From time to time, you hear a speech or a presentation or read a letter that is worth repeating or reprinting. What follows is one such presentation. Recently on these pages, we presented remarks made by Steve Menzies, Chairman of Applied Underwriters, upon his receipt of Man of the Year of the State of Israel Bonds in New York. We noted then that Steve is a bold thinker and is squarely optimistic and forward looking. In this issue, we present excerpts from remarks he made in California to a group of insurance professionals from all sectors of the industry that was provocative and stunningly well received. We quote liberally. SA

The Spirit of Risk Taking…

Some of our motivation and inspiration these past few days during our meetings and business negotiations comes from the intense sporting ambience in California. Here, there is risk taking, real exertion, focused power, and the self-actualization that anoints success. We watch, study and appreciate talented men playing to win with all they’ve got. As entrepreneurs, you and I experience that every day. Any leader worthy of the title gets that sense of power and feels the feeling that goes with striving.

 Boldness…the will to stand apart from the fog and the fear…

In this room tonight, we have a varied, talented and driven group of intellectually sharp, business savvy, mission-focused and highly experienced competitors – that is, entrepreneurs willing to take risk at precisely the time in our society when corporate risk taking is getting lost in a fog of fear and trembling. It is a kind of virus that is growing, spread by academia and caught by weak leaders.

Tonight, I would like to invoke a word that will express the approach that our work together and our joint collaborations will profit by over the years ahead. That word is: boldness.

Boldness has many meanings and uses, but, overall, it fits an approach that overcomes the awful timidity of the career, corporate bureaucrat, the redundant, paycheck player, and the resignation of executives settling for mediocre results, endured endlessly … and deadeningly.

The new, socially acceptable sense of comfort with shrinking ambition and mediocre results is not for us, any of us.

In the real world of entrepreneurship, boldness is a virtue. I think you know what I mean by it: it is not hubris, arrogance, or braggadocio.

No.

Boldness is the self-reliant, self-driven assertion of personal power and courage, u n a p o l o g e t i c a l l y.

Power and courage, asserted, again, unapologetically, marks the place where a story begins to become an epic and unfolds as a kind of conquest leading to success. Boldness, as we take it, is pressing down hard on the accelerator to fire our entrepreneurial engines.

It works …and it is energizing and life enhancing.

Boldness, not rash self-assertion or boorish, amateurish salesmanship, but stand-up trust and confidence in an enterprise’s vision…and the courage to act– that is the formula.

Let this continue to be the guiding mantra for Applied and for our partners, as we hold fast to our paradigm for growth beyond every prediction.

Our timing is right and our field of combat is target-rich.

What the temper of the times tells us…

The temper of the times suggests to me a fresh appetite in business for originality, for innovation, for old fashioned rugged individualism, contrasting to the culture of coddled, spoiled, part time adults and their creeping, socialistic security blankets that tease the electorate with promises of a grand, arbitrary redistribution of power and wealth.

This is sad to witness.

For us, as entrepreneurs, it is critical to understand the temper of these times, especially as we enter what I believe will be for all of us here the Soaring 20’s.

While elsewhere in the corporate world, the sensitivity training, the kiss-kiss kissing up to regulators, competitors, trendy influencers and while the 1,000th power point on group dynamics is being delivered by a recently hired psych major – who has never done a deal or ever met a customer – we have continued to work with an incredible intensity, piling up profits and gaining market share. While Berkshire’s insurers amassed $5 Billion in in insurance losses – and had little to say about it! – our intelligence, our gutsy team turned calculated risk taking and aggressive marketing into wailing successes. In the galaxy of carriers, we were the brightest star, albeit the brash, bad boys in the board room.

So what just happened?…..

Working hard every day we amassed a kind of muscular think tank with an action mission. Applied’s A team of hard thinkers, clear thinkers, and real thinkers know that the best concepts must be brought soundly to the action level and be set to march toward better than marginal profitability.

We all know that in business, labor is not terribly hard to supply, but REAL TALENT is elusive, so I am all the more proud of this mark of distinction: ladies and gentlemen, Applied and its prospective partners –YOU –possess Real Talent.

All we have to fear is a lack of imagination, a lack of courage and a lack of talent…. And so, we have nothing to fear.

Let’s buy in to a heroic vision…

We must continue to stand out in the new class of corporate leaders who find ways to say ‘no’ and take baby steps. By contrast, let us hold to a willingness to share in heroic vision.

Today, many companies doubt their own mission; they hold penitential, self flagellating  seminars like Is Capitalism Good? Can Progressivism Save Capitalism? and How Have Corporations Sinned Against Society? These are real names of real forums sponsored by corporate entities.

And we wonder why recent college grads shun the corporate world!

It is all stifling.

Meritocracy, the measure…

The fact is, the best and brightest thrive in a meritocracy.

And meritocracy is not a value to be ashamed of.

No. An individual must become his own best stakeholder; we must be our own best stakeholders.

And that is the approach we seek in our partners.

We partner with entrepreneurs who are proud of their exceptional abilities, successes and who thrive economically and socially, unapologetically.

As our high, bold standards distinguish us and our enterprise, our branding will need be little more than just a naked presentation of our true colors, our inventiveness, our profitability and our compelling case for courage. It creates an irresistible corporate soul, one we build together.

So, tonight let me toast our shared goals as we move forward together to a brilliant future, with a modicum of boldness and razor sharp acumen …..and with no apology for our ambition or its fruits.