We have all heard the expression “I’m sane, it’s the rest of the world that’s crazy.” I’m not sure that we have ever lived in a crazier time. I live most of the year in Southwest Florida even though the vast majority of our clients are in the Northeast.
The internet and cell phones have allowed us to work remotely. It is easier for John Biasiello and me to work remotely because our clients who are selling their agency just don’t want us showing up at their offices and raising questions with
their staff.
Openly Sharing Opinions
I continuously get surprised by how willing people are to share their political and religious views with me even though I show no interest in hearing or seeking their opinion. I was married for over 40 years and never knew who my wife voted for. I have two daughters in their mid-thirties that are extremely well educated and successful. I also don’t know their political views. Neither my wife nor my daughters know my political leaning if any. Why is the world so eager and willing to share their unsolicited opinions with me?
Why don’t I share my views? Why don’t I care about someone else’s view? The answer is simple and it is based on some input I received from the wisest man I’ve ever met. His name was Frank Blanche. I met Frank in 1991 and he became my best friend on the day we met. We had almost nothing in common other than golf but we made a lasting connection that never wavered until the day he died suddenly over two years ago. Frank was a Clinical Social Worker. Frank’s career was based on listening to people and giving advice on how people could improve their lives. Frank told me that he didn’t discuss politics or religion for one simple reason. He said that he had never heard two people with opposing views on politics or religion discuss the subjects and hear one of the two people say, “That’s a good point, I hadn’t thought of that.”
As a result, Frank felt it was a waste of his time and energy to discuss these subjects with others even though I knew he had very strong opinions on both. I’ve taken that stance to another level. I don’t think most people would say anything that would intentionally hurt another individual. For some strange reason, that doesn’t seem to apply to politics or religion. We all feel so firm in our opinions that we think everyone must agree with us.
It’s About Acceptance
Here is a strange concept. Let’s accept that we are not right about everything and that we could learn something by listening and respecting the opinions of others. I don’t think that there is a single person alive in the US that can’t wait for the election to be over. See, we all can agree on something. Let’s be more aware that everyone’s opinion matters. Let’s be aware that we can’t understand someone else’s perspective unless we live in their shoes. Let’s understand that there are people of other faiths that are different than ours. It’s not because they are wrong. In 99.9% of the cases, it’s because their parents were that faith.
Most of all in these challenging times, let’s remember that we are not Democrats or Republicans. We are Americans. There have been a lot of people for several hundred years that have sacrificed and died for our rights. They didn’t sacrifice for any political party or religion. Let’s show those people that sacrificed so much that their sacrifice was not in vain.
My request to everyone is simple. Show some kindness. Do something small for someone for no reason. It will make everyone, especially you feel better during the next couple of difficult weeks.
What Does This Have To Do With Insurance Agency Sales?
Our blogs are not written for everyone to know my personal opinions, or in this case, how I don’t care to hear their opinions on religion or politics. There are practical applications that we need to be aware of while working with a client to sell their insurance agency. We need to be understanding that the sale of your business is a very important step in an owner’s life. In this case, your opinion does matter. In fact, it is the only thing that does matter. We are involved in the engagement in order to provide you with advice and to help you make an informed decision. Unlike politics and religion, in order to get a deal done, there needs to be a great amount of give-and-take on all sides.
In doing a deal, we need to keep our opinions to ourselves and keep our emotions in check and focus on the facts. This is really also a crazy time in the market for insurance agency sales. Luckily, it will never approach the craziness that all of us see in politics and religion.
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