Insurance Staffing: Industry Needs “Innovative Mindset”

Looking into the future of the insurance industry, Julie Davis, executive vice president for Aon Corp. said there are internal challenges to climbing the corporate ladder with an innovative mindset.

Speaking at a recent California Women’s Network event in Sacramento, Calif., Davis said, “In corporations run by men for generations, women overwhelming play large roles as change agents and promoting new ideas, and as a result they have developed a perfect combination of skills that makes them great innovators. Strong values, good collaborators and a keen eye for unfulfilled client needs make them natural innovators,” she said.

Seeking to create an environment where women can openly present ideas for new product and service innovation, Davis added that “Women working in the insurance industry can take small steps everyday to try and improve the overall industry performance, which has been lackluster at best.” Further commenting — “the lack of female innovators in the insurance industry is also a lack of CEO vision in some areas.” She added that, “In an industry with generally weak overall performance that number is not exponential.”

Davis is not and has never been a formal “innovator.” She is skilled in insurance brokerage production and risk management for technology firms. But now “she is one of the best thinkers in the insurance industry — gliding back and forth between ‘insurance and innovation,’” commented Anna Smith, president of the California Women’s Network Group. “And my bet is that the market for fresh innovation talent in the insurance industry will become tighter and more recognized as it seeks a path of recovery and rejuvenation.”

The CWN event had approximately 120 participants. The group is a women’s association designed for leaders of new or rapidly growing companies with less than 1,000 employees and leaders of autonomous business units in larger organizations.

Source: California Women’s Network