Diary of an Insurer: Raji

Monday

I set off on an early train to the north of England. I’m on the train because I have an onsite visit with a broker to see a potential customer.

Hearing from our customers firsthand usually provides a history lesson about their version of flood history in their area and new comments about the product.

Here are a few from this visit: “Can we buy this seasonally?” “This is like something out of Dragons’ Den.” “How do you guys make any money? This sounds too good to be true.”

When I return to London, it’s a great day to take stock of the lessons for the week and share notes with the distribution team.

The only thing missing is a campfire and marshmallows as we gather around to share war stories of our adventures around the country and notes on our plans for the week ahead.

Tuesday

I start today with a session with my career coach from Noggin. Career coach is a camouflaged name for a therapist, as they dive into deep-rooted causes of habits and behaviours that would be helpful to be aware of.

Opening up about my vulnerabilities and unfiltered thoughts isn’t easy, but it makes me more self-aware.

My secret weapon is learning what I can from the younger generation. My two younger brothers (celebrity trainer and creative director) inspire me and remind me that I’m the least imaginative of the trio.

I extract as much critique and ideas as I can. Spending time with the older generation, my two main sponsors and friends Dom Christian and Matthew Pike, provides me with a fountain of knowledge and experience.

Wednesday

Nothing excites me more than hearing about cool ideas.

One brilliant idea I hope I’m allowed to share is a startup that aims to insure maternity and paternity leave to help battle inequality. That is one of many more ideas I can’t share yet.

Another concept I love is a “Power List” to develop winning habits in your life.

Commit to one to five tasks the next day and tick them off as a win when completing them. I won’t reveal my whole list, but making my bed in the morning is number one on my list and means I start the day with an easy win.

I’m a workaholic, so number two on my list is taking some time for myself and my mental health. That means working out almost every day, from a 10K run outside while listening to my audiobook of the month, 48 Laws of Power, or a heavy weights session in the gym followed by the sauna.

This is my form of meditation and my time to escape, and even on the most challenging days of working out, you always feel good once it’s over.

Mental health is not taboo to admit, and we are all on the spectrum. Protecting your inner peace should be number one because when you’re closer to 100%, everybody gets the best you can deliver.

Thursday

It’s my duty to push for more diversity, and working with The Insurance Cultural Awareness Network, the Next Generation Insurance Network, the Chartered Insurance Institute, and The Lloyd’s Charities Trust and synergising our efforts is the least I can do.

We are working on attracting more youthful, diverse talent to our industry, so I went to my favourite lunch spot with Steve White, chief executive of the British Insurance Brokers’ Association, to discuss how to make the Young Broker day at the Biba Conference [in Manchester] a knockout – after we finished our predictions on Tyson Fury’s next fight.

“We need some more women in here” are slightly edited lyrics from Skepta, one of my favourite UK artists. I’m sure most people will need to consult Google now.

There are some female forces of nature in the market, and I want to use the rest of this day to discuss how we can attract even more.

So the inspirational Sabine Vander Linden, future wave maker-Justine Tanomjit, and I plan to release something to do just that, but I won’t spoil the surprise.

I then managed to catch up with Sonia Habib and Yasmin Carter; they will blame me for us not getting together more often. When we do catch up, apart from a phenomenal selfie, it’s great to hear how they have elevated even further in their roles and their plans.

They are two winners I want to make sure I’m around for the rest of my career.

Friday

I’m a big fan of the potential power of parametric.

I think parametric insurance is a real opportunity to change the stigma that’s rightly or wrongly usually attached to insurance.

When we get risk management right, it makes a real difference to society and fosters innovation and growth: my two favourite things.

Proof that Friday is a day that some people still work, I have a meeting with Bob James and Charlotte Watling, who are leading Future at Lloyd’s. We brainstorm how we can make a bigger splash in the Lloyd’s Building and align with the Blueprint.

Since supplying his Diary of an Insurer, Ola Jacob Raji has left Flood Flash.