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Insurance leader sees success through continual reinvention

Insurance is all about transferring risk. While it’s warranted for insurance professionals to think risk adverse thoughts in the day job, it’s important not to let those thoughts block your professional development. Sometimes, taking a risk and trying something new is the only way to advance your career to the next step.

How to get out of your comfort zone and further your career is one of the key panel discussions at Insurance Business Canada’s upcoming Women in Insurance conference, which is returning to Toronto on May 07. In this panel, four esteemed industry leaders – Jill Fratpietro, senior account executive, employee benefits, Canada Life; Asima Zahid, executive, national distribution and market conduct, Lloyd’s Canada Inc.; Mark Morency, SVP, financial institutions practice leader, Gallagher; and Linda Regner Dykeman, chief agent of Canada , Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty – will share how they’ve navigated risks in their insurance careers and how they’ve challenged themselves to grow as leaders.

Fratpietro, the panel moderator, is an employee benefits specialist with more than 18 years of industry experience – all of which she has spent at Canada Life Financial Corporation, a Canadian company that offers life, health, and disability insurance for groups and individuals. It may come as a surprise that someone who’s had such a stable tenure with one insurance firm would moderate a discussion on risk-taking, but Fratpietro feels uniquely positioned for the task.

“It may seem a little bit ironic because I’ve been in this role at Canada Life for such a long time, but I’ve been reinventing that role the whole time,” Fratpietro told Insurance Business. “I wouldn’t be able to succeed in this role if I didn’t keep reinventing it, while also challenging myself to bring new things to the table and be a better leader.”

One thing Fratpietro has done in order to grow as a leader is hire a leadership coach. She described that as having a “huge impact” on her professional development because it helped her hold herself accountable for advancing her skills, her relationships, and, ultimately, her career.

“It’s almost like a game of golf, when you’re against yourself on the course and there are parts of your game that you really need to improve. Well, what are you going to do about that?” she said. “It’s the same if you want to work on your leadership skills or advance your career. What are you going to do about it? A current example from my career would be that I’m heading out to meet with lots of team members over the next few weeks in order to find out how I can help them in their roles. I’m branching out from my standard business development role to get a better understanding of how I can better interact with the team and improve my leadership.”

Before having a goal, it’s important to work out your ‘WHY?’ according to Fratpietro. When asked why she’s stayed at Canada Life for so long, Fratpietro said that not only does she “really enjoy” the role but she also understands the importance of her role for her clients across Canada. She works with corporate accounts and she’s seen first-hand the claims that would crush people if they didn’t have a benefit plan in place.

“I know the difference we’re making – it’s huge,” she said. “Plus, the interaction that I have with clients and with advisors – I enjoy that a lot – and working hard to develop the solutions to help those people is why I do what I do. That’s why I’ve stayed in this role, and that’s why I constantly challenge myself to reinvent it and to make myself better.

“I hope that attendees at Women in Insurance Toronto will walk away from the Taking a Risk panel knowing that they can strive towards something different – maybe it’s a new role completely, maybe it’s a leadership role, maybe it’s business development – whatever that goal is, I hope they have the confidence to go after it.”

Learn more about how to further your insurance career by attending Women in Insurance Toronto at the Arcadian Court in Toronto on May 07, 2020. To sign up, click here.

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Be an authentic female leader

The inherent gender bias embedded in our society creates unique challenges for female leaders which are very difficult to navigate.

“Women are sent confusing messages on how to lead and how to behave,” said Monique Tallon, women’s leadership and inclusion expert, speaker and author. “They are told to be assertive but if they are too assertive, they can be regarded as aggressive or difficult to work with. They are expected to be passionate but not too passionate because then they may be seen as emotional.”

Female leaders are balancing on a tight-rope, putting a lot of energy into figuring out how to present themselves.

Deep-rooted stereotypes impact the ways in which men and women are perceived differently at work. While men are associated with leadership qualities, women are perceived as nurturers and care-givers.

“This stereotype boxes a lot of women into a place where they feel they have to be the nice girl to get ahead,” said Tallon. “It creates a double bind which results in a choice between being liked and being respected.”

Instead of trying to emulate male leaders, women should tap into their unique feminine traits to build loyalty and respect, Tallon believes.

“Showing empathy and care for others, taking time to develop your team, being more collaborative and inclusive of others; these are all qualities that people are looking for in leaders today,” said Tallon.

“Businesses should be valuing these feminine strengths in every step: in the hiring process, in job performance evaluations and in leadership,” she said. “Women bring unique qualities that are essential for driving business to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”

Demonstrating the ideal leadership style is not a “one size fits all” scenario. In order to strike a balance, Tallon recommends looking at each situation individually and considering the desired outcome.

Tallon is a Greater Los Angeles-based thought leader on women’s leadership and the published author of Leading Gracefully: A Woman’s Guide to Confident, Authentic and Effective Leadership, which introduces the feminine leadership model she developed to play to women’s strengths and help them be more impactful as leaders. She is also the CEO of Highest Path, a boutique global consulting firm which strives to close the gender gap within companies.

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Zurich leader on women supporting women

Having worked in the cyber risk side of insurance for the majority of her 22-year career, Lori Bailey recalls a time when there were very few female role models within the industry.

“It was quite discouraging,” she said. Now based in Boston, MA, as the global head of cyber risk at Zurich Insurance Company, Bailey values the growing representation of women in the senior ranks.

“I feel very fortunate that there are now a number of women in leadership positions at Zurich. It’s important for women to see other females advancing because that makes it easier to imagine themselves progressing into those roles in the future,” she said.

“It isn’t lost on me that I have an obligation to bring other women along on this journey with me. I’m a big advocate for women trying to get to that next level of leadership, and it is critical to have a sponsor,” she added.

Zurich has taken tremendous steps in recent years to improve flexible work practices for both men and women, and Bailey would like to see the whole industry adopting similar practices to encourage more women to climb to the senior ranks.

“A job should be something we do, not somewhere we go,” she said. “Working in a global role makes it impossible to stick to a traditional nine to five schedule because I’m working with people all over the world. I’m often on the phone late at night or very early in the morning but I also have the flexibility to raise a family and take time out to be with my kids.”

Bailey grew up in the insurance world as her father owned a small agency so it was a natural career choice for her. She started at AIG in New York where she developed a passion for cyber insurance and worked in a variety of different areas of the business before landing at Zurich 10 years ago. She rapidly progressed to a global function, which gave her a deeper understanding of the industry and the variety of ways in which problems can be solved.

“It has been really eye-opening to work with so many people from different countries and cultures,” she said. “I discovered that there are a number of different processes and ways of doing things. It is great to see how other countries can approach challenges differently but come out with the same result in the end.”

Bailey advises women coming into insurance to be open to exploring different areas within the industry.

“It will give you a far broader skillset and open the door to so many opportunities,” she said.

Bailey oversees underwriting operations for Zurich’s affirmative cyber product as well as related lines of business with emerging cyber risk. She is also the former head of Zurich’s Women’s Innovation Network in North America which helps to support gender equity and drive professional development for women in the insurance industry.

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Social media helps women’s push for parity in insurance

We can’t be what we can’t see. If female employees never see other women in executive, supervisory or mentorship roles, it becomes much harder for them to envisage and walk down the path to leadership. It also reduces their commitment to their respective companies because it either looks like these companies haven’t been able to retain women long enough to support them and promote them into leadership roles, or it looks like they simply don’t care. Either way, women are leaving the insurance industry because of this.

These are the findings of Ericka Fang, associate attorney at Kaufman Borgest & Ryan LLP, and speaker at Insurance Business’s upcoming Women in Insurance New York event on September 17. Fang recently co-authored an article with a female employee at MetLife about women of colour in the legal and insurance industries. Together, they found that a lot of women are leaving those industries, and their motivations boil down to four key areas: assignments, opportunities, compensation and promotion, and mentoring.

“If women don’t feel like they’re getting equal opportunities in those four key areas, they’re leaving to join other companies or industries where they see women in managerial, supervisory and executive roles. They want to work in companies and industries where they see women thriving,” Fang told Insurance Business.

“The one area that’s really important with regards to women is compensation and promotion. We spoke to a lot of women who shared similar experiences where they have not received a promotion when a male colleague has, despite maybe being with the company for longer and working more hours. We can’t decipher why a company would promote a man over a woman, or employee A over employee B, but we do know those things are happening.”

There’s been a large push in recent years around compensation parity between men and women. In New York, a law has been passed which bars employers from asking prospective employees about their salary history during the interview process. The intention of the law is to make employers offer fair compensation based on the requirements of the role.

“Social media has played an important role in the push for fair compensation,” Fang added. “Women are becoming much more transparent with each other about what their salaries are and what compensations are offered at their companies. A couple of years ago, people were not doing that. Now they’re discussing it because they’re wanting to make sure they’re getting fairly compensated for the work that they’re doing and their level of experience. If they find out other people who have less experience are getting paid more than them, it’s a problem.

“Women want fair compensation and a fair and transparent promotion structure where they can know what’s expected of them and whether they meet the mark or not. Whether companies want to be transparent or not, employees are much more transparent in the age of social media, which is going to force companies to make changes.”

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