Author: Chris Boggs
I come with a warning – dire in its tone, hopeful in its aim. I come to offer a reminder of greatness that once was and can be again. I come to wake the sleeping giant!
In a time before “Once," there was an esteemed system of insurance distribution. A system where gentlemen and ladies – professionals all - met in open debate, dialogue and negotiation - focused on satisfying two fundamental and interdependent directives present even at the birth of insurance: protecting from financial ruin and assuring a profit for the provider of the protection.
It was an honorable profession!
Insurance providers professionally balanced protection with profit. Underwriters, freely and without malice, debated the merits and challenges of a risk without the need for or the need to hide behind data, models and analytics.
It was an honorable profession!
Insurance intermediaries focused on exposures not premiums; coverage not price. Agents identified exposures, analyzed policy language, recommended protection and developed relationships – with clients and underwriters.
It was an honorable profession!
In the time of honor, relationships mattered.
In the time of honor, professionalism was prized.
In the time of honor, learning was personal not regulated.
Alas, such time of honor is dying.
Virtual “relationships" replaced personal relationships; price replaced professionalism; and regulated “CE" replaced personal development.
Be warned, the evils we've allowed and wrought upon ourselves will live long beyond our time on this mortal coil.
Alas, a once honorable profession starves for lack of attention.
But take heart, we are not too late to allay the “alas"!
We, the independent agents, have THE power to recover our profession's lost honor. We cannot stutter, we cannot stall, we must take charge and act NOW!
This our rallying cry shall be, “Dedication, Service, Honor!"
Dedication to coverage not cost; professional education not “continuing education;" relationships not disassociation.
Service to clients, community and carriers.
Honor to our commitments and calling.
Legacy and posterity require our attention. What shall our legacy be to our posterity? Will their celebration songs proclaim, “I'm glad they did," or will their laments be, “I wish they had"?
Choices are easy; we can choose to do or not do. Commitment is hard; follow through requires effort. Consequences are brutal; if we fail to act today, we fall tomorrow.
Neither time nor love are ever buried; both exist among only the living. Independent agents are alive and thus have time to bring honor back to this profession. The one remaining question, do we have the love for ourselves, our industry and our future?
Last Updated: April 13, 2018