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Speaker 1: This is Mesters in Business with very Renaults on Bluebird Radio.

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Speaker 1: This week on the podcast, once again, I have an

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Speaker 1: extra special guest, John Schlifsky. He is the chairman and

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Speaker 1: CEO of Northwestern Mutual, the insurance giant that's in the

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Speaker 1: top one hundred on the Fortune five hundred list. Uh.

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Speaker 1: They have over thirty one billion dollars in annual revenues,

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Speaker 1: two trillion plus in life insurance products, and about two

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Speaker 1: hundred billion dollars in investable client assets. Uh. This really

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Speaker 1: is a fascinating conversation, not just about the insurance industry,

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Speaker 1: but about how the entire financial services industry has changed

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Speaker 1: over time, how it's become more integrated, more holistic. How

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Speaker 1: the concept of, you know, the insurance salesman out hawking

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Speaker 1: policies is so outdated. Uh. John is really super knowledgeable

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Speaker 1: about a variety of things within the industry. Northwestern has

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Speaker 1: been very aggressive in not only their own internal green initiatives,

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Speaker 1: but they're diversity initiatives. You tend to think of a

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Speaker 1: company like them as a large, staid insurance company that

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Speaker 1: might be a little behind the times. They are nothing

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Speaker 1: of the sort. They seem to be fairly cutting edge

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Speaker 1: relative to the typical financial services firm. I was fascinated

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Speaker 1: by the conversation. I find Schlisky to be really a

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Speaker 1: fascinating executive, and I think you will also, so, with

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Speaker 1: no further ado, my interview with Northwestern Mutual's chairman and CEO,

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Speaker 1: John Schlifsky. This is Mesters in Business with very Renaults

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Speaker 1: on Bluebird Radio. My extra special guest this week is

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Speaker 1: John Schlivsky. He is the chairman and CEO of insurance

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Speaker 1: giant Northwestern Mutual. The firm ranks number one oh two

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Speaker 1: on the Fortune five hundred. They have over thirty one

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Speaker 1: billion dollars in annual revenue. Northwestern has three hundred and

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Speaker 1: nine billion dollars in assets and two trillion dollars in

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Speaker 1: active life insurance coverage. John Schlifsky, Welcome to Bloomberg. Well, thanks, Verry.

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Speaker 1: I'm glad to be here, appreciate it. So let's start

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Speaker 1: out talking about some of your beginnings. I read one

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Speaker 1: of your first jobs was scraping paint off of trucks.

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Speaker 1: To tell us about that, well, my, uh, yeah, My

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Speaker 1: father owned a very small trucking company in Milwaukee, and

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Speaker 1: so when I was thirteen I had to start working

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Speaker 1: there and I basically did all the jobs none of

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Speaker 1: the professional truck drivers wanted to do, including things like

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Speaker 1: cleaning bathrooms and cleaning trucks and scraping paint off of

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Speaker 1: things and stuff like that. So it was I think

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Speaker 1: it was my dad's way of uh making me want

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Speaker 1: to go to college because I was you know, it

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Speaker 1: was a lot of gritty and grimy work and uh

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Speaker 1: um in a family business environment. So it was a

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Speaker 1: great experience. Uh And and it certainly taught me the

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Speaker 1: value of an education, I'll tell you that. So, speaking

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Speaker 1: of education, you go to college, you get an m

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Speaker 1: b A. And it looks like pretty much right out

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Speaker 1: of school, you started at Northwestern Mutual and eight seven

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Speaker 1: was Was that your first job right out of school? No,

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Speaker 1: my first job was with MetLife doing similar things. Uh.

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Speaker 1: So I graduated from business school and went to MetLife

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Speaker 1: for four years, both in Chicago and in New York

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Speaker 1: and uh and then I got recruited to go to

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Speaker 1: Northwestern Mutual, which is in my hometown of Milwaukee. So

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Speaker 1: it seemed like a kind of a dream come true

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Speaker 1: for me, and so I started. Yes. So then I

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Speaker 1: did go to Northwestern much and that was thirty four

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Speaker 1: years ago. I can't believe it. UM, back in seven,

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Speaker 1: that's right, Did you always want a career in financial services? Was?

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Speaker 1: Was that the plan? What I really wanted to do

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Speaker 1: was be in the investment world. I had. I had

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Speaker 1: had a couple of summer jobs in banks, and I

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Speaker 1: saw their asset management uh stuff. And when I was

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Speaker 1: in business school at Kellogg at Northwestern, Warren Buffett was

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Speaker 1: speaking in Chicago, and you know, it was for young

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Speaker 1: and investment people, and he said, if you really wanted

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Speaker 1: a great investment care you should work for a life

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Speaker 1: insurance company because they have great processes. They're typically buy

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Speaker 1: and hold investors, very analytical in nature, uh, exposure to

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Speaker 1: the the entire balance sheet, from bonds through equities, all

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Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. And so I you know, I

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Speaker 1: think that made a huge impact on me. And so

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Speaker 1: as I was interviewing at business schools UM, I became

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Speaker 1: increasingly interested in the investment side of financial services. So

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Speaker 1: U looked at some investment banks, looked at money management

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Speaker 1: firms on Wall Street and things like that. And I think,

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Speaker 1: given my experience, and I was relatively young when I

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Speaker 1: got that business school, I think the life insurance jobs

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Speaker 1: were just perfect for me because it was a place

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Speaker 1: where I could, uh, you know, build my skills and

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Speaker 1: start out really at the bottom as a junior analyst.

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Speaker 1: And uh um, and I really loved managing money. I

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Speaker 1: just I love the game. I love the you know,

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Speaker 1: the game in the sense of trying to figure stuff

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Speaker 1: out that other people hadn't. And so I was I

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Speaker 1: think I was always attracted to that sort of analytical framework,

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Speaker 1: and that's why I went to MetLife and then ultimately

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Speaker 1: Northwestern Mutual. So I read an interesting quote from you,

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Speaker 1: and I want to get your feedback on this quote.

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Speaker 1: What had the biggest impact was the recession of nineteen

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Speaker 1: seventy three and seventy four. I watched my dad be

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Speaker 1: worried about at that point about even meeting payroll. I

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Speaker 1: saw the volatility of being a small business owner, and

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Speaker 1: that drew me to want to work for a big

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Speaker 1: company for security reasons. Explain the thinking that well, uh yes, So,

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Speaker 1: as I mentioned, my dad had the small trucking company

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Speaker 1: maybe at its peak had had thirty employees. Uh and

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Speaker 1: I and I was fourteen and fifteen during the recession

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Speaker 1: of seventy three and seventy four, and I didn't really

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Speaker 1: understand it the way I do now. But I do

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Speaker 1: remember him coming home and you know, hearing him talk

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Speaker 1: to my mom about making payroll for his employees and

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Speaker 1: having to draw in his own savings accounts a couple

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Speaker 1: of times to feed the check account at work. And

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Speaker 1: I remember one week where he said he made twenty

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Speaker 1: two cents. Uh, you know, that was what's left over

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Speaker 1: after he paid all the employees. And and I it

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Speaker 1: just scared me, I think. And I just saw that

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Speaker 1: that pressure and that volatility, and uh uh. And then I,

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Speaker 1: as I mentioned, I had a summer. I worked in

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Speaker 1: a mail room at a bank one summer. So imagine

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Speaker 1: you go from this grimy, gritty trucking company where you

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Speaker 1: never know where the next paychecks coming from, to a

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Speaker 1: bank where every he's clean and showered and well dressed.

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Speaker 1: And I think that had a tremendous impact on me.

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Speaker 1: And then you had the security of it, which is

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Speaker 1: the bank seemed to be much less impervious to the

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Speaker 1: economic volatility, at least to someone working in the mail

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Speaker 1: room at the time. I'm sure they had their challenges. Uh.

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Speaker 1: And so I just uh, I just never wanted to

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Speaker 1: work for a small company and I never wanted to

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Speaker 1: to run my own business. I always wanted to work

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Speaker 1: in a big company. And I think that that notion

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Speaker 1: of security was a key element in it makes a

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Speaker 1: lot of sense. So from MetLife you end up at

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Speaker 1: Northwestern Mutual, where you start working your way up the ladder.

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Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit about your career path. Well,

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Speaker 1: as I said, I started out in what we call

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Speaker 1: our private capital area, so that was doing private placements

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Speaker 1: of so privately placed debt, privately placed equity, leveraged buyout.

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Speaker 1: The eighties where the leveraged buy out you know, Glory days,

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Speaker 1: and Northwestern Mutual was was a huge participant in it.

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Speaker 1: So it was it was a fun experience because we

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Speaker 1: were we were looking at so many different companies, so

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Speaker 1: many different industries, so many different kinds of capital structures,

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Speaker 1: and I was learning so much um So we had

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Speaker 1: that growth in the company and then I was I

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Speaker 1: was growing as a as a professional. And one of

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Speaker 1: the things I've always appreciated about Northwestern Mutual, and I

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Speaker 1: think it's still true to this day, it was a

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Speaker 1: true meritocracy, and and by that I mean that I

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Speaker 1: always thought the people who got promoted, including me obviously Uh,

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Speaker 1: we're being rewarded for what we did, what we knew,

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Speaker 1: how we were growing. And I never felt it was

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Speaker 1: there was a club. I never thought connections were the

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Speaker 1: way to the top. I always thought it was doing

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Speaker 1: the right thing and being rewarded for it. So I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, over my over, you know, it's your growing

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Speaker 1: up in your twenties and thirties and forties. Every now

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Speaker 1: and then head hunters would call. But I always wanted

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Speaker 1: to stay at Northwestern Mutual really for two reasons. One,

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Speaker 1: I love the culture, I love the what the company

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Speaker 1: stood for. And then the second, as I mentioned, I

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Speaker 1: always felt it was a true meritocracy where you were

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Speaker 1: rewarded for what you did. And I think, ultimately, if

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Speaker 1: you had told me I'd be still here, I don't

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Speaker 1: think I would have believed you. But when you start

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Speaker 1: stringing together year after year of this feeling about good

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Speaker 1: about the company, it's culture and its mission, and good

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Speaker 1: about your career and your bosses and the way you're treated, um,

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Speaker 1: I just think that growth was amazing. And so here

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Speaker 1: I am twenty at whatever it is, thirty four years later,

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Speaker 1: one feeling really privileged to have been able to make

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Speaker 1: most of my career at this great company. Sound sounds

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Speaker 1: really interesting. And you've been CEO for is it what

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Speaker 1: seven eight years already? It's even you can believe it. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's a shocking that's a shocking number. So, speaking of

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Speaker 1: how quickly time goes by, Northwestern Mutual has a hundred

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Speaker 1: and fifty year old history. How does that affect how

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Speaker 1: you manage the firm? What does that legacy mean to you? Well,

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Speaker 1: I I would start up with the notion that it's

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Speaker 1: uh both an honor and a responsibility. So it's sort

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Speaker 1: of like take your favorite sports team, the Packers, the Yankees,

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Speaker 1: you know, whatever team has this unbelievable legacy when when

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Speaker 1: you're running the place, you can't lose sight of not

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Speaker 1: just what a great job it is, but the huge

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Speaker 1: responsibility that goes along with it, and this notion that

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Speaker 1: we've been around for generations, we've taken care of people

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Speaker 1: for generations, and that we have to do that for

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Speaker 1: years and years to come. I say, I always like

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Speaker 1: to tell the story. So we're a mutual company. That

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Speaker 1: means we're owned by our policy owners, were not a

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Speaker 1: stock company, and we don't really have an end date.

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Speaker 1: There's no there's no notion that at some point this

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Speaker 1: company will get sold to somebody else or that uh there,

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Speaker 1: you know, we need to find a different ownership structure

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Speaker 1: or anything like that. We we are in business uh

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Speaker 1: for past generations, are current customers, and generations yet to come,

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Speaker 1: even people who aren't even born yet. Uh. There's a

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Speaker 1: sense of responsibility to take can care of that. And UM,

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Speaker 1: I think that's one of the things I love about

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Speaker 1: this job that as the CEO, you can think in

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Speaker 1: three different time directions. We obviously have to deliver and

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Speaker 1: I call them near now in far so we have

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Speaker 1: to deliver near. We have to we have to do

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Speaker 1: what's required today to deliver uh or excuse me, that's

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Speaker 1: the now, to deliver value to our policy owners today.

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Speaker 1: But we also have to be effective and relevant both

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Speaker 1: in the near term, let's say two to four years

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Speaker 1: out and in the far years out. We're selling products

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Speaker 1: today in which people will own them for sixty, seventy

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Speaker 1: eighty years, and so that that notion of working over decades,

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Speaker 1: creating relevance over decades, creating economic value over decades, evolving

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Speaker 1: over decades is really one of the sort of legacies

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Speaker 1: that goes with running a company that's over a hundred

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Speaker 1: and sixty years old. And if you look at this company,

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Speaker 1: we started as a life insurance company that we're now

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Speaker 1: number one in the in terms of market share in

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Speaker 1: the country. And you mentioned we have over two trillion

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Speaker 1: of life insurance in force. But we've evolved. We now

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Speaker 1: sell a variety of risk products including disability, income, annuities,

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Speaker 1: long term care. But we also are a major wealth

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Speaker 1: management player. We have over two hundred close to twounter

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Speaker 1: million excuse me billion dollars of assets under management for

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Speaker 1: our wealth management clients. We're growing, uh swiftly in that business.

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Speaker 1: We're integrating insurance and investments at our at the client

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Speaker 1: level to create better outcomes. And those are all proof

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Speaker 1: points I think around how this company has evolved and

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Speaker 1: how is the leader. You feel this tremendous responsibility to

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Speaker 1: steward the company for the next generation of employees, policy owners,

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Speaker 1: and people who sell our products, which we call our field.

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Speaker 1: They all have a long term stake in the in

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Speaker 1: the value of this enterprise. So John, let's talk a

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Speaker 1: little bit about change. You were discussing how the company

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Speaker 1: has adapted over the past few decades. How have the

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Speaker 1: economics of life insurance changed over time. Well, the economics

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Speaker 1: have u changed in a material way, and it's it's

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Speaker 1: really UH tied to what's going on in the marketplace.

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Speaker 1: In the marketplace, UM, the fundamentals that create value for

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Speaker 1: our policy owners haven't changed. It's how well the investment

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Speaker 1: portfolio performs, It's what's your mortality experience, It's how persistent

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Speaker 1: of the policies, how long do the policy owners keep

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Speaker 1: their policies, and then ultimately can you manage the expenses

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Speaker 1: of the business and be a low cost providers. So

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Speaker 1: those things haven't changed in their the core to creating

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Speaker 1: value for our policy owners who happened to be our

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Speaker 1: customers at the same time. But what's really been I

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Speaker 1: would say the most dramatic in the last let's say

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Speaker 1: fifteen years or so is the role of interest rates UM.

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Speaker 1: They obviously have a huge impact on pricing. When interest

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Speaker 1: rates go down, the the cost of life insurance goes up,

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Speaker 1: not necessarily the premium per se, but for permanent life insurance.

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Speaker 1: A huge component of the value is the cash value

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Speaker 1: that builds over time, and when UH interest rates are low,

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Speaker 1: that cash value builds at a much slower rate. And

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Speaker 1: so that's what I mean when I say it becomes

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Speaker 1: more costly. So with rates coming down in the dramatic

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Speaker 1: way they have really over the last fifteen years, that's

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Speaker 1: had a very important, UH sort of headwind on the

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Speaker 1: value of life insurance. And so if you think about

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Speaker 1: it this way, UM, you know, policies issued in in

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Speaker 1: the mid nineties had interest rates in the eight percent

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Speaker 1: range UH, and now we're in a period where interest

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Speaker 1: rates are down around three pc. So that that's a

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Speaker 1: huge difference in terms of the value that's created in

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Speaker 1: these policies over time. The good news is from Northwestern

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Speaker 1: Mutual's perspective that we we really have recognized this and

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Speaker 1: have stayed ahead of the curve. I remember going to

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Speaker 1: Japan in the late UM two thousand's, right around two

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Speaker 1: thousand and eight two thousand nine, and I visited with

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Speaker 1: a number of Japanese life insurance companies at the time,

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Speaker 1: and they, of course have been going through this same

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Speaker 1: sort of decline in interest rates for the past couple

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Speaker 1: of decades in Japan and UH. I think that the

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Speaker 1: two takeaways I had there were one, it never stops,

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Speaker 1: and you have to be prepared for a very long

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Speaker 1: period of low interest rates and you have to get

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Speaker 1: your financial house in order, which we've done. And the

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Speaker 1: second is you have to continue to evolve. You have

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Speaker 1: to continue to show value to your policy owners because

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Speaker 1: what may have been the key value, which is higher

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Speaker 1: interest rates, goes away. And so I'm really proud of

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Speaker 1: the way Northwestern Mutual has navigated this period. But ultimately, uh,

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Speaker 1: it's low rates that have been the biggest headwind on

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Speaker 1: the company, and they've had the single biggest impact on

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Speaker 1: the economics of our industry. Huh. Really interesting you mentioned

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Speaker 1: mortality as another after. There are two issues I have

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Speaker 1: to ask about. One is the impact of people living longer.

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Speaker 1: In general, we we've tend to see lifespans extent, but

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Speaker 1: at the same time, you know, we've had over half

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Speaker 1: a million COVID related deaths. How do those two factors

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Speaker 1: play into the economics of the insurance business? So, uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, the increased longevity of Americans over the last

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Speaker 1: century has been a huge positive for the life insurance industry,

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Speaker 1: and mortality continues to improve, although not at the same

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Speaker 1: pace it did let's say, in the twenties and thirties.

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Speaker 1: But in general, Americans tend to be living longer, living

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Speaker 1: healthier lives, and that has a huge benefit to the

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Speaker 1: value of their policies obviously. And uh, and that's one

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Speaker 1: of the and one of the reasons Northwestern Mutual stands

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Speaker 1: out is that our mortality experience is actually better than

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Speaker 1: the the industry average. We underwrite very well, and so

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Speaker 1: all of that mortality improvement really is returned to our customers,

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Speaker 1: our policy owners in the form of dividends. We paid

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Speaker 1: out over six point two billion dollars in dividends in

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Speaker 1: twenty and and that's a huge proofpoint on the the

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Speaker 1: economic value that we create. Immortality is a huge component

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Speaker 1: of it. COVID, of course, is a tragedy for this country.

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Speaker 1: UM and UH, you know, it's obviously many many, many

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Speaker 1: hundreds of thousands of deaths due to COVID. What we

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Speaker 1: found for our our company is that the average age

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Speaker 1: of our COVID claims has been around one years old,

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Speaker 1: and the average duration of those policies is over forty years.

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Speaker 1: So what's what that's telling us is it, by a

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Speaker 1: large at least for Northwestern Mutual's policy owner base, Uh,

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Speaker 1: the COVID impact has been relatively negligible. These are obviously

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Speaker 1: much older people who have had these policies and forced

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Speaker 1: for a long period of time. And if you look

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Speaker 1: at sort of the difference, but you know, just in

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Speaker 1: terms of death rates with COVID and who's dying versus

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Speaker 1: let's say the Spanish flew back in the areas, it

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Speaker 1: tends to negatively impact much older people rather than much

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Speaker 1: younger people. And so that's that's muted the mortality cost,

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Speaker 1: let's say, at the mortality expense of COVID as it

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Speaker 1: relates to our policy owner base, and so as as

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Speaker 1: we've told our board, uh, you know, we're in business

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Speaker 1: to pay claims. We pay death claims because people need

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Speaker 1: that their families needed, their loved ones needed, and we're

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Speaker 1: proud to pay out our COVID claims. But at the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, uh, it's been something that hasn't

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Speaker 1: been nearly as bad from a financial perspective as many

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Speaker 1: people thought a year ago today. So you had mentioned

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Speaker 1: other forms of insurance like disability and long term care.

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Speaker 1: I know a number of other carriers have run into

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Speaker 1: some problems with that. What seems to be the difficulties

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Speaker 1: with those products is it is it they're just harder

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Speaker 1: to ice or did they simply underwrite the wrong group

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Speaker 1: of people. There's no doubt that some products in the

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Speaker 1: insurance world are harder than to price than others. Uh.

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Speaker 1: You know, if you think about insurance in general, you've

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Speaker 1: got a group of people paying premiums upfront uh and

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Speaker 1: then collectively they're sharing in the risk of loss. Um.

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Speaker 1: And when it comes to long term care, there's a

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Speaker 1: number of assumptions that were really um I think miss price.

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Speaker 1: From an industry perspective, I'm glad to say Northwestern Mutual

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Speaker 1: didn't fall into that trap. Um. But without getting too esoteric,

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Speaker 1: the single biggest mistake that many companies made with pricing

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Speaker 1: long term care was what's called laps rate. And so

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Speaker 1: this is the percent of the policies which laps in

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Speaker 1: which people stopped paying premiums on. And many long term

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Speaker 1: care products were basically laps supported pricing. In other words,

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Speaker 1: they overestimated how many people would pay premiums for a

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Speaker 1: while and then let the product laps before any benefits

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Speaker 1: were ever paid on it. And what the industry found

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Speaker 1: out is that long term care is in fact a

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Speaker 1: product that once people have, they don't want to give

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Speaker 1: up because they know how near and dear it is

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Speaker 1: to their financial security. And so, yes, the industry had

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Speaker 1: some rather significant UM mistakes when it comes to pricing

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Speaker 1: that product. I'm proud to say that, UH Northwestern Mutual

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Speaker 1: has been sort of much more UM conservative with our

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Speaker 1: pricing we have. We don't do lap supported pricing in

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Speaker 1: the long term care market, and as a result, we've

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Speaker 1: had much better experience with our products. I do think

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Speaker 1: long term care is an example of a product that

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Speaker 1: is uh, what's the way to say it. It's it's

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Speaker 1: people need that product. It's really really important for the uh,

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Speaker 1: let's call it the average American to think about, um,

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Speaker 1: how they take care of their long term expenses post retirement.

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Speaker 1: And I always use the example people have no problem

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Speaker 1: ensuring their home even in retirement after the mortgages paid,

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Speaker 1: because they can't imagine losing a physical asset to a

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Speaker 1: fire or something like that. And yet the odds of

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Speaker 1: making a claim on long term care and much higher

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Speaker 1: than the odds of your house burning down in retirement.

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Speaker 1: And yet people don't assume that that risk is something

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Speaker 1: they should insure against. And so long term care insurance

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Speaker 1: is a nest. I think it's a necessary product. I'm

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Speaker 1: proud to see the way the industry has been evolving

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Speaker 1: to find new ways to deliver long term care protection

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Speaker 1: to our policy owners, including Northwestern Mutual increasing now long

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Speaker 1: term care insurance and the risks of it are being

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Speaker 1: embedded in life insurance products so that you you basically

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Speaker 1: have a combination of both the mortality risk insurance as

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Speaker 1: well as a long term care risk insurance. And I

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Speaker 1: think that's really important because at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: one of the biggest concerns people have is running out

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Speaker 1: of money in retirement, and long term care is one

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Speaker 1: of those events that can completely throw your financial plans

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Speaker 1: for a loop and and create you know, unfore unfoecasted expenses,

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Speaker 1: especially around things like Alzheimer's, memory issues and so on.

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Speaker 1: And so for our industry to uh begin to come

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Speaker 1: out with these hybrid products rather than just stand alone

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Speaker 1: products that can create sort of these outcomes that people

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Speaker 1: need is something that I think the entire industry should

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Speaker 1: be be very proud of. The Other factor about these

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Speaker 1: combo products that's interesting is it's they're less likely to

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Speaker 1: be mispriced the way standalone products are because the combination

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Speaker 1: of your premiums over long term with the accumulation of

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Speaker 1: cash values and a traditional permanent policy more than offset

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Speaker 1: some of the risk that goes with long term care.

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Speaker 1: And so I think you're going to see long term

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Speaker 1: care insurance continue to be at the forefront of what

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Speaker 1: people need for financial security and uh, but just not

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Speaker 1: in a standalone chassis so to speak. You mentioned where

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Speaker 1: under ensured when it comes to products like long term

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Speaker 1: care and what else are we as a nation under

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Speaker 1: in short against what risks are out there? I would

401
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Speaker 1: say that most Americans, and I'm generalizing, but I you know,

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Speaker 1: I think this is generally true, are are underinsured when

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Speaker 1: it comes to both in additional long term care. They're

404
00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:24,600
Speaker 1: under insure when it comes to both life insurance and

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Speaker 1: to disability insurance. UM. And we find that when our

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Speaker 1: reps sit down with clients and go through a rigorous

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Speaker 1: planning process, especially people who have loved ones, that they

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Speaker 1: need to take care of the notion. Uh. They often

409
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Speaker 1: have a notion that I've got a group d I

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Speaker 1: policy or group life insurance policy and that takes care

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Speaker 1: of me. And yet when they see what could happen

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Speaker 1: if they would become disabled, especially in their twenties or

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Speaker 1: thirties or forties with you know, twenty or thirty years

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Speaker 1: of earnings, uh potential out the door or worse, a

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Speaker 1: death um they find they're very much underinsured. You know,

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Speaker 1: the problem we have as a as a industry is

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Speaker 1: that everybody needs what we have, but nobody understands how

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Speaker 1: much they need. And it's it's a it is typically

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Speaker 1: all three of the products we're talking about, life, insurance, disability,

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Speaker 1: income and long term care. Our products that are bought

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Speaker 1: are not bought but sold. And by that I mean

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Speaker 1: people don't wake up in the morning for the most

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Speaker 1: part try to figure out how much of any of

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Speaker 1: those they need and go out and buy it the

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Speaker 1: way you get up and say I want to buy

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Speaker 1: a car, I want to buy a refrigerator, I want

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Speaker 1: to buy a vacation for my family. And so it

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Speaker 1: is important that financial advisors understand these products that they

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Speaker 1: can show the value of them to their clients. And

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Speaker 1: typically when that's done, especially not in a product sale

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Speaker 1: kind of way, but as part of a comprehensive plan,

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Speaker 1: we're we're always pleased to see that people, for the

433
00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:53,960
Speaker 1: most part, do want to buy more because most people

434
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:55,639
Speaker 1: do want to take care of their loved ones and

435
00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:58,880
Speaker 1: plan for these unexpected events. And this is why, as

436
00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:02,120
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, this ocean of integrating insurance and investments

437
00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:04,920
Speaker 1: together is a is a we think a much better

438
00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:07,640
Speaker 1: way to create outcomes for our clients that are valuable,

439
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:10,760
Speaker 1: rather than just engaging in sort of one off products sales.

440
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:15,400
Speaker 1: So let's talk a little bit about what makes life

441
00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:19,639
Speaker 1: insurance somewhat unique in the world of financial services. It

442
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:23,400
Speaker 1: seems to be the only one that hasn't been disrupted

443
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:29,680
Speaker 1: by technology, as so many other industries, especially finance, has been.

444
00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:34,240
Speaker 1: Why is that, Well, I think there's a short answer

445
00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,399
Speaker 1: and a long answer. The main reason, sort of in

446
00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:40,720
Speaker 1: the short run, why life insurance you haven't seen the

447
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:43,760
Speaker 1: disruption in life insurance that you've seen in other financial

448
00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:46,479
Speaker 1: services companies, I think is because it's a very capital

449
00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:51,440
Speaker 1: intensive business. And so for companies you know, either startup

450
00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:54,959
Speaker 1: fintech startups or even established players like Amazon or whatever,

451
00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:58,600
Speaker 1: to get into it, it's it's a very capital intensive business.

452
00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:01,720
Speaker 1: It requires a ton of money from a capital perspective,

453
00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:04,000
Speaker 1: and because rates are low right now, the return on

454
00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:07,840
Speaker 1: that capital is much I think less attractive to many

455
00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:11,760
Speaker 1: uh disruptors. Let's call it that then maybe other places

456
00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:13,960
Speaker 1: they could go right now. So that's the short answer.

457
00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:17,879
Speaker 1: I don't think that's um a reason not to be

458
00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:20,800
Speaker 1: worried about disruption, and I'll talk about that in a minute.

459
00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:24,520
Speaker 1: But I think there's um a lot of disruption coming

460
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:26,919
Speaker 1: our way. But I think in the long run, we

461
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:30,920
Speaker 1: really have been positively changed by technology, and I think

462
00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:35,320
Speaker 1: COVID has accelerated that change in a huge way. And

463
00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:39,040
Speaker 1: I'd like to say we're not in anymmore, We're in

464
00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:41,920
Speaker 1: And that's sort of a glib way of talking about

465
00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:45,199
Speaker 1: how the acceleration in our industry because of COVID has

466
00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:48,840
Speaker 1: really taken a decade of change and compacted it into

467
00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:52,879
Speaker 1: one year. Where you see the most disruption in the

468
00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:56,480
Speaker 1: short run around our industry is around the client experience

469
00:26:56,520 --> 00:27:00,200
Speaker 1: as it relates to purchasing our product. Companies are are

470
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:05,440
Speaker 1: simplifying the process of becoming a ensured by in terms

471
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:10,159
Speaker 1: of in the way you buy insurance. They're they're simplifying

472
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:13,960
Speaker 1: the application process, they're simplifying the underwriting process. They're doing

473
00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:17,600
Speaker 1: it all sort of digitally with with no human interaction,

474
00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:21,600
Speaker 1: and they're basically making it easier and easier for clients

475
00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:25,120
Speaker 1: to who see the value of our product to buy

476
00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:27,680
Speaker 1: the product. And so that's where you're seeing the disruption

477
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:30,199
Speaker 1: in the short run. And on the same side, on

478
00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:33,479
Speaker 1: the wealth management side, you're seeing these robo advisors who

479
00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:37,400
Speaker 1: are trying to sort of simplify many of the core

480
00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:42,560
Speaker 1: principles of investing, diversification, dollar cost averaging, tax planning, all

481
00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:46,000
Speaker 1: those kind of things. And ultimately, uh so I would

482
00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:49,240
Speaker 1: argue that we are seeing disruption creep in our industry,

483
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:51,360
Speaker 1: both on the risk side, the insurance side, as well

484
00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:54,280
Speaker 1: as on the wealth management side. Uh And by the way,

485
00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,120
Speaker 1: I think that's a good thing for our industry. It's

486
00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:00,879
Speaker 1: taking longer because, as I said, it's a capital intensive business.

487
00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:03,880
Speaker 1: But but there's nothing about life insurance that would make

488
00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:08,680
Speaker 1: me think that we're somehow, um uh immune from the

489
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:10,920
Speaker 1: kind of disruption we've seen in other parts of the

490
00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:14,439
Speaker 1: financial services industry. And so the companies that are going

491
00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:17,560
Speaker 1: to survive are the companies that are leaning into this disruption,

492
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:23,800
Speaker 1: that are UM experimenting around the customer experience um and

493
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:28,240
Speaker 1: so on. Ultimately, though, life insurance is a product that

494
00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:33,160
Speaker 1: is really tied to two things, foregoing of money now

495
00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:37,120
Speaker 1: and pooling those risks to protect everyone over time, that

496
00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:39,960
Speaker 1: that that that core essence of the product is not

497
00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:43,000
Speaker 1: going away, that stands the test of time. It's the

498
00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:47,120
Speaker 1: only way you can really protect yourselves against yourself as

499
00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:50,640
Speaker 1: an individual against catastrophic losses. And by that I mean

500
00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:54,440
Speaker 1: risk pooling. And so in the long run, uh, I

501
00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:57,480
Speaker 1: see the disruption in our industry more around the customer

502
00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:02,320
Speaker 1: experience and the way customer way companies engage with customers,

503
00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:05,480
Speaker 1: and less around sort of the basic mechanics of the product,

504
00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:11,120
Speaker 1: which is as I mentioned, risk pooling, mortality, expenses, and persistency. So,

505
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:15,560
Speaker 1: so let's talk a little bit about those UM employees.

506
00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:21,320
Speaker 1: Given the circumstances and how everybody has been working from

507
00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:25,440
Speaker 1: home and remote, how challenging has it been to find

508
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:31,040
Speaker 1: and train new advisors? What what's it like recruiting under

509
00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:36,120
Speaker 1: a lockdown? Uh, well, it's been a lot harder, I

510
00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:38,760
Speaker 1: will say that. UM. At the end of the day,

511
00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:43,360
Speaker 1: I think though, the fact that we were prepared for

512
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:48,520
Speaker 1: this pandemic has has helped us be successful. UM. We

513
00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:50,640
Speaker 1: didn't see the pandemic coming, don't get me wrong, but

514
00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:53,400
Speaker 1: we we were well on our way to creating a

515
00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:56,240
Speaker 1: digital experience both for our customers and for the people

516
00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:59,160
Speaker 1: who sell our product, our advisors. And so when we

517
00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:03,760
Speaker 1: went to a quarantine situation and then obviously the lockdown,

518
00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:09,040
Speaker 1: we were able not only to service our customers and

519
00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 1: sell our products to our customers solely through digital channels,

520
00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:14,760
Speaker 1: but we're also able to recruit people. In fact, we

521
00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:19,440
Speaker 1: had a record year of recruiting in people join us

522
00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:23,880
Speaker 1: as advisors UM And what I think is really noticeable

523
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:27,400
Speaker 1: about those recruiting about that recruiting class, it's more diverse

524
00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:30,200
Speaker 1: than ever, more women, more people of color, and it

525
00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:34,760
Speaker 1: really represents, I think a continuation around this notion that

526
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,040
Speaker 1: this is a great, noble profession. At the end of

527
00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:39,880
Speaker 1: the day, people who work for Northwestern Mutual and others

528
00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:44,000
Speaker 1: in our industry are really helping people become financially secure.

529
00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:47,680
Speaker 1: We know that most the average American doesn't know where

530
00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:50,120
Speaker 1: they're going from a financial perspective. They don't know how

531
00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:53,440
Speaker 1: to get there. They leave they have they have cluttered,

532
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:56,920
Speaker 1: sort of centered less financial lives, and they ultimately need

533
00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:00,520
Speaker 1: someone to bring that all together. And so this notion

534
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:04,640
Speaker 1: of being able to attract exceptional talent to this business,

535
00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:07,760
Speaker 1: uh is not as hard as I thought it was.

536
00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:09,600
Speaker 1: Going to be in a virtual world because the two

537
00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:12,600
Speaker 1: things this notion that we have the digital tools, and

538
00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:14,959
Speaker 1: because there's demand for what we do. We are not

539
00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:19,080
Speaker 1: recruiting people to a dying industry were recruiting. We're recruiting

540
00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:22,120
Speaker 1: people to an industry that really has a really bright

541
00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:26,320
Speaker 1: future because of this notion that most Americans have to

542
00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:30,040
Speaker 1: provide their financial security to themselves. Think about my father's

543
00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:33,080
Speaker 1: generation had a pension plan, the equity value in his

544
00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:35,560
Speaker 1: house and so security and that's really all he needed

545
00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:38,920
Speaker 1: in retirement to be financially secure. But it's much more

546
00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:42,560
Speaker 1: complicated today and and people are on their own. They're

547
00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:46,400
Speaker 1: not getting sort of those corporate UH defined benefit plans

548
00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:48,280
Speaker 1: of you know from the days of old, and so

549
00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:52,000
Speaker 1: this there is strong demand for what we do, and

550
00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:54,920
Speaker 1: I think when you add all that up, UH, it

551
00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:57,840
Speaker 1: creates an ability for us to recruit into it. And

552
00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:00,280
Speaker 1: then you add to this notion what we called the

553
00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:04,840
Speaker 1: abundance mentality, which is that people UH support each other.

554
00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:09,000
Speaker 1: People in our system they help each other. Our veteran

555
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:12,520
Speaker 1: advisors work with young advisors, they mentor them, they coach them,

556
00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:15,080
Speaker 1: they do joint work with them, and all of that

557
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:17,640
Speaker 1: I think has put together for us a very robust

558
00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:20,840
Speaker 1: year in terms of growth, even in the midst of

559
00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:23,800
Speaker 1: this notion that it's not a face to face company anymore.

560
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:28,200
Speaker 1: So we're a growing company. We grow UH in single

561
00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:30,120
Speaker 1: digits every year. We're never going to be a double

562
00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:33,520
Speaker 1: digit growth company given our size and our our history.

563
00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:36,080
Speaker 1: But the fact that we could continue to grow in

564
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:39,720
Speaker 1: such a strong way in twenty I think it's a

565
00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:42,080
Speaker 1: proofpoint on the notion that there is a demand for

566
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:45,960
Speaker 1: what we do really really interesting. You mentioned it was

567
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:49,560
Speaker 1: a record year of recruitment, and you were successful in

568
00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:53,959
Speaker 1: recruiting women and people of color. Lots of firms in

569
00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:58,160
Speaker 1: finance have found that to be very challenging. What is

570
00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:03,560
Speaker 1: Northwestern Mutual doing make UH their recruiting drive so successful

571
00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:10,320
Speaker 1: when it comes to increasing diversity? Well, I think it's Uh.

572
00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:13,080
Speaker 1: We're we're on about an eight to ten year journey

573
00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:16,040
Speaker 1: in this UM regard. And by that, I mean we

574
00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:19,240
Speaker 1: started about eight to ten years ago, and and we

575
00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:23,320
Speaker 1: really decided at the time that it wasn't just going

576
00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:26,280
Speaker 1: to be a one kind of year and done program.

577
00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:29,280
Speaker 1: And and so the first let's say five years or so,

578
00:33:29,880 --> 00:33:32,480
Speaker 1: all we focused on was the culture in our offices.

579
00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:35,720
Speaker 1: We knew that we had a male dominated, white, male

580
00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:39,600
Speaker 1: dominated workplace culture, not that there's anything wrong with that,

581
00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:42,400
Speaker 1: but it wasn't as inclusive as it should be, and

582
00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:46,000
Speaker 1: we needed to change the culture of those offices so

583
00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:49,320
Speaker 1: that women and people of color felt just as comfortable

584
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:52,160
Speaker 1: in them as as a you know, a twenty five

585
00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:54,760
Speaker 1: year old white guy. And so that was the beginning

586
00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:57,840
Speaker 1: of this journey, which is, let's look at those aspects

587
00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:00,880
Speaker 1: of our culture that needed to change so that it

588
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:04,280
Speaker 1: became more inclusive, more welcoming. You know. My favorite example

589
00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:07,520
Speaker 1: is one of the one of our network office leaders

590
00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:10,719
Speaker 1: used to have a contest for for new employees and

591
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:13,359
Speaker 1: if you won the contest, you've got a tuxedo. Well,

592
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:15,719
Speaker 1: the problem is women don't want a tuxedo, right, so

593
00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:18,160
Speaker 1: that was never an incentive for them. It's a little point,

594
00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:20,759
Speaker 1: but it shows you all the nuances that we had

595
00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:24,560
Speaker 1: to do around culture to create this welcoming environment for

596
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:27,880
Speaker 1: anybody who wants to be in it. Then we spent

597
00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:31,600
Speaker 1: the next five or six years really focusing on this

598
00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:34,440
Speaker 1: notion of meeting people where they are and so you

599
00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:37,920
Speaker 1: don't you don't recruit the same way necessarily for a

600
00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:41,120
Speaker 1: white person at a big ten university, as you might

601
00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:44,040
Speaker 1: uh a person of color at a historically black college,

602
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:46,400
Speaker 1: or a woman or who might be a career changer

603
00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:48,480
Speaker 1: or all those kind of things. And so we really

604
00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:52,440
Speaker 1: focused on meeting people where they were recruiting people who

605
00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:57,319
Speaker 1: were in environments UH that um that they didn't like

606
00:34:57,520 --> 00:35:00,000
Speaker 1: that they could see we had a better one. But ultimately,

607
00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:02,520
Speaker 1: I think what happens and I think this is uh,

608
00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:04,839
Speaker 1: this may sound a little bit like motherhood and apple Pie,

609
00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:07,239
Speaker 1: but I think it's true. At the core of what

610
00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:11,920
Speaker 1: we do is we help people become more financially secured.

611
00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:15,480
Speaker 1: That is our mission, and that is an attractive proposition,

612
00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:19,080
Speaker 1: regardless of your race or your gender or anything like that.

613
00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:22,480
Speaker 1: And so ultimately, the more we can demonstrate to people

614
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:26,360
Speaker 1: that there's a home for you and that people want

615
00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:29,640
Speaker 1: what you do, I think it's really um it's been

616
00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:32,160
Speaker 1: one of the hallmarks of why we've been so successful

617
00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:35,719
Speaker 1: from a diversity perspective and recruiting. It's because this is

618
00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:38,960
Speaker 1: not a it is not a white male only mission.

619
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:42,319
Speaker 1: It's a mission that anybody uh can can look at.

620
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:44,759
Speaker 1: And if you look at let's say Black America, that

621
00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:49,520
Speaker 1: is traditionally underserved when it comes to financial security. There's

622
00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:53,080
Speaker 1: a huge opportunity for other African American and Blacks to

623
00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:56,600
Speaker 1: come into this career and and make inroads into that

624
00:35:56,920 --> 00:36:00,000
Speaker 1: um sort of let's say, neglected part of our economy.

625
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:02,440
Speaker 1: Me and so, I think it's really it's a it

626
00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:05,720
Speaker 1: is an abundance mentality, and it's one in which we've

627
00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:08,880
Speaker 1: started to make some notable successes. Were far from perfect

628
00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:11,080
Speaker 1: on this the journeys now we're close to being over,

629
00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:15,000
Speaker 1: but I really feel like we've started down the right

630
00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:18,120
Speaker 1: path and we've got some proofpoints that it's working right now.

631
00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:22,000
Speaker 1: So that's really interesting. How does that apply to the

632
00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:24,960
Speaker 1: c suite and senior executives? A lot of big firms

633
00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:31,640
Speaker 1: have been successful in recruiting people to the upper echelons

634
00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:35,120
Speaker 1: of of the organization, but they've been less successful in

635
00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:39,600
Speaker 1: retaining that talent. Yeah, we're very proud of our record. Day.

636
00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:41,799
Speaker 1: I always start with our board, my board. So we're

637
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:46,400
Speaker 1: a Fortune one company, and only of our board is

638
00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:50,360
Speaker 1: white male. That means six of our board is diverse,

639
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:54,480
Speaker 1: either in terms of gender, ethnicity, race, or or some

640
00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:57,759
Speaker 1: combination of the three. And so we we start, we

641
00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:00,400
Speaker 1: walk the talk right from the beginning, right at the

642
00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:02,520
Speaker 1: top of our organization. The other thing I would say

643
00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:05,879
Speaker 1: is that we tend to be a company that likes

644
00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:09,440
Speaker 1: to develop talent internally. UM. Now we have some senior

645
00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:12,399
Speaker 1: people who were recruited from the outside world, but by

646
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:15,600
Speaker 1: and large, UH we think the way to create a

647
00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:19,000
Speaker 1: more diverse and inclusive company is not just from recruiting

648
00:37:19,719 --> 00:37:22,719
Speaker 1: UH people to it, but from growing homegrown talent. All

649
00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:26,080
Speaker 1: of my senior team, we all have a personal goal

650
00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:29,160
Speaker 1: that that we hold ourselves accountable to. It affects our

651
00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:32,720
Speaker 1: annual incentive plant payouts and our long term incentive plant payouts,

652
00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:35,960
Speaker 1: and it's around diversity. UH. We we have to be

653
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:39,040
Speaker 1: moving people up in this organization. We want to see

654
00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:42,239
Speaker 1: more people of color at management levels and up. We

655
00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:46,480
Speaker 1: hold ourselves accountable for that. Every UM open job, when

656
00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:48,279
Speaker 1: we look at a slate of people, has to have

657
00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:51,239
Speaker 1: at least one diverse candidate on it. When we're considering

658
00:37:51,719 --> 00:37:54,640
Speaker 1: UH filling those jobs we want to promote from within.

659
00:37:54,760 --> 00:37:57,319
Speaker 1: The same thing is true if we've recruit from the

660
00:37:57,320 --> 00:37:59,920
Speaker 1: outside for a job, that slate has to have at

661
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:04,280
Speaker 1: least one person and hopefully more that our represent diverse candidates.

662
00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:07,200
Speaker 1: So we walk the talk from the very beginning from

663
00:38:07,200 --> 00:38:10,040
Speaker 1: a recruiting and promotion perspective, and then we have fairly

664
00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:13,480
Speaker 1: elaborate what I would call support mechanisms. By the way,

665
00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:16,080
Speaker 1: they're not perfect, that they're getting better, but so that

666
00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:19,680
Speaker 1: people of color and women in our organization feel they

667
00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:21,800
Speaker 1: have the same mentorship that maybe I had as a

668
00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:25,799
Speaker 1: white male back in the eighties. And so I think, uh,

669
00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:28,000
Speaker 1: And as as we've talked about on this podcast, I've

670
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:30,359
Speaker 1: been here for thirty four years. And when I look

671
00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:33,040
Speaker 1: at our our level, our management ranks, and I look

672
00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:35,200
Speaker 1: at the women and the people of color in it,

673
00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:38,160
Speaker 1: you know, I'm very proud to say a disproportioned share

674
00:38:38,239 --> 00:38:41,239
Speaker 1: that is homegrown talent. And uh. And I'm hoping they

675
00:38:41,280 --> 00:38:44,400
Speaker 1: see the same opportunities I did, the same mission that

676
00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:47,000
Speaker 1: I have, the same mission that we have going forward.

677
00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:50,719
Speaker 1: Uh And and so you know, I do think we

678
00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:53,279
Speaker 1: can we can hold on that talent. But I will

679
00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:55,600
Speaker 1: say the other thing is that when someone recruits away

680
00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:59,520
Speaker 1: one of our black employees or or let's say a

681
00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:02,440
Speaker 1: woman senior woman, I take great pride in that because

682
00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:04,640
Speaker 1: what it says to me is that we're developing talent

683
00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:08,080
Speaker 1: that other people value and are hiring away from us.

684
00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:11,600
Speaker 1: And just like we lose white males to the recruiting process,

685
00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:14,120
Speaker 1: sometimes when we lose people of color and women, I

686
00:39:14,200 --> 00:39:16,560
Speaker 1: do that as a proofpoint that we are growing talent

687
00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:19,680
Speaker 1: that other people value. So I think that's that's just

688
00:39:19,760 --> 00:39:23,239
Speaker 1: this whole ecosystem is from a diversity perspective. Is you.

689
00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:26,239
Speaker 1: It's not just one thing. It has to permeate your

690
00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:29,400
Speaker 1: entire culture. It has to permeate your entire way of

691
00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:32,960
Speaker 1: doing things. And as that happens, the roots take place.

692
00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:36,200
Speaker 1: There's roots everywhere, and you're not really dependent on one

693
00:39:36,320 --> 00:39:38,600
Speaker 1: or two people staying in order to hit some sort

694
00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:42,040
Speaker 1: of metric. So so let's talk a little bit about, uh,

695
00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:45,839
Speaker 1: the financial services world. One of the big themes has

696
00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:50,440
Speaker 1: been the move away from the traditional wirehouses and towards

697
00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:56,440
Speaker 1: more independent channels. How has that impacted your investment business

698
00:39:56,880 --> 00:39:59,600
Speaker 1: if at all? You know, I wouldn't. I would say

699
00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:04,600
Speaker 1: we probably had a handful of our career advisors go

700
00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:08,279
Speaker 1: to independent channels. And the fact the matter is is

701
00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:11,400
Speaker 1: that if a career advisor leaves Northwestern Mutual, it's almost

702
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:15,759
Speaker 1: it's almost inevitable that they go the independent route. But ultimately,

703
00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:18,480
Speaker 1: our retention rate right now is about I think around

704
00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:24,480
Speaker 1: which means the vast majority of our veteran advisors are

705
00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:27,359
Speaker 1: staying with Northwestern Mutual year after year. I think, I

706
00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:31,400
Speaker 1: think there's there's two things that we're doing to create

707
00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:33,759
Speaker 1: sort of that stickiness, because we never you know, you

708
00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:37,400
Speaker 1: never want to compete on, uh, anything that's a commodity,

709
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:42,160
Speaker 1: and so from our perspective, uh, I think our our

710
00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:47,880
Speaker 1: sort of value proposition to our our veteran advisors is

711
00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:50,120
Speaker 1: what's keeping them there. And it all starts with sort

712
00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:53,760
Speaker 1: of our what we call our unrivaled holistic approach to clients.

713
00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:56,520
Speaker 1: So it's the it's sort of the merger of a

714
00:40:56,560 --> 00:41:02,640
Speaker 1: trusted advisor, a robust lining process with proprietary planning software,

715
00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:06,520
Speaker 1: the integration of insurance and investments at the client level,

716
00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:09,600
Speaker 1: which is somewhat unique in our industry, all backed up

717
00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:12,680
Speaker 1: by a rich digital platform and omni channel service. So

718
00:41:12,719 --> 00:41:16,279
Speaker 1: those five things do set us apart from most of

719
00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:19,919
Speaker 1: the independent channels. They can't bring all of that sort

720
00:41:19,960 --> 00:41:24,480
Speaker 1: of skill to bear, um, you know, to to a client.

721
00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:27,280
Speaker 1: The second thing we have is obviously we have arguably

722
00:41:27,320 --> 00:41:29,319
Speaker 1: the best products in the industry when it comes to

723
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:32,200
Speaker 1: our insurance products, are our long term value in our

724
00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:35,200
Speaker 1: permanent life insurance product the second to none. We're a

725
00:41:35,239 --> 00:41:38,280
Speaker 1: low cost producer in the industry. So you you combine

726
00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:42,000
Speaker 1: those two things, and we we think that there's there's

727
00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:45,600
Speaker 1: a home for advisors that creates something for them that

728
00:41:45,640 --> 00:41:49,440
Speaker 1: they can't get anywhere else. And that's ultimately how we

729
00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:54,360
Speaker 1: compete in the marketplace. And it's just creating a proprietary system,

730
00:41:54,400 --> 00:41:57,960
Speaker 1: if you will, that ultimately works with clients. And we

731
00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:01,719
Speaker 1: think we can demonstrate better outcomes over the long term

732
00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:04,920
Speaker 1: with our clients, better outcomes from an investment perspective, and

733
00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:07,600
Speaker 1: better outcomes from a risk perspective, and certainly when you

734
00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:10,759
Speaker 1: integrate them, better outcomes. And so I think at the

735
00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:13,560
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, that's what's causing this

736
00:42:13,719 --> 00:42:18,320
Speaker 1: strong retention in our in our career advisors, is because

737
00:42:18,360 --> 00:42:22,839
Speaker 1: the independent channel can offer everything that we do. So

738
00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:27,080
Speaker 1: life insurance salespeople have gotten a bad rap um in

739
00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:30,920
Speaker 1: popular culture. Is that is that deserved or unfair? And

740
00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:33,719
Speaker 1: and what do you do to try and reduce that?

741
00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:36,319
Speaker 1: I think it's totally unfair. I think I think the

742
00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:38,920
Speaker 1: bad rap is because nobody wants to buy life insurance

743
00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:42,080
Speaker 1: right It's it's the ultimate self sacrifice. It's giving up

744
00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:45,520
Speaker 1: money today. Uh you know as a policy owner that

745
00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:47,680
Speaker 1: I'll never see it will go to my loved one

746
00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:51,080
Speaker 1: someday when I die, hopefully many many, many, many many

747
00:42:51,160 --> 00:42:54,640
Speaker 1: years from now. But ultimately there's life insurance is a

748
00:42:54,680 --> 00:42:58,680
Speaker 1: self sacrificing instrument that nobody really wants to deal with.

749
00:42:58,840 --> 00:43:00,879
Speaker 1: And and you layer on that, nobody wants to talk

750
00:43:00,920 --> 00:43:04,040
Speaker 1: about their own mortality. And so I think that's why

751
00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:06,920
Speaker 1: the rap is unfair. I don't think it's because of

752
00:43:06,960 --> 00:43:09,880
Speaker 1: the product itself. Whether you're talking about Northwestern Mutual or

753
00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:14,520
Speaker 1: almost any of our competitors, the persistency in their product

754
00:43:14,560 --> 00:43:18,680
Speaker 1: lines is substantial. People keep life insurance for a very

755
00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:22,239
Speaker 1: very very long time, and the reason they do it's

756
00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:25,359
Speaker 1: because it has a positive impact on their lives. Whether

757
00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:28,040
Speaker 1: it's at Northwestern Mutual or at any of the other

758
00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:33,000
Speaker 1: major carriers, those products that we're selling ultimately have value

759
00:43:33,040 --> 00:43:36,120
Speaker 1: that people see decades from now. And so I think,

760
00:43:36,200 --> 00:43:38,160
Speaker 1: and by the way, I don't think you can be

761
00:43:38,320 --> 00:43:43,279
Speaker 1: truly financially secure without life insurance. It has um It

762
00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:45,960
Speaker 1: benefits you throughout your life cycle. As a young adult,

763
00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:48,799
Speaker 1: when you're taking care of your family as your near

764
00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:51,480
Speaker 1: retirement in terms of the optionality it gives you, and

765
00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:53,680
Speaker 1: then ultimately at the end of your life with a

766
00:43:53,760 --> 00:43:56,160
Speaker 1: legacy either for charity or for your loved ones, and

767
00:43:56,200 --> 00:43:58,960
Speaker 1: so this so I think it is a bad rap,

768
00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:01,440
Speaker 1: but I think it's it's one that the industry has

769
00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:04,480
Speaker 1: always dealt with, and we're proud to talk about it

770
00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:07,399
Speaker 1: because we know that when clients by our products, they

771
00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:09,680
Speaker 1: keep them. And I think that's a much better proofpoint

772
00:44:09,680 --> 00:44:12,440
Speaker 1: than sort of this rap about life insurance salesman that

773
00:44:12,520 --> 00:44:18,200
Speaker 1: see that that continues to go around and around and around. Interesting. So,

774
00:44:18,200 --> 00:44:22,359
Speaker 1: so you mentioned um, managing risk over the long long haul.

775
00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:26,200
Speaker 1: You're in the business as CEO of managing risks for

776
00:44:26,239 --> 00:44:32,960
Speaker 1: the company. What keeps you up at night? Well, um,

777
00:44:33,320 --> 00:44:35,160
Speaker 1: you know, I think the biggest thing that keeps me

778
00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:37,960
Speaker 1: up at night is some of the stuff from the

779
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:41,200
Speaker 1: external environment. If if you look at our business model

780
00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:45,120
Speaker 1: per se. Obviously we're still in the midst of a transformation,

781
00:44:45,280 --> 00:44:47,960
Speaker 1: so we've got to execute well. But the nuts and

782
00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:51,560
Speaker 1: bolts of our operation do not make me nervous. In fact,

783
00:44:51,800 --> 00:44:53,000
Speaker 1: you know, one of the things we like to talk

784
00:44:53,040 --> 00:44:56,640
Speaker 1: about is last February, when when COVID was on the

785
00:44:56,680 --> 00:44:59,960
Speaker 1: horizon and everybody was freaking out, we were very, very

786
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:02,279
Speaker 1: a calm about it because we had done all the

787
00:45:02,320 --> 00:45:06,720
Speaker 1: scenario planning UH for both a pandemic and a stock

788
00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:10,360
Speaker 1: market crash with low interest rates well in advance of

789
00:45:10,440 --> 00:45:12,560
Speaker 1: last February in March. It's not, by the way, it's

790
00:45:12,600 --> 00:45:15,680
Speaker 1: not because we knew that was coming this this past year.

791
00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:18,080
Speaker 1: It's because that's what we do to make sure that

792
00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:20,879
Speaker 1: we're always in operations for decades to come, and so

793
00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:24,320
Speaker 1: I don't really lose sleep over the nuts and bolts

794
00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:29,319
Speaker 1: of our operation. Where I get nervous is about UM

795
00:45:29,360 --> 00:45:31,920
Speaker 1: A lot of the things going on. From a federal

796
00:45:31,960 --> 00:45:34,400
Speaker 1: government perspective. I think we're in the midst of one

797
00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:36,840
Speaker 1: of the biggest experiments we've ever seen in terms of

798
00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:42,160
Speaker 1: government spending UH and modern monetary theory. I don't think

799
00:45:42,200 --> 00:45:44,600
Speaker 1: we actually know how this experiment is going to end,

800
00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:47,680
Speaker 1: and I think that's something that causes me to get

801
00:45:47,960 --> 00:45:50,359
Speaker 1: paused and to be all, you know, another reason why

802
00:45:50,960 --> 00:45:53,480
Speaker 1: UH we value financial strength so much. By the way,

803
00:45:53,480 --> 00:45:56,040
Speaker 1: we're a triple A company, one of only two triple

804
00:45:56,080 --> 00:45:58,920
Speaker 1: A companies in America that has a stable outlook and

805
00:45:58,920 --> 00:46:03,880
Speaker 1: that financial strength is uh is what gives me comfort

806
00:46:03,960 --> 00:46:05,840
Speaker 1: in in this sort of thing. The other thing I

807
00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:08,880
Speaker 1: would say that causes me to lose sleep a little

808
00:46:08,880 --> 00:46:13,000
Speaker 1: bit is this notion of operating in a virtual world.

809
00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:16,040
Speaker 1: Northwestern mutuals culture and I hope you've heard this as

810
00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:19,440
Speaker 1: I've talked, and our mission is is is steeped in

811
00:46:19,480 --> 00:46:22,840
Speaker 1: all of our employees, and yet we've hired thousands of

812
00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:27,040
Speaker 1: people in who have never said spend a day in

813
00:46:27,120 --> 00:46:30,800
Speaker 1: the office seeing that culture firsthand. And so this virtual

814
00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:34,120
Speaker 1: world that we're in I think has uh eaten away

815
00:46:34,120 --> 00:46:36,440
Speaker 1: a little bit at that cultural piggy bank that we have.

816
00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:40,239
Speaker 1: And I can't wait to get back everybody back on

817
00:46:40,320 --> 00:46:42,360
Speaker 1: campus and back in the office is and back to

818
00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:45,359
Speaker 1: work so that we can rebuild that culture over time.

819
00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:48,440
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit worried about that right now, and

820
00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:50,799
Speaker 1: that's one of the things that we're losing a little

821
00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:53,080
Speaker 1: bit of sleep over. But fortunately, I think with the

822
00:46:53,160 --> 00:46:55,640
Speaker 1: vaccinations and everything, I think we're closer and closer to

823
00:46:55,680 --> 00:46:57,960
Speaker 1: the end of this. And then ultimately I think low

824
00:46:58,040 --> 00:47:03,640
Speaker 1: rates are uh you know, continue to be UH problem

825
00:47:03,719 --> 00:47:06,960
Speaker 1: for us. We you know, we we UH were built

826
00:47:06,960 --> 00:47:09,880
Speaker 1: to last. It's not going to affect our company long term.

827
00:47:09,920 --> 00:47:15,520
Speaker 1: But persistent low rates are very is a very sort

828
00:47:15,560 --> 00:47:19,359
Speaker 1: of slow pressure on life insurance companies, and so we

829
00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:22,560
Speaker 1: have to be uber vigilant about expenses. We have to

830
00:47:22,600 --> 00:47:25,520
Speaker 1: be uber vigilant about where we place our bets. We

831
00:47:25,560 --> 00:47:29,320
Speaker 1: have to be uber vigilant about execution because we don't

832
00:47:29,360 --> 00:47:32,160
Speaker 1: have a margin of error when rates are so low,

833
00:47:32,600 --> 00:47:35,120
Speaker 1: UH to make mistakes and waste money or or go

834
00:47:35,239 --> 00:47:38,080
Speaker 1: down the wrong thing. So you know, those are the

835
00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:39,560
Speaker 1: things that keep me up at night. And then of

836
00:47:39,600 --> 00:47:43,759
Speaker 1: course the government. You never know where regulation is going

837
00:47:43,800 --> 00:47:46,120
Speaker 1: to go, where corporate taxes are going to go. Those

838
00:47:46,160 --> 00:47:49,319
Speaker 1: are wild cards that we can't control. We're lucky in

839
00:47:49,360 --> 00:47:52,279
Speaker 1: that our industry is generally a bipartisan issue. We work

840
00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:54,600
Speaker 1: with both sides of the aisle, and so when there's

841
00:47:54,600 --> 00:47:57,960
Speaker 1: a new administration, we've got to build new relationships with

842
00:47:58,040 --> 00:48:03,840
Speaker 1: the administration. But generally speaking, UH, our relationships in UH Congress,

843
00:48:03,840 --> 00:48:05,680
Speaker 1: and you know, both in the House and the Senate

844
00:48:05,719 --> 00:48:08,200
Speaker 1: are strong, but you never know what's going to happen there,

845
00:48:08,239 --> 00:48:10,600
Speaker 1: and that's a wild card. I think that almost any

846
00:48:10,640 --> 00:48:15,320
Speaker 1: business has to worry about. So generally speaking, I feel

847
00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:17,960
Speaker 1: good about where we are. I'm not losing sleep at night.

848
00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:21,080
Speaker 1: Being the strongest company in the industry helps. But you've

849
00:48:21,200 --> 00:48:23,160
Speaker 1: you've just got to be uber vigilant about all these

850
00:48:23,200 --> 00:48:25,440
Speaker 1: things that are going on, because you just can't make

851
00:48:25,520 --> 00:48:27,960
Speaker 1: mistakes when rates are as low as they are. What

852
00:48:28,080 --> 00:48:32,560
Speaker 1: about social unrest as a risk factor During last summer,

853
00:48:32,719 --> 00:48:36,560
Speaker 1: during the Black Lives Matter protests, you were pretty vocal

854
00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:42,920
Speaker 1: on social media. Tell us what motivated your voice and

855
00:48:43,120 --> 00:48:46,080
Speaker 1: how it was received when within the company and within

856
00:48:46,120 --> 00:48:51,160
Speaker 1: the industry. Yeah, so I was particularly moved this summer

857
00:48:51,239 --> 00:48:53,279
Speaker 1: by some of that. And the reason I was moved is,

858
00:48:53,680 --> 00:48:56,320
Speaker 1: as I said, we're very proud of our record around

859
00:48:56,320 --> 00:49:00,319
Speaker 1: diversity inclusion. But after the George Floyd killing and some

860
00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:02,560
Speaker 1: of the social unrested followed, I made a point to

861
00:49:02,640 --> 00:49:06,040
Speaker 1: call about twenty or twenty five of our black and

862
00:49:06,080 --> 00:49:08,919
Speaker 1: African American leaders throughout our company, both in our home

863
00:49:08,960 --> 00:49:13,080
Speaker 1: office in Milwaukee, but also in many of our network offices.

864
00:49:13,320 --> 00:49:17,239
Speaker 1: And I think that the biggest sort of impact I

865
00:49:17,400 --> 00:49:24,680
Speaker 1: had was this notion of hope being constantly deferred. And

866
00:49:24,719 --> 00:49:27,560
Speaker 1: it's it's this notion and not just at Northwestern Mutual,

867
00:49:27,600 --> 00:49:30,759
Speaker 1: but from a societal perspective, and so this notion of

868
00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:33,759
Speaker 1: as a black professional in this country, you hope things

869
00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:35,759
Speaker 1: are better, you hope you're getting to a point of

870
00:49:36,080 --> 00:49:39,160
Speaker 1: full equality and things like that, and yet those those

871
00:49:39,200 --> 00:49:41,600
Speaker 1: hopes get deferred because of some of what we what

872
00:49:41,719 --> 00:49:45,360
Speaker 1: we saw, and so those conversations, combined with what we

873
00:49:45,400 --> 00:49:47,840
Speaker 1: saw going on around the country, really had an impact

874
00:49:47,880 --> 00:49:50,000
Speaker 1: on me in a in a way that I honestly

875
00:49:50,040 --> 00:49:52,080
Speaker 1: didn't think that they would, And so I knew that

876
00:49:52,120 --> 00:49:53,759
Speaker 1: there was a lot of work to do. What what

877
00:49:53,840 --> 00:49:56,760
Speaker 1: I'm proud of in terms of the way Northwestern Mutual

878
00:49:56,760 --> 00:49:59,680
Speaker 1: Approach did is that we didn't just the issue press

879
00:49:59,680 --> 00:50:01,920
Speaker 1: really says, and we didn't just donate money to this

880
00:50:02,040 --> 00:50:04,360
Speaker 1: cause or that cause. Those are easy things. I'm not

881
00:50:04,400 --> 00:50:06,839
Speaker 1: saying they're bad things, but they're easy. But what I'm

882
00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:08,640
Speaker 1: really proud of is the hard work that we did.

883
00:50:08,680 --> 00:50:11,279
Speaker 1: So we farmed, we farmed the task force. At I chair,

884
00:50:12,160 --> 00:50:15,120
Speaker 1: we call it sustained action for racial equality and and

885
00:50:15,120 --> 00:50:17,719
Speaker 1: the I think the two key words in that are

886
00:50:17,800 --> 00:50:21,520
Speaker 1: sustained action. We decided not to just do something that

887
00:50:21,719 --> 00:50:26,240
Speaker 1: sort of met the summer unrest head on, but something

888
00:50:26,280 --> 00:50:28,640
Speaker 1: that we could be proud of five, ten, fifteen years

889
00:50:28,680 --> 00:50:31,840
Speaker 1: from now. And we have a strategic roadmap. We're investing

890
00:50:31,840 --> 00:50:34,560
Speaker 1: in our communities, were investing in our culture. We're investing

891
00:50:34,560 --> 00:50:38,439
Speaker 1: in financial literacy for African Americans and blacks, and we're

892
00:50:38,520 --> 00:50:43,120
Speaker 1: investing in the professional development of Blacks and African Americans

893
00:50:43,120 --> 00:50:45,920
Speaker 1: not just at our company, but in our communities. And

894
00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:49,640
Speaker 1: I think that kind of work is what I'm proud

895
00:50:49,680 --> 00:50:54,680
Speaker 1: of because ultimately, um and I tell this story, you know,

896
00:50:54,719 --> 00:50:57,680
Speaker 1: in sort of a fast way, but you can approach

897
00:50:58,360 --> 00:51:01,040
Speaker 1: diversity inclusion with your left brain or your right brain

898
00:51:01,080 --> 00:51:03,440
Speaker 1: if you're let's say your left brains the analytical side.

899
00:51:03,800 --> 00:51:07,000
Speaker 1: America is becoming more diverse. Okay. The notion that you

900
00:51:07,040 --> 00:51:10,200
Speaker 1: can be a thriving, relevant company just catering to white

901
00:51:10,239 --> 00:51:14,480
Speaker 1: Americans is crazy from just a purely objective perspective. So

902
00:51:14,560 --> 00:51:17,120
Speaker 1: regardless of your feelings on this, there's a strong business

903
00:51:17,200 --> 00:51:21,000
Speaker 1: case to be made, uh for diversity inclusion. But from

904
00:51:21,080 --> 00:51:23,120
Speaker 1: the right, the right side of your brain, the more

905
00:51:23,160 --> 00:51:26,400
Speaker 1: empathetic and emotional side, as I say, it's the right

906
00:51:26,440 --> 00:51:29,040
Speaker 1: thing to do. We have a mission to make people

907
00:51:29,080 --> 00:51:33,400
Speaker 1: more financially secure. That mission doesn't include labels like white

908
00:51:33,480 --> 00:51:36,279
Speaker 1: or black or Hispanic, or male or female. And so

909
00:51:36,680 --> 00:51:40,520
Speaker 1: we we this, this notion of doing the right thing

910
00:51:41,120 --> 00:51:43,640
Speaker 1: for people who feel like their hope has been deferred

911
00:51:43,640 --> 00:51:46,760
Speaker 1: too long fits right into the mission of this company.

912
00:51:46,800 --> 00:51:48,640
Speaker 1: And there's no way we can't be just as good

913
00:51:48,680 --> 00:51:51,560
Speaker 1: as that at that as we are as it comes

914
00:51:51,560 --> 00:51:54,960
Speaker 1: to wealth management or risk products. And so, uh, this

915
00:51:55,040 --> 00:51:56,799
Speaker 1: is a skill that we're gonna build. It's a skill

916
00:51:56,840 --> 00:51:59,200
Speaker 1: that Northwestern Mutual is going to be world class at

917
00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:01,839
Speaker 1: and something that I'm proud that started. It's too bad

918
00:52:01,840 --> 00:52:05,360
Speaker 1: it had to start because of a killing and social unrest,

919
00:52:05,800 --> 00:52:08,120
Speaker 1: but maybe that's one of the bright spots in this

920
00:52:08,239 --> 00:52:10,440
Speaker 1: that ultimately it's going to lead to something that's much

921
00:52:10,480 --> 00:52:13,120
Speaker 1: bigger and better than anything that was going on before

922
00:52:13,200 --> 00:52:17,839
Speaker 1: or really really interesting. Um. A couple of years ago,

923
00:52:17,960 --> 00:52:21,400
Speaker 1: you guys built a brand new headquarters. G it's about

924
00:52:21,440 --> 00:52:25,440
Speaker 1: five years ago. UM, I know there was an element

925
00:52:25,520 --> 00:52:30,880
Speaker 1: of sustainability in that new um h Q tell us

926
00:52:30,920 --> 00:52:37,520
Speaker 1: about Northwestern Mutuals sustainability efforts. Well, uh, look at me.

927
00:52:38,640 --> 00:52:41,040
Speaker 1: You can't be a hundred and sixty plus years old

928
00:52:41,080 --> 00:52:44,120
Speaker 1: and not care about the environment. Okay, I mean it's

929
00:52:44,200 --> 00:52:46,760
Speaker 1: it's this we want to be around for another hundred

930
00:52:46,760 --> 00:52:54,040
Speaker 1: and sixty years, and our sort of ecological sensitivities predate

931
00:52:54,160 --> 00:52:58,520
Speaker 1: climate change and predate all the current things that are

932
00:52:58,560 --> 00:53:01,760
Speaker 1: going on, because we all utimately want to conserve things,

933
00:53:01,840 --> 00:53:05,080
Speaker 1: and we want to conserve things because that's what great

934
00:53:05,120 --> 00:53:07,200
Speaker 1: companies do, and we don't want to be seen as

935
00:53:07,280 --> 00:53:11,759
Speaker 1: wasting any resource, especially natural resources. So the building is

936
00:53:11,760 --> 00:53:14,239
Speaker 1: a proof point around I think two things. One is

937
00:53:14,280 --> 00:53:17,440
Speaker 1: the ability to create a building that can be green,

938
00:53:17,600 --> 00:53:21,040
Speaker 1: that can that can create a wonderful work environment, but

939
00:53:21,120 --> 00:53:23,399
Speaker 1: at the same time be at the forefront of all

940
00:53:23,440 --> 00:53:28,239
Speaker 1: the efforts around energy conservation, UM and so on and that.

941
00:53:28,480 --> 00:53:30,680
Speaker 1: And this building is and I can get into details

942
00:53:30,680 --> 00:53:32,800
Speaker 1: around the windows and the cooling and all that stuff,

943
00:53:32,800 --> 00:53:39,040
Speaker 1: but ultimately it is a very beautiful sustainable structure that

944
00:53:39,120 --> 00:53:41,360
Speaker 1: has a great work environment as as part of it.

945
00:53:41,400 --> 00:53:43,239
Speaker 1: But the other thing that's interesting, and this isn't right

946
00:53:43,280 --> 00:53:45,360
Speaker 1: to your question, but it ties into your previous question,

947
00:53:45,480 --> 00:53:48,640
Speaker 1: is when we built that building, we committed to the

948
00:53:48,680 --> 00:53:53,160
Speaker 1: city that we would have a large portion of the

949
00:53:53,200 --> 00:53:56,719
Speaker 1: work done by minority contractors. And that's another form of

950
00:53:56,840 --> 00:54:01,600
Speaker 1: sustainability that doesn't necessarily tie right to the um, to

951
00:54:01,640 --> 00:54:06,840
Speaker 1: our climate or our ecological resources. But by using minority

952
00:54:06,880 --> 00:54:09,840
Speaker 1: contractors on a you know, a half billion dollar building,

953
00:54:10,239 --> 00:54:12,959
Speaker 1: we were able to create sustainability for them. They were

954
00:54:13,000 --> 00:54:15,680
Speaker 1: they were building skills, they were building financial resources, they

955
00:54:15,680 --> 00:54:18,560
Speaker 1: were building a resume of pedigree around this kind of

956
00:54:18,560 --> 00:54:21,360
Speaker 1: really important work. And so I think the sustainability of

957
00:54:21,360 --> 00:54:25,319
Speaker 1: that building isn't just from a from an ecological perspective,

958
00:54:25,560 --> 00:54:27,960
Speaker 1: but also from what we did as it relates to

959
00:54:28,000 --> 00:54:31,400
Speaker 1: minority contractors and their ability now to go forward. And

960
00:54:31,440 --> 00:54:34,680
Speaker 1: as you've seen other construction in Milwaukee develop our new

961
00:54:34,719 --> 00:54:38,480
Speaker 1: fights or form where the Bucks play, other major office buildings,

962
00:54:38,520 --> 00:54:42,080
Speaker 1: those UH construction projects are now learning from what we

963
00:54:42,160 --> 00:54:46,200
Speaker 1: did and employing the same both sustainability issues and the

964
00:54:46,239 --> 00:54:49,040
Speaker 1: same minority contractor issues, and it's just you can see

965
00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:52,040
Speaker 1: the ripple effects of that, and it's it's why I'm very,

966
00:54:52,160 --> 00:54:54,160
Speaker 1: very proud of that building. Now. Our employees will tell

967
00:54:54,200 --> 00:54:56,520
Speaker 1: you they love it because it's great work environment, but

968
00:54:56,719 --> 00:54:58,560
Speaker 1: I'm proud of it not just because of that, but

969
00:54:58,640 --> 00:55:02,400
Speaker 1: because it's sort of the um the catalyst it became

970
00:55:02,760 --> 00:55:05,719
Speaker 1: for all the things that we're talking about today. So

971
00:55:05,760 --> 00:55:09,360
Speaker 1: the last big question I have is what are the

972
00:55:09,480 --> 00:55:13,799
Speaker 1: looming large opportunities that you see when you look out

973
00:55:14,000 --> 00:55:18,279
Speaker 1: ten or twenty years for both Northwestern Mutual and the

974
00:55:18,280 --> 00:55:23,800
Speaker 1: financial services industry. Well, I think the I think this

975
00:55:23,960 --> 00:55:27,080
Speaker 1: is a growth industry. It's just it's just amazing, you know.

976
00:55:27,200 --> 00:55:30,000
Speaker 1: To repeat what I said, most people have fractured centator

977
00:55:30,080 --> 00:55:33,000
Speaker 1: list lives from a financial perspective. They have too many things.

978
00:55:33,000 --> 00:55:35,080
Speaker 1: They don't know how to pull it together. They're on

979
00:55:35,160 --> 00:55:38,080
Speaker 1: their own. They're pioneers in the sense that there's no

980
00:55:38,760 --> 00:55:41,239
Speaker 1: uh way, you know, agreed upon way to do it.

981
00:55:41,280 --> 00:55:43,279
Speaker 1: They don't know where they're going financially, they don't know

982
00:55:43,320 --> 00:55:46,319
Speaker 1: how to get there. They need someone to help them. Uh.

983
00:55:46,360 --> 00:55:49,839
Speaker 1: And and it's it's unbelievable the demand that's out there now.

984
00:55:49,880 --> 00:55:53,000
Speaker 1: It's latent demand. And by that I mean people don't

985
00:55:53,040 --> 00:55:56,880
Speaker 1: necessarily know exactly how to get what they want. You know.

986
00:55:56,920 --> 00:55:59,840
Speaker 1: Henry Ford had that famous uh saying, if I have

987
00:56:00,080 --> 00:56:02,640
Speaker 1: people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses

988
00:56:03,080 --> 00:56:05,800
Speaker 1: because they didn't see the view of the value of

989
00:56:05,800 --> 00:56:07,640
Speaker 1: a car. And I think our industry faces that a

990
00:56:07,680 --> 00:56:10,640
Speaker 1: little bit. People want financial security, they want to make

991
00:56:10,719 --> 00:56:13,279
Speaker 1: sense of their financial lives. They want someone to pull

992
00:56:13,280 --> 00:56:15,560
Speaker 1: it all together for them and make sense of it,

993
00:56:15,560 --> 00:56:18,719
Speaker 1: but they don't necessarily see the way to do that

994
00:56:18,880 --> 00:56:22,360
Speaker 1: is through a trusted advisor, planning and the integration of

995
00:56:22,480 --> 00:56:25,680
Speaker 1: risk and investment. So that's our job. Our job is

996
00:56:25,719 --> 00:56:28,920
Speaker 1: to show people the way to get the financial security.

997
00:56:28,960 --> 00:56:32,400
Speaker 1: But but people are underinsured, people don't know how to

998
00:56:32,440 --> 00:56:35,040
Speaker 1: say for retirement, people don't know how to take care

999
00:56:35,080 --> 00:56:39,040
Speaker 1: of themselves financially, and uh it that that is the

1000
00:56:39,040 --> 00:56:42,000
Speaker 1: financial literacy in this country is I would say below

1001
00:56:42,040 --> 00:56:44,759
Speaker 1: average for where it should and could be. And so

1002
00:56:44,800 --> 00:56:48,960
Speaker 1: I think the opportunity for our company and for others

1003
00:56:49,000 --> 00:56:54,440
Speaker 1: like us is absolutely um unbounded. I mean, I really

1004
00:56:54,480 --> 00:56:57,400
Speaker 1: believe we're a growth industry. Now, We're gonna grow at

1005
00:56:57,400 --> 00:56:59,239
Speaker 1: single digits. As I said, we're not going to be

1006
00:56:59,280 --> 00:57:02,560
Speaker 1: the year over year thing. Because this is hard work.

1007
00:57:02,560 --> 00:57:04,680
Speaker 1: You've got to engage clients one at a time. You've

1008
00:57:04,680 --> 00:57:07,040
Speaker 1: got to meet with them and do the planning, the

1009
00:57:07,120 --> 00:57:10,080
Speaker 1: rigorous planning that they need and show them the way forward.

1010
00:57:10,520 --> 00:57:12,840
Speaker 1: But I as I see more and more companies shift

1011
00:57:12,880 --> 00:57:15,239
Speaker 1: away from sort of this product oriented cell where I

1012
00:57:15,239 --> 00:57:17,280
Speaker 1: just want to sell a product to move on to

1013
00:57:17,400 --> 00:57:20,640
Speaker 1: forming these lifetime relationships with clients and get them to

1014
00:57:20,720 --> 00:57:23,160
Speaker 1: have the outcomes they want, not the products they want,

1015
00:57:23,320 --> 00:57:25,920
Speaker 1: but the outcomes they want. I think our industry is

1016
00:57:25,920 --> 00:57:28,760
Speaker 1: going to continue to shine and uh so, I I

1017
00:57:28,800 --> 00:57:33,200
Speaker 1: am actually quite optimistic about our future. I'm sixty two

1018
00:57:33,240 --> 00:57:36,160
Speaker 1: years old. We have a mandatory retirement policy here at

1019
00:57:36,160 --> 00:57:39,200
Speaker 1: sixty five, so I've got three years left with this company,

1020
00:57:39,720 --> 00:57:42,680
Speaker 1: and I feel melancholy about that because I think our

1021
00:57:42,720 --> 00:57:44,600
Speaker 1: brightest days are ahead of us. I just think there's

1022
00:57:44,640 --> 00:57:48,360
Speaker 1: so much opportunity in this country to help people become

1023
00:57:48,360 --> 00:57:51,400
Speaker 1: more financially secure, and it's it's very exciting. And then

1024
00:57:51,400 --> 00:57:54,880
Speaker 1: when you overlay how we're using technology to improve the

1025
00:57:54,920 --> 00:57:58,160
Speaker 1: customer experience, to make it more, to make it frictionless,

1026
00:57:58,200 --> 00:58:02,960
Speaker 1: more seamless, better for our lillions um, I think I

1027
00:58:03,000 --> 00:58:06,120
Speaker 1: think that this is is a is a bright future

1028
00:58:06,120 --> 00:58:10,720
Speaker 1: and so as this company does both perform and transform

1029
00:58:10,760 --> 00:58:14,040
Speaker 1: at the same time, I think we are just having

1030
00:58:14,080 --> 00:58:16,200
Speaker 1: that one of the brightest futures that we've ever had

1031
00:58:16,240 --> 00:58:18,520
Speaker 1: as a company. And I'm really proud that we can

1032
00:58:18,560 --> 00:58:21,320
Speaker 1: deliver performance in the here and now, but at the

1033
00:58:21,360 --> 00:58:25,240
Speaker 1: same time build out this customer experience platform that's going

1034
00:58:25,280 --> 00:58:27,720
Speaker 1: to ensure relevance for years and years and years to come.

1035
00:58:29,240 --> 00:58:32,800
Speaker 1: So so here's an unanticipated question and a little bit

1036
00:58:32,840 --> 00:58:37,240
Speaker 1: of a curveball. I didn't realize Northwestern Mutual had a

1037
00:58:37,360 --> 00:58:43,920
Speaker 1: mandatory your retirement age. Have you even begun thinking about

1038
00:58:43,960 --> 00:58:47,200
Speaker 1: what you're gonna do in retirement or maybe that's the

1039
00:58:47,240 --> 00:58:54,840
Speaker 1: wrong word post Northwestern Mutual. Well, I haven't really started

1040
00:58:54,840 --> 00:58:57,520
Speaker 1: thinking about it, to be honest with you. I've still

1041
00:58:57,560 --> 00:59:01,640
Speaker 1: got a lot to do here and I'm really excited

1042
00:59:01,680 --> 00:59:03,840
Speaker 1: about what i want to do, and it's a full

1043
00:59:03,840 --> 00:59:08,320
Speaker 1: time job. Um. You know, in my heart, I think

1044
00:59:08,360 --> 00:59:12,360
Speaker 1: i'd like to teach after Northwestern Mutual. Um, but I

1045
00:59:12,400 --> 00:59:14,560
Speaker 1: haven't put much thought into it beyond that. But some

1046
00:59:14,640 --> 00:59:18,280
Speaker 1: sort of graduate business school environment where I could talk

1047
00:59:18,280 --> 00:59:20,360
Speaker 1: about all that I've learned and share it with people

1048
00:59:20,400 --> 00:59:23,240
Speaker 1: would be really fulfilling. And I think I get much

1049
00:59:23,280 --> 00:59:25,680
Speaker 1: more sort of joy out of that than a than

1050
00:59:25,720 --> 00:59:28,480
Speaker 1: a second gig somewhere in corporate America anything like that.

1051
00:59:28,600 --> 00:59:32,200
Speaker 1: So uh, But I, as I said, I've got plenty

1052
00:59:32,240 --> 00:59:34,400
Speaker 1: of time. I mean, Joe Biden and I are going

1053
00:59:34,440 --> 00:59:37,080
Speaker 1: to end our terms at about the same time. I'm

1054
00:59:37,080 --> 00:59:39,240
Speaker 1: sure he's not thinking about retirement, and neither of my

1055
00:59:39,240 --> 00:59:41,400
Speaker 1: I I've got a lot to do here. We've got

1056
00:59:41,400 --> 00:59:43,520
Speaker 1: a great team, and I really want to focus on

1057
00:59:43,560 --> 00:59:46,480
Speaker 1: delivering in the here and now. Great answer, Let's jump

1058
00:59:46,560 --> 00:59:50,320
Speaker 1: to our favorite questions that we ask all of our guests,

1059
00:59:50,320 --> 00:59:53,360
Speaker 1: starting with what are you streaming these days? Tell us

1060
00:59:53,360 --> 00:59:57,560
Speaker 1: what's keeping you entertained during this work from home era

1061
00:59:58,120 --> 01:00:02,000
Speaker 1: either Netflix or Amazon Time or whatever podcast or audio

1062
01:00:02,040 --> 01:00:06,720
Speaker 1: you might be listening to. What's keeping you busy these days? Well,

1063
01:00:06,760 --> 01:00:10,720
Speaker 1: I would say that from a streaming perspective, except for

1064
01:00:10,760 --> 01:00:14,120
Speaker 1: The Crown, my wife and I don't do much of

1065
01:00:14,120 --> 01:00:18,960
Speaker 1: that stuff. I when I am winding down, I'm much

1066
01:00:19,040 --> 01:00:21,640
Speaker 1: more about reading books than I am about streaming. But

1067
01:00:21,680 --> 01:00:23,840
Speaker 1: I will say we got sort of addicted to the

1068
01:00:24,400 --> 01:00:27,840
Speaker 1: series The Crown and love it. My mother's English. I

1069
01:00:27,840 --> 01:00:30,080
Speaker 1: went to English. I went to England every summer to

1070
01:00:30,200 --> 01:00:33,720
Speaker 1: visit my grandmother. So I'm a little bit of an anglophile,

1071
01:00:33,760 --> 01:00:36,400
Speaker 1: and that's that series really resonated with me. But to

1072
01:00:36,440 --> 01:00:41,120
Speaker 1: be honest with you, I'm much more interested in reading

1073
01:00:41,120 --> 01:00:42,920
Speaker 1: books when I have some free time. I think that

1074
01:00:43,040 --> 01:00:47,240
Speaker 1: quiet really appeals to me. And so uh um, that's about.

1075
01:00:47,520 --> 01:00:50,720
Speaker 1: That's about it. From a streaming perspective. Well, we'll get

1076
01:00:50,760 --> 01:00:54,920
Speaker 1: to books in a moment. Let's talk about your mentors

1077
01:00:54,960 --> 01:01:02,920
Speaker 1: who helped to shape your career. UM, I've been UH,

1078
01:01:03,120 --> 01:01:08,160
Speaker 1: I've been blessed with UM a lot of mentors. You know.

1079
01:01:08,280 --> 01:01:14,919
Speaker 1: I think that probably, UM, there's two Rather than name names,

1080
01:01:14,960 --> 01:01:18,840
Speaker 1: I would say two things really, UH I value in

1081
01:01:18,920 --> 01:01:22,320
Speaker 1: terms of the mentorship that I got UH as a

1082
01:01:22,320 --> 01:01:24,640
Speaker 1: as my career was developed. The first thing is I

1083
01:01:24,680 --> 01:01:28,160
Speaker 1: mentioned early on that Northwestern Mutual does a lot of

1084
01:01:28,240 --> 01:01:32,200
Speaker 1: leverage buyouts and UM and we continue to be very

1085
01:01:32,240 --> 01:01:35,360
Speaker 1: active in that part of the capital markets as a company.

1086
01:01:35,360 --> 01:01:38,840
Speaker 1: But back when I was making those investments, the opportunity

1087
01:01:38,960 --> 01:01:41,400
Speaker 1: to either sit on a board that we of a

1088
01:01:41,440 --> 01:01:43,840
Speaker 1: company that we were an owner of, or at least

1089
01:01:43,920 --> 01:01:46,720
Speaker 1: be part of a board meeting when I was in

1090
01:01:46,720 --> 01:01:50,280
Speaker 1: a more junior role and see all those CEOs in

1091
01:01:50,320 --> 01:01:52,880
Speaker 1: action and how they ran companies. And it wasn't just

1092
01:01:52,920 --> 01:01:57,480
Speaker 1: financial services, it was aluminum die casting and retail products

1093
01:01:57,480 --> 01:02:00,720
Speaker 1: and consumer products and things like that. That ability to

1094
01:02:00,880 --> 01:02:05,960
Speaker 1: see UH, different industries confront similar problems, I think was

1095
01:02:05,960 --> 01:02:10,600
Speaker 1: was really helpful. UM. And then UM, you know my board,

1096
01:02:10,720 --> 01:02:13,680
Speaker 1: I've I've been you know a CEO for now going

1097
01:02:13,720 --> 01:02:16,680
Speaker 1: on eleven years. Before that, I was very involved with

1098
01:02:16,720 --> 01:02:20,280
Speaker 1: our board, and what I would say is that um

1099
01:02:20,280 --> 01:02:23,640
Speaker 1: our board, my board has been unbelievable in mentoring me.

1100
01:02:23,680 --> 01:02:25,400
Speaker 1: I can't tell you how many times when I was

1101
01:02:25,440 --> 01:02:30,160
Speaker 1: a junior executive making presentations to our board where a

1102
01:02:30,200 --> 01:02:32,520
Speaker 1: board member would take me aside after a board dinner

1103
01:02:32,520 --> 01:02:34,400
Speaker 1: and sit down with me for fifteen or twenty or

1104
01:02:34,440 --> 01:02:36,720
Speaker 1: thirty minutes and tell me what I did right, and

1105
01:02:36,720 --> 01:02:38,360
Speaker 1: tell me what I did wrong, and tell me where

1106
01:02:38,400 --> 01:02:41,280
Speaker 1: my style got of out of hand and things like that.

1107
01:02:41,440 --> 01:02:45,280
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of times people sort of

1108
01:02:45,320 --> 01:02:48,960
Speaker 1: say their board has been valuable, but I really need it.

1109
01:02:49,000 --> 01:02:51,960
Speaker 1: The mentorship that I've gotten and sort of the the

1110
01:02:52,040 --> 01:02:56,560
Speaker 1: advice that I've gotten, not necessarily about strategic goals, but

1111
01:02:56,720 --> 01:03:01,000
Speaker 1: more around style and relating to people and engaging with people.

1112
01:03:01,440 --> 01:03:04,360
Speaker 1: I think those those two things have really had the

1113
01:03:04,360 --> 01:03:08,360
Speaker 1: biggest impact on my sort of development as an executive,

1114
01:03:08,400 --> 01:03:12,640
Speaker 1: and it's stuff that I'm very appreciative of. Really really interesting.

1115
01:03:12,840 --> 01:03:16,200
Speaker 1: You mentioned books. Let's talk about some of your favorites.

1116
01:03:16,280 --> 01:03:19,280
Speaker 1: What what are you reading right now and what are

1117
01:03:19,440 --> 01:03:24,200
Speaker 1: some of your all time uh mostly loved books. Uh. Well,

1118
01:03:24,360 --> 01:03:29,120
Speaker 1: I am a big fan of history books. So you know,

1119
01:03:29,240 --> 01:03:31,640
Speaker 1: early in my career, you know, people would give me

1120
01:03:31,680 --> 01:03:34,080
Speaker 1: books like Good Degrade and stuff like that, and I've

1121
01:03:34,080 --> 01:03:36,480
Speaker 1: read them and I think they're good. Uh And I'm

1122
01:03:36,520 --> 01:03:38,760
Speaker 1: not complaining about it, but I found that I learned

1123
01:03:38,840 --> 01:03:42,680
Speaker 1: much more from reading about actual history and how people

1124
01:03:42,760 --> 01:03:45,880
Speaker 1: dealt with it. And I and I tend to, uh

1125
01:03:46,240 --> 01:03:51,960
Speaker 1: you know, move from American history to European history. Uh

1126
01:03:52,040 --> 01:03:53,800
Speaker 1: and and I you know, I just have a huge

1127
01:03:53,800 --> 01:03:56,400
Speaker 1: interest in both of those. Right now, I'm reading this really,

1128
01:03:56,480 --> 01:04:00,760
Speaker 1: someone recommended this book. It's called Oliver wis Well and

1129
01:04:00,800 --> 01:04:04,040
Speaker 1: it's I can't I think it was published in It's

1130
01:04:04,120 --> 01:04:06,720
Speaker 1: it's it's the one exception to my rule because it's

1131
01:04:06,720 --> 01:04:10,040
Speaker 1: a fiction book. But it's historical fiction about the Revolutionary

1132
01:04:10,040 --> 01:04:14,120
Speaker 1: War told from the perspective of loyalists, so people fighting

1133
01:04:14,120 --> 01:04:17,000
Speaker 1: against the colonists and the militia and George Washington and

1134
01:04:17,000 --> 01:04:20,560
Speaker 1: it's and it's really interesting, um to see it from

1135
01:04:20,560 --> 01:04:23,200
Speaker 1: that point of view. But I just finished that book.

1136
01:04:23,200 --> 01:04:27,400
Speaker 1: And I'm my wife and I just celebrated our wedding

1137
01:04:27,400 --> 01:04:29,320
Speaker 1: anniversary today as a matter of fact, and she gave

1138
01:04:29,360 --> 01:04:31,480
Speaker 1: me this book on Sunday, she jumped the gun a

1139
01:04:31,480 --> 01:04:34,360
Speaker 1: little bit. And it's called Lincoln's Mentors. That's by a

1140
01:04:34,360 --> 01:04:37,320
Speaker 1: guy named Michael Gerhard, and it's it's really about all

1141
01:04:37,360 --> 01:04:42,360
Speaker 1: the people in Lincoln's life that influenced his policy. And

1142
01:04:42,560 --> 01:04:44,560
Speaker 1: I'm not about it on page a hundred. I just

1143
01:04:44,640 --> 01:04:49,280
Speaker 1: started it, but it's it's really fascinating to see how um,

1144
01:04:49,600 --> 01:04:52,440
Speaker 1: the early people in his career Henry clay Is is

1145
01:04:52,440 --> 01:04:55,320
Speaker 1: the one I'm reading about now, and how influential they

1146
01:04:55,360 --> 01:04:59,000
Speaker 1: were in his sort of development as a leader. Um

1147
01:04:59,120 --> 01:05:02,240
Speaker 1: and so UM. I'd recommend both those books, the ones

1148
01:05:02,240 --> 01:05:06,040
Speaker 1: out of print. But this, this book by Michael Gerhard

1149
01:05:06,120 --> 01:05:09,240
Speaker 1: is I think it's relatively new and it's it's so far,

1150
01:05:09,320 --> 01:05:12,880
Speaker 1: so good. So that's what I'm reading right now. Very interesting.

1151
01:05:13,440 --> 01:05:16,320
Speaker 1: What sort of advice would you give a recent college

1152
01:05:16,320 --> 01:05:20,400
Speaker 1: grad who was interested in a career in either insurance

1153
01:05:20,480 --> 01:05:26,120
Speaker 1: or finance or both. Um. The the advice I got

1154
01:05:26,160 --> 01:05:28,640
Speaker 1: when I was twenty two is advice I followed at

1155
01:05:28,680 --> 01:05:30,439
Speaker 1: work for me, and so I always like to share

1156
01:05:30,440 --> 01:05:32,680
Speaker 1: it with other people. And one of my neighbors when

1157
01:05:32,720 --> 01:05:35,720
Speaker 1: I was just getting out of college, said the secret

1158
01:05:35,760 --> 01:05:38,000
Speaker 1: and he worked at a bank of fairly senior guy

1159
01:05:38,000 --> 01:05:40,480
Speaker 1: a local bank in Malwauke, and he said, if you

1160
01:05:40,600 --> 01:05:43,640
Speaker 1: work harder than anyone else between the ages of twenty

1161
01:05:43,640 --> 01:05:48,480
Speaker 1: five and thirty five and never stopped developing additional skills,

1162
01:05:48,680 --> 01:05:51,680
Speaker 1: so you're always learning, you'll set yourself up for a

1163
01:05:51,720 --> 01:05:54,480
Speaker 1: great career. And I've tried to follow that. Obviously, I'm

1164
01:05:54,480 --> 01:05:57,080
Speaker 1: well beyond thirty five now, but in my twenties and thirties,

1165
01:05:57,120 --> 01:05:59,880
Speaker 1: when you're young and you have bondless energy, there's no

1166
01:06:00,080 --> 01:06:02,720
Speaker 1: reason not to work harder than everybody else. And and

1167
01:06:02,760 --> 01:06:05,520
Speaker 1: I did that, and I think that was the foundation

1168
01:06:06,280 --> 01:06:08,480
Speaker 1: for the career. And then as as we talked about

1169
01:06:08,560 --> 01:06:11,680
Speaker 1: just reading books or finding other ways to constantly be learning,

1170
01:06:11,720 --> 01:06:15,600
Speaker 1: think about how Northwestern Mutual in thirty four years my

1171
01:06:15,720 --> 01:06:19,760
Speaker 1: career there has changed. It's dramatic how we've evolved and

1172
01:06:19,840 --> 01:06:23,600
Speaker 1: changed and transformed ourselves. And you couldn't do that if

1173
01:06:23,640 --> 01:06:27,800
Speaker 1: you weren't reading and learning and observing and being curious.

1174
01:06:27,840 --> 01:06:31,080
Speaker 1: And so I think I think those two things, working

1175
01:06:31,160 --> 01:06:34,160
Speaker 1: hard and never stopped being curious, never stopped looking at

1176
01:06:34,200 --> 01:06:38,760
Speaker 1: other industries or people for for skill sets or ideas.

1177
01:06:38,840 --> 01:06:43,000
Speaker 1: I think it's really ultimately a great way to build

1178
01:06:43,000 --> 01:06:45,600
Speaker 1: a career, regardless of whether it's an insurance and finance

1179
01:06:45,760 --> 01:06:51,000
Speaker 1: or probably anywhere else. Quite interesting. And our final question,

1180
01:06:51,600 --> 01:06:54,360
Speaker 1: what do you know about the world of insurance and

1181
01:06:54,480 --> 01:06:57,840
Speaker 1: corporate leadership that you wish you knew when you began

1182
01:06:57,920 --> 01:07:03,120
Speaker 1: your career thirty four US years ago? When I started

1183
01:07:03,120 --> 01:07:05,320
Speaker 1: at Northwestern Mutual, as I mentioned, I worked in the

1184
01:07:05,360 --> 01:07:07,960
Speaker 1: investment side. I could have cared less about life insurance.

1185
01:07:08,040 --> 01:07:12,200
Speaker 1: I just loved being a portfolio manager, investing in companies,

1186
01:07:12,240 --> 01:07:15,720
Speaker 1: watching them grow, etcetera, etcetera. If I wish I had

1187
01:07:15,800 --> 01:07:17,920
Speaker 1: known what a great industry this is back then, and

1188
01:07:17,960 --> 01:07:20,680
Speaker 1: maybe this sounds a little self serving, but our industry

1189
01:07:21,400 --> 01:07:25,680
Speaker 1: is vibrant, it's growing, it's full of innovation, and I

1190
01:07:25,720 --> 01:07:28,880
Speaker 1: think sometimes people aren't attracted to it because they think

1191
01:07:28,920 --> 01:07:31,920
Speaker 1: it's kind of boring and old and stagy, and it's

1192
01:07:31,960 --> 01:07:33,960
Speaker 1: really not that. And I wish I had known more

1193
01:07:34,000 --> 01:07:36,880
Speaker 1: about that. I probably would have paid more attention to

1194
01:07:37,000 --> 01:07:39,800
Speaker 1: things going on around me rather than just honkering down

1195
01:07:39,840 --> 01:07:43,440
Speaker 1: and doing the investment stuff. And uh um. From a

1196
01:07:43,520 --> 01:07:50,600
Speaker 1: leadership perspective, Um, you know, I'm still evolving there. But ultimately,

1197
01:07:51,480 --> 01:07:54,360
Speaker 1: what I've really learned about leadership that I didn't know

1198
01:07:54,440 --> 01:08:00,600
Speaker 1: back then is that you have to have both a

1199
01:08:00,720 --> 01:08:05,960
Speaker 1: keen um intellect and strategic mind, but you also have

1200
01:08:06,040 --> 01:08:10,680
Speaker 1: to have high emotional i Q emotional quotation and I

1201
01:08:10,800 --> 01:08:13,080
Speaker 1: and I really when I was younger, I thought, Wow,

1202
01:08:13,120 --> 01:08:16,000
Speaker 1: if I have a good idea to explain it, everyone

1203
01:08:16,000 --> 01:08:18,400
Speaker 1: will just buy into it and start working there. And

1204
01:08:18,400 --> 01:08:23,360
Speaker 1: I totally under appreciated how much how important it is

1205
01:08:23,880 --> 01:08:26,679
Speaker 1: to engage with people not just on an intellectual level,

1206
01:08:26,720 --> 01:08:29,600
Speaker 1: but on an emotional level, so that there's so that

1207
01:08:29,640 --> 01:08:31,559
Speaker 1: they know that you care about them. They know that

1208
01:08:31,640 --> 01:08:34,360
Speaker 1: the reason you have this idea is not for selfish reasons,

1209
01:08:34,360 --> 01:08:37,040
Speaker 1: but it's for the good of the organization. They believe

1210
01:08:37,160 --> 01:08:40,720
Speaker 1: that what you're doing isn't just for personal aggrandizement for

1211
01:08:40,760 --> 01:08:43,040
Speaker 1: the but for the for the good of the organization.

1212
01:08:43,120 --> 01:08:46,160
Speaker 1: I don't think I really appreciated that fifteen or twenty

1213
01:08:46,200 --> 01:08:48,400
Speaker 1: years ago. Maybe even ten years ago, I didn't appreciate it.

1214
01:08:48,400 --> 01:08:50,479
Speaker 1: But as I you know, as I as I've been

1215
01:08:50,520 --> 01:08:55,759
Speaker 1: in this job longer, you just can't underestimate the value

1216
01:08:55,880 --> 01:08:59,759
Speaker 1: of both of those things being integral to actually moving

1217
01:08:59,760 --> 01:09:02,880
Speaker 1: some things forward. Thanks John for being so generous with

1218
01:09:03,000 --> 01:09:06,360
Speaker 1: your time we have been speaking with John Schlifsky. He

1219
01:09:06,520 --> 01:09:10,160
Speaker 1: is the chairman and chief executive officer of Fortune one

1220
01:09:10,240 --> 01:09:15,320
Speaker 1: hundred company Northwestern Mutual. If you enjoy this conversation, well

1221
01:09:15,439 --> 01:09:19,080
Speaker 1: check out any of our previous four hundred interviews. You

1222
01:09:19,120 --> 01:09:22,920
Speaker 1: can find those at iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get

1223
01:09:22,960 --> 01:09:27,000
Speaker 1: your podcast fix. We love your comments, feedback and suggestions

1224
01:09:27,240 --> 01:09:31,439
Speaker 1: right to us at m IB podcast at Bloomberg dot net.

1225
01:09:32,160 --> 01:09:35,040
Speaker 1: You can sign up for my daily reads at Rid

1226
01:09:35,080 --> 01:09:38,560
Speaker 1: Halts dot com. Check out my weekly column on Bloomberg

1227
01:09:38,600 --> 01:09:43,240
Speaker 1: dot com slash Opinion. Follow me on Twitter at Rid Halts.

1228
01:09:43,479 --> 01:09:45,400
Speaker 1: I would be remiss if I did not thank the

1229
01:09:45,439 --> 01:09:49,320
Speaker 1: crack staff that helps put these conversations together each week.

1230
01:09:49,800 --> 01:09:53,519
Speaker 1: Maroufal is my audio engineer atko. Val Bron is our

1231
01:09:53,640 --> 01:09:57,920
Speaker 1: project manager. Michael Boyle is my producer. Michael bat Nick

1232
01:09:58,040 --> 01:10:01,479
Speaker 1: is my head of research. I'm Barry Ritults. You've been

1233
01:10:01,520 --> 01:10:04,920
Speaker 1: listening to Master's in Business on Bloomberg Radio.