Insurance Industry Tackles Gender Diversity at IICF Women in Insurance Global Conference

Melissa-Anne DuncanBy Melissa-Anne Duncan, Executive Director, IICF Western Division

Studies have found that companies perform better with more women in leadership positions. But as Clem Booth, board member at Allianz SE said, “Diversity doesn’t happen by accident.” It was for this reason that Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) held its inaugural Women in Insurance Global Conference (WIGC) last month.

It took a lot of work and coordination, but after nearly two years planning the WIGC kicked off in New York City, bringing together nearly 500 insurance leaders, 30 senior level speakers and five CEOs from the U.S., Australia, U.K., China, Germany, Bermuda, Mexico and Canada to discuss how the insurance industry can increase gender diversity in the workplace. After three days of conversation, relationship building and leadership, participants left inspired to continue our industry’s efforts to increase gender equality.

Princeton University professor and former Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. State Department, Anne-Marie Slaughter opened up the conference with a discussion of her article “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All” featured in The Atlantic last summer. Looking at the myth of the “work/life balance,” Slaughter told the crowd “If you’re caught up on your emails, your priorities are in the wrong place.” She emphasized that we should focus on our families and relationships every day rather than letter our careers dictate what comes first. There is great importance in creating your own definition of success and balance…then sticking to it!

Similarly, Lori Fouche, former CEO of Fireman’s Fund and current President and COO of Prudential asked, “There are more than 86,000 books on leadership, but how do you define it?” Conference participants rallied around this idea of creating a customized workplace – many telling stories of seeing improved bottom lines when workers were given the opportunity to be in the office on their own schedules. Less time feeling trapped at a desk leads to happier, more productive employees. The discussion that resulted from Ms. Fouche’s speech was both inspiring and motivating, sparking dialogue that will continue beyond the close of the conference.

In addition, conference speakers encouraged attendees to take the knowledge they learned back to their offices and engage with their peers not only as coworkers, but as parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, etc. Instead of interacting as colleagues, speakers encouraged attendees to engage with one another on a human level.  As women continue to take on growing leadership roles across the country, they have a new facility to initiate these conversations. Seraina Maag from XL Group explained, “Culture eats strategy for lunch” and to create this ideal environment, women and men must both be involved in initiating a new breed of conversation.

On a related note, advocate and author, Betsy Myers highlighted how mentorship is the traditional path to bringing up or “grooming” incoming generations, but the relationship goes both ways. Myers explained that some of her current mentors are Millennials who are able to keep her informed and up-to-date on rapidly changing cultures and technology.

Similarly there is the idea of “sponsorship,” which she describes as “[mentorship] with juice.” A sponsor is someone who helps by advocating for a coworker when she isn’t in the room and will often assist in speeding up her career. No longer feeling limited by their gender, sponsors help to open doors to today’s ambitious, young women.

The WIGC affirmed that women are invaluable in the modern workplace. But to ensure that our businesses are growing and our economy is thriving we must continue to work to ensure that 50 percent of the population is not left outside of the conversation.

I’m proud to say that the WIGC started an important conversation, but I hope our leaders will not rest on this discussion. We must take action as we work to improve gender equality and my hope, is that we’ll be able report great strides at next year’s event.