Performance
Pitfalls of Boosting Self-Esteem with ‘Empty Praise’ in Workplace
Reality TV has a way of highlighting the worst in people, even when they genuinely think they're doing their best. American Idol is just one example, in which contestants who can't carry a tune are ...
Combined Ratios Improved More than 9 Pts. in ’13 for RAA Reinsurers
The 18 U.S. property/casualty reinsurers included in the Reinsurance Association of America's survey of financial results for year-end 2013 saw net premiums fall 3.3 percent compared to 2012, but ...
Markel’s Michael Crowley: Former Broker COO Deepening Carrier Sales Culture
Michael Crowley had been in the chief operating role of property/casualty insurance organizations for nearly two decades when he signed on to be an executive for Markel Corp. in 2009. But for all of ...
From the Front Lines to the C-Suite: Farmers’ David Travers
When he was taking policyholder phone calls as a customer representative for a direct writing carrier 26 years ago, David Travers did not have designs on a position in the C-suite of an agency ...
Endurance Specialty’s Catherine Kalaydjian: Thriving With Change
Just six months after John Charman took the reins of Endurance Specialty Holdings in May 2013, he announced to the investor community that the management team had been completely restructured. In ...
RLI’s Michael Stone: Managing People Is the Key to COO Role
"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…" With apologies to Rudyard Kipling, you might finish that sentence with the phrase "you can be the chief operating officer of a ...
QBE’s Sue Harnett: Leading a Transformation
Operational transformation is a central activity at QBE these days, and leading the change in North America since late 2012 has been Chief Operating Officer Sue Harnett, a 30-year veteran of ...
Is Jain Next? Buffett Vagueness Over Successor Worries Investors
Warren Buffett is seeking to reassure shareholders about how his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. will perform in the decades after he steps down or dies, but remains as vague as ever about succession plans. ...

