Risk Services Of Arkansas - May 2022

Risk Services Of Arkansas - May 2022

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REGAINING OUR STRENGTH So We Can Continue With the Good Times

Over the last few months, I am sure we have all taken a moment to reflect. As the world was finally starting to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine. Personally, I never thought he would go as far as he did. I thought he was making loose threats in an effort to negotiate with or intimidate NATO into doing things he wanted done. Now, we’ve seen him march tanks and armies through another country to force others into giving him what he wants. What’s truly interesting to me is that we live in this era of unbelievable technology. We have private citizens like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos chartering flights to space and designing driverless cars. And though technology has completely changed our world, it still fails to advance human nature. In 2022, a so called “developed” country is doing terrible and inhumane things to another “developed” country in an effort to get what they want. It seems that for all our technological advancements, human nature remains the same as it’s been since the beginning of time. It reminded me of a quote I’ve seen around recently that I believe is remarkably relevant today. It goes like this: “Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And weak men create hard times.” Ryan Moffatt of The Epoch Times wrote an article that went into this quote in more depth. It really resonated with me. He starts by discussing Cyrus the Great, who was a great conqueror during the Persian Empire. After conquering high-yielding land, he would choose to remain in the mountainous region of his homeland. He believed that “soft land created soft men.” From there, Moffatt discusses our current time period and brings up a strong point. It’s fair to say we all grew up with a relative who saves every penny and never fails to clean their plate. In most instances, they have

lived through difficult times and learned to survive through a level of self- discipline and sacrifice that they maintain throughout their entire lives. My fear is that today we (me included) are so accustomed to our luxuries, creature comforts, and good times that many of us would have no idea where to turn if, or more likely when, things go awry. It would be ignorant of us to assume good times will last forever, especially when I think so many of us don’t really understand what made us successful in the first place. There may come a time when we have to step up and be strong in the face of adversity and difficulty, just like our ancestors did. We may have to think and make conscious decisions on our own instead of blindly trusting in what the so called “experts” say. In his article, Moffatt brings up Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who was a Soviet Union concentration camp survivor and author. Solzhenitsyn famously said, “The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie.” The recent developments on the world stage should cause us all to question our strength and maybe even our security. There are still a lot of bad actors out there who desperately want what we have. Through fortitude, faith, and wisdom, we can remain strong as a people and deal with any threats sent our way. I believe it is the time to remember our distant past and the sacrifices previous generations made, and to consistently remind ourselves of the recent sacrifices made by our service members in Iraq and Afghanistan. As Ronald Reagan famously stated: “Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”

–Brad Johnson President, Risk Services of AR

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Could It Affect Insurance Prices?

FREE YOUR TEAM FROM ‘MEETING BRAIN DRAIN’

AND WATCH YOUR SALES SOAR

In mid-December 2012, we experienced a tragedy that shocked the country. A young man entered Sandy Hook Elementary with a Remington Bushmaster AR-15 rifle and killed 20 students and six adults. This past February, a federal bankruptcy court approved insurance payments totaling $73 million by four insurers to the families of the victims involved in the shooting. When the shooting occurred, Ironshore, James River Insurance Co., ACE, and North American Insurance Capacity Co. had a total of five policies in effect on Remington Arms and its companies between them. This settlement marks the first time a gunmaker was held responsible for a mass shooting in our country. The plaintiffs’ lawyers came up with a plan to focus on Remington’s marketing strategies rather than their manufacturing of the gun. The federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act grants firearms makers immunity from product liability, but the plaintiffs’ lawyers argued that this law did not apply. Instead, they claimed that Remington’s “aggressive and violence-glorifying marketing” of its AR-15s was an unfair trade practice and a violation of Connecticut law. While the families of the victims wanted to hold the gun manufacturer responsible, they also wanted to hold the banks and insurance companies equally responsible. Josh Koskoff, the lead counsel that represented the victims’ families, stated, “This victory should serve as a wake-up call not only to the gun industry, but also the insurance and banking companies that prop it up. It’s time to recognize the financial cost of underwriting companies that elevate profit by escalating risk.” This settlement could result in increases in insurance costs for Americans across the country. Insurance companies now realize they can be held accountable for playing some type of role in these situations and may have to raise their prices to avoid potential fines if they’re involved in a settlement like this in the future. The actions of one person can bring forward millions of dollars in damages to these insurance companies.

Here’s a shocking statistic for you: According to a Productivity Trends Report from ReclaimAI, the average professional is spending almost 309% more time in one-on-one meetings right now than they did before the pandemic. That’s crazy! Worse, it’s a waste of valuable time and a drain on your team’s productivity. Meetings can be productive, but there’s a reason why the phrase “This should have been an email” exists. If you pull your best people into Zoom call after Zoom call, they won’t have the focus they need to work quickly and perform at their best. That has implications across every department from marketing and sales to billing.

Entrepreneur has a few suggestions for how to free your team from this brain drain.

1. Say goodbye to company- and department-wide meetings. Think of building a meeting the same way you’d think of building a team: Add as many people as you need, and only that many. The more you can whittle down the required attendance for meetings, the less you will impact your employees’ productivity. Entrepreneur suggests keeping meetings at 4–6 people when possible. If you have a daily company huddle, consider making it weekly or even monthly to save brain space. 2. When you meet, always set an agenda. We’ve all attended “30-minute” meetings that stretched to two hours as the speakers rambled. Don’t let this become the norm! Instead, set an agenda for every meeting — even a routine check-in — and stick to it. If you’re a talker, consider including timestamps with each item to really keep you on task and get your team back to work ASAP. (Not sure how to write a fantastic agenda? Visit HBR.org and search “How to Design an Agenda” for an in-depth article on the topic.) 3. Encourage time blocking. Fewer interruptions to your team’s flow means it’s easier to get back in the zone, so try to cluster meetings during one part or “block” of the day/week. This will help your team build routines around those blocks, and they’ll be able to dive deep during non-meeting blocks without the fear of interruption. Try these strategies today and watch your key performance indicators (KPIs) for lead generation, conversion, and retention closely. You might be surprised at the results!

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The Joys of Cooking

It’s no secret that overall mental and physical health has been on the decline for adults across the world over the past few years. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 1 in 5 Americans will suffer from a mental illness at some point in their life, while 1 in 25 Americans will live with a serious mental illness for the duration of their lives. Additionally, nearly 40% of Americans are considered obese according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But these issues aren’t plaguing just America. A recently published Australian paper estimated that 67% of all Australians are overweight, which led a team of researchers to try and investigate whether attending cooking classes would improve mental and physical health among attendees. They set up a course of seven 90-minute cooking classes with the goal of restoring confidence in people’s ability to cook for themselves at home. A nutritional professional led the classes, and each week, they would teach the class a brand-new recipe they would then craft themselves. The sample group consisted of people from various educational backgrounds and income levels. Six months after the class, the HOW COOKING CLASSES BENEFIT YOUR WELL-BEING

participants of the study had all reported significant improvements in their physical and mental health.

While it might seem like the secret to a healthier and happier life comes from attending a cooking class, there are still some concerns about the results of the study. Some researchers believed the improvements could have come from any activity that required them to do constructive work with others, not just cooking. If that’s the case, simply spending time participating in an activity you enjoy with others could lead to better overall health. Conversely, it would appear that by taking a cooking class, these individuals were increasing their cooking knowledge, which allowed them to create healthier dishes at home. Healthier eating habits combined with doing something they enjoy and possibly even cooking alongside friends and family helped improve their mental health.

Regardless of which way you look at it, attending a cooking class seems like a fun and interesting way to attempt to improve your overall health.

Solution on Pg. 4 Have a Laugh!

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INSIDE This Issue Staying Strong in Light of Recent Global Events page 1 3 Tips for Boosting Productivity Insurers Pay Out Sandy Hook Victims page 2 Taking a Cooking Class Can Improve Your Mental and Physical Health page 3

5 Business Podcasts to Boost Growth page 4

5 Podcasts to Boost Your Business Growth

We’re Listening — Are You?

episodes mix business advice and training with on-air coaching calls and interviews. If you’re looking for specific tips like how to pivot your client base or get in the hiring mindset, this podcast will be a perfect fit for you.

business tips for you. Tune in for episodes like “How to Raise $400 million on the Internet and Build a FinTech Business with Jilliene Helman” and “Earn More with LinkedIn Sales Navigator with Julbert Abraham.” ‘Business Made Simple’ — If you’re a fan of “Building a Story Brand” by Donald Miller, then “Business Made Simple” is for you! On this podcast, Miller hosts and offers strategies for building and optimizing your business. He covers topics ranging from “How to Escape a Villain Mindset” to “Is Word-of-Mouth Marketing Dead?” ‘BizChix’ — “BizChix” is catered specifically to women entrepreneurs and hosted by business coach and strategist Natalie Eckdahl. The

All of these podcasts are available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and a variety of other platforms.

‘How I Built This ’ — Have you ever wondered what it was like behind the scenes in the early days of Coinbase? What about Expedia, Mailchimp, or Ben & Jerrys? The “How I Built This” podcast from NPR dives into all of those stories and more during fascinating interviews with founders and CEOs. Find out what hurdles they faced, how they overcame them, and what lessons you can steal to level up your own business. ‘Entrepreneurs on Fire’ — This award- winning podcast is hosted by author and thought leader John Lee Dumas. On it, he interviews entrepreneurs like Tony Robbins, Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk, Barbara Corcoran, and Tim Ferriss and extracts

‘Wisdom From the Top’ — Hosted by Guy Raz of “How I Built This,” this podcast expands beyond business leaders to glean leadership tips from all fields, including army generals, scientists, and reporters as well as CEOs. As the podcast’s description puts it, “You’ll hear accounts of crisis, failure, turnaround, and triumph, as the leaders reveal their secrets on their way to the top. These are stories that didn’t make it into their company bios, with valuable lessons for anyone trying to make it in business.”

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