Blind spots. We all have them. When you’re driving your car, you intuitively know that there are objects that you can’t see. In life, we’re often not as tuned in. We see based on our own experiences, assumptions and opinions. And, sometimes what we see is either completely wrong or slightly askew. Throw in gender, geography, ethnicity, and sexual orientation and it can feel like you’re hopping over mine fields. While comedians joke about political correctness every day, when we’re navigating the workforce, sometimes we’re just looking for a field manual. (more…)
Financial Professionals
Faces of the Field | Andrew Nida
In a marketplace where Millennials are re-writing the playbook about social and corporate values, Andrew Nida of Atlanta is already ahead on the scoreboard.
Andrew’s outlook on social and corporate responsibility is a reflection of the values he learned as a young child. As an adolescent and teen, Andrew worked alongside his parents as they traveled to third world countries to serve as missionaries. This experience gave Andrew a unique perspective on purpose and life. (more…)
Business Student Wins Intern of the Year Award
National Life has a robust internship program. There are at least 40 students from colleges and universities around the country who spend the summer on our Vermont and Dallas campuses.
They get an opportunity to learn all aspects of the business in jobs with real responsibilities. They also work together in teams on projects identified by different departments.
So we were thrilled to see this summer’s intern of the year get some recognition when he got back to campus. Here’s what the University of Vermont wrote about Dan Fahey a couple of weeks ago.
Finding Your Own Financial Freedom
Debra Patterson was a single mom with three kids; she was a woman who was “looking for a way out.” She left an abusive relationship searching for a better life and a way to support her family. The words: “If you leave me, you’ll never make it,” drove her to succeed and ultimately to find her passion. While she was busy helping other people protect their futures, she reinvented her own. Here’s Debra, Managing Director, Summit Advisory Group, in her own words.
Not Your Father’s Insurance Industry
My father was a life insurance underwriter for thirty years with a well-known company. As a little girl, I looked forward to occasionally visiting him at work, where I spent a morning “helping him” organize his desk, observing him conduct business on the phone and do paperwork and later going to lunch. My impression of his job was that he did something very important and glamorous, getting dressed up each day in a suit to talk to the men he helped with cases. Men who were much like him. At that time, many of the agents who sold policies were of a very similar demographic culturally, ethnically and gender-wise: middle-aged white men. These men helped build the success of many companies, my father’s included. (more…)
