The Insurance Coffee House Podcast

“Culture is dynamic. You can never put a pin in it and say, 'We're done, victory is declared!' It's a constant evolution”, says Warrick B. Chief People Officer at Fidelis Insurance Group “We also see that in terms of our demographic, our employee base and expectations, the social contract that we have with our employees, of what they are looking for from an employer and the working experience.” On the podcast next week, Warrick talks to Nick Hoadley about: 🟡 a career journey that’s taken him from fashion retail through FMCG to insurance 🟡 how businesses should lend themselves to their core competencies 🟡 Fidelis’ novel business model, growth plans and the opportunity for talent to join a unique business 🟡 how culture can be an enabler or a blocker 🟡 focusing on value add on top of technical abilities at interview Episode available Tuesday 8 October at: https://lnkd.in/gnBYiU7M https://apple.co/3vkckzH https://spoti.fi/3rt43sm #insurance #InsuranceCareers #PeopleAndCulture #podcast by Insurance Search #ExecutiveSearch

S4 EP65: Going one level deeper to challenge the givens “Many people you'll work with and meet in business will be happy to accept information and explanations in the way it's being presented to them. Some people will have a real appetite to go one level deeper because they'll want to know the drivers of the things they are seeing”, says Steve Dukes, CEO of Confused.com “My push would be to go one level deeper than that. When you work with people that want to understand not just the drivers, but the drivers of the drivers, often that is where you find the opportunities. In a really competitive business, those are the things that can separate you.” On the podcast this week, Steve talks to Nick Hoadley about: 🟡 how starting his career as an analyst on the equities trading floor in a Dutch investment bank, taught him about the importance of discipline and attention to detail. 🟡 his growing desire to move in to start-ups and the opportunity to work in high-performance, fast-moving environments. 🟡 moving in to product leadership and general management roles at bigger, more mature businesses 🟡 joining insurance price comparison business Confused.com as COO in 2019, before becoming CEO in 2023. 🟡 his leadership journey and initially viewing his career path like a game of Trivial Pursuit 🟡 leading a price comparison business and being one of the main distribution channels for UK general insurance 🟡 why he looks for super smart people and insurance leaders who want to go one level deeper and challenge the givens 🟡 and the one lesson his career has taught him, he thinks everyone should learn “Whatever your career goals are, be open to the fact that the moment you hit them, there'll be a whole new mountain to climb. Learn to love that. Get yourself into the frame of mind of enjoying the journey.” Stream or download the full episode at: https://bit.ly/4e6Dorl https://apple.co/3TyOUnb https://spoti.fi/3XMwvpu #insurance #leadership #CEO #podcast by Insurance Search #ExecutiveSearch 

“Some people you work with will have a real appetite to go one level deeper because they'll want to know the drivers of the things they are seeing”, says Steve Dukes, CEO of Confused.com “They'll want to understand how the business or the market or customer behaviour really works. My push would be to go one level deeper than that. When you work with people that want to understand not just the drivers but the drivers of the drivers, often that’s where you find the opportunities that others have missed.” On the podcast next week, Steve talks to Nick Hoadley about: 🟡 his early career and what he learned working in high-performance and start-up environments 🟡 if you acquire a lot of skills and experience, your next career move will be obvious 🟡 price comparison businesses being the main distribution channel for UK general insurance 🟡 looking for super smart people who want to go one level deeper and challenge the givens 🟡 why he wants Confused.com to be the place where people do the best work of their careers 🟡 and the one lesson his career has taught him, he thinks everyone should learn “Whatever your career goals are, be open to the fact that the moment you hit them, there'll be a whole new mountain to climb. Learn to love that. Get yourself into the frame of mind of enjoying the journey.” Episode available Tuesday 17 September #podcast by Insurance Search #insurance #ExecutiveSearch #recruitment 

After a short break from recording podcast episodes over the summer, excited to have a great conversation with Confused.com, CEO Steve Dukes. You can hear our full conversation on The Insurance Coffee House Podcast, out Tuesday 17 September. #insurance #podcast #CEO Insurance Search | #ExecutiveSearch

S4 EP64: Driven to help high-performing insurance people succeed “DE&I is one of the biggest challenges for the industry. For a lot of our clients in the US, it's one of their biggest priorities”, says Nick Hoadley. “Before we engage with a client, we really want to make sure they're set up for diverse candidates. It's so important for us as an insurance executive search firm, that if we move someone into a new environment, that they're going to be set up for success there. And that internally, there are no barriers and people have the same opportunity across the board. For us as a search firm, it's key for our processes to be as transparent and inclusive as possible. When you've got more people in that process, you can scrutinize those candidates more and end up with a better-quality hire.” On the podcast this week, Nick talks to Martin Blake about: 🟡 his journey from corporate law to insurance broker to founding Insurance Search 🟡 the challenges to launching an executive search consultancy and how he’s coped with adversity along the away. 🟡 reflecting during the pandemic and pivoting to focus purely on senior and critical roles 🟡 his motivation for launching the Insurance Coffee House Podcast as a way to highlight the breadth of opportunity across the insurance sector and the privilege of learning from the experiences of C-level insurance leaders 🟡 delivering executive search, human capital consultancy and market intelligence services to global insurance brands and smaller, mid-market businesses 🟡 working on C-level and business-critical roles 🟡 being driven not only to help insurance businesses succeed, but also the individuals within those businesses 🟡 supporting candidates to develop in their insurance careers, by opening up introductions through to the firm’s insurance network and Leadership Advisory Service 🟡 the values that underpin Insurance Search’s core offer – honesty, integrity, excellence and transparency – and why he’s looking for high-performing insurance leaders to join the team. 🟡 being hungry and knowing the value you can bring as a leader 🟡 and the importance of people leaders and insurance talent acquisition professionals having a robust process to engage with the greatest number of candidates. “You're under pressure when you've only got one or two candidates in the mix to choose from. Open up that pool. Try to take anything out of the job specification that doesn't need to be there to encourage more diverse candidates to apply.” Stream or download at: https://bit.ly/3WyONKs https://apple.co/3xYKgrf  https://spoti.fi/3Wvxp9k #insurance #InsuranceCareers #TalentAcquisition #podcast by Insurance Search #ExecutiveSearch 

What's the one piece of advice you'd give for hiring exceptional talent❓ “The one I always come back to is the strength of your process will determine how many people you attract to an opportunity”, says Nick Hoadley “You have to map the whole talent market, make highly tailored and compelling approaches and remove barriers to entry. Being more inclusive, leads to a wider diversity and higher quality of talent, that you can stringently vet and pass through your process.” Nick is on the receiving end of the questions next week, as he talks about: 🟡 his journey through law, insurance and recruitment 🟡 coping with adversity along the way 🟡 why he’s on the lookout for high-performing insurance leaders to join the team 🟡 and the future outlook and growth plans for the business Tune in on Tuesday 23 July for our final episode before the summer break. #insurance #recruitment #podcast Insurance Search #ExecutiveSearch 

S4 EP63: Achieving business imperatives and being in good company           “The strength of our culture was something we used in the presentations to analysts and investors”, says Daniel Fisher, Group Head of HR, Communications & Culture at Hamilton. “We did some work around our employee value proposition and we asked our colleagues, ‘Why do you work at Hamilton?’ The common theme was collaboration and that's how we came up with the phrase ‘In good company.’ As part of the IPO, we used it as our overall company tagline to say, ‘You're in good company with Hamilton, whether you're a client, broker, stakeholder or investor.’” On the podcast this week, Daniel talks to Nick Hoadley about: 🟡 his transition from Munich Re to starting his current role at Hamilton, with 120 people and $500m in premium in 2018 🟡 subsequent growth to 550+ employees, with $2bn in premium and listing on the NYSE in November 2023   🟡 strength of culture being a critical component of overall underwriting success 🟡 how Hamilton’s values of ‘Be smart, Be sensible, Be open, Be more’ underpin activity around recruitment, performance management and talent management 🟡 the four business imperatives of sustainable underwriting profit, strategic growth, technology enablement and being a magnet for talent. 🟡 employee engagement, the outcomes of staff surveys and team collaboration 🟡 advising his HR peers not to rush the hiring process if they’re unsure of a candidate, but to move with haste if they are 🟡 Hamilton’s DEI statement, ‘Open minds, open doors’ and being especially proud of what Hamilton have achieved as they move towards gender parity 🟡 the key leadership roles and influence of Pina Albo, Anita Kuchma, Megan Thomas and Gemma Carreiro at executive level. “Pina is the first female CEO of a Bermuda-based company to ring the NYSE bell and Hamilton was the first woman-led insurance company to go public in 20 years.” 🟡 and the one lesson his career has taught him, he thinks everyone should know. “It all comes down to having a good culture and good people around you, with the right attitude and the right approach. We spend a lot of time at work, we want to work in good company.” Stream or download the full episode: https://lnkd.in/eMTjXNDs https://apple.co/3zLNP4v https://spoti.fi/4f0sOTH #insurance #PeopleAndCulture #DEI #Bermuda #podcast by Insurance Search | #ExecutiveSearch 

“We firmly believe that having a strong culture is critical and a component of our overall underwriting success and engaged employees are an essential part of Hamilton's success”, says Daniel Fisher. “The values that we created early on in the Hamilton journey – ‘be smart, be sensible, be open, be more’ - underpin a lot of what we do around recruitment, performance management, talent management.” On the podcast next week, Hamilton's Group Head of HR, Communications & Culture talks to Nick Hoadley about: 🟡 moving from Munich Re to Hamilton, to be part of growth from 120 ➡️ 550+ employees and $500m ➡️ $2bn in premium 🟡 being in good company and communicating ‘Hamilton on a page’ 🟡 45% of employees being women and the influence of Pina Albo, Anita Kuchma, Megan Thomas and Gemma Carreiro at executive level 🟡 presenting culture metrics to investors in the IPO process 🟡 not rushing a hire if you’re unsure, but moving with haste if you are 🟡 the value of data and having good people around you “There are always other forms of information that come through to you as a professional, but having good, solid data to help you make decisions is such an important component. The data we have from our full survey enables us to get a good feel of the organisation.” Episode available Tuesday 16 July at: https://lnkd.in/gnBYiU7M https://apple.co/3vkckzH https://spoti.fi/3rt43sm #insurance #reinsurance #BusinessCulture #HR #TalentAttraction #podcast by Insurance Search #ExecutiveSearch

S4 EP62: Having a myopic focus on solving a real reinsurance problem “In our experience, a reinsurance deal was being profiled in a physical binder full of paper. I thought, ‘How good would it be if we could take risk or bundles of risk and make a profile for it’", says Ben Rose. "Think of all the information that you could attach to that profile. That was a very early concept. For a long time we debated, how this would work in the reinsurance world where we've got all these different parties with vested interests, and deals they like doing in a very particular way, with a very particular workflow. We just iterated and iterated on how you could create a system whereby these buyers, brokers, reinsurers could exchange profiles of the deals that they wanted to do.” On the podcast this week, two of Supercede | The Reinsurance Platform’s co-founders, Ben and Jerad Leigh talk to Nick Hoadley about: 🟡 their early career journeys and realisation of the breadth of opportunity within the insurance industry 🟡 the inspiration for launching Supercede and continually iterating around the different elements, features and parts of the workflows within reinsurance deals 🟡 having a mission-driven culture and solving an obvious problem, that everybody in reinsurance universally hates and wishes was better 🟡 the benefits and efficiencies Supercede offers to all stakeholders and their desire to create modern tools to free people up to do what they’re good at 🟡 new clients, investors and attracting principled thinkers to join the team 🟡 being very thoughtful in those first 25-50 hires, making sure you're retaining a quality of character 🟡 why they’re inspired by the team at hyperexponential “Like us, they're taking a core problem that sits within the underwriting units of businesses and giving tools to help those underwriters do that work more effectively." 🟡 and what the future holds “We've got a really healthy number of large customers, depending on us. We want to do a brilliant job for them. But of course, we'd like to expand to more customers in the process as well. Every new customer we bring on brings new ideas for the product, helps us improve it for everybody. We're at a stage where we can double down on what we've got and make it truly the best offering for reinsurance people from a technology standpoint.” Stream or download the full episode at: https://lnkd.in/eYFvp9yr https://apple.co/3VOzonq https://spoti.fi/3zAfsgQ #reinsurance #insurtech #insurance #tech #podcast by Insurance Search | #ExecutiveSearch 

“We really got started with the business, just being people living in the modern world and watching the modern world impact virtually every other aspect of our life except our working lives. Everything was being profiled online”, says Ben Rose. “Meanwhile, especially from my very Lloyds based experience, a reinsurance deal was being profiled in a physical binder full of paper. And I thought, ‘How good would it be if we could take risk or bundles of risk and make a profile for it.’” On the podcast next week, Ben and Jerad Leigh, two of Supercede | The Reinsurance Platform’s co-founders and hosts of The Reinsurance Podcast join Nick Hoadley to discuss: 🟡 their career stories and meeting whilst strategy consulting 🟡 marathon training and being inspired by Rightmove 🟡 where the business is now – new clients, investors and talent 🟡 developing modern tools to free people up to do what they’re good at 🟡 creating and maintaining a meaningful mission-driven culture 🟡 testing for principled thinkers and clarity of communication when building out the team 🟡 overestimating what you can do in one year and underestimating what you can do in five 🟡 which other insurtechs they admire and why “There's this concept or fallacy of, ‘If you build it, they will come’. A lot of software companies can get overly focused on building something that's cool rather than something that's impactful”, says Jerad. The companies I rate highly are ones who are focused myopically on having an impact on helping a company do something better. Staying very focused on solving core problems for clients is super important.” Episode available Tuesday 09 July at: https://lnkd.in/gnBYiU7M https://apple.co/3vkckzH https://spoti.fi/3rt43sm #Insurance #reinsurance #insurtech #podcast by Insurance Search