The Social CEO by Damian Corbet

Author:Damian Corbet
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

15

The insurance sector

Jack Salzwedel

In 2008, when I was president of American Family Insurance, my company commissioned Harvard University to conduct a business review case study. The report portrayed us as a slow-moving, staid company lacking innovation and creativity. It questioned our ability to develop a need for urgency and change.

That stung.

The fact that this news was delivered at the start of the Great Recession made it even more challenging.

We took that report to heart, and made significant investments in our people, our infrastructure and our future. We have an invigorated strategy focused on building an enterprise with new business models and service models responding to changing customer expectations – all strengthened by an innovative company culture.

Employee engagement is at or near an all-time high. Customer satisfaction is at near record levels. We’ve partnered with start-ups in adjacent industries, placing bets on where the future of insurance is heading. Our marketing and advertising programs are considered best-in-class. Revenue is growing. We are among the leaders in the insurance industry.

Compared to a decade ago, American Family has a different culture and strategy now. Today, American Family Insurance is a transformed organization.

We started this shift during the early days of social media. American Family was a social media pioneer, not only the insurance industry, but in corporate America.

We launched our brand’s social media presence, which quickly earned awards for content excellence and innovation. And we activated a large network of agents on social media, allowing them to connect with customers through social media, with content and training support that was revolutionary in our industry.

The transforming power of social media

How do you go from being a very late adopter, in a late-adopting industry, to moving up to the point where you’re in a pack leading the way? How do you engage employees to change corporate strategy? How do you build the culture you need for your strategy?

Of course, a number of factors are in play for my organization: leadership, board support, agent and employee commitment, better focus, investment in technology and key business initiatives. We’ve brought in people with marketing, innovation and technology experience who have not been afraid of bold changes. That moved us from being a slow follower to, in many areas, leading the way.

We used social media as one of catalysts for change during that time, recognizing we had the opportunity to move quickly and get ahead of the competition. We embraced social media as a brand, and I embraced it personally.

From those early stages a decade ago through today, American Family has been nimble and thriving in an ultra-competitive industry – in part because of our approach to social media. It has bolstered our employee engagement and customer outreach. It helps us recruit better. And yes, social media has helped me find my leadership niche.

I believe my use of social media has helped propel the success of our company. It’s helped me be a better leader, while connecting with a wider audience than any other communication tool available to me.

Be

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