Combat job outsourcing and off-shoring with education
Closer Look:
Insurance professionals must keep up their credentials and education if they want to combat outsourcing and off-shoring of insurance industry jobs, Don Hurzeler, Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters Society immediate past president, told members of the Suncoast Chapter of CPCU at a recent meeting in Tampa, Florida.
Hurzeler advised his audience to read the book, “The World is Flat,” by Thomas Friedman. “This is the greatest book I’ve ever read about what is ahead for us in the U.S. and our society and what it means for the insurance industry.”
In this book, Friedman writes about outsourcing and off-shoring jobs.
Hurzeler said he also had the opportunity to listen to CNN anchorman Lou Dobbs, who also has a lot to say on outsourcing and off-shoring of jobs. Dobbs was the keynote speaker at last year’s CPCU annual meeting and seminar in Atlanta. He has written a book on the subject entitled, “Exporting America.”
Could affect jobs
“Whether you feel that outsourcing and off-shoring are good for our economy or bad for itit is a force at work in our economyand it could affect your job” Hurzeler maintained. “In fact, insurance jobs are being outsourced and off-shored on a regular basis. Royal Sun Alliance announced last year that they would send about 1,000 jobs to India. Allstate has moved some jobs from the U.S. to Northern Ireland. It is going on all the time.”
Education the answer
So what can be done about it? Hurzeler says insurance professionals should listen to Friedman. “JFK wanted a man on the moon by the end of the decade. I want every American man and woman on a college campus by the end of the week,” writes Friendman.
“Our best chance to inoculate ourselvesto insulate ourselves from having our livelihood outsourced is to educate ourselves better than the competition. Education will win the day,” Hurzeler said.
Friedman and Dobbs are not the only ones writing books. Hurzeler himself wrote “Designated For Success,” all about insurance careers. A central theme is that it is up to individuals to make their own dreams come true.
Hurzeler has experience in this area, a bout of cancer having nearly stopped him from realizing his own dreams. He shared some of the lessons he learned from the experience.
Follow dreams
“Don’t put off your dreams for some time in the future when you think you will have more time. You don’t get to choose how much time you have left. It could be ‘game over’ tomorrow. Figure out what you really want to accomplish in your life and get after those dreamsnow.”
One of Hurzeler’s dreams was to write a book. When he finally made a commitment to write the book, he says it only took him six days complete the first draft. “Which of your dreams are you really only six days away from accomplishing?” he asked his audeince.
Hurzeler concluded his remarks with a challenge. “What is it that you are putting off for retirement, or putting off until next year when you think you will have more time, or putting off so you can help your wife or husband or kids do something? What is it that you wanted to do since you were a kid that you just haven’t gotten after?
“I wonder how many of those dreams you could have come true with only six days of concentrated work?
“How much of a great start you could have on making a dream come true with just a few days work?
“You only get one life to live and you don’t know when that finish line is coming your way. Quit putting those dreams off. It is your turn to make your dreams come true.”
Another of Hurzeler’s dreams is for people to visit www.cpcusociety.org and purchase his book “Designated for Success.” One hundred percent of the proceeds go to the CPCU Society.