Embrace Change or Die

Embrace Change or Die



Steve Anderson

Leading Authority on Insurance Agency Technology Productivity and Profits



I have used the above quote in many of my presentations over the last

several years. Like many of you, I lived through the "technology-driven"

changes over the past 25 years, and they seemed anything but small and

slow. Yet, the changes in just the last five years have been dramatic.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, the Kindle, iPhones, and iPads did not exist
 

or were very new just five years ago. And the list goes on.



The world adopts technology and new ideas at a much faster pace than ever
 

before. Facebook introduces new changes and features constantly. Google and
 

LinkedIn are changing the look and feel of profiles.



Millions of people immediately adapted and adopted these new options. In

fact, we have come to expect this kind of dynamic change. This fast pace

has created a lot of opportunity for some and is—or will be the demise of others.

But human beings—and the way we work with and manage each other have not 

changed and adapted nearly as quickly. That is one of the major challenges
 
for insurance organizations today. The big question for leaders of 

insurance organizations today is how they handle the adoption of technology
 

inside their organizations. How well do employees adapt and succeed. And

the leaders of the future will likely be those who are flexible enough to
 

move with these fast changes.



What does that mean? It means that as a leader you still need to know where
 

you want to take your organization, but you no longer have the luxury of

planning the trip all the way to its final destination. Do you remember the
 

5 and 10 year plans? Today, they just might be a big waste of time.



If you're going to survive in this new faster race, you will have to be

able to adapt and do so quickly. In the "good old days" business plans

plotted the course from A to Z by connecting all the dots and creating a

linear path that was easy to follow. A connects to B that connects to C and so forth.

In this transformed economy, A connects to B and C might be something 

completely different than it was just a few months ago. As a matter of

fact, C might not even be there at all. Unless you're able to not only live

with ambiguity but also embrace and anticipate change, you're going
 to have a much harder time keeping up.

What are the implications? More than ever before, insurance organizations
 
have to know who they are and what they want because the how of their 

plans will be a constantly moving target. This can be frustrating to a lot
 

of people, but it's also exciting and dynamic for those who learn to

embrace change, try new ideas, and are willing to discard ideas and systems
 
that no longer deliver results.

The cost of inertia has just gone up. Way up.

How are you (and your organization) keeping up with change?



Edited by: Lawyer Asad