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A TOUR THROUGH SACRED GROUND
What It’s Like to Visit Arlington National Cemetery
W ith Memorial Day coming up at the end of this month, I can’t help but think of one of the most incredible places I’ve ever visited: Arlington National Cemetery. If you’re not familiar with Arlington National Cemetery — or maybe you’ve just heard of it in passing — it’s the most prominent military cemetery in the U.S., as well as one of this nation’s oldest national cemeteries. It sits right across the Potomac River fromWashington, D.C., in Arlington, Virginia, and in my opinion, it’s an indispensable part of anyone’s tour of our nation’s capital city. I first visited Arlington National Cemetery as a 15-year-old on a trip to the capital with my family. It was awe-inspiring even then, but after having served in the Army myself, and having returned there to visit multiple times, the picture-perfect rolling hills with all those thousands of perfectly in-line headstones still leaves me humbled, speechless, and on the verge of tears during each visit. I recommend that anyone who takes our country’s unique freedoms and history for granted go spend a few hours among the tombstones of these heroes. If the result is not a profound and reverent sense of gratitude, then my guess is that gratitude is just not possible.
President Kennedy’s brothers Robert and Ted are also buried right there with him.
While I have spent many hours just walking around the cemetery, looking at different tombstones — many of which belong to medal of honor recipients, presidents, former POW’s, astronauts, and more — there are a few must- see monuments. The first is the Arlington House, the home of Mary Anna Custis (the granddaughter of George and Martha Washington) and her husband, Robert E. Lee. After Virginia seceded from the Union, and Robert E. Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia, the estate was taken over by the Union Army and Lee never again returned to the property. The house itself is a mansion, even by today’s standards. While the history there is fascinating, the one thing I can never get out of my head about the Arlington House is the view from the porch. It’s situated on a hill overlooking Washington, D.C. If memory serves me right, you can see the Potomac River, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the White House from there, and also, just a few hundred yards down the hill, the “eternal flame” identifying President John F. Kennedy’s burial site. The John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame is also worth a visit. It’s a memorial to Kennedy who is buried there and was requested by his wife Jackie, following her husband’s assassination.
Finally, the last place you have to visit in Arlington National Cemetery is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Tomb represents and symbolizes all “unknown” (unidentifiable) service members who gave their lives in combat dating back to the Civil War. The Tomb is guarded by the “Old Guard” — the special U.S. Army unit that stands guard at the tomb 24/7/365, whether in a blizzard, a rainstorm, or unbearable heat. If you can, you should try to witness the changing of the guard, which happens exactly every hour on the hour. Every little detail of the changing of the guard has some significance, and it’s always done with military precision, which displays the utmost honor and respect for all the “unknowns.” I have spent an entire day just walking around Arlington National Cemetery. It’s all sacred ground, and as I said before, it never fails to impress me. I encourage all Americans to visit if they have a chance. It’s a place where fallen heroes are honored on Memorial Day. And best of all, every other day of the year as well.
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Connecting Your Employees to Your Mission
Not too long ago, the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers released their Commercial Property/Casualty Market Report for the fourth quarter of 2020. The report was extensive, but there were a few key takeaways that I thought were important to share here. Although these takeaways are based on data from five months ago, they give us a good idea of what to expect for the first couple quarters of 2021. First, the fourth quarter of 2020 was the 13th quarter in a rowwith premium increases across the board. The average increase among accounts of all sizes was 10.7%, but when divided by size — large, medium, and small — it becomes clear that the large and medium accounts bore the brunt of this. Premiums for large and medium accounts went up 13.7% and 11.7% respectively, while smaller accounts only went up by 6.7%. The premium increase for small accounts was down from second- and third- quarter increases (7.3% and 7.1%, respectively). Second, this was the third consecutive quarter that all lines of premiums increased. The average increase was 10.2%, down from an increase of 11.3% in the third quarter of 2020, however. Umbrella saw the highest premium increase (21.3%) followed by D&O liability (14.7%) and commercial property (12.9%). Third, most respondents to the Council’s survey declared that they had seen a “significant” decrease in underwriting capacity. This was particularly the case for umbrella insurance, where 90% of respondents reported a decrease, and half of those respondents called the decrease significant. As the above data shows, the COVID-19 pandemic greatly affected the insurance industry in 2020 in the areas of pricing, availability of coverage, renewals, and underwriting trends. As 2021 continues and more people get vaccinated, we’re hopeful that as the pandemic wanes, so will its negative impacts on many aspects of the insurance industry.
MAKING YOUR PASSIONS THEIR PASSIONS
Your business might be doing well, but if your workforce doesn’t feel any sort of personal connection to your business’s mission, that could prevent lasting success. You want to boost employee morale and make them happy about their work. To reinvigorate your employees’ passion for your business’s mission, try a few of these tips. Walk the talk. Patagonia CEO Yvon Chouinard decided to make his products out of organic cotton after he saw how industrially grown cotton was hurting the environment. It cost more to do that, but he stuck to Patagonia’s mission of creating environmentally friendly products. If you’re not willing to sacrifice for your mission, then it’s not your mission — and your employees will know it. Make it clear. Make sure everyone at your company knows exactly what your mission is. Only when employees have a clear understanding of the goal can they actually abide by it. If your mission statement can be interpreted in multiple ways, clarify it throughout all levels of your business. Speak passionately about it. While you want the mission itself to be exciting, even the most intriguing of mission statements will be DOA if your delivery doesn’t convey your excitement. Humans are emotional creatures, so connecting with your employees emotionally in regard to your mission is just as important as the mission itself. Make it personal. While you might think tying your personal story to the company’s mission seems narcissistic, the truth is that your team wants to hear your story. People like stories, and if you can convey yours with honesty and humility, no one will think you’re an egoist. Re-work it. If your mission doesn’t seem to be inspiring passion in your workforce, then maybe it’s time to tweak it a little bit. Whether you’re just starting in business or have had the same mission statement for 10 years, a new mission lived out, made clear, and made personal by you can spark a newfound appreciation for your business among your employees.
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S ometimes, “procedure” can get in the way of teachable moments, even for educators, but not in the following example. One day, Anthony Moore, a student at Stonybrook Intermediate and Middle School, wore a hat to his classes, which was a violation of the school’s dress code. When Principal Jason Smith found out, however, he brought Moore to his office and probed a little further and asked Moore why had decided to wear the hat to school. It turned out that Moore had received a particularly bad haircut and wanted to hide it from his peers, who he was afraid would tease him. After seeing the student’s haircut, Smith empathized with the student. So, instead of sending him home or writing him up for violating the school’s dress policy, he offered to give Moore a new haircut. Understandably, after his last experience with a barber, Moore was a little hesitant to accept the offer. But as it turned out, Smith had been cutting hair since he was in his teens. So, after showing Moore some photographic evidence of his work and getting the all-clear from Moore’s mother, he agreed to get a new cut. Smith drove all the way back to his house to get his barber kit, then fixed Moore’s shoddy haircut right there in his office. Once Moore was comfortable with how everything was realigned, he returned to his classes in good spirits. Many praised the principal’s solution to the problem. It certainly would have been easier for Smith to simply penalize Moore for wearing his hat, but he instead set an example for how teachers and educators can be a cut above the rest, turning a minor violation into a teachable moment. Hopefully, more and more educators will look to Principal Smith’s “shear” genius as an example for how to address the roots of student misbehavior, rather than simply shaving a little off the top.
Fix Minor Transgressions at their Roots
DON’T JUST TAKE A LITTLE OFF THE TOP
Have a Laugh!
Easy way out on Pg. 4
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INSIDE This Issue A Tour Through Sacred Ground page 1
Connecting Your Employees to Your Mission
Key Takeaways From a Q4 2020 Report page 2
How One Principal Proved He Was a Cut Above the Rest
Take a Break page 3
Why Customer Stories Are Your Best Marketing Tools page 4
How You Can Use Customer Stories To Make a Killer Marketing Campaign
Make your customers the center of the story.
Stories are one of the oldest forms of communication. For as long as there has been language, people have used words to spin yarns and convey ideas. Today, when it comes to marketing your products, stories emotionally impact your customers in a way that mere facts never could. How do stories do this? According to behavioral economist and author Peter McGraw, memories are built on associations. When you form a habit, routine, or ritual, you’re essentially creating a new set of associations. Using stories, you can show how customers who use your product or service incorporate it into their rituals. If others see that your product has a benefit, they might be compelled to do the same. Before sharing testimonials of customers using your products willy-nilly, however, there are a few tips that might help you curate the stories your customers share and see.
Many businesses make their product or their brand the hero of the story, but this isn’t the most effective way to grab your customers’ attention through storytelling. Instead, focusing on your customers, their rituals, and the success they’ve achieved can resonate a lot more powerfully. Of course, you’ll want to make it clear how your product helped them achieve success.
Meet your customers where they are.
Ditch the jargon.
Find a way to get customer feedback on the products and services your business provides. What do they like about your product? How have those products and services helped them the most? Incorporating this information into your storytelling campaign can also ensure that those stories resonate a lot more with your customers.
Always remember to keep your stories short, to the point, and accessible. No customer is going to be interested in reading an eight-page white paper or listen to a testimonial that they can’t understand because it’s so full of industry jargon. That’s the beauty of good storytelling — it can impact anyone, transcending industries.
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