Insurance innovation advice from ‘Simpsons’ writer Joel Cohen
IASA 2019: The longtime television screenwriter imparted wisdom to inspire a crowd of insurance technology vendors and executives.
Insurance professionals and technologists immersed in the intricacies of transforming business models to be more consumer-friendly and digitally astute may find it difficult to draw a link between their work and the long-running animated television hit, “The Simpsons.”
But during a Monday morning keynote address at IASA 2019 at the Phoenix Convention Center, longtime screenwriter Joel Cohen did just that.
“There’s no place like Phoenix in June,” Cohen jibed at the beginning of his talk. “I guess the hotels on the sun were fully booked.”
In the prime-time television universe, few shows rival the success of “The Simpsons.” It was the first half-hour animated show to appear in prime time. Since its debut in 1989, it has become television’s longest-running scripted prime-time series.
Cohen said the innovation reflected in the success of “The Simpsons” would never have been possible without fostering an intensely creative environment for its writers, who are largely uninterrupted or influenced by the show’s network bosses at the Fox Broadcasting Company.
“The reason for ‘The Simpsons’ success is actually the least known thing about it,” Cohen said. “It’s the environment it’s created in, an environment that’s truly committed to innovation.”
Necessary elements
This is Cohen’s shortlist of necessary elements for disruptive innovation:
Foster a creative environment. It’s not that there are no bad ideas, Cohen said. It’s that within every idea — even the bad ones — there is the kernel of something that someone can pick up and run with to create an even better idea. What’s more, “the way (a bad idea) is responded to is a way to test how creative that environment is,” Cohen said. Immediately shooting down suggestions during a brainstorming session as opposed to distilling the best parts of a bad idea is a sign that the work environment is antithetical to creative innovation.
Cohen described great ideas as being the top of a pyramid that was stripped of its weakest components. “It’s always easier to improve upon an idea than invent something from scratch,” he said.
Fight your first instincts. Your first thought may be the most obvious solution to a problem. Take that idea and apply it to your core audience, Cohen said. Then tweak the idea with your audience in mind.
Encourage diverse work groups and idea sharing. The writers’ room at “The Simpsons” is composed of people ranging in age from 24 to 70. Their educations, training and professional backgrounds come from comedy and entertainment as well as science and mathematics and various other fields. “Having diverse perspectives really helps us build our (creative) base,” said Cohen, who added that many more jokes end up on the proverbial cutting room floor than in an actual episode of the show.
Dispense with the idea that innovation is efficient. ”You cannot make innovation or creativity efficient,” Cohen said. “It doesn’t work. You need to waste stuff.”
Always consider audience relatability. Although “The Simpsons” is a smash in the United States as well as in many other countries worldwide, it doesn’t play in Japan because its drawn characters have only four fingers. There, having four fingers is associated with being involved in the infamous organized crime syndicates known as the Yakuza. France and Australia also are off-markets for “The Simpsons” because both countries and their residents have been joked about on the show.
Ask yourself: Does a given idea or initiative support big-picture goals/? ”Sometimes you have a great idea but a better idea is not to use it because it doesn’t fit into the bigger picture,” Cohen said.
Be a humble filter. These are people who are willing to consider that their ideas may not be the best ones in the room. These people are equally willing to support and advance others’ ideas.
IASA 2019 attendees will carry Cohen’s advice through four days of networking and business meetings meant to support the insurance industry’s ongoing digital transformation.
“The more things change, the more change accelerates,” IASA Executive Director Rod Travers wrote in an article leading up to this year’s conference. “A lot of fascinating concepts are circulating within the insurance industry right now.”
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