Celebrate, don’t dilute what makes you great – in anticipation of the 2023 Women in Insurance Summit in London, Mandy Hunt (pictured) has a powerful message to the women making waves across the insurance profession.
Ahead of the conference where she will be discussing ‘Accelerating your career – the latest scoop on skills development’, the three-decade insurance stalwart highlighted the throughline of her career to date - supporting talent progression and giving back to the insurance profession.
“When you’re in the industry, you do pay attention to what’s going on around you and I’ve always felt it’s my responsibility as a senior leader and a woman in insurance to support the people around me,” she said. “And I will give a warm shout-out to Ajay Mistry who is a brilliant networker of all the different industry associations who first brought the Women in Insurance Summit to my attention.
“I think anything we can do to raise the profile of women in our profession is a great thing. I love these kinds of events which focus on women because there are a lot of events that tend to be quite male-dominated, you go into the room and you often see a very broad spectrum of men. So, I think being in a room with so many women gives everyone the comfort of being able to speak up without feeling intimidated.”
Book your tickets today: Registration for the Women in Insurance Summit 2023 in London is now open
As to why she chose the skills development panel, Hunt noted that it’s a cause close to her heart – not least as chair of the CII’s Underwriting Community Board – and that she’s keen to expand the definition of what constitutes insurance skills. Alongside acknowledging all the technical competencies required to thrive in the industry, it’s important to champion the characteristics that underscore insurance as a force for societal good – authenticity, honesty and transparency.
“Personally, I think leadership is about being truly authentic,” she said. “We all have good days, and we all have bad days but I genuinely believe you get the best out of the people you work with when you encourage authenticity and honesty, and being vulnerable rather than putting a façade about things. I think women should be proud that we tend to have that authenticity in bucketloads, though I think sometimes we’re a bit frightened to show it.”
Having served the insurance market in a host of leadership roles – including four years as CUO of RSA’s commercial lines business – Hunt has first-hand experience of the impact displaying authenticity has had on her success as a leader and on the people around her. Being genuine means people can see what you’re about, she said, which in turn encourages them to bring their full selves to work.
“When I was younger, somebody said to me, ‘You’re a bit motherly, Mandy, and you’re going to have to toughen up when you become a leader’,” she shared. “At the time, I took that to heart because it was a senior man who said it to me and I knew he didn’t think of being ‘motherly’ as a good thing. But actually, caring about people is what being a leader is about and I will never apologise for caring about people because that’s a good, human quality.
“When I left RSA, I was so touched by the comments on my post on LinkedIn because it showed that people like me because I am just what I am. There are not three different versions of me – Mandy at work, Mandy at home and Mandy in the public place. And that’s why I think it’s so massively important to be authentic because people get behind you when they see you for who you are and when they recognise that you’re genuine.”
The last few years have been very tough, from a personal perspective, for Hunt and her family but rather than shutting out the world, she has responded by seizing every opportunity to be a bright light in somebody else’s dark times. And that can be little things like helping someone carry their shopping, she said, or more long-term commitments such as supporting diversity and inclusion efforts to bolster the talent pipeline of the future.
“And as a woman, I feel authentically OK to cry, to be vulnerable, to share my stories,” she said. “Life doesn’t pick and choose what it hits you with. Bad news doesn’t leave you alone because you’re in a senior position. It’s so important to share your experiences and to take the help on offer. Then when things improve and other people are calling out to you, you can pay it back and pay it forward. And that’s just the way I go through life.”
The insurance profession must recognise and celebrate the unique experiences and contributions of women, rather than looking to dilute those differences to fit a cookie-cutter mould. Looking at her own family, Hunt noted that when her daughter goes to work, she wants her to be able to be authentic in the workplace and not to change what makes her different – as it’s that which makes her brilliant.
“I want her to be able to be who she is today because who she is today is a delight,” she said. “I don’t want that to be diluted to fit the mould of anywhere she chooses to work. I want her to be who she is – a young lady who will talk to pretty much anyone, who’s always up for having a bit of a giggle and seeing the fun side of life but who equally is able to admit when things are a bit tough.
“And I think there’s still so many women who are uncomfortable with being themselves at work because there is an expectation that they should look and be a certain way. But we need to think differently about what women bring to the table. About their communication skills, their ability to multitask, and their organisation skills – to name just a few. And, I feel so proud to be in a position to help set a benchmark for these conversations and I’m so honoured to be able to continue having these conversations across the market.”
Mandy Hunt will be speaking at the upcoming Women in Insurance Summit 2023 in London. Book your tickets today
