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Married to the agency Spouses can be a powerful combo in the workplace By Phil Zinkewicz In the entertainment world, husband and wife teams have proved highly successful over the years. In the legitimate theatre, there were Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontaine, Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson, and Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, to name just a few. In vaudeville, movies and television, we had George Burns and Gracie Allen, Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone and, of course, Desi and Lucy. In the world of song, there have been Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme and Johnny Cash and June Carter. In the world of insurance agencies, we also have spouse teams, although their names may be unfamiliar to the general public. But well known or not, these spouse teams have made their marks on the insurance scene. “In the agency business, you can find many articles on agency leaders who bring their children into the business for perpetuation purposes, or brothers working together; but there has been very little written on agencies where husbands work together with their wives for the betterment of the agency. And yet I would venture to guess that about three percent of the agencies out there contain husband and wife teams,” says Ted Pappas, president of The McLaughlin Company in Washington, D.C. Established in 1929, McLaughlin is a specialty lines agency that writes business nationwide. “Husbands and wives do things together that they don’t do with their children or siblings. We live together, sleep together, vacation together. It is a special relationship. Why not work together? Before we were married, my wife was a highly skilled congressional secretary,” says Ted. “She worked for some very high-powered people. When our children came along, Carol decided to stay home with them. Then, about eight or nine years ago, my secretary of 14 years retired. Coincidentally, our son was entering his senior year in high school and Carol was considering re-entering the work force. I suggested she come here and work as my assistant.” Ted says there is an interesting dynamic between couples who live, work and commute together. “First of all, you get to understand each other more. A man can come home and tell his wife he has had a bad day, and she will sympathize with him but not really understand. However, when the wife is present at the office, she experiences what is happening, and that makes a difference,” he explains. “Conversely, when I see Carol in the work environment, I begin to ‘see’ her differently than I see her at home,” Ted continues. “She gets along beautifully with our staff of 22. She’s on a first-name basis with all of them, and she works as a buffer between them and me. When I communicate with the staff, I tend to boil what I want to say down to a few words and let them figure it out. But she is someone they can go to for advice. It makes me appreciate her just that much more.” Do Ted and Carol ever find that being together all the time puts additional pressures on their marriage? Carol says no. “When Ted suggested I join the firm, at first I was afraid there would be too much ‘togetherness.’ But that didn’t happen. When we’re at the office, I am the organizer, the one who keeps him abreast of correspondence. “And he has his sales meetings to go to, so we’re not joined at the hip,” Carol says. “One of the things I get out of working with Ted is that I’ve gotten to know the office cast of characters. Before, when at home he mentioned something that happened at the office, I had no frame of reference. Now I have, and our discussions are more meaningful. Working together has actually brought us closer. We also often travel the country visiting clients together.” Ted adds: “Because she has come to know our clients and their staffs, that makes for closer relationships and we can interact better. And one of the greatest benefits of working with Carol is that, since we commute together, I can drive to and from work in the HOV lane.” Another couple, another story Marvin Address and his wife, Sandra, are a spouse team at Marvin A. Address and Associates, a financial consulting firm also based in Washington, D.C. In fact, Ted and Carol and Marvin and Sandra have been friends for years. Says Marvin: “We were married 29 years ago. Sandra was an actuarial consultant until about nine years ago, when she said she was burned out and wanted to quit. Being semi-intelligent, I said, ‘Whatever makes you happy.’ That was in June. By the fall, she wanted to return to work. It was she who suggested coming to work at my agency to ‘organize things better.’ Sandra is extremely detailed and efficient, while I am not. If I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, when I get back, my side of the bed is made,” Marvin laughs. “Sandra said she wanted to become a Certified Financial Planner, so she took courses at night and got her CFP. She is now one of the top group employee benefits consultants in the country. Our secret is the division of responsibilities and the mutual respect that comes with that. I do individual financial planning; she does group,” Marvin continues. “In the beginning it was difficult, but once we got the boundary lines established, everything worked out. I felt it would because my parents worked together, so I knew it could work. At the end of the day, we go home, detox, have a glass of wine and talk to the dog. We have our separate interests. I love to play golf. She loves to garden.” Sandra says that one of the benefits of working as a team is that, at the end of the day, she knows what Marvin has been through and he knows what she has been through. “And we have a common goal. One of the potential pitfalls is that sometimes it is difficult to leave the business at the office. We each have to recognize our strengths and weaknesses—he is individual and I am group and we shouldn’t try to cross boundaries. That way we can remain individuals as well as partners.” Learning how to relate better For Lloyd and Mari Eisenrich of the Weatherby-Eisenrich Insurance Agency in Andrews, Texas, their first attempts to work together were not successful, and Lloyd admits it was his fault. “When my senior partner retired in 1994, I had an opportunity to be sole owner of the agency. I needed help, of course, and Mari came into the agency in the dual capacity of human resources and accounting,” says Lloyd. “I inundated her with my own personal work and, as a result, she couldn’t get anything done. She left for a time but decided to come back into the firm about two years ago. This time around, I am much more mature about our business relationship. We do not bring work home at night. We deal with work at work and personal issues at home. I am the immediate picture and she is the big picture, managing things.” Mari says the biggest advantage of working together is that “we’re both in the know about what’s going on at the office. If he has had a bad day, I don’t have to wait for him at home to find out about it. I’m there at the office with him. We complement each other. * |
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