At a concert in Atlanta this spring, Colin Meloy, the lead singer of the alternative rock band The Decemberists, led the audience in singing a few lyrics. “Maybe you shouldn't pursue a career in this,” he jokingly said. “Maybe you should go to work in insurance.”

Related: Read Demmie Hicks' previous Sounding Board column, “A Composite of the Consummate Leader.”

When it comes to American humor, insurance professionals may never match lawyers in punch-line popularity. Yet the stereotype is neither flattering nor fair, and it perpetuates a troubling perception: Insurance is a profession that's somehow stranded in time.

This idea is explored in a report released earlier this year by McKinsey & Co. Commissioned by The Risk Foundation, “Building a Talent Magnet: How the Property and Casualty Industry Can Solve Its People Needs” paints a picture of the industry's attractiveness as a career. And to quote the first paragraph: “ The picture is not a pretty one.”

The reputation of property-casualty is poor. High-school students know little about the industry. Trained graduates are in short supply. Poor decisions from managers and underwriters account for as much as 40 percent of the billions of dollars in lost value for the industry.

It's not a stretch to say insurance faces a talent crisis.

But the McKinsey analysts offer more than a ray of hope. The problem is not that the industry is broken; it's that it's misunderstood. And to correct that misunderstanding, “the industry has a hidden resource: A strong network of schools of risk management and professional associations that can provide a platform for launching an effort to re-make its image.”

Tapping this hidden resource will require the industry to work together in a historic way. While insurance has an array of professional associations under its tent, the industry has never banded together to tackle an issue so transcendent as its image. Accountants have. So have hoteliers, educators and producers of pork, the “other white meat.” Agents, brokers and carriers? They stand on the shoreline, staring out at an uncharted sea.

To extend the metaphor, I believe the ship is now about to sail. In September, The Griffith Foundation will convene leaders from carriers, agencies, associations and universities to take the first collaborative steps toward an actionable plan to remake the image of insurance. Billed as a summit to “engage the next generation,” the summit will explore the barriers to attracting talent and brainstorm solutions that are both practical and inventive.

The September summit is more than a convocation—it's a clarion call. An industry's defining hour is here. Will we be present?

Special Reports /

Industry Not Broken, but Misunderstood

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