The GRIT Factor by Insurance Group of America
🎙️ The GRIT Factor Podcast – Where high performers, bold leaders, and ambitious professionals come to learn what it takes to succeed.
Hosted by Drew Powell, this podcast dives deep into the core values that define true leadership and career excellence: Guts, Resilience, Integrity, and Tenacity. These are the values that drive high achievers and form the foundation of the culture at the Insurance Group of America (IGA).
Each episode features real conversations with industry leaders, top performers, and IGA team members who have embraced the G.R.I.T. mindset to overcome obstacles, take risks, and build lasting success. Whether you’re looking for leadership insights, career advice, or an inside look at what makes IGA a powerhouse of talent and culture, this is the podcast for you.
🚀 New episodes drop bi-weekly on Wednesdays.
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The GRIT Factor by Insurance Group of America
The Integrity Advantage: Building Trust through Honesty and Consistency
The Grit Factor podcast welcomes Jessi, Director of Claims at Insurance Group of America, who embodies the company's core value of integrity through her remarkable career journey. Known affectionately as "The Bulldog" by leadership, Jesse shares how she transformed from a restaurant worker into a respected insurance professional in less than four years through unwavering honesty, transparency, and consistency.
Jessi's fascinating story begins with her graduation from a small Tennessee high school and navigating the challenges of completing her marketing degree during COVID-19's early days. After being recruited by her sister Allison (another IGA team member), Jessi experienced what she calls "culture shock" during an interview where leadership's authenticity immediately stood out. Though she entered without insurance experience, her willingness to admit knowledge gaps and learn quickly propelled her from Account Coordinator to Claims Director in a remarkably short timeframe.
The conversation explores why integrity matters profoundly in insurance, where clients rely on professionals during their most stressful moments. Jesse recalls a defining career moment when she discovered missed cancellation notices and, rather than hiding her mistake, immediately sought help—a decision that counterintuitively strengthened leadership's trust in her. This exemplifies IGA's "fail forward" culture, where honest mistakes become growth opportunities rather than career-ending events.
For those considering joining IGA, Jessi offers powerful advice: anchor decisions in core values, align actions with words through authenticity, and own mistakes by admitting when wrong and taking steps to make things right. Her parting wisdom perfectly captures why integrity serves as the foundation for success at IGA: "If you're about doing the right thing and holding yourself and teammates accountable, and as long as you value honesty even when it's challenging, you'll thrive here."
Ready to discover how the Grit Factor could transform your insurance career? Listen now and learn how integrity becomes a competitive advantage at IGA.
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. 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 considering 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. All right, well, jessie, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I'm so happy to be here today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you got chosen to be episode three here, talking about the integrity advantage. So how do you feel about being asked to speak on this subject?
Speaker 2:Quite nervous, but very honored. Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1:Well, when we were looking through the subjects of things we want to cover, talking about the grit factor and integrity being a big piece of it, jamie was like you got to talk to Jesse and he just was bragging on you how you just embody this particular part of our value system. But we're going to jump into a bunch of stuff here. We're going to talk a lot about integrity, how that plays out in your personal leadership and as a manager and the company, and all that kind of stuff. Before we do, I just want people to get to know you a little bit. Where did you grow up, where did you come from and how did you get to IGA?
Speaker 2:Okay, yes, so I graduated from a small high school in Summertown, tennessee, graduating class of around 90 people, so very small before following my now husband to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
Speaker 1:Did you have meat at the community college?
Speaker 2:So we actually met at a restaurant together. Yes, we worked together, we were friends. We were both in other relationships at the time. Neither of those worked out and then we got together and we've been together since that's awesome and you followed them to.
Speaker 1:I was joking with you earlier about being a volunteer, and then we had Allison on who is a Georgia bulldog. I'm a Florida gator. And then you were saying, as long as there's keep Alabama out of the picture, we're good, right.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir.
Speaker 1:So you don't have feelings towards Florida, the gators, as much as you do Alabama.
Speaker 2:I mean.
Speaker 1:Because a lot of Tennessee volunteers really can't stand Florida Gators. I know, I know, but you don't have as strong of feelings, not as strong of feelings, and that's only because so.
Speaker 2:My husband was in a fraternity called Kafa when he was in school and some of their brothers were from the University of Florida, so I have some love for them.
Speaker 1:Gotcha, see, it's a relationship base. If you know some people and they're decent, then yeah, yeah, well, that's great. And so talk a little bit about your journey to how you got from Knoxville, from UT, and how you got here to IGA.
Speaker 2:Yes, knoxville from UT. And how you got here to IGA? Yes. So my last semester of UTK was spent the spring of 2020. So, as you know, that was the height of COVID.
Speaker 1:Brutal.
Speaker 2:Yes. So a month Into being in that semester, we were all sent home. I had to finish out the semester from a computer which really set me up for success here because you really had to hold yourself accountable, make sure all your work was done, pass all your classes. I thankfully graduated with a bachelor's in marketing.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Entered the workforce still dealing with COVID.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So it was kind of hard to find a job. I went back to the restaurant business, which is what I was comfortable with, covid yeah, so it was kind of hard to find a job. I went back to the restaurant business, which is what I was comfortable with at the time. It's what I knew Worked at a small restaurant in my hometown and was a server and a manager for about a year and a half.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:How I got to IGA, though, was my sister, who also works here, Allison Lyons.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So she calls me up uh, stressed out, cause she's busy, needs help and she's like we need you. So I was offered um an interview and in there was just completely in culture shock by Jamie and Andrew. I think they dropped the F-bomb on me one time in my interview, which was Early on yes very early on, but they took a big risk on me. I'm very grateful for it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. Well, they speak very highly of you. I was interested in how you went from restaurant industry to IGA, and we do actually have Allison Lyons coming on the podcast here. I think she's the next one, right. Yes, she is, so that's your sister.
Speaker 2:It is yeah.
Speaker 1:Gotcha Okay, so she recruited you to come over and be part of the team. How long ago was that?
Speaker 2:It'll be four years this October, so about three and a half years now.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, so describe your position here. What exactly are you doing?
Speaker 2:And talk a little bit about what you get to do at IGA. So my title is director of claims.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:But I'd probably call myself more of a claims advocate. We assist our clients in filing claims, managing claims and then, just overall, trying to assist them in some of those risk management of their business.
Speaker 1:So did you have any idea on how to when you started at IGA?
Speaker 2:Lord no, Because that feels like a big.
Speaker 1:I mean, what you're doing now is a big jump. I mean what you're doing now is a big jump, but I mean so talk about that process and the learning curve and how was IGA like getting you up to speed so you can do all that stuff?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I started out as an account coordinator, as most people do at IGA, so it's really of a processing role to get you familiarized with how insurance operates and the multitude of different forms that you have to look at With IGA. They paid for all of my education to get my licensing.
Speaker 2:They're paying for any continued education to help me grow in every position that I've been in, and with that I was an account coordinator for about four months, which I don't feel like is pretty typical. Most of our account coordinators are in their position for about a year, a year and a half before they move up.
Speaker 1:So you're on a fast track a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, four months in, I pulled Andrew aside after one of our sync meetings and I sat him down and I said Andrew, I either need you to teach me something else or give me busy work, because I am bored. And I very quickly regretted that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was about to say that was probably music to his ears. I was like I'll fix that for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I moved into an account management position from there. Yeah, so I moved into an account management position from there and I was in that position for about seven months before a claims position opened up and Jamie specifically asked me to be in a claims role. He thought that I was probably born to be in a role like this. Really, Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Why do you think so? Why do you think he's? What did he see in you that he normally calls?
Speaker 2:me the bulldog. Really, why do you think so? What did he see in you that you thought about? He normally calls me the bulldog. I want to make sure that things get done and things get done right. So if somebody's coming to me asking me for assistance or they don't know what to do next, or maybe if there's been a claim denial, you can count on me to at least go through and do everything I can to try to get them some extra coverage, if it's possible yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:So let's talk a little bit about integrity, um, what it means to you, how you see see that play out. Why is that a value at at IGA, when we, when we talk about you, know integrity. Can you talk about a time in your career where that was really like put to the test, where you felt like I'm faced with a decision or a circumstance here where I'm going to have to manage this or navigate away and it's going to require some integrity, maybe something that people wouldn't know otherwise. But I need to really be true to this value.
Speaker 2:Do you have any examples like that? I don't know per se, but I can think of a time where we had a client. So this has been since I've been in the claims position.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:We had this client who has a bit of a background on the claim. They were we deal with a lot of construction individuals, so they were at a job site and they were unloading things from their truck. So going back and forth, back and forth, in between, one of the times where they were unloading some things, an individual came in and stole some personal items and some tools from the vehicle. So, like I said, as part of our position in claims, we will ask some general questions so we can assist them in filing that with the carrier. That general those questions. I asked them. I was like did you lock your vehicle? Uh, and he was real quiet for a second and he said what's the right answer? Um, and we had a laugh about it but ultimately, ultimately, I explained to them.
Speaker 2:you know why we ask those questions. Because there's some provisions in a policy not everyone where if your vehicle isn't locked and you don't show signs that it's been broken into, it could impact your coverage. Gotcha Gotcha In this specific case because he was open about them going back and forth from the vehicle it really doesn't make sense to lock your vehicle every time you're away for five minutes to drop something off. The insurance company was understanding of that and they ultimately paid it out.
Speaker 1:Oh nice, yeah Well, I imagine in this line of work you're probably faced with those kinds of things a lot. Right, there's just these little things, little details. I'm curious from your standpoint how do you, how do you define integrity? What does that look like for you and how do you see that Like? Why do you believe that's such a cornerstone of a value here at IGA and leadership?
Speaker 2:So I would say that integrity's being honest, transparent and then consistent in all your actions, um. So, even when that may be difficult or inconvenient to do so, um. So, all in all, it's about doing the right thing and the right thing for your clients, but, at the end of the day, the right thing for the company too. So with that, I think, having integrity and being consistent in your actions, it builds that trust, not only with your clients but with your coworkers. It builds that trust not only with your clients but, um with your coworkers, with leadership, Um. You know most of our clients. They really rely on us during very stressful situations. They're calling you up. Sometimes they may be crying Um, they never dealt with the claim, they don't know what next steps are. So it's really about walking them through that process, um, but also breaking the bad news to them when you don't think that there may be coverage for something Right.
Speaker 1:Right, I love that definition. You talked about consistency. You talk about honesty. I think that's really great, cause I think a lot of times you know this word. Integrity can be kind of lofted out there and as this aspirational identity, right, it's like, well, what does that actually mean? But it you know, for you you're talking about just showing up honest, consistent. You are who you say you are. You're going to do what you're going to say, you're going to do. Just knowing Jamie and this company culture that's a big part of who we are at IGA is just we're going to be, we're going to shoot you straight, we're going to be honest with you, even if, like you said, even if you got to deliver news, that may not be great, but you can trust that we're going to, we're going to deliver honest feedback and that's just something, cause I would imagine high trust I mean that's a big part of, especially with our clients. They have to they put a lot of trust in us to be able to work on their behalf and to deliver for them right.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a big part of it. I've got a question for you. This is more personal.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Don't be nervous, but I want to know. So you've been and I'll say this for you you are a very humble person, but you've been successful at IGA in the time that you've been here. What role do you feel like, cause a lot of people listening to this or watching this are thinking about maybe joining the team at IGA and they're just kind of looking at you. Know what is IGA all about? What role has integrity played in your personal success here at at IGA? And that that's probably a. I don't want you to feel like you got to like brag on it. That's probably a really difficult question. I'm such high integrity.
Speaker 1:That's why I'm successful, but why do you think that has mattered to the team here?
Speaker 2:I think with IGA and any insurance professional, being ethical is not just a value that you should have, it's really expected. Yeah, you know, as part of the continuing education that you have to do, every two years at least in the state of Tennessee, you have to do a three hour course on ethics.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's incredibly important for the business in and of itself, but for me, I think, if you asked my friends or my husband I'm known as the rule follower among the group, that Jamie and others have been able to rely on me and rely on the fact that I will hold myself accountable.
Speaker 2:There's been times I know, early on in my career when I was an account coordinator we have to, as part of the processing duties, we have to process what's called notice of cancellations. So if somebody has, let's say, a failure to make a payment, so they'll send out a notice of cancellation. If you still don't pay that, you're going to get your policy canceled, so you'll receive a confirmation of cancellation. With those duties, you need to process those pretty quickly so the insured is aware that bill hasn't been paid. They have insurance in place and especially important with a lot of these construction workers. So, because of insurance not in place, that could risk their jobs, their jobs.
Speaker 2:I had been still navigating how to handle my job and learning each role and each item that I had to process. So it was missed for a few days, not very long, um, and when I came across it I started freaking out. I was like, oh, I'm going to be fired. I don't know what's going to happen to me, right? I ran over to my sister's desk and I'm like I just found this in my emails. I don't know what to do. Please help me.
Speaker 2:And she was able to really push me to go to Andrew, admit my mistakes and honestly it wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it was going to be yeah. He was like Jesse, you have seven days to process these things. It's been three yeah.
Speaker 1:It's fine.
Speaker 2:It's fine. It's fine, but I appreciate you coming to me and I feel like and continuing to do that anytime. I have maybe failed at something or things have not gone the way that I hoped that they would given a really big impact on how they view me and what has led to me growing as quickly as I have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's really good. And I think one theme that I'm already seeing coming out Allison talked about this, allison Lee, in the last episode. But just when it comes to integrity, specifically in honesty, just being willing to be open with struggles or she talked a lot about in her management leadership style just being willing to admit when you're stuck or you don't have an answer, and that there's a culture here where there's enough collaboration, enough trust, where you can go to someone like Andrew and say, hey, freaking out here, I might have made a mistake. Freaking out here, I might've made a mistake. You know, can you help me with this? As opposed to a culture where you feel like you have to constantly cover your tracks or not be willing to be honest or or don't feel a freedom. I should say to be honest, but it doesn't seem like that's the vibe here at IGA. It's more of like, hey, if you're struggling or if you made a mistake, let's talk about it and let's all work together to find a solution. Has that been your experience?
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you mentioned consistency and I love that. So how do you ensure consistency, just as in your actions, your decisions as a leader, like, what does that look like for you personally and how you show up, and what role does consistency play?
Speaker 2:So I try to treat um every interaction, either with like a client or coworkers, whatever it may be, with fairness and honesty of tailor my interactions with our customers or some of the producers who are the sales individuals at our company, uh, to meet their specific needs. You kind of, uh, you pick up on those clients who want you just handle it all, leave them, leave them out of it, right, let you know when it's done, um, and then you have those clients who want to know every step of the way. Same thing with the producers. So I really try to stick with consistency on every interaction that I have, while also still adhering to our policies and procedures that we've had put in place.
Speaker 2:Being in the claims role and now as a director of claims, I've had the opportunity to build out a lot of those policies and procedures for my team, right, and with that we're navigating what may or may not work. So with my team members, I try to. With my team members, I try to facilitate, like an openness for her to come to me and say I don't think this is really working. Can we figure out?
Speaker 1:something else Right and work through it together.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that's what I've been picking up on. What I love about our culture here at IGA is that you don't have to be on an island. You don't have to be, and that's part of the integrity. When and again back to your description we talk about honesty and consistency, it's like you don't have to have all the answers all the time. You don't have to be right all the time. You just have to be willing to be honest and be open and say here's where we're at and this is the facts, this is the details, and then let people help you work through it. And now you in this position of leadership. You know it feels like that's your style is like.
Speaker 1:Hey bring me the issue. Let's work through it together.
Speaker 1:Don't feel like you had to cover it up and find a solution on your own and then bring me some kind of thing like bring it to me early and maybe I can help you see, just like Andrew did for you. Honestly, this is not a big deal is what you thought, but if you would have held on to it, I mean, I just imagine a scenario where you try to fix it and you hold on to it for longer If you wouldn't brought it to him you know he was able to relieve a lot of that stress. Yes, Because of the integrity factor. You know I love that.
Speaker 1:How does IGA specifically support just a culture of integrity? How do you feel like that's cultivated within? Because I know, with a lot of these values and we talked about this on previous episodes this is not something that you acquire just because you're employed by IGA all of a sudden by IGA all of a sudden, if you're not a person of integrity, if you're not a person of grit, of resilient leadership, of tenacity, all the different things, then chances are you're not going to flip a switch just because you work here and all of a sudden become that person. But if you have those attributes already, what are some of the things that happens here at IGA that really boosts that value, specifically in the area of integrity, and cultivate that within the company.
Speaker 2:I think having an emphasis on accountability so whether holding yourself accountable and then also holding your team members accountable on all levels I think that really encourages the ethical decision making within our company. But really it all starts at the top. If you don't have a leader who is ethical, you're not going to have it down on every other level. Yeah well said, and I think that there are times where you know somebody creeps in and they don't meet all of the values that we hold, but they get weeded out pretty quickly.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:They're not going to stick around here.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Because they're held to such a high level they're held to such a high level. But at least I'll speak for myself that if you can't follow through with the words you put out there, you'll never make it. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, and that kind of leads me to my next question, because I think it's really important for people to hear. A big reason why we're doing this podcast is so people can hear more about the culture here and whether it's, whether it's a good, a good fit or not, right and so so what advice would you give to somebody looking to join IGA about living and working with integrity? Cause even you said earlier, you know it's from being top down, I think Jamie's, and Jamie and I are close buddies. I've known him for a while and the thing about Jamie specifically and I've, I feel, this from everyone else is that, especially with his sales background, he is pretty good, actually really good, at sniffing out If someone is not who they say they are, who they present them to be.
Speaker 1:So, even like you know, if I was talking to someone about to go and interview with jamie, I would say don't try to like, like impress him or put on like he'll sniff, he'll, he'll cut through that so quick. Am I right about that? There's not. You're not gonna like fool him on whatever. So the best bet is just to be you, be who you are. And we said before, it's not about right or wrong, good or bad. It's about whether it's the right fit or not and whether you've got that personality. But what advice would you give someone who's watching this or listening to this, thinking about joining the company specifically around this value of integrity?
Speaker 2:I think it's threefold. First, I would say, anchor your decisions and your core values. That's really good, so always let those principles guide you, okay? Second, be authentic. You know, as you stated, align your actions with your words, okay. And you know, ultimately, just be yourself, because that's what's appreciated and then lastly, um, as I've mentioned it on, up to your mistakes. So, uh, when you're wrong, admit it, learn from it and then just take the steps to make it right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it feels like this is a place where you can fail forward, like it's okay to fail and to make mistakes, and probably to a certain degree. I mean, what do you think about that? I mean, have you found this to be a place where you can be open and honest about your mistakes? And it's not? You know, you're not going to get fired or penalized, or how does that work? I?
Speaker 2:would say within reason Within reason. Right, yes, I mean, just like any company, you can make those mistakes, and as long as you're not consistently making the same mistakes over and over again, you'll have a chance. Yeah, that's great. You just got to learn from it.
Speaker 1:That's great. Well, this has been awesome, really helpful. Thank you for sharing it and just thanks for who you are as a person of integrity. I think that's amazing. Um, you know? Last last question I would. I would ask you is talk to a future high performing person, someone you know, like yourself, that's looking to come in, or or maybe might not even have a background in this industry Like you. Like you started not knowing much about it and, within a reasonably short period of time, have found yourself in greater responsibility, greater leadership roles and all that kind of stuff. But just talk to that future high performing employee just considering IGA about why the company values integrity and and help them know why that should matter to them as a future employee.
Speaker 2:I think that integrity in and of itself, it's just a foundation of our company. So at IGA, you know, if you're about doing the right thing and holding yourself accountable, holding your teammates accountable, and as long as you value honesty, you can accept that. As long as you value honesty and you can accept that even when it's telling you that you maybe didn't do something just right, I think you'll thrive here. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much. Thanks for being a person of grit, living out the grit factor yeah. And we'll have to have you back sometime. See, it wasn't too bad right.
Speaker 2:No, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.
Speaker 1:I survived. You did great. Thanks for being on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I'm happy to be here, thank you, Thank you.