LEADERSHIP Tour of Las Vegas’s Zappos office helps inspire agency culture focus Leadership is multifaceted. But at its core is responsibility foorganizational culture—designing, developing, and nurturing the shared values that drive how organizations operate. Author and former MIT Sloan School of Management Professor Edgar Schein put it this way: “[T]he unique function of leadership that distinguishes it from management and administration is … concern for culture. Leadership begins the culture
General Articles
A supportive boss and a refusal to conform to stereotypes paved the way for this agency president This month Rough Notes presents the first profile in a new series titled “Broken Glass.” In this space you’ll meet women who have defied stereotypes, shrugged off detractors, and leveraged drive and determination to achieve top leadership posts in the traditionally conservative independent agency arena. This month we’re profiling Dawn Law, a 30-plus-year
Eight actions to get your agency back on track The Rough Notes Company is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana, nicknamed the “roundabout capital of the country”—having opened its 100th toward the end of 2016. I’m sure there are more by now. While I find roundabouts safe and beneficial for traffic flow—when everyone knows how they work—the frequent construction of these circular intersections causes numerous roadblocks and requires months of finding another
Beyond Insurance Dunkin’ Donuts model offers valuable guidance After successfully operating the Industrial Luncheon Service, which served factory workers during World War II from mobile carts, William Rosenberg opened the first Dunkin’ Donuts store 10 miles outside Boston in 1950. From the beginning, the organization’s image reflected that of its founder … a hustler and street fighter. Of interest, Rosenberg had little use for formal education, dropping out of school
Agency Financial Management Put this trend to work and build volume and profits Only a handful of today’s independent agents have been around long enough to remember how dramatically computers transformed the industry. These days, customers expect you to produce quotes within seconds—and computers make it easy to deliver. They’ve also eliminated a lot of paperwork that used to consume a significant amount of time and file cabinet space. In
