Insurers would be better off developing leaders who understand multiple disciplines within the industry, not just their own particular niche, according to executives at the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies annual conference.

One advocate of a more holistic approach to talent development is Darwin Copeman, president and CEO of the Cameron Insurance Companies. He said in an interview that he tries to develop multidisciplinary experts by exposing current and potential leaders to different aspects of his business, regardless of where they work within the organization.

Mr. Copeman, who is incoming chair of NAMIC's property-casualty conference, said he establishes a philosophy of: “We're all in this together; we all build the plan together; we all own the plan together.”

That philosophy is then expanded into interdisciplinary committees. For example, he said a reinsurance committee may have managers from underwriting, claims and accounting, in addition to the company's chief financial officer. While reinsurance may not necessarily be the job of all those departments, each representative on the committee learns to assume some responsibility in that area, he explained.

“You have to work at trying to move bright, talented, enthusiastic, energetic people into areas where they might be uncomfortable, so that when they're exposed to an opportunity to lead a different part of the organization, they do so from a base of knowledge that they've gained from being exposed [to different divisions],” he related.

Leveraging younger talent is advantageous in that respect, Mr. Copeman said. He explained he has members of the so-called Millennial Generation in his family, and he has watched them work collaboratively with their peers.

“I think they're much more attuned to being able to manage multiple tasks at one time,” he said. “They're much more interested in learning not only what happens, but why something happens in another part of an organization.”

Given that enthusiasm, Mr. Copeman said a younger worker could more easily be moved to spend a six-month rotation in, for example, a marketing function, even if that's not where they may want to end up.

Conversely, he said an established worker who has served in marketing all their life may have a natural tendency to resist moving to another area, noting that baby boomers do not always like to take on roles with which they are not familiar because they do not want to fail. However, he said such workers still play instrumental roles not only as current leaders but as mentors to future leaders.

A panel of company executives also addressed the issue of leadership at the NAMIC convention, and the speakers agreed that, when recruiting future leaders, the character of potential workers is just as, if not more important than experience.

Todd Carmony, president of Wayne Mutual, said he hires for attitude, and then trains for insurance work, noting that character flaws do not get better with time.

Ron Simon, CEO of Auto-Owners, also said qualities that cannot be taught–such as integrity and credibility–are important, adding that training for multidisciplinary roles is the easy part.

He also said he does not understand the concept of teaching “business ethics,” noting that people are either ethical or not.