A lot of ink has been devoted to the looming talent crisis in insurance, bemoaning the difficulty of attracting qualified young people to careers in an industry that is a cornerstone of commerce and one that helps countless people and businesses around the globe recover when the worst occurs. And one need not look far to see the cause of the problem. More often than not, we --insurance professionals -- are the cause.
How many of us have felt a twinge of embarrassment when strangers at cocktail parties ask what we do? How many of us have worried about being perceived as leading boring, little lives?
Yet, we in insurance get to spend our days thinking about hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, earthquakes, car crashes, cyber crime, fraud, pandemics, terrorism and a host of other equally exciting risks affecting people in all walks of life and businesses in every field of endeavor. And we are increasingly using cutting-edge technology, big data and predictive analytics to enhance risk assessment, pricing, loss adjudication and every other aspect of insurance operations. Moreover, insurers are intimately involved in capital markets, managing billions upon billions in investments, not to mention that insurers' very reason for being is to provide vital help when people and businesses need it the most.
Bottom line, if you're concerned about the amount of grey hair you see in the insurance business and the difficulty of enticing budding data scientists, technologists, entrepreneurial spirits and the best and brightest of tomorrow's leaders to consider careers in insurance, please allow me to suggest that you become an ambassador in service to the cause.
All it takes is talking with pride about the problems we solve, the good that we do and the fun that we have along the way.
