Walking the talk: it's up to seasoned insurance and risk professionals to mentor industry newbies on ethics, character and integrity.

One of the distinct pleasures l have had as being a "rumored" leader in the risk management community has been the opportunity to meet and spend time with risk management students of various universities and colleges. Their enthusiasm and youth are both refreshing and a little scary. They actually know a lot more than most of us did at that age. They have a world of classroom knowledge in a wide variety of insurance-related areas. Loss picks, retrospectives, captives, cat bonds, and other financial risk alternatives roll off their tongues at the tender age of 21. However, what they have in education, they lack in experience and training. This is where we seasoned insurance and risk professionals need to step up.

Those of us already in the insurance and risk community have responsibilities to those who are new and joining out great industry. One of these responsibilities is to contribute to their success. This is not a mere suggestion, it is a responsibility. It is part of the fabric that is woven through our inherent need to help others. We have to be mentors and be able to inform them of what their responsibilities entail, including the future of principled decision through ethical behavior.

A little pep talk or instructional lunch with you might be in order for those fresh students/new employees who have been hired into our world. We need to tell them that despite all that has changed and is changing in the insurance and risk management profession, they are about to join what remains as one of the most honorable professions ever invented. They are carrying on a tradition that has been part of out world for centuries. The new hires need to know that being in the insurance profession does take doing more than what is expected. They need to know that beyond the day-to-day focus of their work here, we are interested genuinely in the development and refinement of their character. We have to set the example for them to embrace an appropriate moral compass, a good sense of ethics and ethical practice, honesty, integrity, respect lot others, and an abiding commitment to the common good. We have to "walk the talk" so they will sec and emulate out actions. The focus on character development is rooted in the belief that the company they work for and what it stands for, in terms (if these considerations, is every bit as important as what they know and what they can do.

They should be taught that the power of the insurance community is, indeed, among the most important elements of their career. They will be on the front lines of a profession dedicated to the protection of an entire business and the social world. It would not be much of an exaggeration to suggest that their work will influence the course of business and future relationships at a microcosmic level. They must recognize their power to influence; whether through underwriting, loss prevention, actuarial or risk management, this power must be wielded wisely. Like never before in out profession, we need people who are willing to exercise their power along the lines of ethics and integrity.

If you happen to supervise one of the new employees to out industry, you must understand that most of them are not motivated intrinsically. They require extrinsic motivation. As a boss, that means that you must supply the motivation. Make the new employees work hard and get them to sweat the details. You should do so without regret. It was the details that were often overlooked, or glossing over the "little things," that have been the reason for calling into question the integrity of out industry recently. They will need this to get along in a world that has unmerciful and demanding expectations. It is a world which will test their ethical decision making on a variety of issues. If they receive the solid foundational training now from you, their futures and ours will be brighter.

Convince the new employees that this is a remarkable period in their careers and perhaps the most remarkable, for they have entered into a profession few understand but which most cannot survive without. The stage has been set for their success and we, who already work in the industry, are determined to provide them with a world-class experience. Tell them that we expect that they will pursue this opportunity with vigor, a sense of purpose, focus, responsibility and a healthy dose of ethics.

Lance Ewing, a Best's Review columnist, is vice president, risk management, for Harrah's Entertainment. He can be reached at [e-mail].