Declaration of Independents

Tim Leman

Chairman & CEO
Gibson
South Bend, Indiana

Blogger, book author and self-proclaimed “restless man” Tim Leman leads an award-winning, 100% employee-owned Best Practices insurance broker and risk management firm.

Gibson has offices in Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Plymouth and South Bend, Indiana. Under Leman’s direction, the firm has earned a spot on lists like 2015 Inc. 5000, 2015 Indiana Companies to Watch, 2014 Principal® 10 Best Companies for Employee Financial Security and, for the last three years, Best Places to Work in Indiana.

ESOP CHALLENGES?

It’s a heavy responsibility to know there are 100-plus families counting on us to be the best we can be. It’s an honor to lead such a fine group. We recently opened an office in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and we were able recruit some amazing talent. They’re attracted by our culture and the ability to be an owner in our employee stock ownership plan.

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS?

We made a significant investment in our employee benefits practice nearly 10 years ago. It enabled us to change the way area employers viewed benefits. Since then, our growth in employee benefits has been exponential, and that’s not due to the rate of increase in health insurance costs. Most of our work is done on a fee basis of some type versus commissions. Our clients know we’re working for them and not the insurance company.

FUTURE?

We see a potential growth opportunity with smaller employers. We’re seeing the rise of the entrepreneur. And the impact of the millennial generation will only amplify this. These emerging companies need the expert advice larger companies seek, yet they have even more limited resources to acquire it. They also want “easy.” There is an opportunity to offer broad business and risk solutions to this growing sector of the economy.

MISTAKES?

One of the biggest was not understanding the role clarity plays when it comes to our vision, mission and culture. We can have the greatest strategies in the world, but they won’t be effective unless everyone understands what we’re doing and, more importantly, why we are doing it.

Fortunately a great mentor of mine, Larry Linne, helped me gain my own clarity about clarity. Prior to my change in thinking and style, I would tend to force a new strategy or idea into the mix with our team only to see it fail. I couldn’t understand why it didn’t get more traction. I came to realize that I had not been very inclusive when building out the new strategy. The people I expected to drive the new idea weren’t a part of its creation, nor did I communicate what was in it for them. Simply put, they did not have the clarity they needed.

Our culture transitioned to one that today is very inclusive. Our leadership works closely with the key stakeholders to develop and implement our initiatives. Being, open, transparent and inclusive has created a much more collaborative culture. Larry and I felt so strongly about our cultural journey at Gibson that we wrote, “rEvolution: Turn Crisis into Clarity and Ignite Growth,” a book about “r” evolution at Gibson. Sometimes it required evolutionary change, sometimes revolutionary. But it all happened when we found clarity.

NEXT GENERATION?

Insurance doesn’t seem like a very sexy option for most college students, let alone high school kids making a choice of colleges. They just don’t understand all our business has to offer. It took some passionate adult mentors to help steer me toward our industry. I think it’s our duty to continue to the raise the bar for attracting future talent to the insurance business. So to my colleagues in the industry: Keep supporting the scholarships and providing attractive, paid internships. It’s key to our future.