As I watch this once great brand turn to ashes I can’t help feeling really sad for the people who dedicated their lives to this company. Despite all the problems I witnessed while working there, I was encouraged by the bright spots. There are some really solid people in the trenches.
I saw some of those same people get laid off because they spoke the truth. The inherent lack of any iota of organic growth failed to unify employees and ultimately bled this company dry.
About a year ago I had the opportunity to rejoin FFIC after a several year long absence. What struck me was that the conversations were the same as they where when I joined FFIC originally back in the early 90’s and they were looking to build a focused book of middle market commercial business. They were looking to rebuild what I had a hand in building and then subsequently the company ran off.
The other thing they kept telling me-up to the top was that they were done with reorgs and layoffs-they got it and had sold Allianz on their 3-5 year plan which was about 18 months old and Allianz was reinforcing their new found confidence.
Something must have really changed between a year ago and now for such a huge turnabout.I
Its fortunate for me that I didn’t go back there, but hope that they treat the employees fairly in this transisiton.
See the link to this article. It says it all about being mismanaged and bled dry by Allianz. Allianz took the best parts for themselves while expressing “disappointment” that Fireman’s Fund did not perform better. Being fed to the media wolves was just an added personal touch.
WOW-I’d been away for a long time, but didn’t realize what Allianz was doing.
On a daily basis, you never knew Allianz owned FFIC except for when a cluster of Allianz execs would descend and tour HO and the regions.
And while they talked publicly about how they considered FFIC to be an underwriting company where profit came first, at the end of the day, all they seemed to really care about was growth at almost any price.
As I watch this once great brand turn to ashes I can’t help feeling really sad for the people who dedicated their lives to this company. Despite all the problems I witnessed while working there, I was encouraged by the bright spots. There are some really solid people in the trenches.
I saw some of those same people get laid off because they spoke the truth. The inherent lack of any iota of organic growth failed to unify employees and ultimately bled this company dry.
About a year ago I had the opportunity to rejoin FFIC after a several year long absence. What struck me was that the conversations were the same as they where when I joined FFIC originally back in the early 90’s and they were looking to build a focused book of middle market commercial business. They were looking to rebuild what I had a hand in building and then subsequently the company ran off.
The other thing they kept telling me-up to the top was that they were done with reorgs and layoffs-they got it and had sold Allianz on their 3-5 year plan which was about 18 months old and Allianz was reinforcing their new found confidence.
Something must have really changed between a year ago and now for such a huge turnabout.I
Its fortunate for me that I didn’t go back there, but hope that they treat the employees fairly in this transisiton.
I’m guessing that they were
See the link to this article. It says it all about being mismanaged and bled dry by Allianz. Allianz took the best parts for themselves while expressing “disappointment” that Fireman’s Fund did not perform better. Being fed to the media wolves was just an added personal touch.
http://bobmaconbusiness.com/?p=6584#comments
WOW-I’d been away for a long time, but didn’t realize what Allianz was doing.
On a daily basis, you never knew Allianz owned FFIC except for when a cluster of Allianz execs would descend and tour HO and the regions.
And while they talked publicly about how they considered FFIC to be an underwriting company where profit came first, at the end of the day, all they seemed to really care about was growth at almost any price.