George’s Updates | The Last Dance…

Happy 2018!

As says Chris said in his Blog, 2017 was a record year for FNTI and that is only because of you, our agents.

I took a break from blogging the past two months, because I had nothing to say. (By the lack of response to my absence, I was not missed!)

Last night I was tagged on Facebook with a picture that took me back to another time where I was not noticed—the eighth grade. It was my class photo for Mrs. Rosenblum’s eighth-grade class at Navajo Elementary School in Scottsdale, Arizona. It also took me to a horrible event that would happen every few months in eighth grade—the school dances.

At the school dance there were always one of three hit songs played: “Sad Eyes” by Robert John, “Keep on Loving You” by REO Speedwagon, and “Babe” by Styx.  These were slow songs were you had to make that decision: Do I ask a girl to dance or not? In my case, the answer was always no, because I was sure no one would dance with ME. Instead I would watch others dance and look at the girls who weren’t dancing and decided they should not have the honor of dancing with ME.

What? Why does this resonate to your loyal 50-year-old executive vice president? I took a moment to contemplate my past and realize my thought process should have been to ASK a girl to the dance floor for that awkward slow dance, so SHE could go home without the feeling of only watching the “cool kids” (who are no longer as “cool” anymore) dance.

Take that mindset and put it into play in 2018:

• Instead of looking at your calls to our underwriters as calls WE receive, let’s look at these calls/emails as opportunities for us to help OUR AGENTS.
• Instead of looking at remittances WE receive, let’s look at these remittances as the outcome of closings OUR AGENTS have completed that brought them revenue.
• Instead of looking at classes WE teach, let’s look them as opportunities for OUR AGENTS to provide education to their customers.

You get the idea—more YOU and less us in our new mindset.

Happy New Year!

– George