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Benjamin Franklin: America’s Original Risk Manager

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Benjamin Franklin was a man of many talents. In addition to being one of the key Founding Fathers and one of the most famous people of his day, he was a noted businessman, scientist, legislator, diplomat, author and philosopher. And according to Wendell Bosen, director of risk management for Management & Training Corporation, Franklin was also America’s original risk manager.

In a session today at RIMS 2012, Bosen chronicled the life of Philadelphia’s most important resident and outlined how many of his actions revealed that Franklin possessed the soul of a risk manager. For example, his invention of the lightning rod and a safer wood-burning stove demonstrated his ability to identify risk and develop innovative ways to mitigate it. In order to make Philadelphia safer, he also pioneered the use of street lights, night watchmen, fire departments and even industrial hygiene after he discovered that a common malady of the time called “dry bellyache” was actually symptoms of lead poisoning from unsafe industrial production methods.

Franklin practiced the principles of risk financing through his use of insurance associations and fundraising efforts, both public and personal, and even followed some enterprise risk management principles, such as supply chain preservation and crisis management, when he established river blockades to protect his paper supply deliveries and organized a militia to protect local citizens from the Paxton boys, a gang of criminals who had led a march on Philadelphia in 1764.

Later, when revolutionary conflict began to heat up, Franklin’s risk management efforts took on a more strategic tone. He utilized diplomacy, negotiation and governance efforts to break with England and establish a new Constitution for the young United States. His efforts to protect his fellow citizens continued even up until his death in 1790. Bosen recounted that in Franklin’s later years, he became an outspoken anti-slavery advocate because he felt the institution was not only degrading, but that it had the potential to tear the United States apart. His concern would prove to be prophetic 70 years later.

Risk managers already have many role models, but by adding Ben Franklin to the list, it truly gives the profession a historical legacy befitting a city like Philadelphia.

Discussing Women’s Leadership in Risk Management and Insurance at RIMS 2012

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RIMS Executive Director, Bermuda Premier Paula Cox and RIMS President Deborah M. Luthi at the RIMS 2012 Annual Conference & Exhibition in Philadelphia.

Women leaders within the risk management and insurance industry have slowly but surely become more and more prevalent and necessary. Working Mother magazine identified risk management as a top career for working mothers, yet women are underrepresented on the insurer side in senior management ranks. So what can the industry do better to support female professionals within the RMI field? And what is the business case for diversity? These and other topics were covered in this morning’s session, which featured:

  • Carol Murphy, managing director for Aon Risk Solutions
  • Chandra Metzler, head of financial lines/executive liability for Chartis
  • Sarah Pacini, moderator for the session and member of the RIMS conference programming committee

The session began with the topic of mentors and sponsors within the industry: how do you get them and what are the benefits? For Murphy, she took the lead in reaching out to people she knew she could learn from, but, in her opinion, it didn’t have to be people she works with directly. “A mentor can also be a customer or someone at another company,” she said. “Reach out to those unconventional sources for mentorship and sponsorship.” Metzler agreed, noting that some of her most influential mentors were found outside of the office, such as her mother. “My mother taught me about work/life balance since she was a working mother herself.”

The panel agreed that diversity in the workplace can only benefit a company. “Having a diverse workforce helps bring out the best in people,” said Metzler. “It’s not only diversity of people, but diversity of thought.” Metzler’s employer, Chartis, uses an executive diversity council to address challenges and promote the issue of diversity. “We want to challenge ourselves about some of our assumptions regarding women in senior leadership,” said Murphy, whose employer, Aon, recently developed a women’s leadership governance board. And though these initiatives are intended to be beneficial, both women agreed that there must be accountability for the programs. “You have to make sure it’s not just a manager waving to you in the hallway,” said Metzler.

But what about the notion of a “sisterhood” among women. Is that fact or fiction? “There’s a lot to be said for the way women treat other women,” said Metzler. Murphy agreed that women do not support each other enough and that there is “an issue with women and the scarcity mentality — women often think there’s only room for one woman,” she said. Though this issue exists, it can be bettered. “I think it’s up to us to change the fact that those situations exist,” said Pacini

Networking Pub Crawl at RIMS 2012

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For the first time in the 50-year history of the RIMS conference and exhibition, a networking pub crawl was held on the floor of the exhibit hall.

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Attendees sampled some of the finest microbrews and explored the innovative risk management and insurance companies throughout the hall.

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Authentic Philadelphia pretzels made for a great accompaniment to the beers and banter.

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A success!

Senior Insurance Executives Offer Advice on How Risk Managers Can Thrive in a Hard Market

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The property/casualty insurance market cannot yet be called hard. But “firming” is the most popular word of the week here at the RIMS 2012 Conference & Exhibition in Philadelphia. The rates for different lines of coverage are increasing at different levels, and some are even remaining flat. But there is no doubt that the extended soft market that insurance buyers have been enjoying for much of the past decade is about to disappear. If it hasn’t already.

For risk mangers, this presents some hard choices.

Aon Risk Solutions CEO of U.S. retail business Eric Andersen summed up the main challenge well today at the conferences senior executive panel discussion: “you’re forced to make choices inside a budget that’s not increasing” as the cost of coverage does.

Fortunately, he and the other insurance titans in the room had some advice for risk managers who will have to live through a hardening market with more expensive insurance. “No one is budgeting more money for insurance,” said Andersen. “And if the prices are going up, you’ve got to figure out where you need it, where you like it and where you can do without it.”

Forgoing coverage means losing some peace of mind, of course, but that can be eased if it comes along with a change in mindset. “Today we tend to buy insurance from the bottom up,” said Andersen. “We get as much as we can.”

Switch your mentality to instead focus first on the must-haves. Then, fill in the other key gaps. After that? Well, you will just have to live with some added risk. But as long as you’re protected against those truly catastrophic risks that could take down you company, the new risk tolerance is one the company should be able to accept. What it really comes down to, said Andersen, is “knowing where you can take losses inside your own organization … and then buying things that actually matter as opposed to what you’ve always bought.”

Aon’s chief rival, David Bidmead, the U.S. CEO of Marsh, said that this new reality also means risk managers will need to be more innovative if they want to continue to help their companies thrive. “Don’t get too comfortable with the ongoing suitability of what you’ve done in the past,” said Bidmead.

Just because something “may have worked for the past decade—and it may have worked really well—doesn’t mean it’s going to work in the future,” said Bidmead. Instead, he said, risk managers need “to challenge convention, to explore and identify credible alternatives to the way that you’ve done things in the past, to be open to new ideas, to be creative.”

Fortunately, all news isn’t bad news.

The market doesn’t lack capacity and while prices will increase, you should be able to navigate through the rougher waters as long as you keep the lines of communication open with your bosses. Essentially, just make sure they know that the same protection you formerly purchased now costs more and that some of that security may disappear if your budget stays the same.

“Make sure you’re well informed where the market is through your brokers and insurance partners and communicate that with your management to set the expectations early,” said John Lupica ACE USA’s chairman of insurance. “It’s still a very tradable market—there’s ample capacity to get your risks placed. It may cost more in certain lines of business, but it’s one thing you can manage through with good, open communication.”

And according to FM Global CEO and Chairman Shivan Subramaniam, things could be worse. This looming market turn will certainly not be as friendly as that past few years have been, but at least this won’t be your father’s hard market. In one key way, this upcoming hard market will be much easier for risk managers than the last one was.

“[You] have far more analytics, far more technologies and far more models at your disposal to present your case much better than what you had in 1986,” said FM Global CEO and Chairman Shivan Subramaniam. “You have a lot of knowledge available to you at your finger tips to help you prepare for any kind of market. And I think that’s something that you need to take advantage of.”