Happy New Year!

We are unlocking 10 feature articles that we were proud to publish in 2025—my Editor’s Picks for 2025.

(Free access links to our reader picks—the 10 most-read feature articles of 2025—are also available here.)

Highlighted in the accompanying slideshow, with free access links to the articles (embedded and pasted below), the Editor’s Picks collection offers deep dives into topics that include lessons from the 1980s liability crisis, the efforts of an intervenor to change the rate review process in California, personal reflections on the California wildfires from an insurance journalist who lived through them, and a candid look at why telematics initiatives fail in commercial auto insurance.

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#1—Cigar Butts and Toxic Sludge: The Rebirth of a P/C Insurer

Link to Article #1

#2—Analysis. State Farm Bolsters Surplus by Freeing Up Billions in Loss Reserves

Link to Article #2

#3—’Can’t Cut to Greatness.’ Wilson Lays Out Simple Strategy for Markel E&S

Link to Article #3

#4—’Underwriting Choices’ Added to Everest’s Social Inflation Woes, CEO Says

Link to Article #4

#5—Is State Farm General Too Big to Fail

Link to Article #5

#6—The Good Neighbor

Link to Article #6

#7— An Insurance Journalist’s Perspective on Southern California’s Wildfires

Link to Article #7

#8—Rebuilding Negotiation Talent. Why This Skill Is Missing and How to Fix It

Link to Article #8

#9— On Innovation in Insurance

Link to Article #9

#10— Why Insurance Telematics Integrations Fail

Link to Article #10

Like most of our member-only content, these features offer perspectives readers can find only in Carrier Management.

#1—Cigar Butts and Toxic Sludge: The Rebirth of a P/C Insurer (Related articles: Editor’s Question: Who Created the First U.S. MGA?; How a Decentralized Structure Opens Career Paths at C&F; How Decentralization Works at C&F

#2—Analysis: State Farm Bolsters Surplus by Freeing Up Billions in Loss Reserves

#3—‘Can’t Cut to Greatness’: Wilson Lays Out Simple Strategy for Markel E&S

#4—‘Underwriting Choices’ Added to Everest’s Social Inflation Woes: CEO

#5—Is State Farm General Too Big to Fail? Calif. Rate Hearing Concludes

#6—The Good Neighbor (Related article: Unpacking a Consumer Intervenor’s Novel Idea)

#7— An Insurance Journalist’s Perspective on Southern California’s Wildfires (Related article: Revisiting California’s Wildfires: A Personal Journey)

#8—Rebuilding Negotiation Talent: Why This Skill Is Missing and How to Fix It (Related articles: Negotiation Is the Job: Reframing Defense Work in an AI-Enhanced Era; The Power of the First Offer: Anchoring, Evidence and the Battle for Perception)

#9— On Innovation in Insurance (Related articles: The Hardest Part of Innovation in Insurance Isn’t Technology; It’s Culture; A Practical Blueprint: The Five Plays of an Innovation Culture)

#10— Why Insurance Telematics Integrations Fail (Related article coming in January: Why ‘Good Enough’ is Killing Insurance: The Hidden Cost of Satisficing)