The GRIT Factor by Insurance Group of America

The Heart of IGA with Amy Cain

• Insurance Group of America • Episode 7

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What does a workplace that truly values grit look like from the inside? In this revealing conversation, Drew Powell sits down with Amy Cain, who shares her journey from account executive to HR leadership at Insurance Group of America, offering a rare glimpse into a culture built on resilience and continuous growth.

"We don't give you busy work," Amy explains when describing what makes IGA different. "We trust that you're going to fulfill your responsibilities. We don't micromanage, but we won't leave you to flounder either." This delicate balance of autonomy and support creates an environment where ambitious professionals can thrive, though she candidly admits it's not for everyone: "If you don't like to hustle and move fast, you're probably not going to love IGA."

Amy pulls back the curtain on IGA's hiring philosophy, which prioritizes grit over traditional credentials. The company actively seeks individuals who have demonstrated perseverance through challenges, regardless of whether they come from an insurance background. "There are plenty of people here who don't have the perfect resume," she reveals, "but that comes with the belief that if you get the right people in the right seats in the right environment, they're going to grow—and grow fast." Her advice for success? "Be coachable, stay curious, and remain unafraid of discomfort." Whether you're considering a career move or simply fascinated by high-performance workplace cultures, this conversation offers valuable insights into what it takes to build a career that truly matters in today's fast-paced business environment.

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. 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. Amy Cain, drew Are we even going to get anything accomplished in this episode, or are we just going to cut up the whole time?

Speaker 2:

No, we'll get something accomplished. You think we'll get something?

Speaker 1:

done. Okay, yeah, you've been begging me to do this podcast.

Speaker 2:

Every day.

Speaker 1:

So you've got to move the mic closer to your mouth. We're gonna be able to hear you can you hear me now?

Speaker 1:

yeah yeah you're better there you go, perfect. Um, I'm so glad that you're doing this. I think you are like the. In my opinion, I see you as like the, the backbone or maybe even the heart of IGA. What you do here is phenomenal. You wrangle Jamie, help keep him in line and so much more. And the first time I met you, I called Jamie right after and I was like I want to be friends with Amy. She's awesome. And he was like I know, isn't she great? So thanks for doing this. I know I'm joking with you, I know this is outside of your comfort zone, but I'm so glad you're on here and we're going to have fun with this. We'll see where it goes. Tell us a little bit about how you got to IGA. What brought you here?

Speaker 2:

So I have a background in employee benefits, and when I came to work at IGA, they hired me as an account executive in the employee benefits department, and so I wanted something that was more than just a job, and, being as young as IGA was when I started six years ago, I knew I would have those opportunities to grow and surrounded myself with people who challenged me, and as IGA started growing, my role evolved and now I have responsibilities within the HR department, and so that's where I am now. As IGA continued to grow, my role and responsibilities evolved to include human resources, and so with that, it gave me a greater understanding of the business and insight into how I can help support.

Speaker 1:

Our employees are at IGA, and in some ways and I don't want to put words in your mouth, but in some ways you really help curate that culture from the human resources seat as well and you embody it. So this whole idea of like the grit factor. But what we wanted to talk to you about specifically is how does IGA specifically invest in people? Like, how do we create a work environment here where it's not just the positions is, we care about people, we want to get people in the right seat. You know, just like in your own story, you've moved seats. A lot of people have moved seats within the company. I want to keep them in the right seat so they can, they can be successful. So you know, iga talks a lot about growth, not just professionally but financially too. So what do you think makes that kind of growth possible here at IGA?

Speaker 2:

So, um, probably two things stand out, and one being trust and pace. So when you come on board, we don't give you a bunch of busy work to do. You start off with responsibility. Um, we trust that you're going to do that response. You know those job duties that we give you. We don't micromanage you, but we don't also leave you to flounder either. So there's trust with both aspects the employer and with the employee and us. And then the pace it's very fast pace.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yeah, if you don't like to hustle and move fast, you're probably not going to love.

Speaker 1:

That's true, that is true IGA, which, which I resonate with, I love I couldn't work and be a part of a slow organization. That would drive me insane. But also, I've heard from multiple people we've talked to as well Although the pace is fast, it feels like it's a culture of learning, like. This is a culture of like fail forward and learning how, from even the human resources seat. How is that like culture of learning? How is that hardwired into who we are here at IGA?

Speaker 2:

like culture of learning. How is that hardwired into who we are here at iga? So part of iga is um learning relentlessly and, um, making yourself better, getting your designations, and that's just something that we try as a company.

Speaker 1:

Everyone does it, everyone works for it, and if you're gonna come on board, we're gonna expect that out of you. You're constantly learning yes, never stop. Yeah, I love that all right, it's our. I asked you a question that was off your script, but you didn't throw you off. You did awesome. It's perfect and I love that. You prepared. You brought your paper. I told you I wasn't gonna let you look at it.

Speaker 2:

I know and I'm trying not to.

Speaker 1:

I'm trying not to you're doing great, I love it. I love it all right. So we often say we hire people not just on on resume, but based on grit, based on you know, maybe what they've done before, but also instincts, like I've. I've I've seen that we've also hired people that are from outside the industry. We've take risks on people talk a little bit about that Even hiring someone with very little industry experience, like we'll roll the dice on on some. Well, I wouldn't say roll the dice, because there's a lot of intentionality in our hiring process. So it's not a it's not a risk like that, but we're not always looking for someone who's in this industry.

Speaker 2:

That's true, we're not, and um so with that, we're looking for people who are, who've pushed through something, whether that's changing what they do in life, finishing school, getting their designation, is when you've got something and it's hard and you push through it, but yet you continue day in and day out because, even though you know it's hard, and so that's what we're looking for people, people who might not have the perfect resume. There are plenty of people here that do not have the perfect resume.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

But with that comes the belief that you get the right people and the right seeds and the right environment and you're going to grow, and you're going to grow fast.

Speaker 1:

And there's people here that have failed before at stuff.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, and I love that part of it where it's like, hey, tell me about a situation, and that's for someone that's listening or watching, that might be interested in interviewing with IGA. This is a good kind of heads up to be prepared for. Is you know, tell us about a situation that was difficult, that was tough that you might even failed him, but you persevered, persevered. What did you learn? How did you grow, how did you bounce back? All that kind of stuff really matters now. Does that matter? Do you think that matters across all teams here? Because that's not just sales specific or ops specific, that's culture, company, company wide. Yeah, correct, yeah, what is that? What is the mind? If you were to describe the mind shift that has to happen to be successful here at IGA, how would you? How would you articulate that?

Speaker 2:

So one is um, you don't have to ask for permission here. Uh, With us, with IGA, we encourage you to think outside the box. That means taking the initiative, giving your input when you're new. A lot of people are afraid to do that, but by doing that, it really shows that you want to be a part of the team. You have new ideas and also, like you said, embracing failure and, you know, seeing that as a process of growth, not something that you need to avoid or be ashamed about, because we all fail occasionally.

Speaker 1:

It's something Sure, I love that. And you've seen in your time here, you've seen team members come in and you've seen them, you know, rise pretty quickly. I mean, you've seen some that didn't work out too, of course, but you've seen some that have done really well and it's done well pretty fast in the grand grand scheme of things, grand scope of things, what's the difference between someone who thrives here and someone who doesn't.

Speaker 2:

So people who thrive here, um, they're coachable, they're curious and they're unafraid of discomfort. And as much as I feel so uncomfortable right now. It's a part of IGA and we do things that we are not comfortable with Even you doing this podcast.

Speaker 1:

You mean. Yes, this was part of you embodying our culture.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and so I just embraced it and was like we're going to do this and it's going to be great. And so those things you know, things are not handed to you here and if you show up ready to work and you take the feedback that we give you and you improve every week, you will definitely move up fast in the company.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, all right. So let's switch gears a little bit. In terms of culture. How would you describe just the day to day of IGA? Because we do have a lot of team members that are remote. We've got team members here in office. You're here at kind of headquarters almost every day, if not every day. Even days where people are working from home, you still usually come in for something. You're here a lot, I know, you know. So describe the day to day. If someone was like hey, what is? We hear the philosophy.

Speaker 2:

So it's fast paced, it's focused and it's personal, so everyone has ownership here and what they do and we check on each other, we follow up on each other, we hold each other accountable and we generally care about our employees and I think leadership does a great job at prioritizing that and showing the employees how much they really do care.

Speaker 1:

How does leadership here balance just high expectations with high support, Because we've got to have both. We do expect people to work hard to win, to be successful. I don't think there's anybody on the team here that is just treading water You're going forwards or there's no one, just staying the same but it's also high support. So, from your seat, how do we balance those two things?

Speaker 2:

So we expect a lot and you know we make that very clear, but we don't leave people out there to figure it out alone, which I think is important. We give constant feedback, we do mentorship I know that's been mentioned before and the one thing that I love is there's an open door access to leadership, which I think helps out a lot. As I said, we don't micromanage, but we're not going to leave you alone, and I think part of the key to that is that balance.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I agree. What about someone who's looking to come on board here? Maybe they're looking to apply and they're thinking maybe I'm unqualified for this, or maybe what would your advice be to that person?

Speaker 2:

what would your advice be to that person? So my advice would be if you're willing to work hard and learn fast and come in, you know, with the mindset of you're going to do it, you're going to do the learning that we have. I think they are probably more qualified than they feel that they are Right.

Speaker 1:

Right, and I think that's part of our training here, that's part of like, hey, when you're the, when you're the right person, or at least I should ask this cause I don't want to make the assumption, but if you got the right kind of personality, you got the right kind of drive, you know, and again, full disclosure we onboarding here is pretty rigorous because we want to get the right people and we want to make sure they're they're winning Um, but once you do those things, you're going to be equipped for success. If you check the boxes and all those other ways, correct, like, if you're checking the box and your drive and your hunger and your you know, and not that we're not taking into consider your professional background and all that kind of stuff, but would you encourage someone just to take the leap and to say hey, all the things we're talking about is the kind of organization I can see myself fitting in. I'm not sure if I have that background. Should I even try or apply? Would you encourage them to go for it?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, yeah, absolutely it. Or absolutely, yeah, absolutely. We have some people who have had no insurance experience whatsoever, but they've got the drive and the hunger, as you said, for it and um, they get in here and they just thrive yeah, that's awesome, all right, last question see, this hasn't been too hard.

Speaker 1:

No, you've been great. You probably even begged me to come back again. Here's the thing. What's one piece of advice you'd give to someone who just walked in the door here at IGA day one and wants to build a career that's not just successful, but a career that actually matters? What would you advise them to do?

Speaker 2:

So I would say treat every task like it matters, regardless of what you're asked to do, because it does ask the questions, build those relationships and, as I mentioned earlier, be relentless in learning. And so the people I think that grow the fastest here probably view their future like it depends on today's efforts.

Speaker 1:

That's good. That's great advice. Thanks for sharing your story, thanks for what you do here and really grateful for you. I'm grateful for personally, for your friendship and thanks for getting out of your comfort zone.

Speaker 2:

Thank you.

Speaker 1:

Share it with us today.

Speaker 2:

I appreciate it.