearly isn't getting us anywhere, or it isn't serving us. It didn't serving the customer, it isn't serving the member. let's change it.

[01:23:49] Josh DeTar: the, doing this podcast has been a really big lesson for me in that, in like actually paying attention and listening more. and it's why sometimes like I get caught up in the podcast and I like stutter over my words when I start to talk after somebody is, 'cause I've been trying to really work on the, like listening to you when you talk instead of exactly that.

[01:24:15] Josh DeTar: trying to think about, okay, what am I gonna say next? And it is really interesting, Monica. 'cause it, you do find like the more I actively try to pay attention to that and be more thoughtful about actually doing the listening part. You do, you start to realize just how much you miss in conversation and you're like, holy crap.

[01:24:35] Josh DeTar: one of the things you might find interesting as a, a total technology geek is, that is one of my favorite silly little human elements of ai. know that sounds really counterintuitive, right? But,my favorite example of that is how AI has changed me doing interviews. And I used to find myself in interviews, really just trying to take notes for HR and really just trying to like, what is the next question I have to ask this person?

[01:25:07] Josh DeTar: kind of thing. and I'm gonna be honest, like I don't feel like I did people justice in actually listening to them. And now when I do interviews, I have my AI note taker running. I don't think one bit about that stuff anymore. And I just listened to the person and I actually feel like I've gotten to know people a lot better through that.

[01:25:29] Josh DeTar: And so that's one of my silly little, like anytime people talk about how unhuman AI is, I'm like, actually that's one of my favorite examples for how it can be really human is it's helped me to be more human to connect with people. 'cause it just takes my notes for me.

[01:25:44] Monica Parks: Yes. Yeah, that is one benefit for sure that, I would completely agree with. we used to in our board meetings and committee meetings and then even just your general day-to-day meetings, same thing. We would always have to have, somebody would be your designated scribe in the room that was in there, frantically trying to document everything.

[01:26:05] Monica Parks: 'cause everything that's being said is so important. but then you're like, wait, I missed what was just said because you're writing or typing or whatever. So yes, that is a gift that AI has given. so yeah,I do agree with that for sure.

[01:26:19] Josh DeTar: I find myself now too, I don't like to talk to people on the phone as much anymore, especially in a work setting. And it's partly because one, I like to actually see, so I like to have the video. I like to be able to see people. but two, I literally told somebody the other day, I was on the phone with 'em.

[01:26:35] Josh DeTar: I was like, Hey, would you mind if I sent you a Zoom call? I was like, just so I can have my AI note taker running, because I was like, there was so many things that I wanted to take notes of, but as soon as I started taking notes and I totally started realizing I was paying less attention to her and I was like, I really, I wanna both get, I want to not forget what you're saying, but I also wanna pay attention to you.

[01:26:59] Josh DeTar: Can we move this to Zoom so I can have my notes? but yeah, it's just, it's. I, Monica, that's why like I've been so excited to have you on the podcast is just, I think you have so many cool examples that have, I don't even know if you realize just how much of an impact you've had on me in our conversations of like how you can take and blend the technology, the human, the communication, all of the learnings that you've had.

[01:27:29] Josh DeTar: I could just, I could talk to you for hours and hours on end, but I know you have a whole like, day job and all that stuff, and a bank to run. So whatever. I guess I'll let you go at some point. but before I let you go, can I ask two final questions?

[01:27:42] Monica Parks: Of course.

[01:27:44] Josh DeTar: so where do you go to get information?

[01:27:46] Josh DeTar: And actually before you answer, I want to say that, I think I've called this out earlier, follow Monica on LinkedIn. One of the things we didn't even touch on today, but it's actually one of my favorite topics to talk about with her, is she is paying a really close eye on what is happening in some of the fraud and scams and different ways people are using technology as bad actors.

[01:28:13] Josh DeTar: And she is one of my absolute favorite go-to resources, for just some of that stuff. So if that intrigues you, that's a whole nother podcast with Monica. That's, absolutely something you should follow her on LinkedIn for. But so where are you getting your information?

[01:28:31] Monica Parks: Yeah. LinkedIn of course is a huge space that, I spend a lot of time in there. I don't really do a lot of other social media. but that one definitely is where I spend a tremendous amount of time. I have a couple of people that are my. Top that I really pay attention to what they're posting and discussing.

[01:28:50] Monica Parks: And then of course I've got some podcasts that I follow. and there's really too much for me to even call out here 'cause I consume a lot of info from a lot of spaces, but I do wanna at least make note of the ones that I find to be the most impactful and that have had the most impact on me. so on, on LinkedIn, Dr.

[01:29:11] Monica Parks: Roman Polski, and I will spell his last name. It's Y-A-M-P-O-L-S-K-I-Y. he really dives pretty deep on all things ai and like Dr. Roman, I am also an AI antagonist. to a point. I do believe there's obviously benefits, which we did. One of the things we did talk about here a second ago, but I'm really big in the, as you mentioned, the fraud scam scheme space.

[01:29:45] Monica Parks: That has been the majority of my career over the last 20 plus years. and that has really catapulted that space forward,in ways that society just has not been prepared for. But there's a lot of risk in AI that a lot of people don't talk about enough of. And Dr. Roman has dedicated, I think all of his,social and public, engagement, to doing so.

[01:30:11] Monica Parks: and talking about it and how, people don't. Measure the risk or appropriately consider,the damages that can come from inappropriate and, like the wild west use of ai. so I really love the things that he says. Theresa Payton, P-A-Y-T-O-N. It is Teresa with a TH.

[01:30:31] Monica Parks: She is the CEO of Fort Alice Solutions. She was the first female, CIO for the White House. for, one of, for Bush Senior, I believe it was Bush Senior. Maybe it was Bush Junior. I can't remember which one, but, I have had the opportunity to hear her in person at several events over my career, but I've met her in person and engaged with her a few times.

[01:30:56] Monica Parks: and she posts tremendous. Tremendous valuable content on her LinkedIn. and she has a wonderful network. so I, highly valuable, former, CSA director, Jen Easterly is another one that I follow on LinkedIn. And, attorney Erin West, ERIN. She is the founder of Operations Shamrock that exists to educate, and disrupt, pig butchering and romance scams, specifically those that are tar targeting,our seniors and, others in those, sensitive communities like that, that can have huge impact on, Aaron's work. In this environment has been, she is such an unsung hero and they are doing tremendous work with Operation Shamrock. Any financial institution, regardless if you're a bank or a credit union, can go out to Operation Shamrock. You can register as an fi, you can get involved and get access to resources and tools to help spread awareness and educate people, about this crime.

[01:32:01] Monica Parks: Because it is massive. So I highly encourage people to check that out. And then as far as the podcast that I follow, I will tell you, of course, other than Typhoon's Digital banking podcast that I do listen to,

[01:32:15] Josh DeTar: Suck up.

[01:32:18] Monica Parks: there are four others that I listen to very frequently. one of them is, stolen, which is. Produced by Erin West. they really tell you all the horror stories, things that are out there, happening to people. she brings on different speakers that can speak about things that they're seeing out in the wild, mitigation efforts that are out there and available, all that kind of stuff.

[01:32:42] Monica Parks: It's. Tremendous. diary of a CEO. I highly encourage people to subscribe to this podcast. I cannot tell you how much goodness is in there. the Sean Ryan show, Sean has, everything from geopolitics to, people researching, space, people in everyday life that are, military veterans that can talk about things that they see in that space.

[01:33:11] Monica Parks: There's lots of talk about AI and cyber in that podcast. it's a tremendous podcast. And then another one called Ology. it's another really good one. Carice Hendrick is. on that podcast and she speaks a lot about different things in the fraud space, what's happening in the wild, tells stories and all that.

[01:33:32] Monica Parks: it's so valuable. I highly encourage people to check those out.

[01:33:37] Josh DeTar: Man, you got a killer list. Thank you for sharing. last but not least, if people want to connect with you, if they wanna learn more about your story and talk to you about some of the lessons that you've learned and your different experiences, or if they wanna learn more about bank three, where and how can they do that?

[01:33:55] Monica Parks: Yeah. so for the bank, of course our website is bank three.com and it's BANK in the number three.com. and as Josh mentioned, we are a small community, medium sized commercial bank, really. We've got lots of good content on there. but the best way to reach me is through my LinkedIn.

[01:34:13] Monica Parks: I'm highly active on there. I do read every DM that I get. and then sometimes it, I may be a little slow 'cause I get all, I get a lot of stuff in there, but,I'm highly engaged on that one, so I highly encourage people if you wanna talk and connect on there, let's do it.

[01:34:32] Josh DeTar: Monica. I feel safe in saying this because I've said it publicly on LinkedIn before, but you are a badass. there's just, there's no two ways about it. I feel really honored to have had you on the podcast today. I just. My day is a better day after talking to you for almost two hours on this podcast.

[01:34:54] Josh DeTar: I feel like I've learned so much and just some really thoughtful ways to go and apply, some of the different pieces of advice that you've given, like in a very practical way. so I, I said it before, but you are far too humble for how awesome you are. thank you so much for coming and thanks for being a guest on the Digital Banking podcast.

[01:35:15] Monica Parks: thank you. Thank you for inviting. I, I feel very honored to have been asked and, yep. it's been a, it's been fun. I love it. Hope to be, hope to do it again.

[01:35:24] Josh DeTar: For sure. Thanks, Monica.

[01:35:26] Thank you for listening to the Digital Banking Podcast, powered by Typhoon. Find more episodes on digital banking podcast.com or subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.