Diary of an Insurer: Alps’s Julian Tomlinson

Monday

Waking up and feeling ready to start the week is not hard in the beautiful French countryside I now call home. We’ve had our winter log delivery this morning, so once that’s all put away ready for chopping later in the week, I get to the business of the day.

Mondays always start with our Alps leadership meeting. It’s 90 minutes well spent catching up with colleagues, discussing the challenges and opportunities of the previous week, and what lies ahead in the week to come.

We discuss customer and employee headlines, our personal and business highlights from the previous seven days, and importantly how we’re all performing against our goals, or “Rocks”, as we call them.  

At Alps we use a Smart 90-day goal setting framework, based on the Verne Harnish principle that you should prioritise the most important tasks in your life or business, a bit like fitting big rocks into a jar before adding the smaller rocks and pebbles.  

At this weekly meeting we report on progress against our individual, team and business level Rocks, and work collaboratively to achieve them. The session ends with a score out of 10 to ensure it has delivered value for every participant.

After that is a catch-up call with our partners Mark and Simon from AmTrust. The day ends watching my youngest daughter ride – she is a competitive show jumper with ambitions to reach the Olympics.

Tuesday

I’m up early for a call with my eldest daughter, who is currently living and working in Japan. I then leave for the airport. I use the time at the airport to catch up with my leadership team at Alps and address any pressing issues of the day.

Landing at Gatwick, my head is full of the opportunities that lie ahead on this day of entrepreneurialism. I’m a member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organisation – a global community by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs.  

This has had a truly transformational impact on me as both a business and people leader. It’s about driving high performance, empowering everyone to be their best, and discussing how to elevate business practices to the next level.

Today I’m in London catching up with my chapter, and paying it forward by mentoring a small business owner as part of EO’s Accelerator Programme.

Before heading out for dinner with friends, I catch up on emails and have a call with Alps’s managing director.  We have several exciting new value-driven add-on solutions in the pipeline addressing gaps in the market and emerging risks, as a result of recent legislative changes.    

Wednesday

I’m up early again travelling to the Midlands. I am meeting Cat Ransom, our head of products, and together we are catching up with a high-net-worth broker to discuss their current challenges – and how we can support them in terms of product distribution, claims management, and legal support.  

Add-ons have recently had a true test of their relevance and credibility, and I am shouting from the roof tops that they are still here, they are still available, and they deliver incredible value.

Before heading back to the airport, I catch up with our MD again and make a quick call to Mike Latham at Verlingue – one of our longest-serving broker partners, to discuss claims. Verlingue are a great advocate of our new proprietary claims technology suite which includes an AI-powered task automation tool.

It’s late and has been a long, but incredibly collaborative day.

Thursday

This morning, I am combining two of the things I love most – walking in the hills around my home and paragliding. I am a firm believer in living life by the Rock principle too.  I set myself goals around health and family in exactly the same way as I do for work.  

The culture of Alps supports everyone in building a work/life balance that works best for them and their family. I feel lucky that I can take this time for myself in what has been a busy week.

In the afternoon I join Michelle O’Reilly, our operations director, and Nick Copley, legal team manager, on a call with a customer. This is an opportunity for a refresh of their requirements and reinforce the value delivered by our legal services.  

When it comes to legal representation, it’s important to always look through the customer lens and work in ways that are bespoke to them and their individual legal services.

I end the day with a call to my son, who is currently living in Wales, before settling in for a bit of reading. I am an avid reader – the current book on my nightstand is Atomic Habits, by James Clear.   

Friday

I end the week as it started, with calls to my leadership team. Catching up on how their week has been – the successes, the challenges and how they have affected both Alps and our partners.

Friday is a great day for evaluation. I have been journaling for a couple of years now, and I dedicate time to thinking about what I have been grateful for this week, and to plan ahead, ensuring my priorities around health, wealth, happiness, family and work stay aligned in the coming days, weeks and months.