The GRIT Factor by Insurance Group of America

Resilient Leadership with Andrew Bennett

• Insurance Group of America • Episode 2

Share episode

Today, we dive into the world of resilient leadership featuring Andrew Bennett, COO of IGA. His journey from the military to corporate leadership highlights the essential values of resilience, trust, and continuous learning. Leadership is not just about control but about collaboration, trust, and the ability to bounce back from mistakes.

• Andrew's military background shapes his leadership style 
• Resilience as a fundamental value at IGA 
• The importance of trusting colleagues in high-paced environments 
• Learning from mistakes and fostering a culture of growth 
• How to “hunt the good stuff” in challenging times 
• Opportunities and growth paths at IGA for aspiring leaders 

Remember to explore opportunities and learn more about the culture at the Insurance Group of America.


Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Grit Factor podcast. I'm Drew Powell, and here we explore what it takes to succeed through the lens of guts. Resilience, integrity and tenacity these are the values that drive high performing leaders and shape the culture at the Insurance Group of America. Each episode will sit down with industry trailblazers, iga team members and inspiring professionals who have embraced grit to overcome challenges, seize opportunities and create meaningful impact. Whether you're considered joining IGA or simply looking for the tools to take your career to the next level, you're in the right place. So buckle up. It's time to discover the Grit Factor. Awesome, andrew Bennett. Welcome to the Grit Factor podcast. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1:

You are episode two, having to follow Jamie Ngo clean up his mess. Well, welcome to my world. I teed you up perfectly for that one. No, he did a great job, but we're excited to have you on the podcast, hear some of your story and talk a little bit more about one of our values resilience, resilient leadership, and so, yeah, really grateful to have you here. So tell us a little bit about your. What's the origin story of Andrew Bennett? How did you get to this moment in time?

Speaker 2:

Oh, it's been a journey, I'll tell you that. So I, straight out of high school, I joined the military. And so, through my journey, through education and all that stuff, I joined the military, deployed to Iraq, came back, started college. Then deployed to Kuwait Wow, came back, resumed college. Deployed to Afghanistan, came back, finished college. So is that three tours? Yes, sir, three. Well, thank you Absolutely. Thank you Absolutely. Thank you, um, but it's so.

Speaker 2:

Obviously I had a pretty non-traditional path as it came to, you know, growing up and getting out into the real world. So, um, I, somewhere along that journey, I I had dabbled in some insurance at one point and, um, I really liked it, I enjoyed it, which caused me to pursue a minor in insurance. And during that, there was a solicitation for an internship with IGA. And I reached out to Jamie and I was like, hey, I'm interested, but I'm not the typical, you know, 22 year old kid coming out of college. Um, with some flexibility, you know, I've got, I've got a life, uh, uh, and a house that I got to pay for and all that stuff. So I'll, I'll need like a guaranteed job whenever I graduate.

Speaker 2:

And he, at that point in time, he was like, well, we don't. I don't think that's going to be the case. Um, so, appreciate your honesty, shook hands, went our separate ways and you know I went on, you know, my job search. Um, then, a couple months later, he calls me up. He's like are you still in the market for a job? I said absolutely. Um, and then, uh, went through the, I interviewed with him, a couple of the team and, uh, what year would that have been? That's that was in 2015.

Speaker 1:

Um, because the company I'm trying to think it would 2014, you has well say, is pretty young company at the point.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, um, everybody says I'm employee number two. That's wild.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's, it is, it's been we could do a whole episode on just what you've seen the growth, all that stuff over the last however many years um, so I'm, I've been with, with with jamie for nine out of the ten years he's been around the organization. So yeah, um, but yeah, the rest, they say, is history, and started as an intern then, or do you come on a little bit more elevated position?

Speaker 2:

I came on, as is our lowest entry level position, which is a processing role. Again, I didn't know anything about insurance, uh, in the grand of things, didn't know anything at all about what an independent agency did or does, and so I took the role to become more familiar get my feet under me.

Speaker 2:

Learn, grow, adapt, get kicked in the teeth, yeah, yeah, yeah and uh, and throughout that journey I've sat in literally every seat on the ride um between the service side to sales, to to new business marketing, to um, back into service and now into operations, where I'm, you know the COO.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, talk a little bit about your current role.

Speaker 2:

Yes, sir. So I've, I'm, I'm the guy that they say yeah, ask Andrew, right? Um, when, when nobody else has the answer, they say ask Andrew. A lot of times, I do hear that a lot but um, but it's you know I I make it up as I go and we try to do the right thing in the grand scheme of things. So, realistically, I'm in charge of the day-to-day operations of the agency, as well as budgeting, forecasting from a financial perspective, just business operations as a whole.

Speaker 1:

So is that kind of complementary to this? Because Jamie focused on his episode. He talked a lot about the sales side and all that kind of stuff. That's obviously his baby, I mean, he's so great at that and then the service side. It's almost like there's kind of two. Am I saying this right? Is there kind of like two depart, not departments, but kind of two lanes?

Speaker 2:

of ig two functions okay, I would actually say there's probably more like three okay, um, there's there the sales aspect, there's the service aspect and then there's the support aspect. Got it? So sales is obviously sales. It's pretty universal across any industry. Service is once we have the clients on board, taking care of their needs, making sure they get everything that they want and need, um. And then the support aspect is the I call it the internal business, um, support that every company has and that's, you know, your accounting, your um, your, I hate you just continue using the word operations yeah but the day-to-day workings of the company cashflow, um, you know, supplying the admin function, hr, it, all those things are kind of rolled up into that support function.

Speaker 1:

So this is a little curve ball question, but you know cause I didn't. I wasn't aware of your military background and and how extensive that was, and we're talking about resilient leadership today. I'm just curious like talk about Andrew pre-military and then Andrew post-military, and how has that shaped your view on even what you bring to the workplace down at IGA as our COO?

Speaker 2:

Yeah so there hasn't really been a pre-military. I joined when I was 17. Yeah so I was literally a senior in high school when I decided to take that leap and it's been a massive part of who I am until I retired early last year, last year or so. But with that being said, resiliency is a big push that they've had in the military, especially over the last decade or so, and in that environment you're always going to run into obstacles, you're always going to be faced with challenges, but at the end of the day, you have to persevere and you have to find the motivation and the reasons to keep going, and whether that's for the good of the mission, for the good of the people around you, for the good of yourself Right, it's hunting the good stuff, as they call it. You always got to find the upside.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, going to find the upside. Yeah, I mean, I would imagine, especially with all that you've all that, you've seen all of you done three different tours that that would have to like shape a person and how they like show up in the world for the rest of their life. Right, and you know, it can't help but impact your leadership, your leadership style. And I'm curious, even as a as an executive leader here at IGA, how would you describe your style, your management, your leadership? Because Jamie is kind of like the, he's loud, outgoing, full throttle and you know, obviously you hang with that. You guys have a great working relationship.

Speaker 2:

So I would, I would say I'm the the, the ying does yang right. I'm where where he's, he's very passionate and and direct and motivated every single day, in and out. Um, I'm I'm very level-tempered, um, and so I try and keep a that that that marathon pace instead of a sprint pace, um, and us working side by side brings a good dynamic throughout the company, from the top to bottom, Um, and an important function of my role is to ensure that that that level tempo is is translated uh from from my level all the way down Right, Um, while still accomplishing the sprints that Jamie is very passionate about.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, it's working and it's great because it's I love. I mean, jamie is so complimentary of you behind your back. I mean he's just like man Andrew's, you know, and he loves to brag about how far you've come in the company. Because I do think it's important to him and you as well. Now, when, when new employees join the company, it's important for you guys as leaders to for them to have a path, for them to see, like hey, you know, look where andrew's come and he's worked hard. Now it's you know you've done your part too, right, it's not just you know for everybody, but when you get in and it's a good fit and you work hard that there is a growth path here. Talk a little bit about that experience for you and just what you've seen over the years to getting to where you are today and how that growth path has impacted your life.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. And the biggest, the biggest key there is continual growth, um, and it's not just growth through experience, but it's it's pushing your knowledge base, even if you feel like you're not going to need it or it doesn't really pertain to you that day. Acquiring skill sets, expanding skill sets that you're maybe not using, it's always going to continue to help further your growth and open up those doors to other opportunities. To that point, I started and I finished my master's, since I've been with Jamie and I'll tell you, there were a handful of times when you know I'm ready to go out the door at five and I said, hey, I gotta, I gotta get out of here, like right now, because I gotta go catch my, my 630 class at mtsu, um, and he's like why are you even doing that? Yeah, it's just, it's a, it's a goal that I've set, that I wanted to get, and he's like's like you don't need it for me and you're like yeah, but I want it for me.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that.

Speaker 2:

And fortunately, and fortunately for Jamie the skill set that I got by going through all of that directly ties into everything that I do day to day now.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's awesome. Well, let's live into this. Just this topic of resilience and why it's a core value of uh of ours, why it's part of the grit mantra that we have around here. What does resilience mean to you and how has that shaped your career?

Speaker 2:

Resiliency. At the end of the day, it's the ability to know, the ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel, know that, even if it's dark and hard and difficult today, that everything's going to be fine, because every challenge you face it feels like the end of the world, but it never is. You wake up the next day, you figure out what's wrong with it, where you went wrong, how you went wrong, and then you keep going. And so the ability to get up, dust yourself off and stay committed to the mission and and and keep moving forward, yeah.

Speaker 1:

And I've heard you talk about just like the ability to bounce back. What does that mean to you? Like that, practically speaking, in this lane of work? You know why do you preach that message. Hey, resilience, is you got to be able to bounce back?

Speaker 2:

As, as I mentioned, I started on the ground floor, um, I, I didn't know anything, um and through a lot, of, a lot of the experience, as in a growing company, I didn't have the resources or the people to just rely on to answer everything for me. So with that I've made a ton of mistakes, I've failed a lot.

Speaker 1:

That'll be it. We'll do an episode on that. All of Andrew's mistakes.

Speaker 2:

We could probably do a whole different podcast on that, but I've failed a lot. I call it getting kicked in the teeth. Um, cause, you know, obviously, when you, when you mess up somebody's upset somewhere some way, whether it's a client, whether it's a coworker, whether it's your boss, whoever it is somebody's upset Um, if you, if you're not able to quote unquote, bounce back and be resilient. If you, if you're not able to quote unquote, bounce back and be resilient. You're going to dwell on it. You're gonna, you're gonna see, you're gonna focus on that mistake and either be gun shy on the next decision you have to make or you're gonna decide. You know what I'm gonna change my approach, I'm gonna go into a different business. That's fail-proof, right, but then you lose a lot of opportunity.

Speaker 1:

And it seems like you guys lead this as a fail-forward type of and it's not like we encourage mistakes type thing. But from what I've gathered in some of these conversations, it just feels like this is a safe place to not have all the answers, to be able to ask, to say, hey, I got a question on this, and everyone seems very happy to kind of collaborate and show each other. It's almost like the ones that isolate and don't ask. It's like we'd rather you ask or make a mistake while checking in than to go it alone and then make a mistake and we can't help you. And I mean the unpack that as a part of our culture.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so so we give permission. We give people permission to fail, um, and the ability and the confidence that when they do fail it's not punished. We know that in a high-tempo, high-octane organization the people move fast and when you move fast you take some risks. When you're taking risks, you're going to make mistakes. We accept and appreciate those mistakes, assuming people learn from them. Right. If they're continually doing the same thing, you're not learning from your mistakes. That's a little bit different. But we allow people to fail through trying. It's the lack of caring or a lack of effort kind of failure that we don't accept and don't tolerate.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I've noticed that kind of humility from the top down with you and Jamie and the others that are on the leadership team, that there is that like open handedness, Like we don't always have all the answers either, so we're not going to set ourselves up on this pedestal. So we're not going to set ourselves up on this pedestal and I think it permissions everyone else to kind of like take an exhale, breathe deep, but just settle into their leadership role here and what really I think drives success on the individual level for a lot of these people. I'm curious I put you on the spot here but any specific challenge that you face when it comes to resilient leadership, how did you navigate through that? You mentioned like a lot of failure through the years, not the harp on that, but I think it's helpful for some of us to hear, like, what are some of the specific challenges and how did you, how did you bounce back in that?

Speaker 2:

So the my entire career, like, like. Like I said, I mean that's really been a challenge, day in and day out. But I mean, specifically, I can think of probably the most recent time I sent out a bad email. I didn't adapt my communication style to the way people receive it and it was very A to B. I didn't really think about the, the consequences of how people would interpret it internally and the turmoil that that would cause and and uh and whatnot, and obviously it caused some issues, um and so what iga did for me and how Jamie supported my failure. I mean, we've sought out resources to help me coach and navigate through those in the future. Right, it's thinking about how I should have said it, how the words that I say matter. Right, you know just those basic communication skills to help refine it as they're coming from a leader of the organization. Yeah, I love that.

Speaker 1:

The reason why I ask is that speaks to resilient leadership. I mean, it's like you can't bounce back, you can't be resilient if you don't hit obstacles and challenges and different things and grow through them. I'm curious about the habits and mindset, even the shifts, that you've had to maintain resilience over the long term. Right, you've been doing this a fair amount of years now, like employee number two all the way to COO, so I'm sure there's been some mindset shifts or habits you've had to employ to kind of elevate yourself through the years.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it's really an extension of those core concepts and foundational items. That core concepts and foundational items that you know I've, I've learned from the military and you know the quote unquote hunt, the good stuff.

Speaker 1:

It's finding the upside in most things and yeah, I'd love to hear more about you said that earlier and I'm just like what is that?

Speaker 2:

When you say, hunt the good stuff, what do they typically? When we're talking about resiliency, we're talking about the bad situations. Right, you don't have to be resilient in good times, um, but but on the in, in the bad situations, the, the, the problems that arise and all that stuff, you gotta, you gotta hunt the good stuff. And whether that's hunt the good stuff within that situation, um, whether it's it's okay, I'll learn to do it this way or this way, or just at the end of the day, I learned what not to do, right, or it's, yeah, the whole world seems like it's crashing down right now, but what keeps me going? Oh, it's my family, it's my daughter.

Speaker 1:

That perspective yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know those kinds of things. So that's, that's really what hunting the good stuff is. It's, it's finding the good stuff not only within a situation, but within your life. That's that's makes everything worth it.

Speaker 1:

Just vulnerability, just allowing yourself to kind of be open and honest, and how does that impact your leadership when it comes to being resilient, just allowing yourself to be open-handed with stuff?

Speaker 2:

In order to have an effective team, you've got to be able to communicate, and, coming from somebody who just had to go through a communications class, no. You have to be able to talk to your team not only about the good stuff but the bad stuff, and it's not always dictation. Sometimes you're not at 100%. I think there's a lot of stigma in today's society about not being 100%.

Speaker 2:

100%, a hundred percent of the time, Um, and the reality is nobody is right, Um, and so it's just being honest with yourself, honest with your team and open with them saying, hey guys, I, I, I need to take a playoff. I can go to the sidelines and he could get a drink of water. Uh, take some breath.

Speaker 1:

regroup a little bit regroup.

Speaker 2:

but but getting back in the game, Um, and, and that way your team knows what kind of headspace you're in, um, they know whether or not to to maybe hold on to something that they they might have just tossed in your lap yeah, right uh that that you weren't, you know, mentally prepared to handle that day.

Speaker 1:

Well, and it takes that self-awareness too right Of like knowing, like, hey, I need a beat, I need a pause, I need to take a breath, I need to go for a walk, I need to, you know, and that's okay, like it's okay to call a timeout, and that's not weakness, that's actually showing resiliency when you're like, hey, let me gather myself here before I, you know, fire off this email or I lose it in a meeting, or whatever it might be.

Speaker 1:

You know, it's like because we are moving fast here there's a lot of movement, but to know like, even in this pace, you can call a timeout for yourself when you need to care for what's going on in you, right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. And the other aspect of you know, resiliency and leadership is not just about you either. It's identifying your team and doing those checks on them and being you know in their personal life, professional life, saying, hey, everything good. And they're like, oh, yep, got all my work done. I'm like, well, are, are you good, yeah?

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

Not just are you good with the work that you've been given, but, you know, are you good from a personal aspect? And sometimes when you, when you you ask that question and you go a little bit deeper than you know the surface, you get answers that you're not expecting. You're like oh wow, right, I got to take a step back and be like oh, okay, be ready for what might come after that, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, and it's not only that, but understand, okay, they're going to have some limitations right now, until they get over or through, um, the whatever they're going through, and so then you can adapt, not only workload, but you know your, your conversations, your your communication style, your just your everyday interactions around that person.

Speaker 1:

yeah, and I I mean iga allows people to be human, right, because that's just. We're going to have seasons of life where we're going to, you know, we're going to be human, there's going to be brokenness, there's going to be different things we're going through and a lot of organizations don't really allow for that. They're just like, hey, we just need you to show up and perform and it's almost like be robotic. What I've noticed here is that there is a high, there's a high emphasis on performance as a high performing organization. And what's also true is you can be a human here. You can kind of come with, you know, your stuff and your junk and whatever else, and you know there's there's in an appropriate way, professional way, there's going to be space for for some of that.

Speaker 2:

Is that true? I mean, am I, am I out of line by saying that? No, it's, it's, it's 100 accurate and it it has to be um for any, for any fast, fast paced place, um, people have to be okay, being okay, and so we, I would like to say we take pride in making sure our people are okay, um, and not just taking surface level comments. If I'm good, yeah, right, right.

Speaker 1:

Well, to that point, there's something that you and Jamie say all the time. You guys say we'll never go hungry.

Speaker 2:

Yeah so yeah. I'm I'm sure you've heard the phrase um, um, what's the, what's the best way to eat? An elephant, one bite at a time, and so in in life, or even IGA? Um, you know, those are, that's the elephant, and you know your, your problems, your issues to solve, that you know those are your bites and so, um with that, you know, as long as we're, we're taking care of those, those, those bites, you know we're never going to go hungry. I love that.

Speaker 1:

I love that. Talk to the, the person who might be listening or watching this podcast, who's looking at coming on board here at IGA and exploring a career here. You know, specifically in like the operations service side of things. You know, we talked a little bit about sales stuff with Jamie. We've got some great guests coming on and they're kind of all over the different parts of the organization because we do have some really fantastic leaders here that we want to hear their story. But speak to that person specifically, kind of in your purview of leadership, what would you tell them about IGA as far as what does it take to thrive here?

Speaker 2:

I would say that it takes a high level of commitment, but I would also say that it takes a high level of trust, and that's within yourself and within the organization. If you know you're a determined person, if you know that you're committed, you know that you're driven. I think that that's the foundational requirements to make it here. But I would also say that you have to trust the other people around you, because it's really easy to hold everything work-wise, feelings-wise, whatever but at the end of the day, you can only do and hold so much, and so you have to trust those around you to either do their portion of it or not necessarily judge or have a stigma about how you're feeling. And so it's. And I understand the trust isn't something that's day one for most people, but as you continue to grow and adapt, that's really the biggest driver of that.

Speaker 1:

I love that Just kind of final thought on resilient leadership. For those listening watching again just either a current employee of IGA or someone looking to come on board what encouragement, what advice do you have, professionally but also just personally, on how resilient leadership has played a role in your life and how it might impact their life if it's a skill that they're willing to acquire?

Speaker 2:

Resiliency isn't just beneficial in the workplace. That's where I would say, start. Not just going to help you manage a workload or overcome the screw up that you made on this one particular task, um, it's. It's going to affect everything from a to z, um, and what I mean by that is when you're going through struggles at home. Um, if you're, if you're hunting the good stuff, if you're eating the elephant and you're focusing on the next step, that's how you're going to get through it.

Speaker 2:

And actually I just texted Jamie this yesterday or the day before, and I said we're just talking about how, where we are today, versus you know, versus you know nine, ten years ago, right, it just it's surreal, um, the, the transformations that we've made. And but when you, when you turn from looking behind you to looking forward, it's like, yeah, we've came a long way, but oh man, we still got to climb Mount Everest. Right, we've still got a long way to go. If you focus on your next step and then your next step, instead of looking all the way at the top to say, oh, I got this big journey ahead of me, it's not so daunting. Sure, what excites you, ernie, ahead of me? It's, it's not as it's not so daunting, Sure.

Speaker 1:

What excites you? Final question, Cause I was, I just when you said that about Mount Everest and where you're at just on our leadership team here. What excites you about the future of IGA? When you look down the road, what, what kind of gets you fired up?

Speaker 2:

It's. So I'll back up to answer that when I got hired here, I had actually already accepted a position somewhere else. Um, very, very comparable pay, benefits, everything from a to z. So it was. It was a flip of the coin, right, and it was either go to a very, very well established company with you nothing to grow, nothing to build, or take a gamble and come to IGA. Cause again it was. It was a year old company, um, in an industry that that I do very little about. Um. I didn't know if I was going to succeed or fail Um, but I decided to go with IGA, and it's because of opportunity. Um. I knew coming in in year one. If it was successful, I had nowhere to go but up Um.

Speaker 2:

And what I say to everybody, uh, whether I'm interviewing them or just talking about iga in general is is your trajectory with iga is only capped by the growth of of the company as a whole. Um, we don't. We don't even know what all seats are going to be available on the ride, um, but as we continue to grow, there's going to be more and more branches off of that tree that that's going to continue to provide ample opportunity for every walk of life, whether you're in accounting or hr or marketing for the. You know branding, if you will sure um to to it, to service and the various kinds of branches out from that. I mean, yeah, not knowing exactly what iga will look like in 10 years is what what excites me? Yeah, because we think we know where we can go. We think we know what we can get to. We have a plan, we have a uh, a workable plan, but you know, just not knowing where it's going to go, but knowing that it's going to go is what is what? What excites me?

Speaker 1:

That's awesome, man. Well, listen, so glad you took that, took that choice, took that risk all those years ago, and grateful for your leadership and the culture that you helped curate here at IGA. It is exciting, man. It's like you said. It's like we have a path, we have a strategy, but there's a lot of unknown too, and it makes it especially for people that are wired like you and I. That's actually more exciting than the, than the um.

Speaker 2:

It's always the journey, not the destination.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, well said Well, andrew, thanks, man, thanks for being honest with fun.

Speaker 2:

Yep, thank you.

Speaker 1:

Well, thanks for joining us on the grit factor podcast. We hope you're leaving inspired, equipped and ready to level up their leadership. And if you're interested in learning more about the culture and opportunities at the insurance group of America, visit us at igabiz. Forward slash careers. Remember, success isn't about avoiding challenges, it's about facing them with grit. Until next time, stay bold, stay resilient and keep pursuing excellence.