You Have An Opportunity To Improve This Industry–Now Take It!

Have you ever considered serving as a state representative or senator, or even in the U.S. Congress?
Now hold on…keep reading. I know that many will hear or think of politics and think, “I’m out.” Before you jump to that conclusion, let me ask you – what if we could offer you training, free of charge to you, in which you could get an understanding of what it takes to not only campaign for an elected office, but how to best navigate the waters, so to speak, once you may be elected? Further, I can give you assurance that if you attend the training, there’s no obligation other than to give full consideration to whether serving in an elected office is right for you.

I can candidly admit that we, as independent agents – frankly as the insurance industry in general – have done a less than stellar job of identifying candidates for elected office that represent our needs and ideals, as well as our clients’ interests. Other trade groups have done a much better job of this. Let me name one of those other trade groups – trial attorneys. Does that grab your attention? It should, considering the vast resources the insurance industry is investing into countering the negative effects litigation system abuse has upon the cost and availability of insurance.

In light of that, I want to announce an incredible opportunity that will be launched by our national association, IIABA. We are relaunching the Insurance Campaign Institute after a hiatus of more than 10 years. This candidate school, if you will, aims to arm those from our industry with the knowledge and tools to run successful political campaigns. While the school’s ideal class member will be a practicing independent insurance producer, we will also be looking for spouses of independent agents, and maybe even direct-writer agents, as I think we all have the same general goals in mind for the insurance industry and struggle with the same frustrations relating to the same. The first class is scheduled to be hosted in Washington, D.C. in 2026 in conjunction with the annual IIABA Legislative Conference, though this will be an event outside of that conference. What is the cost to you? Your hotel and meetings will be covered by IIABA and the only thing candidates would need to pay for would be the transportation to get to our nation’s capital. It is possible that MAIA could assist you with this cost.

It’s so easy to take the easy path and pass this obligation off to others in our industry and say that it’s not the right situation for you. And you may be right – not everybody is made to serve in elected office. But what if everybody in our industry said that (and they largely do, actually)? Meanwhile, the trial bar continues to identify, prepare, train and fund candidates for elected office. What happens? That’s easy – they win. Our clients lose and, frankly, so do we.

So, I’m going to ask you and challenge you with this question: Do you care enough about this industry to step out of your comfort zone, do something that you’ve maybe never imagined you would do, and work to protect and improve this industry that has richly provided for us, or are you content with complaining about the state of the insurance industry in Missouri and too apprehensive or too passive to do anything about it? If you’re okay with the status quo and not willing to “put your money where your mouth is” and seriously consider if you or someone you know in the insurance community might be right for this opportunity, I’m going to be frank with you here – don’t complain any longer to me about the effects Missouri’s litigation landscape has upon the cost and availability of insurance in Missouri.

More details will be forthcoming from both IIABA and MAIA regarding this incredibly important initiative, but I’m going to obligate you after reading this article to start seriously considering if you, one of your agents, your spouse or another local agent may be a good candidate for this program.

So, let me reiterate something mentioned earlier – the trial attorneys are stellar at finding candidates and getting them elected to office, where they then wield power from behind the proverbial curtain! We are losing ground to them. This is having a detrimental effect upon the way you do business.

Don’t let this go in one ear and out of the other – it’s simply too important to allow the insurance industry to get further and further behind other trade groups and professions that continue to be successful in rendering the insurance industry more frustrating, less enjoyable and less consumer-focused than it once was and should continue to be. We work in an exceptional industry. Now, do you care enough to make it better? Challenge issued, my friends.