Leadership is Theme at NAMIC Convention’s Sessions

Robert Bailey characterizes himself as an “unemployed senior citizen” with some notions about leadership and effective management. The retired CEO of State Auto Insurance Cos., Columbus, Ohio, passed along some homespun and deceptively simple basics of leadership during NAMIC’s General Session of the 107th annual convention of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Cos. (NAMIC) in San Diego Sept. 17.

The author of Plain Talk About Leadership explained to his audience of some 600 mutual property/casualty company managers that common sense and an understanding of the basic rules of human behavior will go far toward motivating employees and building business. During his long insurance career, Bailey’s practical leadership style expanded sales by 500 percent and transformed State Auto into a multi-billion dollar industry leader.

“When people are pushed, they push back,” Bailey explained. “Good leaders know how to get people to follow willingly without pushing. Remember that employees tend to treat your customer the way they are treated by you.”

Jerry Wilson, author of Word of Mouth Marketing, followed Bailey with a similar common sense approach to insurance marketing. His presentation, “How to Get New Customers and Keep Them for Life … at Little or No Cost,” defined his own term of “customerology” as the ability to change “me” to “we.” He considers the best marketing tool as positive word of mouth marketing. The worst marketing tool is silence.

“Customers often won’t tell you they’re unhappy,” he explains. “They protest bad treatment by refusing to refer your business to others. You must think like the customer, not like an insurance technician.”

Afternoon concurrent sessions featured topics with very specific appeal to NAMIC member companies through its three conferences.

“Benefits of a Loss Control Program,” included a discussion of the loss control challenges of wood stoves, corn burners, meth labs and electrical issues. Don Davis, loss control supervisor of Country Insurance & Financial Services, Bloomington, Ill., presented the program.

Returning to Profitability” focused on ways companies can deal with the increased cost of insurance, credit scoring, catastrophes and terrorism coverage, as discussed by a panel of experts. Moderator Christopher (Kit) Migel, executive vice president of General Reinsurance Corp., Stamford, Conn., led the discussion among panel members Charles Titterton, director, Standard & Poor’s, San Francisco, Calif.; John Ward, CEO, Ward Group, Cincinnati, Ohio; and Robert Dowdell, CEO, Marshall & Swift/Boeckh, New Berlin, Wis.

Renowned agricultural journalist Jim Wiesemeyer examined “The State of Farm Policy Post 9/11.” An expert on the Washington scene, Wiesemeyer serves as Washington consultant to the Pro Farmer newsletter, and has reported on major farm bills and trade policy since 1978.

The complications of “Underwriting Unusually Built Homes” were examined by panel members Don Davis, loss control supervisor, Country Insurance & Financial Services, Bloomington, Ill.; Robert Caldwell, BBA, president, North Carolina Grange Mutual Insurance Co., Greensboro, N.C.; and George Pondela, president, Rossmoyne Contractors, Inc., Glendale, Calif. Steve Crawford, CPCU, Are, senior vice president-reinsurance, Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Co., Grinnell, Iowa, was the moderator of the discussion that covered log, straw and mobile home construction.

Finally, Lynn Thomas, president, 21st Century Management, Waltham, Mass., offered a look at the recruitment, development and retention of quality, tech-savvy insurance leaders in the presentation, “Leadership/HR for Management Executives.”

Topics Leadership