I have been reading
The Noticer and it has caused me to think a lot about mentoring. By the time I was 21 years old I had been in the insurance business 3 years, but I had no idea where I was going or what a career was. I was so very fortunate while looking for a new job to find Mr. Russell Grace, owner of Russell Grace Insurance.
Continue reading "My Most Important Noticer & Mentor" »
Agencies tell me that they don't know what to blog about and who would be listening to them anyway. It is always interesting to me after I post a blog to watch for comments. Even when I ask an interesting question there are not always comments. Other times when I don't expect a response, I receive several.
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I am currently working on writing standards and workflows for a client on the filing of surplus lines taxes. Now this is a sticky wicket in almost any agency I visit. This used to be so easy. The broker that placed the coverage for the retail agency filed the taxes. Well, that is not the case any longer. So the workflow has just happened over the years and is jumbled and confusing.
Continue reading "Analyzing Processes - Why?" »
In a few presentations on the subject of change I have made a point that change is easier if it is for something we want to do than something our employer wants us to do. I use the example of how easy it is to change when we want a new cell phone. If we choose to change to a new cell phone you don't hear a lot of grumbling. We tend to embrace the learning process and in a short period we know almost everything there is to know. We are telling everyone that will listen all we know and how wonderful our new phone is.
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Last week I attended my first
Apple school session. My One-On-One session was great. Rachel, my instructor, was knowledgeable, had great teaching skills and was fully engaged in our session. However, it was a challenge to keep my people watching habit under control and pay attention to why I was there.
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I was taught long ago that without integrity my knowledge means little. Of late, roads that I have taken have caused a number of people to question my integrity. So I think it is time to address these issues.
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Last week I was privileged to be the facilitator for two sessions at the Big I of Nebraska's first Technology Day. In the afternoon session we discussed the potential errors and omissions issues that using social medial my pose and then we looked at the different social media resources. When we were discussing Twitter.Com, a lady said the following: I have read that the majority of tweets are meaningless, so why would my agency want to use them?

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I met Larry Linne several years ago at a Sitkins 100 meeting now known as Sitkins International. He was a speaker and his subject was on sales management. Who knew he was writing this wonderful book? I so wish I had known all that is in this book when I owned a managing general agency. Oh did I lose sleep and it was very noisy. It would have also been helpful for those positions where I was second-in-command.
Continue reading "Make the Noise Go Away by Larry G. Linne" »