Few of you reading this column have been spared my endless tales of my trip to August’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Fear not, it is just because I haven’t got to you yet.
During arguably some of the greatest days of my life, I spent four hours of every evening listening to political speeches, preceded by breakfast and brunch fringe events with a side-order of political speeches and lunch accompanied by yes, you guessed it, political speeches. I saw Hakeem Jeffries –leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives and, possibly, its next Speaker come November – speak six times over four days. As close to a nerd’s nirvana for a politico like me as it is possible to get.
Before we get too deep into this, I should emphasise that I am not a paid-up supporter of the Democrats, nor any other political party. It would be inappropriate of me to comment on how Americans choose to cast their votes this autumn. But I did come away profoundly impressed by the spectacle and the powerful promotion of a cause. And, given that we as an industry need to find ways of attracting as diverse a group of people as possible to our cause, what can we learn from the way the Democrats set about wooing 345 million diverse individuals across the United States?
The principal thing I observed is that they believe in who they are and are not afraid to say it. It was a show. Probably a show that you couldn’t stage in any other country, but we can learn from its principles. It was relentlessly confident and consistent in its message. Time and again you heard phrases like “We are going forward, we’re not going back”; “Kamala Harris, for the people”; “She is a prosecutor, he is a convicted felon”.
And it was starry. The Democrats are the party of Hollywood, so why shy away from having Hollywood there to promote them? Thus, you had Eva Longoria; Kerry Washington; the bloke who played the President in Scandal whose name I can’t remember; Stevie Wonder; Oprah. And they made sure to showcase the megastars of their own: Bill and Hillary; Michelle and Barack; AOC.
Contrast that to how we tend to behave. Too often at the few social events I deign to attend I find myself saying, when asked what I do, “I am in insurance. But not any old insurance, the glamorous stuff”. As if I have to justify and vaguely apologise and buy into the hackneyed myth that insurance is boring. It is anything but.
The overwhelming feedback we get from people who participate in our award-winning (thank you Insider Honours) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programme is that insurance is fascinating; it is just that people don’t know about it. We drive the global economy that enriches people’s lives.
As friend-of-LIIBA Howden’s Rowan Douglas will tell you, throughout history it is insurance that has been at the heart of solving the problems society needed to progress. When steam was revolutionising production but steam boilers kept blowing up, it was engineers and insurers who came together to develop the safe manufacturing and processing standards that allowed society to progress.
In Chicago, buildings still display the fire safety certification that was developed by the insurance industry in the wake of the great fires of 1871 and 1874 that allowed for the building of great cities and for society to progress.
As urbanisation left some families in its wake, we developed social insurance – pensions and the welfare state – that allowed society to progress. Now faced with the fourth industrial revolution of the transition to net zero, it will be insurance that develops the tools that allow society to progress. We have a fabulous story to tell, one that comes from an industry that can provide interesting, varied, challenging and productive careers.
And we have our stars. Our industry is full of people who have built thriving, successful businesses from scratch. The entrepreneurial zeal of the broking community is founded on the many, many extraordinary niche experts we have in all facets of the economy. We have the people who can spread the message that insurance is the industry to build a working life whatever your circumstance or background.
Kamala Harris may or may not win in November. But in Chicago she was given the best possible chance by a show that was confident, extrovert and dazzling. We can triumph in our quest to build a workforce that better reflects the world we serve by embracing that philosophy. We are great, we should tell people that. Insurance is glamorous. I shouldn’t need to have to say it.
