Spotlight Bruce White from Johnson Kendall Johnson
One of our favorite clients is Johnson Kendall Johnson (JKJ). We were really impressed with one of the partners of this firm, Bruce White.
This award winning full-service insurance brokerage and risk management firm has managed corporate and personal needs since 1959. Bruce White is someone I admire for his level of incredible engagement with his team, his peers, his family, and his community. He is highly regarded by his peers, admired by his team and loved by his family. We spent some time interviewing him about the productivity challenges of his industry and how he manages to engage people by investing his time and attention with them. We have shared some of his brilliance below:
Bruce shared the biggest challenge of the insurance industry is recruiting talent. He shared it’s not a sexy industry, no one grows up saying they want to be in the insurance industry however some schools now include risk management in their curriculum. People who are part of this industry and especially his firm really care about people.
The insurance industry has been affected by technology in a big way, the data still is entered into a system and then a model assess risk etc. It used to be manual and now technology has provided great resource to the insurance industry. Health care laws affect insurance – technology and regulation all impact the way we deliver services to our clients he said.
I laughed when he shared that three words to sometimes describe the industry are: ‘male, pale and stale’. Bruce is committed on recruiting high quality people and training them.
On a daily basis when asked about how he maximizes his productivity he had some great ideas including:
Goal set – set goals and stick to them. This might mean extending the day or working in between appointments however whatever you set out to achieve – make it happen.
Breakdown time – Choose to break it down into 30-minute increments (sometimes even 15 minutes) to get it all done.
Stay efficient– Leverage technology all day when possible.
Make it work! Just do whatever it takes, no excuses.
When asked about how he engages people the strategies he shared included:
Enjoy people – enjoy their stories, he spends hours listening to someone share about their life. He remembers their story and feels emotion from their story. Story is everything – it shows how people get to where they are. Bruce loves to know as much as he can because he cares about what people are and what makes them tick. If you ever are fortunate to watch him interact with his team or a client this is very evident.
Choose to engage – When we asked how he learned to be more engaging he shared that when he was a kid he was uncomfortably shy and his recollection was that he didn’t want to be that person so in middle school he decided he wasn’t going to be that person. Bruce decided he wasn’t going to be too sensitive. His parents taught him to be a gentleman and he decided he didn’t want to be the shy guy on the sidelines – he wanted to step into the forefront of things.
Provide a forum for people – Listen so they feel good. Be more engaging when you listening to clients. People need to spend time listening and not just ‘sell’ – choose a different pace in the conversation. Listen intently – Give people your full attention and you will hear their story. In all professions, especially sales, we need to be a powerful listener so audience engagement increases.
When asked about how he juggles so many competing priorities he shared his strategies to manage:
Emotional emergency is a priority – a client issue might be pressing i.e. contract however if an individual human has an emotional issue (team member or family or a friend) – that will always be the priority. Sometimes you can handle things at the same time however often you might have to go to ‘plan b’, explain you are not available at the moment for a client but will pass it along to someone else who can help them – you need to be able to deal with things simultaneously.
Client activity first – nothing happens unless we respond to clients well. Bruce shared that he works for JKJ, but he really works for the client. I loved his comments that ‘our business exists because we support our clients to achieve their mission first. Be internally managed by externally focused.’
Hire people to keep us focused – we choose team members to help us stay both internally and externally focused. People are clear on their roles in helping us achieve our mission, and the missions of our clients.
Always ask ‘How can I help you grow your business?’ – He believes in helping people grow, loves meeting new people and thinking about who he can introduce them to, who he can help. This is a great perspective to keep at the forefront of our minds daily – how can we help and whom do we know that others need to know.
Love to-do lists – He uses to-do lists so not to forget things. Easy technology to create tasks i.e. Outlook – allows notes to be placed in calendar appointments to know what needs to be completed.
Diary things – use calendar to diarize and then check the appointment that are things you need to achieve in the day.
Leave yourself messages – Send yourself emails to remember things.
Write notes in a book – Bruce shared for every year he has been out of school since 1984 he has notes from every meeting. Like many of our clients, the way he learns is to write it down. Sometimes it is just jotting down a word or a book to read, it is a great way to remember things.
Be yourself – never try and be anything you are not. Just be you. When having a conversation with someone feel what they are feeling, put myself in their position; look at everyone the same – imagine what they experience – just always be you is who you are – but don’t be anything except who you are. LOVE this advice he gave.
It was a pleasure to interview Bruce and he had some great ideas on how to be more engaging.
What are your ideas on how be more engaging? Share your ideas with us here on our blog.
