We’d arrived at a toll booth and didn’t have correct change. The “middle sister” was proficient in rudimentary French, but she was asleep. Desperate times. We were blocking traffic, so we screamed at her to “wake up and speak French.” Dazed and confused, she conversed with the toll taker; it’s unclear whether it was her translation skills or his sympathy (or irritation) that allowed us free passage.

This family classic comes to mind as I contemplate the employee benefits industry and impediments to innovation. We are asking the same people who have been successful in this industry because they like process, certainty, contracts and an annual “cycle of things” to now be flexible,...

Who produced 20% of your practice revenue this year? Do you have a high degree of confidence that they’ll repeat or was that “accidental” revenue? If production isn’t going to come from them, who will deliver? Benefits leadership is tough enough; let's get real about new business and remove some mystery from 2019. What resources will your new clients leverage? It varies widely based on size, industry and funding mechanisms, making those details in a pipeline invaluable.

In many firms, benefit leaders are responsible for practice investments without reliable insights into producer activity. I think we’ve outgrown leveraging historical production and a Magic 8 Ball to “guess-ti-budget” new business revenue and then holding our breath to see if it materializes. As I’ve written previously here, I'm empathetic to the challenges in our business. I'm concurrently optimistic and believe it's possible to tactically prioritize...

Industry change is everywhere and angst-inducing shifts, like the impact of leveraging artificial intelligence, are emerging. Few retail insurance brokerage firms (and their Benefits P&L leaders) have tangible proof that they're pivoting and building a modern practice equipped to capitalize on the opportunities ahead.

This is an understandable consequence of player-coach "stretched-too-thin-fire-fighting" leaders who, while smart and experienced, are barely hanging on keeping their operation profitable. Despite their aspirations, they're also constrained by "just in time" hiring budgets that prioritize (and reward) near term valuations over long-term growth strategies. This is universal and not just a public broker phenomenon. Teams must have the resources and bandwidth (during the day, not the night shift) to succeed. No business benefits - pun intended - from another list of strategic ideas that well-intentioned people can't execute.

Sounds familiar? If it does,...