LESSONS LEARNED: FROM C-SUITE TO FRONT LINE

Stephen Applebaum

July 28, 2024

Since entering the business world in 1966 as an apprentice accounting student, I have worked in a wide variety of diverse roles and responsibilities across a number of different industries and segments, including financial, retail, manufacturing, distribution, entertainment and, for the last 40 years, information technology and the Property & Casualty insurance ecosystem.

My roles have been increasingly senior business development, leadership and executive positions with? responsibilities for operations, product development, business development, revenue, leadership, partnerships, alliances and strategy.

Across my entire career I have had the pleasure and privilege of working closely with mostly good and decent people and I have made many lifelong friends. When I reflect back over my career, I realize that there are a number of things I learned which may be of interest and even value to those younger than me (which is now most of you).

I realize that the world has changed in many ways over time but I believe most of these lessons remain valid and universal. Here for what it’s worth are some of these lessons learned and insights offered.

PEOPLE

Business is about people and relationships.? Take the time to get to know your customers

Pick your colleagues as if you were making a lifetime commitment

Trust your instincts about people and don’t judge them by appearances or the opinions of others

LEADERSHIP/MOTIVATION

Leadership is critical to success; lead by example; people are watching more closely than you may think

Be physically present but get out of the office and in front of your customers as often as possible

Your people will do what you inspect – not what you expect; measure everything important

Encourage intelligent innovation; ‘you can’t make an? omelette without breaking a few eggs’

Reward/recognize success; encourage fast failure

Post inspirational and thought-provoking quotes on office walls (e.g. “don’t worry about satisfying that customer’s complaint; one of our competitors will eagerly take care of it”

Meet in appropriate teams frequently; be as inclusive as possible; all employees want and need to be informed

COMMUNICATIONS

Communicate internally and externally, clearly and frequently; make an effort to be articulate

Listen more than you speak

Meeting design; tight agenda shared in advance; minutes distributed within 24 hours; follow ups (assigned to owners)

Avoid typos, grammos and punctuation errors; they are unprofessional and conveys carelessness to readers?

INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY

Understand that almost all technology is only a temporary advantage

Learn to “look around the corners”; anticipate near-term changes and needs

PRODUCT DEVELOPMET & SELLING

Understand your customer’s business in detail

Not every customer interaction needs to be transactional; long term relationships and trust are worth a lot more than any quick sale

Develop company Advisory Councils made up of a few carefully chosen customers and ask them to brainstorm with you around their greatest unsatisfied needs aligned with your core company competencies

Build new products with customers based on common needs identified????????

PRESENTING

Keep it crisp; attention span varies by seniority; 20-minutes is a good typical target

Keep it nuanced; don’t speak in a monotone and keep it light – humor helps when used appropriately

Most people don’t listen closely; so, tell them what you are planning to tell them…….then? tell them……then tell them again? what you just told them

Avoid “death by powerpoint”; 5 slides max; keep word count low; use simple illustrative charts

Context and insight are as important as facts and statistics; make the information relevant to the audience and their business needs

In Q&A, engage front line staff as well as leadership

PERSONAL BRAND

Put yourself out there; speak, write, post insightful social media (use one channel strictly for business)

Avoid controversial topics like politics or religion

Promote yourself – but intelligently

Always be learning; be inquisitive

Be a mentor to worthy entrepreneurs; you will find it rewarding

I hope you find some of this helpful and I encourage you? to develop your own “lessons learned” because each? one of us are unique individuals and what works for one does not always work for others.?

Be yourself and do your best to learn continuously, enjoy what you do and with whom you? do it.?

Stephen Applebaum, managing partner, Insurance Solutions Group, is a subject matter expert and thought leader providing consulting, advisory, research and strategic M&A services to participants across the entire North American property/casualty insurance ecosystem. [email protected]