A Global Conversation
Follow the Leaders

“The leadership has to be committed to the innovation, and then they have to adjust the culture.

The insurance industry is a very old industry, and what happens is there’s a lot of times where everything’s been done the same way and that’s the way they do it and they’re not looking to change.

Leadership may want to change, but they need to make sure they instill that, and that’s why I mention the fact they have to have everybody looking out toward the same mission of what they’re trying to do.

To get change into the organization and get people to feel that leadership has to push it. They have to accept the fact that failure is going to come, the old adage of fail fast and accept that.

Leaders have to be open with their people and the communication is constant to get that change to move through. It’s a difficult part of the communication and getting people to move in the same way is always a difficult piece.”

“I actually see when we evaluate people on behalf of our clients for C-suite, there’s three different distinct areas you focus on—skills which are learned, attributes which are inherent, and an experience. It’s like three legs of the stool. They’re now becoming equal.

That’s a great thing. That in itself is an opportunity for emerging leaders to take the next step and leap, if you will. Now people are starting to recognize it’s not just about the experience and how many years. It’s about the difference that you make. Adaptability and ability to demonstrate adaptability is incredibly important. Technology savviness. That doesn’t mean just knowing how to use your CRM. It means being able to adapt to different types of technology and suggest different types of technology. Collaboration has been talked about throughout the [Emerging Leaders] conference. That’s incredibly important.”

“For me, it’s being available. When you’re in the office, have an open-door policy. Make time for that minute because it gives you an opportunity to deal with what concerns they may have. It also gives you the opportunity to get some feedback as well.

The other thing would be the old adage of walking around in management. Why walk around? Walk around and talk to people and then see what’s going on in their lives that day. That’s important for realizing that what they think, what they’re feeling is important. As we work with younger professionals and as they develop, it’s important to help them find what their passion is. What do they want to do? Because they come out of college, they think they might want to be in claims. They do that for a couple of years and maybe that’s not what they want to do for the rest of their career. Allowing them to realize that there are other opportunities, and if the initial one’s not the one they’re passionate about, let’s work on finding something else, too.”