Building Effective Leadership Skills

1. Building Effective Leadership Skills Creating Your Own Leadership Legacy 2007 CANE Spring Meeting Dan HoganVice President, Personal and Small Business InsuranceThe Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.

2. Background/Overview • The rate of change in the insurance industry is accelerating, and the lengths of decision and marketplace cycles are shrinking. • Effective leadership skills are needed more than ever to stay ahead of the competition. • Through the examples of five leadership legends, you will hear ideas and strategies that you can incorporate into your personal leadership style to help drive winning results in your organization. Historically, the training of actuaries has underserved the leadership component. Using effective leadership skills can help actuaries be more impactful, and better influence the businesses they support.

3. The essence of leadership is service to others • On a basic level, as a leader, you exist to: • Inspire others to strive for excellence • Ensure the work environment is safe, challenging, and fair • Teach, mentor, provide guidance • True leaders put the welfare of the group ahead of their own self-interest • “Selfless” does not mean “hands-off” • Great leaders enhance institutional capability by driving the actions of others to achieve greatness Leadership is all about helping others to succeed.

4. The perceived complexity of leadership arises from its seemingly overwhelming number of duties • Create and establish strategies • Ensure effectiveness and efficiency • Communicate openly and often • Build solid relationships • Act with integrity and fairness • Provide counsel and direction • Exert influence in the absence of ownership • Foster collaboration • Motivate, coach and develop others • Produce results, meet objectives and exceed goals How can a leader avoid being overwhelmed by this complexity?

5. There is no standardized approach to effective leadership Your effectiveness as a leader is directly proportional to how well the key qualities you focus on align with your values and your personality My five qualities of a great leader are: Maintains and demonstrates strong convictions Develops and communicates a clear, winning vision Creates a high performance culture Convinces rather than controls Continually learns Focusing on a few key qualities and incorporating them into every action simplifies the act of leading others, and increases leadership effectiveness

6. Maintain and Demonstrate Strong ConvictionsLeadership Profile: Joan of Arc

7. Integrity Lead by example Personal accountability Strive for excellence “Play for your paycheck” “Bring your ‘A’ game every day” “Average is defined as the best of the worst, or the worst of the best” Maintaining and demonstrating strong convictions gives leaders their credibility

8. Develop and Communicate a Clear, Winning VisionLeadership Profile: Martin Luther King, Jr.

9. Establish and articulate a clear vision of the future for your business to inspire commitment from others: Should be “stretch,” but not “folly” Include measurable indicators of progress and success Develop compelling long-term business strategies to achieve the vision: Built with a strong understanding of the external environment Takes into account perspectives and capabilities of your organization and those with which it interacts Ensure broad strategies are translated into clear and effective operating plans and tactical initiatives A clear, compelling, winning vision is the cornerstone of building organizational success

10. Create a High Performance CultureLeadership Profile: Herbert D. Kelleher, Southwest Airlines

11. Build your team to win! Assess, then stretch/challenge top players Seek to Redeploy, Rehabilitate, or, if needed, Remove underperformers Hire winners Execute aggressive performance management as part of your overall talent management strategy Set clear performance objectives and expectations Monitor and document performance; reward success, and hold people accountable for poor performance Provide direct, helpful feedback Take corrective action when necessary Pay for performance, pay for potential Drive a culture of open and fast communication to support rapid response to changing business conditions Build inclusion, leverage diversity Continually raise the bar – don’t get complacent A High Performing Culture engages, challenges, and fully leverages employees, which promotes innovation and continuous improvement

12. Convince Rather Than ControlLeadership Profile: William Wallace - “Braveheart”

13. Any leader can get work done by barking orders…

14. Clearly articulate your point of view and persuade employees to accept your proposal and/or recommendation Project self-confidence without arrogance Develop effective and constructive strategies for influencing important decisions, sometimes shifting the organization’s direction or way of looking at things Use high-impact, efficient communication vehicles to get your points across …But the enlightened leader convinces people to engage in the right behaviors, gains buy-in, and gives them choices while influencing them to perform at a high level

15. Continuous LearningLeadership Profile: Jack Welch

16. Regularly conduct an honest self-assessment Initiate efforts to develop skills that will enhance performance in current role and/or accelerate readiness for future roles Take full advantage of available learning and development programs, e.g., executive development programs, courses, professional certifications Solicit feedback and guidance from mentors or coaches, then genuinely listen to feedback and apply learnings Seek challenges that provide opportunities for on-the-job development of critical knowledge and skills Ask questions to learn from others with different knowledge, experience or perspective The Profession of Leadership requires continuous learning, just like Actuarial

17. The essence of leadership is service to others Don’t be overwhelmed by the seemingly endless number of tasks and obligations leadership requires Rather, focus on a few core attributes as you practice the profession of leadership, like these: Have strong convictions Develop and communicate a clear, winning vision Create a high performance culture Convince rather than control Be a continuous learner Summary What qualities of a great leader would you add to this list?

18. Your role as a leader is more critical than ever Identify a take-away to work on towards building more effective leadership skills What will be your leadership legacy? Some Final Thoughts

19. Open Discussion