When growing a business, is competition overrated?

A new teammate once asked me how to succeed in our industry. My response was simple: Ask questions, show humility, and it’s amazing how much people will help you.

This is a close-knit industry. You’d be surprised at how many people from all levels of different organizations are happy to connect, share, and provide perspectives and recommendations to help colleagues learn and grow.

Regardless of your role, networking is essential. It can be uncomfortable, and even the most extroverted may need to push themselves to do it. But if you want to improve, accelerate your career, and have additional resources to help tackle challenges, do the work and expand your social circle.

If you manage a team, encourage each member to connect and collaborate with peers both in and out of insurance. Some may think, “No, we must have absolute secrecy. We don’t talk to the enemy.” But that’s shortsighted and counterproductive to the development of your people, culture, and ultimately, your business.

No matter how much experience you have, someone always knows more or can provide a different perspective. I’ve participated in peer review groups that helped identify blind spots. I’m part of working groups with other brokerages to share best practices and insights as our businesses grow. We get more done by collaborating.

For me, it’s almost like being in a giant poker tournament — if we collaborate in the early stages of the game, we have a better shot at surviving until the end. When we’re at the final table, we can agree to battle back and forth. But in the preliminary stages of your professional development, you’re not likely going to compete regularly with that many brokers over pieces of business. You should be able to find others with whom you can work so that all of you can go farther.

Networking should continue throughout your career. A few years ago, I joined an international leadership community called the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). If you added up the annual earnings of all the businesses involved in YPO globally, it would equal the third biggest global GDP. The CEOs of these large-scale, successful companies all prioritize networking.

Exchanging ideas with executives from outside of insurance has helped me realize that business and life problems are similar, regardless of sector. Once an organization reaches a certain size, challenges emerge and there’s value in seeing how others have overcome these same problems. You don’t need to go through these experiences alone.

Networking takes time, and you won’t always get something from it. It’s impossible to bat a thousand because you’ll never know from where the next connection will come. But if you invest in building relationships, opportunities will come.

Push yourself to be more trusting, vulnerable and collaborative. Remember: if you take more than you give, relationships will quickly become lopsided and fizzle out. The more genuine and selfless you are, the more you’ll get back.

Adam Mitchell is CEO of Mitch Insurance, a Whitby, Ont.-based insurance brokerage. This story is excerpted from one that appeared in the December 2023 -January 2024 print edition of Canadian Underwriter. Feature image by iStock.com/ittipon2002