WELCOME LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
On Being Undeniably Good
T
he video opens, showing a way, Mann isn’t to be seen. One can only glimpse of the lineup: Jeff speculate that he quietly unplugged his Lynne, Tom Petty, nonde- guitar, slunk off stage and threw his inscript white guy, nondescript strument into the dumpster out back. white guy, black guy in what That was Prince. It didn’t matter where appeared to be a purple suit and red hat. you put him, he was going to excel. When Was that Prince? It had to be, right? Who you think of the prospects of a short, else could that be? slight, African-American born in late But the viewer had only a split second be- 1950s Minnesota, rock god doesn’t come fore the next camera angle showed the stage to mind. Then again, that could be said of but eclipsed that person on the far right. After all, a lot of people were typically crowded on the stage of a Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame tribute performance. This one was 2004’s nod to the late George Harrison, who was inducted into the hall that year. As the group followed the paces That moment when you throw your respectfully through While My guitar over your head, confident that Guitar Gently Weeps, the camera the universe will catch it. cut to Marc Mann, a member of Lynne’s band, who performed a faithful another irrepressible Minnesotan, Robert rendition of Eric Clapton’s guitar lead. At Zimmerman. But he had to leave Minnetwo minutes and 10 seconds into the video, sota to become Bob Dylan. Prince stayed finally a camera angle showed that it was in the Minneapolis area. in fact Prince over there strumming along. Prince took the spotlight this month So, the group proceeded perfectly, in our annual feature of celebrity esploddingly, respectfully, until three min- tate-planning failures because he died at utes and 30 seconds when Prince stepped age 57 without a will. It was a notable exforward and took the final solo. And it’s ception to his lauded attention to detail. as if the solo took a psychedelic drug and In truth, it’s difficult imagining him sitting channeled Jimi Hendrix along with every- down to do estate planning. Especially bething that came after him into this sub- cause of the way some advisors approach lime few minutes that refined the mun- the subject, like a dentist with a drill. dane into the magnificent. A few advisors in the article appeal to He edged out to center stage, wowed something greater that certainly would have the band, fell back into the audience, spoken to Prince — the dream. We had an where someone caught him and pushed inkling that he was generous to young muhim back all while he still played. sicians, but we found out about his constant When he finished, he unbuckled his gifts to charity only after his death. guitar, threw it straight up over his head, But he could have given so much more. turned and walked away. People on the Because he didn’t do any planning, his esstage have since said they had no idea tate will be giving up 50 percent of its $200 where that thing went. million in federal and state estate tax. That is The performance is still dumbfounding an enormous pile of money that could have 12 years later. Prince did not rehearse the gone to what Prince valued. It is difficult to solo because Mann had taken all three so- imagine that he would not have wanted that. los in rehearsal, even though Prince was I interviewed an excellent group of adasked to do them. Prince wasn’t angry. He visors and attorneys for the article but simply told the producer that he would could use only a sliver of the wisdom they take the final solo and it would work out passed along. That story could have filled just fine. By the end of the video, by the the magazine. 10
InsuranceNewsNet Magazine » May 2017
One of them was Tom Fanning, who is the founder of an estate-planning insurance and financial services agency that serves multimillionaires and billionaires. How did he break into that market? He acted as though he was already there. Make no mistake. He did the work first. When Fanning was coming up in CIGNA, he was the only one out of 20 trainees to last three years. That was through knowing the stuff. But it was also due to scrappy resilience. When he ran into an objection that he couldn’t surmount, he didn’t slump over the phone. He asked senior people how they would have answered it and took what worked. He’s also a scrapper, going to toe to toe, challenge to challenge. But, hey, he’s a New Yorker. When dealing with other fast-talking type As who want things done right with a minimum of fuss, he makes it clear he’s their guy. That might not be everybody’s market, but the point is to mirror the client. These are people who feel like they’re a mark for everybody who sees them as a huge commission check. Trust is hard-won. Just like Prince, Fanning wants to achieve a level of excellence that appears to unfold in front of his audience effortlessly. It’s like one of the comedian Steve Martin’s best lines: Be so good they can’t ignore you. This was Martin’s full quote from a 2007 interview with Charlie Rose: “When people ask me, ‘How do you make it in show business?,’ I’ve said this many years and no one ever takes note of it because it’s not the answer they wanted to hear. What they want to hear is here’s how you get an agent, here’s how you write a script, here’s how you do this, here’s how you do that. What I always say is be so good they can’t ignore you. And if someone is thinking, ‘How can I be really good?,’ people are going to come to you. I think it’s much easier doing it that way than going to cocktail parties.” Steven A. Morelli Editor-In-Chief