Leaders, artists and even fictional characters
offer insight on your everyday existence
Regardless of how much preparing we do, there will always be elements
outside of our control … outside of anyone’s control. Chaos takes on all sorts
of forms: auto accidents, maritime disasters, hurricanes, tornadoes, falls, job site accidents. The list is seemingly endless.
By Michael Wayne
Undoubtedly, you are familiar with Mayhem—the role that actor Dean Winters has embodied for Allstate since 2010. Yes, believe it or not, Mayhem has been around for 14 years now. Each time I see one of these commercials, which is typically during a sporting event of some sort, I am reminded of just how close to a catastrophe we all are.
So much can go so wrong within a second that it’s kind of scary how often Mayhem doesn’t happen—manmade or natural. Frankly, it feels sometimes like we are existing on the brink of chaos.
Greek myth teaches that Chaos, or Kháos, was the first created being, from which came several primeval deities. Today, chaos is synonymous with complete disorder and confusion. Throughout my life, I have heard people use terms such as, “a little chaotic” and “utter chaos.” I’ve only thought about it for the first time while writing this, but things can’t be either of those. Either there is chaos, or there isn’t. There’s no in-between, and “utter” also is an unnecessary adjective.
At times, the world appears to be teetering like a volcanic magma chamber—near the point of being full and no longer able to contain itself. The world of insurance feels like an island in this ring of fire. Providers continue to pull out of areas, rates continue to rise at a meteoric pace in others, and solutions to alleviate the pressure for consumers while also ensuring the viability of providers are not readily apparent.
Leaders, artists, and even fictional characters have spoken at length about chaos throughout history. Depending upon the speaker, they focused their comments on a specific issue or area of personal concern, or they generalized their thoughts to the world at-large. Here are five quotes about chaos and how they relate to various aspects of insurance.
“Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I’m an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It’s fair.”
This one comes from the mouth of the Joker in the movie The Dark Knight. I’m not sure I buy the proclamation that chaos is fair. Indiscriminate maybe, but not fair. Regardless, chaos in this instance describes the world that we all live in and have to navigate.
Regardless of how much preparing we do, there will always be elements outside of our control … outside of anyone’s control. Chaos takes on all sorts of forms: auto accidents, maritime disasters, hurricanes, tornadoes, falls, job site accidents. The list is seemingly endless.
When the normal balance is tipped out of alignment, somebody is more than likely to be caught in the throes of chaos. Without proper guidance to recover, that chaos could have lasting effects that make established order an unlikelihood, if not an impossibility.
“The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both
his own and the enemy’s.”
This quote is widely attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte, but a bit of it appears to be lost in translation. After attempting to find when Napoleon said this, or the context, I fell short—no Napoleon pun intended.
Also, I found variations of the quote. Most have “enemies” at the end. Some have “enemies’” and still others the apostrophe “s” as seen above. Grammatically, “enemies” is wrong as it is not possessive. “Enemies’” seems off because of the use of “battlefield” and not the plural “battlefields.”
Anyway, this quote would fit in a “how to be an agent” training course. The words of the former emperor inform us as would-be successful agents. We must always be on the lookout for threats to our clients. We must manufacture as many solutions to those threats as possible and mitigate all other threats.
Reading a bit deeper, and I’m not a huge fan of terming other agents in the industry as “enemies,” but we can also extract the lesson that providing solutions for prospects also is a way to overcome the chaos on the battlefield.
“Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.”
American composer Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and introduced Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street to the world, was prolific in writing music and the words to accompany them. He has sole credit for both on 17 musicals. The final one, Here We Are, premiered two years after his death.
With this particular quote, it’s easy to replace “art” with “insurance.” This is the plight of every colleague working in the industry, no matter what position they hold. We are all working together to shield our clients from the dangers that lurk around them. From loss control specialists to BOR teams, from analytics specialists to the colleagues who put together employee benefits booklets, all of us are doing our part to bring order out of chaos.
“At any given moment, public opinion is a chaos of superstition, misinformation, and prejudice.”
As a writer, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and actor, Gore Vidal was widely praised and roundly criticized. He even threw his hat into the world of politics on a couple of occasions in failed bids. If nothing else, he was witty, and his quote above absolutely applies to our realm. Seldom do we hear positive perceptions of insurance.
In the court of public opinion, we are tried, sentenced, and executed without the jury having a clear understanding of the facts. No doubt, bad actors have played a role here. Unfortunately, as it seems is the case for any industry, those who do harm and get caught are infinitely more appealing as news stories than the overwhelming majority of industry folks working daily to do what’s right.
For everyone’s sake, and benefit, do not add to the uphill battle we are constantly fighting.
“Any change is resisted because bureaucrats have a vested interest in the chaos in which they exist.”
Just remember, I never said that these quotes come from people who should be revered. Such is the case with this one that emanated from the lips of former President Richard Nixon. The pot calling the kettle black and destruction of glass houses aside, the sentiment rings true.
As it pertains to insurance, the political arena is one we are mired in daily. Rules and regulations are necessary to protect everyone, but not all rules and regulations are created equal. Insurance is not a charity. It’s a business, but that doesn’t mean that insurance doesn’t have a responsibility to police itself and ensure clients are treated fairly.
Likewise, the industry should not be beholden to the unprotected risks some take and then pointed at as a political boogeyman. When changes for the better run counter to the betterment of bureaucrats, we know that conflict arises.
The author
Michael Wayne is a freelance insurance writer.
