The Risk Management Focus

Are you signing off on everything that you are ok with paying for?

Think about this.

Every insurance policy has exclusions, sublimits, and warranties in them.

Many of them are standard in every policy that no insurance carrier will cover.

BUT!

There are many that expose your business to significant losses and can be removed.

When you invested in your current policy, did you also sign off on all the risks that you would have to pay for yourself if you had a claim?

It's ok to not buy certain insurance coverages!

As long as you know what you are not buying and what the risk is to your business.

What's your reputation?

With the insurance carriers I mean.

You may not know this but when you get 3 agents involved in a bid, they are going to approach the same insurance carriers with what is likely a half-baked submission.

Underwriters who are judging what pricing and coverage to offer are going see that and say, "well, here's another bid 🙄".

Insurance is all about risk management and underwriters want a long- term partnership with someone who is proud of their business, and is working on hard to protect it from significant losses.

Don't bid for cheap insurance.

Choose the right agent to figure out the right fit.

Regardless of whether you think you are ready or not, do it anyways.

You are going to be ahead of 80% of the people next to you.

Then, keep learning. Find a mentor. Subscribe to every publication related to your pursuit and the potential people you will impact. Make a goal to read a book on the topic. Ask for feedback from the people you are wanting to work with and said no.

You will get pretty far just by moving forward.

Pursue excellence but never allow the perceived lack of it stop you.

Some motivation I was reminded of last week

"The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) protects your plan's assets by requiring that those persons or entities who exercise discretionary control or authority over plan management or plan assets, anyone with discretionary authority or responsibility for the administration of a plan, or anyone who provides investment advice to a plan for compensation or has any authority or responsibility to do so are subject to fiduciary responsibilities. Plan fiduciaries include, for example, plan trustees, plan administrators, and members of a plan's investment committee."

Right off the Department of Labor's website.

So, is the HR Director, CEO, CFO, or any other director/officer of a business who determines the broker, TPA, consultant, and benefits plan. Are they a "plan administrator" who "exercise discretionary control over plan management"?

“The number of ransomware attacks may even increase before the situation gets better,” Scott Sayce, global head of cyber at AGCS, said in a release. “Not all attacks are targeted. Criminals also adopt a scattergun approach to exploit those businesses that aren’t addressing or understanding the vulnerabilities they may have.

It is no longer an "if".

You have already been a target of a cyber attack.

The question is, are you still relying on minimal network security to protect yourself and your business?

If you are, then you are likely to be the next victim.

https://www.propertycasualty360.com/2021/10/15/cyber-losses-are-driven-by-business-interruption-recovery-costs/?enlcmp=nltrplt2&kw=Cyber%20losses%20are%20driven%20by%20business%20interruption%2C%20recovery%20costs&utm_campaign=dailynews&utm_content=20211015&utm_medium=enl&utm_source=email&utm_term=pc360

I've got a little known fact for you.....

Most of the insurance audits are wrong!

It's not that the insurance carriers don't care, but they are processing millions of policies a year and everyone is human.

These tiny inconsistencies can be the difference between owing the carrier and getting a return!

Errors in unresolved reported incidents and claims
Incorrect employee classifications
Unverified states operated in

Do you and your insurance partner have a consistent process for auditing the audit before the carrier comes in?

A question to all employers and leaders......


Are you hiring people and just assuming they will learn how to be successful in your profession/industry through osmosis?

Frankly, I've been on the receiving end of the lack of a plan for success.

I will always take responsibility for my successes and failures. But. There is such a wealth of knowledge that can be shared with the next generation.

A wealth of knowledge that can remove barriers to success by having a plan to mentor the future of your business.

So, are you planning for success by giving the right people the tools to be successful, or just hoping it will happen through osmosis?