What Shapes a Career?

What defines a person’s professional life? What shapes and molds it into a satisfying career? A recent McKinsey Quarterly survey presented those questions and several others to working professionals around the world in order to determine what leads them along their career path.

The survey found most people experience a “pivotal” moment at some point in their careers and the majority of respondents were in their30s when the event occurred. For many, that moment involves a career change and, according to the survey, it’s usually due to a new-found passion in another field.

Michael Grannemann of All Service Insurance Agency in Berger, Mo., can identify with that statistic. “I had actually thought about pursuing insurance for quite some time due to my real estate background,” Grannemann says. “I actually started selling real estate when I was 18. I then moved into a career with lasers at the age of 25, however, I still sold real estate off and on. At the age of 30 I started in insurance and have been here ever since. I started my own agency approximately three years ago and it has had a positive outcome on my career.”

Sherri Fleming of the Boswell Insurance Agency in Elba, Ala., is also familiar with being new to the workforce. A former captive agent for Mutual Savings, she made the switch to being an independent agent 18 months ago. “I was a captive agent for Mutual Savings Life Insurance Company for two years,” she says. “I feel that this opportunity to work for an independent agent is a positive in my life. I feel like I have started over and that I am doing a better job than ever before. When I was reinstated as an agent, I was thrilled.”

Beau Bishop, agency manager at Alliance Insurance Group of Hot Springs in Arkansas, made a career jump, but his switch was based on maintaining the balance between his work and home life. “I worked on Capitol Hill as a congressional staffer and a political consultant,” he said. “While I loved working in the political arena, the hours and lifestyle were not conducive to being the type of husband and potential father I wanted to be. Becoming an independent agent has allowed me to bring this balance back into my life.”

Bishop’s reasoning for switching professions is not uncommon. The perfect work-life balance is important to most professionals, but it can be a challenge to juggle both. McKinsey found that 40% of survey respondents have experienced difficulty maintaining the balance between work and home. However, for independent agents, the two aspects go hand-in-hand, according to Luis Ros a broker at Ros, Seguros & Consultoria in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.“

This industry is very social-intensive so you have to like working, being with and servicing people,” he says. “But the right balance really depends on the person and not the activity itself, in my opinion. When you like what you do, and like your life as well, the transition between one role and the other is effortless. I enjoy very much being a broker and find it very easy to keep in balance with my personal life.”

Says Bishop: “This industry is based on sales and customer service. Most people want to know their insurance agent on a personal level. When potential clients see you at your child’s baseball game or dance recital, I believe this creates a sense of normalcy. This creates the trust and respect needed to allow you the opportunity to protect someone’s assets.”

Maggie Lifland, owner of Arrow Insurance Management in Frisco, Colo., has a different take. She says maintaining her work-life balance is less about her profession and more about location.

“I think I have an excellent balance, not because of the industry, but because of our location in the Rocky Mountains,” Lifl and says. “I work hard to make sure that my staff has freedom and a work/personal life balance as well. We work a four-day work week, have a profit sharing plan instead of commissioned agents and make a point to allow people the freedom to ski on a powder day, go to the kid’s school functions and take time off.”

Another key finding of the survey was that most respondents said the most profound effect on their careers was due to something work related, not from family considerations or a change in personal aspirations. Yet that is not the case for Mark Pancrazi of A.T. Pancrazi Agency, Inc. in Yuma, Ariz. He credits his parents with leading him to professional success.

“I think my father and my mother have played a major role in the shaping of my career,” he says. “Not so much for the work I do but more for the moral and ethical values they have groomed into me through out my life.”

Michelle Payne (michelle.payne@iiaba.net) is IA’s managing editor.