Ten women were honored for their empowerment of their peers, uplifting community activities, new ideas and encouraging mentorship at the Women in Insurance Leadership 2021 conference in San Diego on Dec. 8.
Two of the honorees, Lindsay Hanson, vice president, head of behavioral insurance, global strategy and delivery at John Hancock and Emily Hartman, chief of business teams in the USA for Allianz Partners spoke during the “Women in Insurance Leadership Honorees Panel” about leadership and lessons learned.
Hartman said, during the panel, that the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic have led people to come out of their comfort zones and innovate more.
“Working remotely, you are no longer competing with someone next to you, but you are thinking of ways to be better together. You're coming together to make your team stronger,” she said. “Recognizing you can only control yourself and your decisions, yet you can control how you react. It becomes the thought of ‘What can I do now?’ That’s the pivot for me.”
Hanson agrees that some of the lessons she has learned during the pandemic have been related to control too.
“You can only control what you can control,” she said. “The benefit of the past two years allowed us to get out of our comfort zone and learn new ways to work.”
Hanson added that the John Hancock Vitality program, which is tech-enabled and offers life insurance customers education, support and rewards–had to make several changes to the program because people were living their lives differently, including working out in different environments like in the home.
“We had to make some really quick decisions to trust our customers,” Hanson said. Going on to say that if someone posted a picture of gym equipment, they had to assume that person was using it, for example.
Hanson said that the pandemic has created more interactions and a new bond between insurers and customers. And for her, she’s learned to ask more questions and listen more.
The panel was moderated by Angela Noble, vice president of innovation at EMC Insurances Companies, one of the event sponsors.
