 |
|
Article
That Doesn't Work Anymore
By
Ed Fenwick
Senior Vice President
At a recent retirement party for an old friend who was a senior
executive of a large insurance company, he made some interesting points
worth sharing…
 | He had the good luck early in his career of being in the right
place at the right time with the right people. As a result, he
learned more about the business and industry than most of his peers
did in their entire careers. |
| He climbed higher and faster in his organization because he
could start applying what he learned sooner to solve problems and
see new opportunities. |
| He confessed that he wasn’t really sure that he had learned
anything new in his last 15 years—he just got really good at
applying earlier lessons to different situations. |
Now, here is the point that made the crowd put down their drinks
and really start listening. He said, “That doesn’t work anymore.”
Adding, “It won’t work for individuals or organizations in the
economic environment we are now in.” He went on to explain…
| Truly innovative thinking will be a desired state for the
next five or ten years, and this will be a significant
characteristic of surviving firms. |
| Learning and applying will still need to happen, but more
and more the challenges insurance companies face will require a
fresh look, a curious mind, and the ability to think. Companies
will need to come up with breakthrough innovations in service,
distribution, and products. |
If my retired friend is right (I am betting most readers are
now nodding), how does an organization go about embedding that
important significant characteristic of innovative thinking? Our
approach with clients on this issue has several important
characteristics…
| Learn to identify impactful candidates (e.g., agent
retention or policy persistency) for innovative thinking.
The candidates can often be found where you repeatedly hear
a phrase like, “It’s a problem, but there’s nothing we can
do about it.” There may be issues like persistency, business
being rolled to other carriers, expenses, and so on. |
| Get the right person to lead an effort to create an
innovative solution. This person needs knowledge of your
industry and business model, as well as experience helping a
group find innovative solutions. I would like to suggest
calling us if you can’t find that person internally. |
| Select a group of three or four people, task them with
responsibility for the issue, and charge them with creating
an innovative solution. |
That may seem like an oversimplified plan of action, but
it covers the major points that are required for success. In
these times, insurance companies face several difficult
challenges that have no precedent, ranging from expense
management to successful growth strategies to survival. As
my old friend said about applying things learned over the
past 30 years to today’s challenges, “That doesn’t work
anymore.” |
|
