I was recently reminded of how essential it is to be flexible and adaptable throughout the course of our careers. The world never stops spinning. So it would appear that “winners” in this life march right along with time, rolling with the punches, adapting to changing circumstances like an octopus color-matches its surroundings.
The career-building guru Andrew Hudson addressed the idea of adapting to thrive in one of his online columns. He suggested that while 20-something professionals pay their dues and 30-somethings settle into their responsibilities, midcareer professionals are ripe for reinvention.
“Through strategic planning and taking the steps to assess your situation and to recognize the valuable and transferable skills, talents and expertise you currently possess, you can dissolve the overwhelming nature of a change,” Hudson wrote.
Not only is this sage advice for individuals, it also bodes true for insurance businesses in general and wholesale insurance in particular.
Wholesale insurance carriers and brokers rise to meet the needs of changing, often complex, modern enterprises. Such is the narrative that unfolds in our annual September coverage of the wholesale insurance market. It’s a tale in which the wholesale, excess and surplus (E&S) insurance landscape evolved over the last decade from a period of steady growth and initial technological adoption to a dynamic and rapidly expanding market focused on emerging risks and advanced digital integration. Wholesale insurance brokers, organizations and carriers had no choice but to adapt to changing regulatory demands, global events, litigation concerns, and of course, the weather.
Because of course: Change is the only constant in this world.
My fellow insurance journalists at PropertyCasualty360.com and I also had to bend like reeds in the wind this year as our company shuttered print magazines and fine-tuned its strategy around targeted multimedia journalism, focused industry insights, and events that fulfill the urgent demand for professional education and camaraderie.
The big-picture people told us “journos” what we already knew: Audience consumption habits have shifted, and more people now swipe for news instead of flipping paper pages.
The fact that you’re holding and reading a print version of our annual Wholesale and Specialty Insurance Market Update is a testament to our ability to work with longtime lovers of print while bulking up our digital muscle. Storytellers like us will always relish the chance to engage audiences by putting the proverbial pen to paper. But this year, readers of PropertyCasualty360.com with a keen interest in E&S insurance can venture online for much more insight and thought leadership related to the topic in our 2024 Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Market Update.
I certainly would not have been able to help steer my team’s transition from print to digital storytelling were it not for my own strong professional foundation, occasionally brave choices, and some tough lessons in my own career. It’s about admitting that we don’t always have the answers, said Hollywood icon Dick Van Dyke: “Humility, openness, acceptance, forgiveness and an eagerness to learn… are all good things.”
Make it a point to apply those traits to work and life, and even the most dramatic changes and challenges become opportunities to thrive.
Read other columns by Elana Ashanti Jefferson: