No Reruns

Not everyone appreciates this simple truth, especially at the time of payment. Years ago, my teenage son had a minor accident in his pick-up. He had one simple request after finishing his short, sweet tale of woe: "Please, Dad, don't tell me I'm going to learn something from this. Can I just be miserable for awhile instead of looking for the lesson here?"

Read Chris Amrhein's previous column, "'The Princess Bride' Lessons"

Which brings us to Superstorm Sandy. Surely there has been enough ink, real and digital, spilled upon this subject. But as I read through the articles, especially those in insurance publications, I cannot help but recall my son.

While everyone acknowledges the pain and anguish, and the blame game has been played to its fullest, is anyone in our industry actually learning the lessons? Or is it simply a venting of emotion, soon to be replaced by the next disaster? And will that next "storm of the century" prove to be more of a tragic rerun than an original new episode?

I'm sure that much of the Sandy disaster preparedness response will prove fodder for review and training simulations in local, state and federal government organizations for decades to come. Yet to those of us who have been around long enough to recall previous disasters—from Andrew to Katrina to massive assaults by tornadoes—that not enough folks learned the lessons from any other weather catastrophe of the last hundred years.

For example, there has been a great deal of surprise expressed at the "unexpected" levels of severe flooding and wave damage from Sandy. But didn't we hear that about Katrina's levees? The flooding from Irene? The tornadoes in Missouri? What's that phrase about those who fail to learn from history?

I leave the questioning of governmental actions or lack thereof to future generations. The person I speak of that must "learn something from this" is you. While everyone seems to be spending endless time and meetings discussing and debating the latest news from the disaster areas, this is the perfect time to say not "there but for the grace of God go I," but rather "What if the next time it's us?" Are you prepared? Is your organization? Are your clients? Is their coverage and/or procedures?

We can do that later, some may say. Now is the time to focus on helping those poor folks get situated and begin rebuilding their shattered lives. But I insist that while offering any assistance possible to those in need is a given, it's the equivalent of letting my son cry on my shoulder as the wrecker pulled his truck from the ditch. At some point until the lesson is learned, class must stay in session.

That's why now is the perfect time for us to learn, especially if we are among those fortunate enough to have dodged the direct Sandy bullet. Wise is the person who finally realizes the value of healthy living and diet after they've had a heart attack. Wiser still is the person who learns that lesson from the heart attack of another.

Although this forum is too brief for a highly detailed analysis, may I suggest some possible starting places for your thought process?

Related: Read Chris Amrhein's January column, "Reverse Engineering."

Obtain visuals from the disaster areas. Start a series of staff meetings, taking time at each to show attendees a few minutes of footage. Focus each time on a different element of loss: flooding, limitations to flood coverage, lack of coordination between flood and wind damage, looting, rotting, loss of power, lack of water, extensive debris, clean-up, closed businesses, extensive need for repairs, shortage of contractors, fraud, rebuilding complications, and whatever else strikes you as significant results of a catastrophe.

For each focus point, ask how your clients would have fared with the type of coverage you currently write for them. Be sure to pull specific accounts from your files to review for potential losses you or the client might have overlooked or minimized. Where are the shortfalls and gaps? What endorsements or additional coverages may have been left aside or treated as insignificant that now appear to be critical? How do their policy limits and property valuations look when viewed through the light of the losses you see from Sandy? How do you and your fellows need to adjust your attitudes to approach clients and prospects with conviction that proper protection will likely mean purchasing a great deal more coverage and taking far more risk management steps than had been considered adequate prior to this last disaster?

For example, anyone who has any difficulty discussing flood insurance or wind-driven wave/tidal damages with a client or prospect now has abundant video and photos to illustrate the need. If business income has been troublesome for you to propose, replay or reread the news accounts. Experts estimate not days or weeks but months to years of recovery time in the damaged areas before rebuilding can even be contemplated, much less completed.

Unfolding before our eyes on a daily basis are exactly the scenes and losses our products and services are designed to address. If you have any heart at all for this business, you have to be both appalled and inspired—appalled by the human loss and suffering, and inspired that our products and services will form the largest portion of the financial wellsprings from which those people can draw in restoring their lives and livelihoods.

Certainly the government and charitable organizations will contribute mightily, but it is only the governmental nature of flood coverage that may keep our industry from supplying the vast majority of recovery funds. If you count flood insurance in our column (which I do  because the insured likely purchased it through their local agent), the insurance share of the load dwarfs all other responses. As an old preacher friend of mine used to say, "If that don't light your fire, your wood's wet!"

Add to this opportunity the simple fact that your insureds and prospects also have watched the story unfold. For many, before they're caught up by the inevitable onrush of everyday concerns, there will be a time of crystal-clear appreciation for sufficient coverage, and the perils of letting that need slide due to convenience or pricing factors.

If anyone disagrees with your concerns and recommendations, complex attempts at coverage scenarios and illustrations are unnecessary. Simply take along your digital device of choice, pull up any number of videos and hit "play." Any business client who can look at the destruction from Sandy and not understand the concept of business interruption and extra expense, or even flood and crime coverage, should gain a prominent place in your "suspect found to be brain dead—no further actions necessary" file.

We've watched. We've wept. We've given. But if we don't learn, it will be far worse.

We'll repeat.