Tina Giorgio: Whether I’m working with banking professionals or with entrepreneurs in the fintech space, I have one key piece of advice: I ask, “What is your why?” and encourage them to focus on that response. Because, when they home in on that, everything else falls into place.

Tina Giorgio: There are many factors involved in creating a successful real-time payment system and one of those factors is education. This month I have invited Steve Ledford from The Clearing House to share some information about real-time payments and to provide an FAQ about the RTP® network. Steve is the senior vice president of products and strategy at The Clearing House.

Tina Giorgio: In an e-book published last week by PYMNTS.com, “Fresh” is how I described payments in 2018. I can’t think of a time when we’ve seen as many innovations emerge in this industry than the past 11 months.

Tina Giorgio: Vince Lombardi had it right when he stated that, “Leaders aren’t born, they are made.” Leadership is a process. And, like any process it begins by envisioning a desired outcome and creating a framework of the steps to achieve that outcome. Sometimes there are real obstacles that prevent us from achieving our goals. By conducting a personal evaluation, we can often identify and address things that are standing in our way.

Tina Giorgio: Contactless transactions include everything from flashing your watch at the point-of-sale to paying for your groceries, via your refrigerator. As “smart” devices get even smarter and more prevalent, payment has become part of their foundational fabric.