Julie and Stefanie Norvaisas have got some buzz going in credit union land. They’re product designers who’ve been working on an ethnographic research project that’s coming out in a few months through Filene. The study deals with what really matters in the minds of credit union members.

During their breakout session at CEO Network, we got to see some fascinating video interviews with credit union members. They explained they’re finding that most members don’t get the basics of managing their finances, let alone understanding any difference between a credit union and a bank. The videos showed member after member (highly educated members in some cases) making irrational decisions about their finances and trying to explain why.

Some of the best takeaways from this session were about how innovation is risky, polarizing business. I agree. If what you’re doing doesn’t get any haters, you’re probably not innovating. Innovative is not a “me-too” mini-jumbo CD. Innovative is Zopa. Innovative is ING Direct. Innovative is Change is Good.

They also addressed one of my pet peeves – how too many C-level CU executives are too far separated from the members they’re serving, and that may be a big reason that a lot of innovative ideas don’t make it to market. For example, I doubt payday lenders are getting a lot of business from the CEO set. That doesn’t mean that Joe Member isn’t standing in line at the counter begging for a short-term loan at 300% interest to get him through to the next paycheck.

One tip is for CEOs to make it a habit to do ethnographic research themselves. Use your front door, walk around your lobbies, and spend some time talking to your members about their finances and not the weather, people! (Most CEOs in the room said they did this regularly.)

It’s encouraging that we’re hearing chatter about moving from innovation to implementation on credit union ideas. We’ll be talking about this in our next podcast (Disclaimer: Shameless plug), by the way.