As we're now well into another year, the easy tendency for everyone involved in the insurance industry is to keep doing what we've been doing: Work a bit longer and harder, and hope we can deliver the desired growth and enhancements for 2017 over 2016.

That “renew as expiring” approach to our professional life clearly flies in the face of Einstein's famous definition of insanity quote. The paradigm has shifted, and as players we either revolutionize our approach now, or simply cling to the hope that things will work out fine, which by now we all should know is not a strategy.

In the sections that follow, we share facts, experiences, and perceptions that make the case that, although this industry is not terminal, it's certainly in the ICU ward for both clients and brokers who don't answer the wake-up call and dramatically alter their approach to how they do business. It's also a ticking time bomb for senior managers unwilling to strategically focus on risk, as opposed to relegating insurance to a commodity buy with minimal evaluation and consideration on a once-a-year basis. Some companies are already responding to this challenge; however, far too many organizations are doing their best impersonations of the dinosaurs that wondered what the flash in the sky and the splash off the Yucatan was all about.