I live in a blue state with a red governor. You've probably heard of him. The country has many different labels for him, everything from bully to good presidential candidate.
After watching him in an interview the morning after the election, it became very clear that there is one label he could never wear: Fake. This could very well be the reason he has been so successful, despite how different he appears next to the typical refined, slim, chiseled, media-trained, hand gesture-conscious politicians who are sometimes hard to tell apart.
In fact, when the interviewer brought up the viral video of him telling a protester to "sit down and shut up," he didn't apologize or say it was not the right thing to do. He further explained that he was coming from a place of consideration for the rest of the crowd.
He noted that his commitment to being himself comes from a childhood lesson from his mother. She said, "always be yourself, so that the next day, you don't have to remember who you were trying to be the day before." Good lesson, Mrs. Christie. What can the insurance industry learn from that?
There is a label for this characteristic: Authenticity. Unfortunately, the insurance industry is lacking in this area. We may know this intuitively but I believe we sometimes mistake it for some other problem, like stodginess, boring-"ness," or conservatism.
While these issues contribute, the heart of the matter is that many insurance companies have forgotten how to "be themselves" and instead aspire to be more like someone else. Or worse, they don't know who they really are.
Another way we know that authenticity is lacking is through a study done by LIMRA and Maddock Douglas, Inc., the report identifying the six elements that comprise authentic communication and how they relate to the customer experience. The elements include things like being easy to understand, being memorable and being down to earth.
