AFTER ‘HISTORIC’ ADVOCACY YEAR, AALU PIVOTS FOR THE FUTURE INTERVIEW doesn’t even have authority to regulate insurance advisors or insurance products. It’s out of touch. It will end up reducing consumer access to advice. We know that for sure. So we have to get at the root cause of these proposals, which is why our well-intentioned regulators are going in a direction that is going to reduce consumer choice and, we believe, reduce financial security. We simply have to do a better job of telling our story. We have to be more aggressive at telling our story about the virtues of a commission-based advice model, the virtues of consumer choice. So that’s a big challenge. I think another challenge is how we’re organized. AALU and GAMA will come together. So where there were two, there will be one. We still have a whole bunch of different groups out there. And what my experience with the trade association community [shows] is that the current design lends more for competition rather than collaboration. For a lot of people, it’s more about the organization, the letters, rather than the cause of serving the profession. And so I think we have to continue to push ourselves to humbly ask, are there ways that we can more effectively come together to serve the profession? And then, obviously, as we look at the dynamics at the federal level, the elections are right around the corner. As we think about the scenario planning that we have engaged in, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Chris Morton, who leads our government affairs team, who’s an extraordinary leader on behalf of helping us produce these wins and helping us prepare for what’s around the corner. But as Chris and I have talked, there really aren’t risk-free scenarios. No matter what happens in November, we’ve got to be prepared, and depending on what the outcome of the election is, that will adjust what the opportunity and the risk matrix are for us as we look forward to 2021. FELDMAN: How do you see the industry evolving over the next five to 10 years? CADIN: If you had asked me this 15 years ago, I would’ve said, what’s clear about the last five to 15 years is this is not a sales job anymore. This is an advice job. This
is a consulting job. Whereas the notion of sales contests and the idea of moving products and producing all of that, the world has shifted away from that. Consumers want holistic financial advice from somebody they can trust. The consumers want to know that whoever is offering them advice is offering them advice that’s in their best interest. I think we’re going to see that continuation. That’s certainly been a big trend over the last five to 10 years. And I think what we will see is, particularly if we are effective in unifying the profession, we will create a regulatory regime that respects consumer choice, that respects the commission-based advice model. But at the same time, it provides certainty to consumers that they’re receiving advice that’s in their best interest. So that’s clearly an area that’s a trend line that has already started and will accelerate into the future. I also think you’ll see the continued evolution of the culture within the profession that’s much, much more open and inclusive. There’s clearly more work that needs to be done in terms of changing the culture within the profession so that it is more inviting for women and people of color to join it. We can’t be an advocacy force for the financial and retirement security of the American people without looking like the American people. So I don’t think this is a “nice to have.” I think this is essential for the ongoing relevance of the profession. FELDMAN: How can we be more inclusive as an industry? What are some things that we should be doing to bring more diversity to this industry? CADIN: It all starts with culture, right? Gone are the days where people should be beating their chest about how much money people make or how big a case they closed. And I think that we should be beating our chest about serving all the clients that we serve. For me, I think all of the clients, from the very first term policy to the more sophisticated uses of the product, serve a great and noble purpose. And everyone should have access to the risk protection element, whether it’s annuities or life insurance and the advice that comes with them. It starts with valuing the service and
value that we’re providing consumers and really taking the nobility of what it is that we’re doing seriously enough to say, “OK, this is a group of servant leaders, and we’ve got to be very, very clear about what is and is not acceptable.” I’ll give you a very specific example that we put in two years ago, and I’m embarrassed that we didn’t put it in 20 years ago. We instituted a code of conduct at our meeting. And we’re very clear with our team that this is a professional meeting, that we are professionals. We expect our members to be professional, and there’s a code of conduct. And I will tell you that just simply having that internal conversation made a big difference to the professionals on our team, both male and female, and makes it clear to the members we have a zero-tolerance policy as it relates to the fact this is not a social gathering or a fraternity that people are coming to. So, walking the walk as it relates to culture in the choices that we make is essential. In terms of inclusion, we have to respect different business models. The way I look at it is there are three, maybe four, different models where products and buys get delivered. You’ve got the brokerage community and independent distribution. You’ve got producer groups or that top advisor consortium, and the brokerage obviously is IMOs. You’ve got the career agency system. There are multilevel marketing firms that are having a lot of success. We have one high standard for all the professions where you have to serve clients well. But we’re agnostic as it relates to whether you’re in a career system in an agency or a producer group or an IMO or you’re a B-D owner or you’re in a multilevel marketing firm. Ultimately, all of these ways of delivering products and advice are valuable to the consumer. And I don’t think we as an industry have as much muscle memory as we need to really value the differences. I think we focus on the differences and why one is better than the other. But the valuing of the differences and bringing people together and recognizing the different communities that exist within distribution and the diversity by which we serve consumers, that’s really something that is desperately needed within the profession.
March 2020 » InsuranceNewsNet Magazine
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