Welcome everyone to our week 26 Leadership Speakers Forum. Today, we are in Louisville, Kentucky, and our guest speaker is a thought leader who has an impressive background in many different sectors. I first met our guest speaker in 1995, when we both worked at GE. He is a recognized and respected insurance executive with a proven track record of developing and leading the execution of business plans and sales strategies that deliver top-line growth and bottom-line profitability.
Please welcome Jeff Hyman. Thank you, Jeff, for joining us. Thank you, Rob, for the invite.
I look forward to speaking with the 1,200+ online members of your group.
Jeff, I know that you are a big believer in the topic that we will be speaking on today. Let me begin with the first question.
Do you need a title to be a leader?
No. I believe that anyone can “learn” to lead. Leadership is an attitude, not a title. Early in my career, I was eager to take on job tasks that others would run from. Some of my early leaders asked me, “Jeff, why do you volunteer for so many projects?” I’ve always had the desire to learn more and to lead.
What does it take to be a leader?
I believe that a strong leader is a servant-leader. If you’re a strong leader, you put your team ahead of you. Your team is a priority. Your leadership is to expand your team’s efforts, rather than showcasing your own. If your team succeeds, then you succeed. The best leaders I’ve worked for over my career deferred to their team, made their team first, and put their company first.
You have spent most of your career in the insurance sector. Was that by design?
My father was in the industry for over twenty-five years. At a young age, I inspired to join my father in the industry, so I knew early on that I was heading this way. I was fortunate to be able to work in the same office with my father before his retirement from ING.
What did you learn about yourself on your way to becoming a leader?
I have spent my entire career being a student in the insurance industry. My first senior leader said that you had to have five key things to be a strong leader;
- Be genuine
- Don’t be afraid to seek out the advice from others
- Be very decisive
- Treat everyone fairly
- Be very transparent about your core values and principles and state them often
I share those, and I would add two of my own that I believe, Never stop learning and don’t be afraid to take the risk. I don’t know of any senior leader who hasn’t failed somewhere along the way. It happens, and hopefully, you learned something that will help you in the future.
My first leadership role in 1990 was not a success because I still wanted to be in the C-suite closing business. A six-month review showed that I was still being a salesperson and hadn’t transitioned into the leadership role that I had assumed. That opened my eyes and became a guide for my future as a leader. The following year, I hit 151% of my target bonus by leading versus selling.
In the employee benefits segment, what changes are you seeing? Are you seeing new producers entering this segment? What advice would you give them to become leaders?
The employee benefits industry is facing major changes from a talent standpoint. In many firms, many of their leaders are in their late 50s and early 60s. As a result of their current bench strength, the broker segment has seen an increase in producers and consultants moving from one broker to another to fill those roles. As a result, we have seen an increase in lawsuits between brokers over talent, leaving one firm for another firm.
Regarding new producers, I believe that the industry will see a much different type of producer moving forward. The producer will be more advanced in technology, hungry to prospect, and eager to become a subject matter expert in their chosen line of business. Also, I think you will see stronger training programs throughout the industry that will fast-forward new producers that will prepare them to grow revenue quicker. Broker firms have got to invest in their own human capital. Turnover in firms is very harmful in many ways.
My advice about becoming a leader is simple. Stay focus on the job you’re doing; you will get noticed. Become a student of your craft. Don’t stop after the last chapter of a book. Instead, pick up another book and start reading. Show leadership skills even if you’re a producer, a client manager, or a claims person. Get engaged with others within your area and in other departments. Block off thirty to forty-five minutes a day to read about something that will help you better understand your job, company, and your industry. One of the most important things along your journey is to reinvent yourself constantly.
Your job is to not to repeat the past but to use it to grow your future. We are in an evolving industry, so stay ahead of the learning curve. That’s how you grow professionally and become better prepared to be a leader.
You have reinvented yourself throughout your career. Tell us about what drove you to do that.
I have always had the appetite to know as much as I could about different segments within the insurance industry. I’ve worked in the life, health, med supplement, annuity, employee benefits, voluntary benefits, and medical segments. Also, I worked in three specialty areas, credit insurance, vehicle service contracts, and reinsurance.
As a consultant, I have provided consulting services in the employee benefits, voluntary benefits, and auto insurance segments. I have also provided consulting services in the private-equity world for PE firms who are acquiring insurance brokers.
I’ve always been willing to take on challenges that others may not want, and it has prepared me for different roles.
You have spent time in the auto insurance segment as a consultant. Why are auto insurance rates continuing to climb?
I believe that over the last four years, we have seen record-setting natural disasters, a huge increase in distracted-driving accidents and the increasing rise of high tech-loaded vehicles that are expensive to repair, so that has contributed to the rate increases. These factors, coupled with the fact that insurers have failed to turn an underwriting profit in recent years—despite year-over-year rate increases—indicate that drivers will continue to pay more for car insurance in the coming year.
I recently spoke to a group of investors who are looking to acquire an auto insurance carrier, and I discussed with them the current challenges in this space. The losses since 2014 have led to a 7.2% rate hike across the ten largest auto insurers in 2017. This rate increase followed a year in which eight of the ten largest auto insurers reported a negative underwriting profit.
Actuarial science is not perfect. None of us in the industry can accurately predict when it comes to national disasters. Last year, natural disasters caused massive losses for insurers. Preliminary reports estimate that the November 2018 wildfires caused more than $123 million in auto and nonresidential insurance claims. You also had hurricanes Michael and Florence, which pummeled the Southeast in the fall of 2018, caused between $7.7 billion and $14.6 billion in insurance losses.
An additional contributor to future rate hikes is the increased frequency in car crashes attributed to distracted driving—caused in large part by more people using their phones while driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that 2.443 million people were injured in distracted driving crashes in 2015, which is an increase from 2.217 million people in 2011. Insurers respond by raising rates to make up for the increase in insurance claims they have to pay out.
I’ve looked at data regarding fatal crashes in 2016. My findings below are the five largest percentage of claims for fatal crashes;
Driving to fast for conditions was 17.8%
Driving under the influence was 10.8%
Failure to keep in proper lane was 7.5%
Failure to yield right of way was 7.0%
Distracted driving was 6.2%
There will always be mistakes, especially as a leader, both mistakes you make, and others make. How do you handle those?
Everybody makes mistakes. That’s not the problem. The problem I see is not recognizing and owning them. If you take ownership, you’ll get the credibility from your team, your company, and all who are associated with you.
Jack Welch told us at a GE management event that he, nor any other leader should fire someone for making a mistake but he would fire them if they didn’t own it, and if they didn’t have a solution to fix it, so it doesn’t happen again. I share that same thought.
Would you like to share some final thoughts with us about leadership?
Its been said by many CEO’s and other senior leaders that leadership is a learned skill, and I agree with that. You can learn it. A leader must recognize the team is more important than they are.
I would say that once you make a decision, you have to own it from the top down. A strong leader gets out front and drives the message to gain buy-in across the company. Dan Amos, CEO of Aflac Incorporated, has always done a great job in this area. He gets out front early on and drives the message and gains the buy-in across Aflac and the investment community.
Leadership skills are useful outside of a typical 8-5 workplace. Take on leadership roles in professional associations or other causes that you believe in. There are so many areas where you can showcase your leadership skills.
Strong leaders don’t get mired in blame, negativity, or office gossip. A strong leader remains focused on what’s important. Positivity can be differentiating in some corporate environments.
