It’s not typically {that a} podcast attracts extra consideration than anticipated. However when Steve Badger is concerned, you’d higher count on the sudden.
Our upcoming dialog (6 PM EST tonight – register right here: https://lnkd.in/eR5T6bsy) has generated way more signups than anticipated. And I’ve been asking myself why. What’s it about Steve Badger that pulls such a crowd? Why did at the very least six public adjusters at the moment ask me to ask questions that can embarrass Badger?
Sure, he’s opinionated. Sure, he’s a fierce advocate for the insurance coverage trade. Many within the policyholder group strongly disagree with him. However that’s not the entire story.
What attracts individuals to Steve Badger isn’t simply what he says. It’s how he says it. It’s the truth that he says it unapologetically. And extra importantly, he’s keen to again it up.
Uncomfortable Convictions Have a Unusual Energy
Honesty is troublesome when it could harm you or problem your view of the world. A lot of what Steve says makes individuals on the policyholder facet uncomfortable. He challenges long-held assumptions within the policyholder group. He confronts narratives that many people have lived and breathed for many years. And he doesn’t hedge his phrases.
However right here’s the factor: he doesn’t suppose he’s flawed.
More often than not, he has courtroom wins, authorized precedent, and assured logic behind him. Individuals could not like what he says, however they know he didn’t come to the struggle unarmed. That’s why they present up. Even those that vehemently disagree with him tune in as a result of they know they’re going to get one thing actual, not rehearsed.
We dwell in a time when public discourse has change into extra tribal and polarized—particularly in no matter nook of the insurance coverage world you’re from. Either side is fast to color the opposite as morally or professionally inferior. But right here comes Steve, who walks straight into the lion’s den with a smile and a perception that his arguments can stand the warmth.
Contenders Search Fact, Not Consolation
In a latest publish, Austin Merlin Myers Is a Contender, I spoke concerning the distinction between Contenders and Pretenders. Pretenders search applause and affirmation. They wish to be proper, favored, and left unchallenged.
Contenders search reality, even when it’s uncomfortable. They’re keen to stroll into robust conversations, face down criticism, and study one thing via the method.
Steve Badger could also be on the opposite facet of the fence, however he’s a Contender. He’s not afraid to stroll right into a policyholder-heavy room and argue his case. And to be honest, I’ve executed the identical on panels the place I’m the lone voice for policyholders. These moments sharpen us. They humble us. They transfer the dialogue ahead.
Whether or not we prefer it or not, insurance coverage trade leaders like Steve Badger increase the usual. They make these of us advocating for policyholders work tougher, construct stronger circumstances, and sharpen our logic and authorized reasoning. They expose weaknesses. Typically, these are in our info, generally in our logic, and generally in our consolation zones. Typically, they merely confront the fact that we’re on the flawed facet of an insurance coverage protection or valuation scenario, and we don’t get our means.
That’s not a menace. That’s a chance.
This webinar will not be about agreeing with Steve Badger. Certainly, I like to level out his illogic and problem him when he’s means off base. But, that is about partaking with him and with the larger concepts that form our trade. We’ll be diving into these concepts tonight, and I hope you’ll be a part of us.
Once more, right here’s the hyperlink to register
Come curious. Come along with your query. However come prepared for an actual dialog.
As a result of that’s what Contenders do.
Thought For The Day
“Some individuals convey happiness wherever they go. Others at any time when they go.”
—Oscar Wilde
