Tomorrow’s innovative business solutions will be built today, and most successfully by those who can quickly embrace the talent diversity needed to realize them. Executive SummaryExplaining the theme of the IICF’s upcoming Women in Insurance Global Conference this week—”The Power of Diverse Thought and Innovation”—Barbara Bufkin, a member of IICF’s board of governors, discusses the benefits of cognitive diversity in insurance. To match the pace of change in technology and the global business environment, insurance leaders are being tested to think differently and look for new skills to match evolving industry needs, she writes in support of a Silicon Valley model for insurers to drive innovation.
Innovation, however, isn’t possible without thinking beyond traditionally narrow concepts of diversity or those defined in HR vernacular. Today, innovation will only be achieved through the broadest understanding of diversity in all its forms: cognitive, social, behavioral and experiential.
At the Women in Insurance Global Conference June 7-9 in New York City, insurance industry leaders from around the world will come together to discuss “The Power of Diverse Thought and Innovation.” Through an open forum of conversation and debate, the goal is to ensure a diverse talent pool that is prepared to meet tomorrow’s challenges with innovative ideas.
But what are those challenges, and what opportunities can the insurance industry seize now to be successful going forward?