“In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less.”
So were some of the first words in President Barack Obama's inaugural speech, given last month before throngs of supporters spread out across the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It was a superbly delivered speech that was inspiring yet sobering, with equal parts optimism (“We can do this!”) tempered only by cold realism (“Yes, it's that bad.”). I don't know about you, but taking over a country with an economic system in such a state as ours is a problem with which I'm more than willing to let our new President wrangle, and that's just item number one on very long to-do list.
The day of President Obama's address, Claims staffers took a brief respite from the rushed nature of conducting final edits for this month's issue to listen, watch, and to be together with others from National Underwriter and Summit Business Media. After all, it's a rare event in which one obtains the exact time and place that history will unfold. Because this month's cover story from Senior Editor Christina Bramlet was so fresh in my mind — I had put the final touches on it just before heading to our auditorium to watch — I found many of President Obama's statements reverberating with me in some small way to the matter-of-fact approaches the two companies featured in this month's main feature have undertaken.
For instance, one sentiment that struck me throughout President Obama's address and in the quote above was the idea that taking shortcuts will never lead to a real and viable solution. He also spoke to the challenges we face as a country, saying that they “are real, they are serious, and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time.” Of course, the same holds true for our industry.
This realization is certainly shared by Travelers and Crawford & Company, who exemplify the type of dedication to foundational strengthening of which President Obama preached, albeit on a smaller scale. Featured in this month's cover story, these two are examples of companies that are not out there cherry-picking talent or leaving training and education in the hands of others to figure out. They are not pushing adjusters out into the field after a three-day crash course on estimating. They are working from the bottom up to create a culture of knowledge and skill, and they are rewarding those who take it seriously. No shortcuts allowed.
There are obvious reasons why growing and cultivating talent within an organization has long-term benefits. But the dedication and capital it takes to forge continuing education outlets makes it difficult to implement, let alone maintain. Travelers and Crawford & Company are proactively addressing serious and industry-wide problems that face the claim industry, problems that include a shortage of incoming talent, retiring baby boomers leaving with decades of experience, increasing regulatory requirements, rising customer service expectations, and a do-more-with-less philosophy. They realize that these problems cannot be solved overnight, so they have instated programs that will not only serve them well in the long run but also help them achieve greatness. They embody the idea of never settling for less. Can the same be said of your company?
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
