Dale Laszig… Writer, Payments Industry Journalist
In this episode, part of our Experts series, our special guest is Dale Laszig.
Dale’s journey in Payments began thirty (30) plus years ago.
Having a varied background in sales, sales management, and journalism.
Dale is widely known as a Senior Staff Writer for the Green Sheet, a leading Payments trade publication that empowers and connects Payments professionals.
In this episode, among other things, Dale talks about what she believes, to be the
biggest challenge to the industry. She also gives us a peek into the risks of quantum computing as the type of technology that has the power to crack into public key infrastructure.
It is from this depth of experience that Dale will be taking us on a journey, sharing her unique perspective on all things payments.
Transcript
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Track 1:without a doubt. I think it's the fact that the bad guys are leveraging the same technologies that we are and they're weaponizing AI automation, all of these really great technologies that. Like us, they're continuing to evolve and, scale and change on a dime. I think that's probably the biggest challenge that we're facing right now. just maintaining security.
undefined:Welcome to Bridges to Excellence Podcast. Inspired leadership in payments and fintech. Bringing you conversations with payments most fascinating people on top of their game. Leaders, influencers, experts, and innovators. Each weekly episode turns our guest's wisdom into practical advice. Their personal journey starts now. are meant to inspire and challenge you to explore your possibilities. Here's your host, Desmond Nicholson. In this episode, part of our expert series, our special guest is Dale Laszig. Dale's journey in payments began some 30-plus years ago, having a varied background in sales and sales management for leading acquirers and original equipment manufacturers. Dale is the founder of DSL Direct A payments industry consultancy focused on content development in areas of Security Technology and best practices. Dale is also widely known as a senior staff writer for the Green Sheet, a payments industry trade publication founded in 1983 that empowers and connects payments professionals. As a Payments industry journalist. Dale covers the technology, beat. Wherever or whenever there is breaking news and emerging trends. It is from this depth and breadth of experience that Dale will be taking us on her journey, sharing her unique perspective on all things payments. Nevertheless, the question remains, who is Dale Lasik? Really? Well, stay with us as you are about to find out. Dale, welcome to our show, and thanks for being here.
Track 1:Thank you so much for having me. It's so great to reconnect with you.
Desmond Nicholson:after these many years. it has to be, about 25 years ago that we met somewhere around there,
Track 1:Yeah, I was right out of high school.
Desmond Nicholson:I'm really glad we were able to coordinate our schedules and make this happen. by the way, that was an excellent coverage the recent Paytech Women Leadership Summit. I could actually feel the excitement. What was it really like there?
Track 1:Oh my goodness. Thank you for mentioning that. It was such a fabulous, conference and I had an opportunity to, check things out before it even went live. Because Anne Mendenhall, the Chief Marketing Officer of PayTech Women reached out and asked me if I wanted to just come in and have a look around before they officially opened the following day. And when I went there, I was staying a block away because this was a sold out event and it was actually sold out for months before it even started.
Desmond Nicholson:Wow.
Track 1:and, I stayed about a block away and I ran over there and I saw everyone setting up and it gave me a unique backstage view of some really fabulous women who were out-of box thinkers. They were just getting things set up. and I remember Wendy Holiday, the CEO actually came over and said Hello, and, they were under a lot of pressure. They were about to go live. There were a lot of moving parts everywhere. People were unpacking boxes, but there was such an energy and, there was so much love. And, of course the following day, they absolutely crushed it. There were men and women, I mean lots and lots of people, over 620 attendees at this event. and the agenda was absolutely top-notch. It was very diverse, lots of different content, basically for anybody, no matter where you are in the value chain, there was something uniquely curated for you. And so I feel it took inclusivity to a whole new level,
Desmond Nicholson:incredible.
Track 1:really, I'm very proud to be a member.
Desmond Nicholson:I'm sure you are let's get right into it. Now, Dale, where did you go to school?
Track 1:Okay. Well, I was already in the payments industry when I was an undergrad at SUNY, the State University of New York. and they offered a hybrid program, back in the day they called it distance learning and I got my bachelor's from them in what is now called Excelsior. And I got a master's a little while later, from Argosy.
Desmond Nicholson:Anything to do with, journalism?
Track 1:Not directly. My master's was in management. and my bachelor's was in communications. I guess in a way it was, I didn't know at the time that I would ultimately become a journalist. I
Desmond Nicholson:It's by accident, I guess,
Track 1:right.
Desmond Nicholson:Now, how did you get into the payments industry
Track 1:You know,
Desmond Nicholson:you it's probably by accident.
Track 1:Oh, I answered a classified ad back
Desmond Nicholson:Okay.
Track 1:in 89, and, I actually found it. It's amazing that I found it. and even my handwritten notes as I was preparing for this interview. the ad said expanding. Fortune 500 company seeks aggressive, highly motivated service professionals in the LA area. Excellent communication, organizational and analytical skills needed, called one 800 to schedule an interview they didn't even say it was Brown Foreman, one of the earliest ISOs, they didn't even say the company name, and I didn't even find out until I got there. But, that's how my journey began.
Desmond Nicholson:So you went through the interview process, what interested you, payments that industry? I.
Track 1:I was given the, choice between, selling merchant services or being what they called an installer. And I've always really been fascinated by machines and technology, and I figured I already had some sales background at the time and I just, I thought to myself, I can always get back into selling, but wouldn't it be nice if I really understood the technology? And, that's what got me into it. And it was such a dream job, for a young person because I got to go all over Southern California to some of the best, restaurants and hotels and train their staff on how to use a Tranz 330
Desmond Nicholson:Okay, so that was, with Brown Foreman?
Track 1:Yeah. And,
Desmond Nicholson:probably a, lot of people don't realize. Brown Foreman is a liquor distributor,
Track 1:sometimes I would show up in an appointment and they would mistakenly have the beverage director come out to greet me
Desmond Nicholson:So,
Track 1:the Brown Foreman Enterprises really leverage that brand recognition.
Desmond Nicholson:okay. they were at that time an ISO.
Track 1:They were one of the first,
Desmond Nicholson:what's the name of the processor they were using at that time?
Track 1:Transnet, which later became, Payment Tech.
Desmond Nicholson:Oh, okay. how have your prior, experiences at companies like First Data Hypercom Verifone, to name a few have shaped how you approach your work at the Green Sheet, particularly in your chosen specialty, the technology beat.
Track 1:Well, that's a great question. I think, having gone through it myself, It's just the ability to bring that direct experience to my writing. as someone who has really been out there door to door selling, trying to solve problems in the field, working with merchants and, managing high profile relationships as I moved up in corporate life. All of that gave me such a rich background to draw on in my writing, and it also, I feel it probably makes my writing a little more relatable because I never really lost that feeling of just being in the game.
Desmond Nicholson:Okay, take us on your career path. now it's Brown Foreman, and I know you've worked for you've worked for Hypercom, who knows, probably a few others. Take us through that journey.
Track 1:it was just a great ride from the very beginning. in the very beginning I was given an opportunity as an independent contractor, and ironically, when I look back at my whole entire career and I think all the way back to 1989, I've always been virtual. Even before we had internet or email, my early days of being virtual meant phoning things in from a payphone or leaving a detailed voicemail and copying other people on that voicemail. I think being from First Data, you may remember, Audix, remember that voicemail system we used to use? that was,
Desmond Nicholson:well.
Track 1:yeah, so, even after I left First Data, I still had a mailbox, which was really pretty fun, but all those things. So I started out in Southern California and then had the opportunity to travel and open up the Tucson market and I was there for a few years. It was a very exciting opportunity because I got into town and basically the entire town was dominated by two banks by the time I left and went to do it all over again in Denver, we were absolutely saturated. There were only a few accounts in the entire town that weren't using Brown Foreman. And and then I went up and I opened up the Denver market. And eventually, brown Foreman was acquired by Nabanco. Nabanco was acquired by First Data, and that's how I came into the First Data family, the original aggregator. that was a really exciting experience because at First Data I became a relationship manager, but before that, at Nabanco, I was a national trainer and I actually lived out of a suitcase and I went to a different city almost every week, and I trained people. And I did that for a few years and it was, great. I got to see the whole country. I got to meet a lot of incredible people who are still in our industry. And then, after a while, First Data became so saturated that I couldn't even step out of my house without bumping into someone else. I would try to sell a merchant account and then somebody would call me and say, you can't touch that account. That belongs to CES. and, I just said, okay, so I moved over to the technology side and that's when I began working with equipment manufacturers. Dassault AT of America, Hypercom, Verifone. and it was awesome because I've always loved technology.
Desmond Nicholson:Now, you discuss any key emerging industry trends, or developments that you are particularly excited about and how you see these trends shaping the future of the payments industry?
Track 1:Well, as a writer and somebody who works with words, I think that. words are my biggest challenge when I describe any kind of a trend because our industry is moving so fast and words stand still. So when I look back at all of the things that we were doing like 25 years ago and what we're doing today, it's a completely different paradigm, but we're using the same words to describe it. And when I think about an emerging trend, it comes in, it's a great disruptor. Everyone gets excited, and I think I've really got a handle on it. But then it just keeps morphing and changing like everything else in our industry. And I'll give you a couple of examples. You look at, banking as a service. And I just thought, wow, this is great. this is a subscription service model that works really well that will help banking scale. And then all of a sudden retailers are getting in the game and retailers, with their private label cards are expanding depository services. And then you look at buy now pay later. And I just went, okay, that's a great way to help a consumer make a very big purchase until it was so much more than that. It became a form of embedded finance. It became a way for a fast food delivery service to create a subscription service model. And so at the end of the day, I would just say, if you took all of these trends and you combined them all into one great big mega trend. it would just be the fact that we are always changing, evolving, and moving, and you just have to have the right mindset to be in the game. for a writer, it's job security for everybody else. It's a challenge and, it's a highly competitive, space.
Desmond Nicholson:Now you mentioned a challenge. What do you think is the biggest challenge facing our industry today? The payments industry? That is,
Track 1:without a doubt. I think it's the fact that the bad guys are leveraging the same technologies that we are and they're weaponizing AI automation, all of these really great technologies that. Like us, they're continuing to evolve and, scale and change on a dime. I think that's probably the biggest challenge that we're facing right now. just maintaining security.
Desmond Nicholson:how, well is the industry doing in terms of protecting data and stopping fraud? what can be done better in say, 2024?
Track 1:Fido Alliance and that stands for Fast Idea Online. They just had their annual summit this week in Carlsbad, and I'm very happy to say. In fact, I have an article coming out about this later today. they developed a replacement for passwords called Passkey that enables you to log on to any device and authenticate yourself once, and then just travel across multiple channels. And it's so much more robust than passwords. We really need to reduce our reliance on passwords. I think that's one very critical thing. another thing is, there's been some talk about quantum computing attacks, and I've been following this very closely and talking to experts in the, space, and I think, we really need to change our perception. of quantum computing as something that's 10 years down the road because as some of these experts have very rightly pointed out, it's actually here today operating in stealth mode and this type of technology has the power to crack into public key infrastructure. So it's a very real and persistent threat.
Desmond Nicholson:there's no question about it. You're a prolific writer. What qualities rather do you look for in sourcing and where do you find, your story ideas?
Track 1:Oh, thank you. I'm very attracted to people who share my passion for technology and industry trends. fellow geeks. and I think that the very point of writing is not to reiterate what we already know, but to really shine a light on something and see it in a very different way. And I'm very attracted to people who are willing to take that ride with me and also, more importantly, share from their own experience so that. you know, there's all this talk right now about chat, GPT, and at the end of the day, nobody can really replace the personal stories that I'm privileged to access from the many very intelligent and articulate people I interview every day.
Desmond Nicholson:what role has mentorship played in your success and does any particular person come to mind?
Track 1:I've been so fortunate in my career to have learned from the best, beginning all the way, back with Ralo Flores, who, interviewed me for my role at Brown Foreman and, encouraged me to go into sales. even though I started out as an installer, he was a great, influence. And then Shak Westerland, who was my manager when I opened up the, Arizona Market, a, very inspirational leader. And and he encouraged me to go on and open up Denver. And up there I reported to John Anderson. Another really great, mentor, a very accomplished payments executive. And then when I moved into writing, I was very fortunate to meet Laura McHale Holland, who was the Editor in Chief at the Green Sheet and I am not gonna lie, it wasn't a cakewalk for her to transform a salesperson into a professional journalist. But working with her really helped me hone my craft. And, it was really the equivalent of getting a master's in journalism. Just the opportunity to work with her every day. And I'm very, blessed to have her as an editor and a friend
Desmond Nicholson:what are your tips
Track 1:in seeking
Desmond Nicholson:a
Track 1:a mentor. when I think back to the early days of First Data and I would watch you and other leaders on the big stage, and I would think to myself, wow, they just seem so comfortable up there. You know, just relaxed and authentic and in control and I would just say in general, if there's anyone you can think of who you feel like I wanna be that person when I grow up. That's really great. Mentor and material. And even before I became a professional interviewer, I sought people out and I interviewed them to learn more about them and, how they developed their are leadership qualities and what are the things that really kind of motivate them and get them excited, and that would be my advice.
Desmond Nicholson:what are some of the most important lessons you've learned in the span of your career?
Track 1:oh, I would just think, accepting change would be the very big one. let's face it, we're in an industry that was built on a moving platform. So if you're not comfortable with that, better go work in a quarry. change is,
Desmond Nicholson:just.
Track 1:always, present. And, Whenever I feel stuck, I try to figure out what's holding me back so that I can just move along and, change and evolve alongside our industry. So I think the big one is embracing change.
Desmond Nicholson:Absolutely. Now, over the years, reflecting on lessons learned in business life in general,
Track 1:Mm-Hmm.
Desmond Nicholson:what would you tell your younger self?
Track 1:Oh, the first thing I would say is please write the names and dates on the other side of those photos,. cause you'll save a lot of time later on. And then I would also say rejection is not absolute. Rejection doesn't mean no, it just means not now or not yet.
Desmond Nicholson:Gotcha. Now, what would you consider a low point in your career and what was that like would you do differently?
Track 1:I think the one time that I really hit a low, I was out of work and it was the winter and I was living in the country and I didn't try to fight it. I drank hot toddies. I threw logs on the fire. I wrote poetry and, and I just kind of, I snuggled in and, I just didn't worry about things. I just kinda let everything go. And I remember my husband coming home from work one day and I was mentioning to him over dinner that I had received a call from a recruiter and I said, I'm not interested. And he said, call them back tomorrow, And that was the end of that little, episode, but it, was a much needed time out and I'm not sure I would do anything differently because I think that a good timeout is really very helpful. Uh,
Desmond Nicholson:introspection. Now, conversely, what would you consider to be your greatest accomplishment, even though your final chapter in payments remains to be written
Track 1:Oh, thank you. without a doubt finding my true calling as a writer and being able to do what I love every day.
Desmond Nicholson:Good. what aspect of your personality do you think has been the most helpful in your career?
Track 1:I think no matter what hat I was wearing, the fact that I live in bizarro land is my, superpower because, I look at things from every angle. I gravitate to other people who think that way out of box thinkers. I would say that more than anything, just, have the courage to just be yourself.
Desmond Nicholson:Be authentic.
Track 1:Be authentic. Yeah.
Desmond Nicholson:over the time you've been in payments, what are some of the major milestones changes you've seen over the years?
Track 1:Well, I'm, I'm fortunate to have seen several decades of payments and I've seen a really big shift, from the old hardware centric types of technology that we used to have. To today's very fluid and digital technologies and, I actually think in a way that the early days of hardware centric, POS devices and pin pads, that had to be securely encrypted in a lockdown facility. It really reminds me of the industrial age when you think back to Alvin Toffler, he wrote that, book in the, 1980s, The Third Wave, and he talked about the, three waves of human progress, beginning with the Agricultural age and then the Industrial age, and then, the Information age. And in 2015, Steve Case came along and he wrote a book on the third wave, but his three waves were building the internet, the app, and the mobile economy and the Internet of Things. And when I think about my three waves, as I look at the payments industry, I think about The first wave being dedicated devices, the second wave being the app marketplace, and the third wave, without a doubt, is embedded payments and finance.
Desmond Nicholson:Given your career experience and having a vast network of women in payments, what advice would you give women navigating this industry?
Track 1:Oh, I would encourage them to come in because there's never been a better time, to be part of our industry. And we, we spoke earlier about paycheck women, but I really think
Desmond Nicholson:I.
Track 1:that whole rebranding from the original WNET into PayTech Women. and opening up membership to men shows how far we've come as far as embracing inclusivity and diversity. I feel that we're in a very forward thinking industry that values everyone's contribution regardless of ethnicity rum, religion or gender. just come on in and be part of it.
Desmond Nicholson:There is no question of, your success in this industry, Dale. to whom much is given, will be required. How is this manifested in your life?
Track 1:Thank you for saying that. I, really appreciate it. So I, feel the best way to pay back the many people who. Have helped me in my career is to pay it forward by helping others. And, to me that means being a member of organizations that are moving our industry forward. And those organizations are definitely ETA. I'm very proud to be a member and to serve on the cybersecurity committee and, to cover so much, that goes on. with their advocacy and their mentorship programs and to just be able to help amplify that, those, initiatives and also Paytech Women. I'm very proud to belong to that organization and I plan to get much more involved going forward. And I just feel that. Just by, working with people, helping people, share their perspectives in the Green Sheet and other publications. Those are all ways that I can pay it back because I've, been very fortunate.
Desmond Nicholson:Very good, The tagline in your LinkedIn profile reads, writing the next chapter in payments. Taking that literally should I assume a book is in the works?
Track 1:Oh, absolutely. I've been working on a book and I'm also involved in several other book projects with colleagues and friends and clients.
undefined:The lightning round bridges to excellence, inspired leadership in payments and fintech.
Desmond Nicholson:In this segment, I pose the question and you respond with a single word or one sentence ready to go.
Track 1:Go
Desmond Nicholson:Okay. what does success mean to you?
Track 1:Making a living, doing what I love.
Desmond Nicholson:What is the best advice you've ever received?
Track 1:Don't over prepare. Just go for it.
Desmond Nicholson:What one book would you recommend to our listeners and why?
Track 1:I Love Me More by Jenna Banks because self-love is not selfish.
Desmond Nicholson:What is your favorite quote in leadership or otherwise that inspires you? I.
Track 1:Okay. British novelist Catherine Aired. If you can't be a good example, at least be a terrible warning.
Desmond Nicholson:what is one thing the people you work with would be surprised to learn?
Track 1:I'm studying Swedish.
Desmond Nicholson:Introvert, or Extrovert?
Track 1:Oh, 100% hybrid. I actually identify as both
Desmond Nicholson:Okay. What is one thing that has you fired up right now?
Track 1:Oh. I'm gonna be going to Portugal in December and I've never been there and I'm so excited.
Desmond Nicholson:You love it. I've been there a
Track 1:Oh, thank you.
Desmond Nicholson:It's been fun. We've covered a lot today. And, any final word or comments, before we wrap up?
Track 1:I just wanna thank you for this opportunity. It's really great to be in this industry and, to share this with you.
Desmond Nicholson:you're welcome. again, thanks for being on our show and to our listeners, thank you for your time as well. And never forget, the more you expect from yourself, the more you'll excel.
undefined:You've been listening to Bridges to Excellence podcast, inspired leadership and payments and fintech. Be sure to join us next time for more conversations with another of your colleagues in payments and fintech. Insightful conversations in their journey to excellence for transcripts and other materials covered on the show. Visit us at DesmondNicholson. com.
About the author, Desmond
Desmond Nicholson is the creator and host of the Bridges to Excellence podcast