Synergy--MDRT-Style

MDRT's top brass also pitched in. These execs–Rothschild, Immediate Past-President George Pickett, Executive Committee Secretary James Rogers and Executive Committee Second Vice President Philip Harriman–traveled worldwide to meet with new members, insurance carriers and industry organizations. In years past, said Chung, such outreach was the responsibility of the president alone.

To be sure, MDRT is not ignoring its home constituency, U.S. members, more than 3,100 of whom were present at this year's annual meeting. Last January, for example, the organization hosted Best Practices Forum 2005 in San Antonio, its first-ever for Court of the Table members. Guided by executive coaches, the two-day gathering included sessions on developing a strategic business plan, empowering staff, focusing and marketing the producer's business, plus presentation and selling skills.

"The response of the [attendees] was amazing," said Chung. "We plan to do the program again next year."

In addition to extending its geographic reach, MDRT is also broadening membership to permit aspiring members, beginning in 2006, to apply only commission/fee credit or only premium credit toward admission requirements.

Membership in the 2006 Round Table will be based on a minimum of $69,600 of eligible commissions paid or $139,200 eligible paid premium credited to the agent's account. A minimum of 50% of the 2006 production requirement ($34,800 commissions or $69,600 premium) must come from policies listed under Unlimited Credit.

"We can no longer allow commissions to be the leading tenet of MDRT's existence and to define who we are," said Rothschild. "We're about professionalism and caring about our clients. We've made a commitment to be more inclusive."

Rothschild emphasized, however, that MDRT is not compromising its admission standards. And, indeed, the organization has annually boosted the bar on commissions. Within the next 5 years, candidates will have to report $100,000 in commissions/fees or premiums credited to gain admission to the organization, he said.

MDRT also is investing more than $2 million in an IBM computer system that will allow the organization to share information more efficiently with members through a revamped Web site. When the IT solution is fully implemented later this year, it will bring online minutes of committee meetings, e-mail addresses of members, productivity-enhancing sales concepts and technical information. There will also be a search/find function.

Reflecting its international focus, the solution will also permit e-mail communication between MDRT staff and members in (at least initially) 5 foreign languages: Korean, Japanese, Chinese, English and Spanish.

"We have unbelievable intellectual property that we need to make more easily available," said Rothschild. "We also want to be more transparent in how we do things. The new computer system will facilitate these objectives."

Also a top priority in 2006: leveraging the combined resources of the 32,000-member organization to counteract negative publicity about the life insurance industry.

"We must step forward to communicate who we are to the world," declared Rothschild on the main platform. "This is our profession; it does not belong to the politicians, the regulators, the consumer advocates or the media critics to tell us what is wrong, and to instruct us how to run our profession when they can't even run their own."

The MDRT Foundation, the organization's philanthropic arm, is engaged in community-enhancing initiatives, many with a global focus.

At this year's meeting, Pickett announced the foundation had secured more than $500,000 for the MDRT Foundation Tsunami Disaster Relief Fund, which aims to provide assistance to the victims of the tsunami that devastated South Asia and eastern Africa in December 2004. The foundation contributed $50,000 to the fund in January; the balance was raised from MDRT members and non-members.

In total, the foundation provided $1.5 million in grants worldwide this past year. In recognition of its efforts, the foundation received a 2004 Associations Make a Better World Award from the American Society of Association Executives.

MDRT, Chung acknowledged, is not without challenges. High among these is the need to retain its focus as it grows.

"It's a challenge to stay relevant to members who hale from countries with widely varying cultures and are at different stages of development," said Chung.