Tips to Reboot your Organization

By Kitty Ambers, CIC, CPIA, CISR, Chief Operating Officer at AVYST January is a month for growth and renewal. While it can be challenging to regroup after the chaos of the holidays, there is no better time to stop, take a deep breath, and evaluate what’s working well and what may be creating challenges. To…

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Agents Should Remember to Sell the Sizzle

Title photo, word sizzle with a flame for the "i"

by Kitty Ambers, COO/AVYST An article I read in Daniel Burrus’s TechoTrends newsletter titled, Continuously De-Commoditize, made me think about the concept of product/service de-commoditization as it may relate to the typical insurance agency.  Burrus says, “Look at every product and service you have and ask, ‘Why is this item a commodity?’  Then ask, ‘What…

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Baseball Concepts for Business

Title page "Baseball Concepts for Business" with baseball sitting on a field

I love baseball season! Although the status of Major League baseball was iffy for a while, Opening Day has finally arrived! Each year as the season gets underway, I’m reminded of some parallels between baseball and business. The following are a few ideas that come to mind: Conditioning – Inevitably, at the start of each…

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Empower New Agency Hires

Lightbulb with title, "Empower Your New Agency Hires"

by Kitty Ambers, Chief Operating Office at AVYST The “Silver Tsunami” is a term for the aging workforce in America today.  Demographic research states that 10,000 baby boomers will reach retirement age every day from 2011 until 2030.  Translate this to the insurance industry and half of the workforce is on track to retire by 2034.…

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Leadership Lessons from Hosta Plants

Flowerbed with hostas

By Kitty Ambers Each spring, I enjoy the time I spend freshening up my flowerbeds. I don’t have a particularly green thumb, so I appreciate hardy perennials, like Hostas. During this year’s spring gardening frenzy, it struck me that cultivating Hostas is like developing leadership skills. Here are five lessons on leadership we can learn…

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5 Leadership Lessons from Hosta

Close up photo of hostas

This spring, a plethora of hosta had overtaken my flowerbeds. I did a bit of reading about how to care for hosta and learned that they should be dug up and divided every three to five years. I was pushing the six-year mark with mine. As I dug up dozens upon dozens of plants and…

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