In a year in which the U.K. government-backed terrorism reinsurer is celebrating its 25th anniversary, the chief executive of Pool Re, Julian Enoizi, had a conversation with Carrier Management Guest Editor Karen Morris to discuss the evolution of the public/private partnership, which is now providing coverage well beyond the original remit of terror-related property damage. Executive SummaryInnovation strategy, which includes the use of partnerships and keen attention to “the job to be done,” underpins the success of Pool Re, the U.K.’s 25-year-old government-backed terror reinsurer, CEO Julian Enoizi revealed during a conversation with Innovation Adviser and Carrier Management Guest Editor Karen Morris. Along the way, Morris developed a profile of a man with a passion for the social use of financial services and a deep admiration for small businesses—a driver of the latest innovation at Pool Re: the offer of non-damage business interruption cover for SMEs.
The two multilingual lawyers, each with long careers as insurance industry executives, focused on a shared passion: innovation and the role that innovation strategy has played in developing the mutual insurance scheme that promotes economic resilience and, uncharacteristically for the insurance industry, creates a social, purpose-driven organization that soon will serve the needs of even small businesses with non-damage business interruption and cyber terror cover.
The conversation begins with the two reflecting on one of the theories of Clayton M. Christensen, regarded as one of the world’s top experts on disruptive innovation and growth.
An edited version of their conversation is set forth below.
Morris: Powerful innovations are almost always contextual, typically born of catalysts with implications beyond particular organizations or industries. Innovations respond to an unmet need, underserved problem or in Professor Christensen’s well-known phrase, “the job to be done.” Could you begin by taking us back a quarter of a century to the context that spurred the creation and innovation that is Pool Re?