Fourth of July! Let there be hot dogs, fireworks, carnivals, baseball and cotton candy. And, of course, music! Whether it be the Boston Pops belting out the 1812 Overture or John Mellencamp wailing about those little pink houses, celebrations and music go together like motherhood and apple pie. Wrap it all up in a tribute to liberty and freedom and you have a magical time for all.

Reminds me of risk management and insurance.

Read Chris Amrhein's June column, “Volcano erupts with opportunities for agents.”

What? Insurance not magical, you say? And for heaven's sake, what do liberty, freedom and music have in common with risk management?

Ah, grasshopper, if you were in charge of the fireworks we'd all be holding the same color sparkler.

Let's consider how Tchaikovsky used the five steps of basic risk management in composing the 1812 Overture.

Identify potential causes of loss. In 1880, Tchaikovsky was asked to write a grand piece commemorating the Russian defeat of Napoleon's armies in 1812. Not considering himself all that interested in such “festival” compositions, he nevertheless had to consider his reputation with the Russian rulers, his popularity with his audience and the choice of themes/arrangement of the music. One misstep, he feared, could bring down all he had worked for. Develop alternatives. He could create the entire piece from scratch. He could use familiar themes from other sources, then string them together randomly. He could arrange movements thematically, by musical tonality or by ease of implementation for musicians. Price and select the best alternatives. He chose themes to be included or discarded, then assembled in order of chronological historical narrative, and determined how many musicians and with what talents would be necessary. Could real cannons be used, and could they be timed properly to precisely coordinate with the music as written? Implement the decision. He finished composition, rehearsed musicians and performed the overture for the public. Monitor the results.Did the cannons work? Did listeners understand thematic approach, or did they just like the sound? Were the musicians able to perform the piece as written, or were further changes necessary? Would the piece appeal to listeners who weren't necessarily familiar with the historical premise behind the music?

Just to show the absolute necessity of step 5, it would be decades after the piece was originally performed before anyone figured out the logistics to deliver the cannon shots precisely as written by Tchaikovsky. And today, the overture's greatest popularity is in the United States, where listeners commonly fail to have any sense of the historical context behind the themes. In fact, many are most impressed that a 19th century Russian composer was able to so effectively write a symphonic piece so cleverly coordinating cannon fire with simultaneous fireworks displays.

So when it comes to your relationships with your prospects and clients, are you a resounding, living and awe-inspiring overture or just a one-note drone?

All around us, the incessant chant is that insurance is a commodity, the purchase of which is largely driven by price. No surprise there, since that is the key point about commodities–if a product or service is perceived to be basically identical, what's left except to look for the best deal? And for far too many agents, the response to that dilemma is to bay at the moon, bemoaning the lack of appreciation for our professionalism and service. Well, guess what–if the public truly believed in your unique value, then by definition you wouldn't be offering a commodity. And by complaining about the way the game is played instead of changing the game, you are in effect accepting the “commodity” tag. So quit griping and give me the price, already!

Now think about Tchaikovsky. He knew that to live up to the spirit of the grand occasion, he had to do better than deliver just another standard, even if technically impressive, symphonic work. He also knew from long experience how few in his audience possessed the technical acumen or musical background to truly appreciate the inner details and complexities of his compositions. So what to do?

He put himself in his audience's place. What would they want to hear, and how would they interpret what he was saying? If he wanted to invoke the advancing French armies, he could add a narrator saying “Here come the French!” Dullsville. Perhaps a way to accomplish the same ends would be to include a readily recognizable French theme at the appropriate moments. And voila–the French national anthem “La Marseillaise” became a part of his overture. Add in several familiar Russian folk songs, the Russian national anthem of the day, expertly manipulate the choice of instruments, tonality, rhythms and volume, and his listeners would hear the entire military campaign's ebb, flow and ultimate Russian victory play out in their ears. He chose to focus his piece on his audience's emotions rather than musical techniques and tools of the time. In a sense, by choosing the freedom to take liberties with his composition, he created magic.

And it is that very focus and flexibility that has allowed his 1880 composition to take on new life as a Fourth of July extravaganza without peer, in a country where most listeners sense little of the specific thematic content so easily recognized by the original Russian audience. In contrast, think of all the classical music that in its day may have been considered “cutting edge,” yet today sounds so numbingly similar to so many other such compositions that it may survive largely only as an occasional inclusion in local symphony orchestra fund raisers.

And that is exactly the point. If we talk to our clients and prospects mainly of standardized insurance products, like homeowners, CGL and even EPLI, we are like popular radio stations that may introduce an interesting new song only to beat it in the ground with so many repetitions we all end up hating it. Plus, for our “songs,” we often spend many hours in licensing and CE classes being taught the technicalities, rather than the melody. Then we attempt to sell these songs to a vast sea of consumers who have no grasp or appreciation for technique, and being bored by lack of anything catchy or interesting to hum, end up seeing just a product they have to buy. A perfect illustration is the wonder constantly expressed at NFIP meetings that consumers could be so blind as to immediately drop their “valuable” and “necessary” flood coverage when they receive a letter from their mortgagee that the policy is no longer required. What this tells you is obvious–a new home sings; an insurance policy drones.

Do you daily claim the freedom to take liberties with your solutions to client problems? Are you tied exclusively to “what the carriers offer” or ISO makes available, instead of focusing on a risk management approach to what is really going on in your audience's head? For example, if a client worries about loss of the quickly growing mountain of personal and business data kept on a plethora of evolving digital devices, do you first think “insurance” or “backup”? If a highly valued commercial location is far too exposed to flood loss, is your first thought “DIC” or “move”? If a client expresses concern over a possible house fire, is your first thought “homeowners” or “let's talk about your escape plan for yourself and your kids”?

On this Fourth of July, never forget that back in 1776 there were many colonists who would have been perfectly happy to just go with England's flow and skip all this “rebellion.” There were many others who fondly hoped once all the conflict was over, things would go back to the way they had always been. We celebrate today because there was one small group of dedicated folks who seized a chance to create something new, something better, formalized enough to survive yet with the freedom and flexibility to last through the ages.

How appropriate that one of the great anthems of that celebration was created by a Russian composer who, although not focused on the same specific issues, nevertheless created a musical masterpiece following the same principles.

So are you Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky or Nikolai Grigoryevich Rubinstein?

Nikolai who? My point exactly. Cue the cannons!

Special Reports /

Want Fireworks? Make Like Tchaikovsky

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