How a Math Teacher Became CEO of One of the Midwest’s Biggest Companies

It's that kind of thing, I think, that makes us different. Taking care of his customer because he cares about them. First time CEO, you never done this before. No one has done the global pandemic before, but if you make it through that, you're like pretty set smooth sailing from there on out. The idea of taking risk, [music] you're not going to get a return on it if you aren't willing to have a little bit of potential downside. Yeah.

How have you guys adapted and learned in this like crazy transformational change that's happened in the last 6 years? From South Bend [music] to Evansville and everywhere in between, this is Get In, the show focused on the Hooser State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for [music] today's conversation. This episode of Get In is brought to you by Indie Grills, Indiana's go-to team for fireplaces, outdoor kitchens, [music] and entire custom patios. Indie Grills handles everything in-house, from design and permitting to construction and installation, making the entire process simple from start to finish. They design, build, and furnish more custom patio spaces in Indiana than anyone else using a strong focus on Americanmade materials paired with trusted products and components selected for quality, durability, and performance in Indiana weather.

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com. Now, let's get into today's episode. My guest today is Kevin Murphy, and he leads one of Indiana's most recognized insurance organizations as the executive vice president and CEO of Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance. That's correct. We are so excited for today's conversation. What really makes Kevin's story interesting is that he did not come up through traditional sales or executive tracks.

He built his career as an actuary, combining mathematics, risk analytics, and leadership into a path that ultimately led him to the corner office. He now oversees an organization with agents and employees serving Hoosiers across all 92 counties. I'm really excited to dive into this non-traditional pathway to becoming the CEO of a of a staple institution in the Hooser State. and people will know he might be a math guy, but he speaks well. We're really excited to have him here. Kevin, welcome to the show.

Thank you, Nate. It's great to be here. And that might be the first time in recorded history that actuary and interesting were used in the same sense without like the word not in the No, [laughter] I'm just kidding. Hey, math is cool. We like math. We don't do public math on the show.

I will say that. Too many times have been like trying to do math and then it's like, ah, you know what? We can't do that. But that I mean that is a really interesting path. I feel like typically if you go the mathematics route, you're going to be like a a numbers hard data person and the skill set required for a CEO is a lot more soft skills, a lot more personal skills. Absolutely.

So there is no doubt you can't do anything without people. You're going to lead people, you're going to manage people, you're going to communicate to people. Yeah. Well, I mean, for example, I mean, you guys serve all 92 counties, correct? How big is the organization when you think about people that that kind of look up to you? Yeah.

So there are 1,200 or so employees. A little over 400 uh agents and so yeah 1,600 people across 92 counties spread throughout. 1,200 employees plus another 400 agents. Correct. Holy smokes. Okay.

So I mean we're going to get into the the nuts and bolts of Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance and learning kind of like the history. We're going to make a very important distinction between two organizations that operate independent. Actually three organizations, one national organization. There's a lot of myths that we're going to bust here, but your journey starts on the west side of Indianapolis and you went to Cardinal Ritter High School and then you end up uh where do you go and pursue college? Uh I went to Franklin College. Go Grizz.

Go Grizz. Yes, exactly. Went down to uh way south 20 miles south of Indie. Did you play sports? I played uh played golf. Nice.

Played golf in college. Went to play both basketball and golf. Oh. And then was uh shown quickly that I needed to stick to golf. Oh, basketball players I didn't think were as good as I was, and I was completely wrong. They were very gifted.

Well, there's a a rich history of uh Franklin Grizzly basketball with like the old school coach whose name was Grizz. Nicely done. Yes. Yeah. And then that's how the high school became the Grizzly Cubs. You're exactly right.

Like what is it like the Fab Five or like they had their own name for them. You're exactly right. I think it was the 30s. Yeah. Yeah. One was his name.

Like it was coach something. Wizard White maybe. I lose. Ernest B. Grizz Wagner. Ernest Wagner.

So, yeah, he was like the the Wonder Five, Franklin Wonder Five from 19 three consecutive uh state uh high school state championships 1920 to 1922 and then led Franklin College to uh collegiate titles in 23 and 24. Well done. Let's go. Shout out to the Wonder Five. So, you go there and you're like, this is, you know, that's the old days like but you end up playing golf there. Play golf there.

Yes. And then you go on to get a master's degree, correct? A master's degree. Yeah. So I I was going to be a teacher, gonna be a math teacher. Yeah.

And then uh went to student teaching and was surprised that not everybody wanted to be in class. Where did you student teach at? I student taught at Shelbyville High School. Oh, go Bears. Well done. Yes.

Okay. So you're you're there and you realize, oh wow, where was it? High school. It was high school. Yeah. Yeah.

And you realize high school kids, you know, aren't obsessed with learning. Shocking. Yeah. High school kids weren't excited about math either. And so, uh, I still enjoy teaching, but I didn't enjoy the, um, the things that came with it. Have immense respect.

I think teachers are among, if not the most underpaid for the value they bring. And patient, empathetic, like all the soft skills. I mean, you think about uh, like coaches kind of get the fun part of it cuz you're on a field or you're in a gym or you're doing that piece of it. It's like 2 hours a day with high school kids is like plenty for a lot of people. I can't imagine eight hours 5 days a week. Sky would need the summer to recover, too.

Absolutely. Uh so, so it at that point became, wait a minute, I'm not going to do that. So, I just I'd stall and just go to school a little bit longer. Yeah. Um had a an opportunity to do so at Miami, Ohio. Uh nice fun.

Great place. No, we're not upset about Oxford, Ohio. No, it is. Even though it's across the border, uh it is barely just barely. And it is uh it is a well-known and wellrespected institution across the Midwest and beyond. Uh very very cool.

Yeah. So, did you get a a master's degree in mathematics? I did. Yes. So, you big math guy? Yes.

And did you So, you did that though because you didn't know what career you wanted to do. Correct. I did that just to stall essentially and while I was there, got introduced to the actal profession at that point and said, "Yeah, I'll give it a shot." Talked to a handful of uh people that were doing it here locally in Indiana and a couple professors there were aware of it as well. Yeah. Well, I think that's an interesting piece today.

You're a CEO. You've been so how many years? Uh this is my sixth year. So this is your sixth year as a CEO of a 1,600 person organization here in Indiana. But when you graduated college, like you didn't know what you wanted to do either. Correct.

You know, like you were stalling and you like, you know, like I think that people think, oh my gosh, I'm 22, I'm 23. I have to have the world figured out today. And you probably have sons that are around that age, maybe a little bit past that. But like, you know, being a parent and also being in the shoes and looking back and saying, "Hey, it all panned out for me." I don't know. What do you think about Yeah.

being young and not having it all put together? Nate, I wish you would have been around. We were having those conversations with our We have four uh adult children. Uh all triplets that are 28 and 27 years old. We do. We're going to get into that later.

We should. But all of them had the same sorts of things. Uh I I'm confused. I don't know what all of them do. I feel like I feel like everybody in my class knows exactly what they want to do. No, they've they think but but they don't and just find something that you like and and and give it a shot.

Yeah. Like if you had every college senior make their 10year plan like how many of them are actually doing what they thought they were going to do and kudos. There's like a diamond in the rough that's like has a straight line and like that's what they want and they get there and then a lot of times they get there and they're like, "Huh? Well, now that I've done that, like what do I do now?" Exactly. I just think that is like the pressure of you have to have it all figured out.

You have to be on the perfect career path, but then you realize that the game is pretty long and you can make up ground. You can lose ground like pretty quickly and and it's all all right. Exactly. Well, you mentioned the 10-year plan. It's the old Mike Tyson line. Everybody has a plan to get punched in the mouth and and we all get punched in the mouth career-wise and life-wise and have to make turns and pivots and and adjust to what comes at us.

Amen. So, how long was the mathematics masters program? 2 years. So, you do two years there and you're like, "Okay, actuary. This seems good." Now, the crazy thing that I've heard and I I don't know if it was like this when you were coming through school, but to be like a full-fledged like certified actuary.

It's like five levels of like crazy testing, right? Or I don't know what how many tests there are. It is when I went through there were 10 tests 10 that were offered um every six months. So, so it's but it's 10 tests that are like each the equivalent of like the LSAT or whatever, right? About Yeah, I've heard it described when I was going through that to get your um MBA or to get something like that, you know, the equivalent um the actual rail exams were the equivalent of doing a four or five year, maybe more a doctorate, different opinions. The thing that made this difficult is all of us were doing this while we're working.

Wow. So you're you're taking where did you get a job at? At American States Insurance, which is then subsequently purchased later by Safeco. Okay. In Seattle. So it was here uh just right across the street actually from uh the Scottish Rat Cathedral.

Oh, nice. Okay, that makes sense. And so this is the interesting piece. You graduate, you get a job as an act. You're doing the work, but along that journey every six months you have a new test for 5 years. Yes.

And towards the end I am doing that with triplets and a wife that is saying hurry up. Yeah, get finished. This is a little much. Now for people that might not know or have like seen the word actuary and just like you know you kind of skip over it when you're reading that. What is an actuary? Great question.

I think at a very high level we uh are risk managers and adviserss. We utilize data utilize the past to predict the future. And and that's a very broad description, but it uh we're typically employed in insurance organizations. So, property and casualty, life, health, all of those kinds of things to try and predict what kind of um uh outcomes could be rates, reserves, you name it. Uh based on things that have happened in the past. Today, I feel like actuaries live in tools like Excel and all that.

like when you were coming through was it was and this is gonna I don't want to be like you know offensive or anything but like was it on computers and stuff like that or like were you did you have a calculator? Uh very fun. Uh we had Lotus 123. What is Lotus 123? It was the precursor to Excel. Yes.

And um actually one of the things I did early on was program write programs to be able to pull data in to Lotus 123. Uh yeah. Yeah, buddy. Woohoo. Uh, couldn't get out of that fast enough. Yeah.

So, you then get into the insurance biz. Uh, and along the journey, you're studying, you're working, and is was it like a thing where if you pass the test, did you get a raise? Yes. Oh, that's nice. So, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. There is a huge carrot.

Yes. But then like what is are there like how do you talk about someone who's passed three tests versus seven tests versus 10? Great example. So there are at least on on my side which is the property and casual side there is something called uh an associate of the casuarial society and fellowship of the casualty society and the an associate I'm sorry I've lost touch with once you're finished with exams you care less about them of course but when I went through there were seven exams to be an associate and 10 to be a fellow to be a fellow. Okay. So, you get through to the end along that journey.

I mean, so if you did two years of a master, you're probably pushing I was 30 32 years old. So, 32 years old to be like finally done with standardized testing. That isense. It it Yes, it's it's I got into it probably the same way most other people do. I'm good at this. Yeah.

So is everybody else that's taken these. And the way that they work is roughly between 30 and 40% of the people pass each test. So you're competing against everyone else that's doing this. And imagine like getting 6 months into it studying and you don't pass and you have to either do it again or give up and you got to wait another year cuz when you get older, you get past the first few, they're only offered once a year. Uh so yeah, it it's uh again back to the comment with my wife who is very supportive. Yeah.

But hey, I got three little kids here. it's time for you to be done. Why do you think it's such a rigorous testing program? I think the idea is to make sure that whenever someone has those letters after the name, that designation, that there's a baseline that we have great confidence that this individual can speak with authority. They know they're an expert. They can advise um in a in a very sound way.

Yeah. It's just like wild to me that you could finish up like your JD and be a lawyer and like represent, you know, you could like be a prosecutor with less time invested than being an actuary. Correct. Yeah, definitely. That's a valid point. Wow.

So like I mean how many like for example today rough numbers ballpark 1,600 employees how many of them would be actuaries? Ah good question. I think we have about 10. Oh 10 or 12. So this is like this is a pretty large insurance company. This isn't like a a dime a dozen position.

Like this is a very specialized it's a specialized field. When I started at Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance on the property capture side I was the only actuary. Oh wow. And you started in 2000. Right. Correct.

So where where did your path bring you to Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance? Uh well what I mentioned earlier I work for American States Insurance. They were bought by Safeco. Uh, Safe Co's headquartered in Seattle and actually where I work is a home office job and I had zero interest in moving from Indianapolis and going to Seattle. Yeah. And so at some point you had to figure out something's got to shift here and change and I was uh one of the things the themes of my own personal career I was just blessed.

I didn't I didn't seek anything out. They called Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance called me just at the right time probably about 6 months before Safeco realized they had to consolidate those home offices. I was going to have to make a decision anyway. Uh so this opportunity came and it [clears throat] was uh has been one of the great blessings in my professional life. So Indian Farm Bureau Insurance calls and you're like, "Hey, appreciate it." But I grew up on the west side of Indianapolis.

I don't know a thing about farming. Yeah. Like I mean that is a thing that I think a lot of people think is that it is just insurance for farmers. Is a great point. We are the largest uh farm insurer in the state of Indiana. We've got almost half of the market in Indiana for farm insurance.

That's great. But we but even within that if you kind of lump commercial lines together uh farm is still our fourth largest line. Wow. Personal auto, home and commercial insurance. We write more in terms of premium in all three of those lines than we do in in farm. Well, I think that it's important to know how to do this today.

But before that we have to know how this thing started you know because it I believe it was a thing uh that was largely started with farmers but like 100 years ago you know give me the most yes the backstory behind Indiana Farm Bureau insurance. So 1934 our uh Indiana Farm Bureau Incorporated said we have an issue that farmers are were unable to get insurance in an affordable fashion. Okay. Well let's start with for the the non-farmers in the room. Not me. I clearly know, but like what is a what is Indiana Farm Bureau?

What is a Farm Bureau and why why do farmers need a bureau? Yeah, great question. So, Indiana Farm Bureau is a a nonprofit organization which among other things advocates for the needs of farmers. Okay. Important. Very important.

Uh they uh do a ton of work in the state house. They do a ton of leadership development for young farmers to uh to to build their skill set to be able to be better farmers, better leaders in their communities. They do phenomenal work. um in half for for a very long time. But in again in that 1930s era um there was a lack of availability for farmers to get insurance. And so that was the uh the the catalyst that said we need to do something differently.

Uh the leadership did and and and then we have grown immensely since then. kind of a little goofy fun fact for you. The very first auto insurance policy that was sold bought by the president of Indiana Farm Bureau, uh, six-month auto policy cost him $6. [laughter] Well, if only it was if only it was still that way, right? We think our rates are competitive, but at a little more than $6. This thing starts as Indiana Farm Bureau in 1919.

So on the backs of World War I, uh, farmers get together and then as an organization that advocates for farmers, one thing they were seeing is insurance, which is crazy to me that insurance is like one of the oldest. It's like banking and insurance are like so old. Like it's like such an industrial like that was not what I would be thinking about in the early 1900s is like insurance policies like having car insurance on a Model T, you know? Like that's wild to me. Exactly. But at the same time, if you think back to what was likely happening, uh, farming is dangerous and it was even more dangerous at that point.

And what insurance companies do is evaluate risk and say, how how am I are we willing to put these risks together and charge a fair price. And when farming was that dangerous, you had some insurance companies pulling back and saying, I'm not sure I'm okay with a number of people getting hurt and all those kinds of things. So they stepped in and said, let's do it ourselves. Okay. So then it was uh a separate organization or underneath the entire Farm Bureau. Great question.

So Indiana Farm Bureau is the parent entity over the insurance company. So Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance is a DBA. Oh yeah. Have two two company legal names. One's United Farm Family Mutual Insurance Company, which is the property and casualty company, and a United Home Life, which is the life insurance company. Both do business as Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance within the state of Indiana.

Both of them op operate actually in other states but just not with that name. Now are they okay? So that was my my next question. Are there parallels in other states? Great question. So there are there is a farm bureau that Indiana Farm Bureau that advocates for farmers.

There's one of those entities in every state of union and Puerto Rico. There you go. This farmer about that we've loved um volunteered to go visit them regularly. We just don't have don't get taken up on the offer. Yeah. Right.

Uh there are then uh not every state has a an insurance company in it. There are probably about 22 insurance companies that are specifically Farm Bureau insurance companies. Okay. So then over time when do normal non-farmers get into the mix? Like how long did did it go on? I'm sure there was many years that they only insured farms and farmers.

Well, actually it started uh both because they still were farming. Sorry. And we were insuring non-farmers not that long after because when you file with the state we were going to I mentioned the very first policy was an auto policy. What's a personal auto policy? So we we started the hey it was personal auto policy for a person happened to be a farmer. Ah okay I got you.

So at that point it just sort of expands and saying it's the same type of risk we can write it. It starts slowly because when the farmers were the reason they're the ones that were the first ones in but then you talk to a friend in the in the local community. Well and the whole thing is like the law of large numbers right like you want to get volume. You want to make sure that um you don't just want the riskiest of the risky. You like put that all together to mitigate and offset. Like there's a whole I mean is that what actuaries do is like decide that you seem like you are interview uh interviewing for a job as an actuary.

You got that pretty well down. There we go. Right. I I really saved the law of large numbers. I really wanted to use that in here. But yeah, you're right.

You need uh actually my first job was in health insurance. I was an or fellow came to town. I worked at a company called Apex Benefits and we [clears throat] had an actuary named Jake and he was a math guy. He was so smart. And I just remember sitting there and like oh you know it's all like like he's in like thousand no 10,000 row Excel spreadsheets not quite Lotus 123 but uh it was crazy just like what they're able to like whenever pivot tables come into the mix. I'm like that is above my knowledge.

I'm guessing Jake could have been fine in Lotus 123. Yeah, you know. Okay. So you then or I guess the company then evolves from 1934 and but always is supporting farmers as well as the average Hooser. Correct. And expanding throughout.

So one of the things and and there are gaps in the history for me but I can tell you since I've been alive we have been in every county. Okay. So even though Marian County, which is mostly nonfarmers, still that's the area that we have the most business. Yeah. Oh, for sure. County.

And I mean today you guys operate so I have your headquarters is here in Indianapolis, but you have I don't want to like say satellite offices, but whatever they're called in different markets around the state. Absolutely. We have over 150 locations around the state. So we're in at least one in all 92 counties and over 150 throughout. So, we're in we're in local communities. Wow.

Okay. Wait. So, this is an interesting piece too of learning. I feel like every small town in Indiana, which I've visited a lot of, has like a local insurance agent and it almost kind of to the outside looking in is like a franchise type thing for you all. Like what does that look like? Because I feel like I see Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance as like the sponsor on the back of a T-ball team.

Like that's like a very common occurrence that we see. Is it like a franchise model? Is it like they have to come and interview for a job up here? Do they get to hire more agents beneath them? Like how does that all work? It's a great question.

We actually have two different models, if you will. Uh one is the most traditional. They come uh anyone would come to interview for a a traditional agent job, which would be that very thing. Uh he or she is uh starts as an employee, would move into an independent contractor role, but they would not be hiring their own staff. We would some of those 1,200 employees I mentioned would be staff that is helping them. We also have about 60 almost 70 that are what we call agency owners which would then instead of saying Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance might say Anna Wetnight agency Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance.

That's one of the people that she would own her agency and she has the autonomy to then uh hire her own staff. All of those scenarios though are still local and they're still going to be the names on the back of the T-ball jersey. They're all going to have Indiana Farm Bureau insurance, but a few of them, about 70 of those locations, will be with uh individuals who have proven their worth and their value and their ability to run a business. And so, we trust them with our name and our brand. I feel like that's a common thing is that I think a lot of people think being an insurance salesman is so easy. It's like, oh, I can just go out there and start slinging policies tomorrow.

Uh, what's what's the biggest misconception around selling insurance and being an agent for Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance? I think it's a I would say a couple things. One is I'm not sure that they are salespeople as much as they are educators and they are uh for us. I can't speak for another I won't speak for any other insurance companies, but our people are there to help our clients understand the risk, understand what alternatives we have available to them to help mitigate that risk and then let them make the decision. They're not they're not trying to close or not trying to be hard sellers. They want to have a relationship with their clients.

The other thing that they do that I would say that is remarkably different is that they are there in their times of need. We've got we just showed a a picture to our our board uh this past week which I thought was very compelling. It's from it's a Facebook picture and it's a a a spouse of an agent posted this. He didn't even know she was taking it, but a tornado had gone through their community. Um he gets a text from a 75year-old client who is um has windows that are out and it's it's our job. It's not our job to go take care of that client's house.

It's our job to replace the windows when we get a bill, but our agent is out there with plywood putting up plywood. He's taking care of his customer because he cares about them. It's that kind of thing, I think, that makes us different than what you would see in many of our competitors. A lot of times in this world of convenience, you're like, "Oh, it has to be go on, buy it on the app, like get it quickly, the cheapest." rel [clears throat] I'll say tragedy like that but it's like it's nice to have people that are actually your neighbors. I would even say critical and and let me take I talk down the path of our agents.

I will say though for the the overall industry an insurance agent is in a lot of ways I would say they're just they're advocates for their clients. Yeah, if they uh they look at themselves as a salesperson, I think they're going to have a relatively short-lived career. I mean, I feel like insurance salesmen kind of do get a bad rap. I agree. Like it it's almost like the modern version too of like the stereotype people use is like the used car salesman and it's like um I was trying to think that the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day. Yeah.

Yeah. You know, there there's a scene in Groundhog Day where the life insurance agent is just sees him on the on the corner and every time, hey, can I talk to you about your life insurance needs? And it's that kind of um that kind of perception that people have. Well, it's like the dial for dollars, you know, like you pick up the phone, you're making 100 cold calls a day trying to get and then No, this was the one where it's like uh that I mean, some of it lives up the stereotype where it's like, yeah, okay, it might not be a good fit for you, but do you have three friends that it might be a good fit for? I'm like, "Bro, what?" Yeah.

No doubt. And I say all that knowing, as you mentioned before, I' I've never sold. Yeah. But I have been with hundreds and probably even thousands of our agents over the course of this 26 years and seen a very consistent path. Now, I do want to get into that. Okay.

So, you joined Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance in 2000. You become the CEO in 2020 21 kind of like the intram. So talk to me about how you go from because one thing you have 400 agents that are you know largely looking for you know like sales leadership and then you become the interim CEO having never sold insurance correct in your life. Correct. Like talk to me about how you lead at something that you've never done before and how you ended up as the interim CEO. Great question.

So I would say the thing that helped me prepare if you will and go back to that actal profession. One of the things that it does to pass these exams, you they're they're all about the insurance industry and about every different area. You had to learn about investments. You had to learn about finance. You had to learn about accounting. You had to learn about sales and marketing, legal.

All of those things are tested. So even though you don't haven't done it, you you do have some background understanding. Second, as I kind of joke about earlier, uh we have to be able to communicate. But my role previously gave me exposure to the agency force in a in a major way. What was your role ahead of time? I led the operational areas of the property and casualty company.

Okay. So, uh claims, underwriting, rating, things like that. So, I had regular access to them and um I think over the course of time hopefully built their trust that that a I know a little bit of what I'm talking about and b I I can actually speak to you. I'll listen to what you're saying. I can communicate back and you're not going to come in and just slap a spreadsheet down on their desk and say like this is the math. The math is the math.

No, but to your point, what one of the things I think that is a skill that many actuaries have that's that um we don't flex enough is to be able to put things in in terms that everybody understands. If you just slap a spreadsheet down, you just have one over about one and a half% of the population. But if you explain what that means. Yeah. In in regular terms, the Rosetta Stone of Excel to the common fold, right? Like you have to like that's how you're really going to excel in this is like, you know, knowing that the bigger your, you know, risk size population is on that side, the more it's like going to even out and like, you know, be, you know, long-standing and keep people's rates at where they want them to be and not have huge spikes.

Correct. And and by the way, that's the same in every technical profession. Same for an engineer, same for an investment analyst, same for a financial adviser. You got to be able to put it in terms that the people people you're talking about understand. Now, the interesting piece of this is the previous CEO to you had been in the role for 40 years. Correct.

So, not only are you coming in with no sales experience, but you had built relationships. You're also stepping into a role uh against someone who's done this for a long time. Correct. Talk to me about the the circumstances that led to you becoming the interim CEO. Okay. So, um I was in my role as a uh as the head of property and casualty company for um a dozenish years.

I kind of lose track, but um in that one of the things that my predecessor Joe Martin did in a very wise fashion was to put in place a um a formalized succession plan, emergency plan. If something happens, here are the list of people in order that we would put into place. And in many ways you think that's that's a little bit you don't need that. I how often is that going to come up but he gets gravely ill after a a surgery and uh the the board of directors was able to very easily say we're just we're we're don't have to put a proposal together. This is uh we're enacting something we've already put into place a plan that's already in place which had named me as the uh person who would take over if he was incapacitated. Well, let's think about that.

Like, how many years ahead of that being needed was it put into place? It was about five years before. So, five years. He's like, "Hey, just so you know, if anything ever happens to me, like you're in charge around here." Yeah. Like I like I mean, I'm sure there was a definitely a formal process, but like how many people have had like one-off conversations like that?

You're like, "All right, yeah, thanks, boss." Then one day you get the call like, "Hey, you're in charge." Yeah. And by the way, that call happened in April of 2020. Oh gosh. When nobody's around, everybody's virtual.

We're still trying to figure out what in the world how how do you navigate this process? How do you communicate with people across the state that are now in in their homes uh in Yeah, it was not much fun. So, you get the helm April of 2020. I mean, talk about a welcome part. Like, what's the first thing like you get like an email or a call from someone like how how does the process go where they're like, "Kevin, you're in charge now." So there was uh our general counsel uh reached out and said, "Hey, uh we know enough now that uh Joe is in a position where he's not going to be able to function for an extended period of time.

So this is going to be enacted." She had talked to the president and we go, "Okay." Um and so then there's the first step back to what we talked about earlier is to communicate. Yeah. communicate with the immediate staff, my peers, which were his direct reports, and then to the entire organization. Here's here's what's happened.

Here's what's going on. Uh let's talk about in order of importance what we do. We all need to have keep Joe in our thoughts and prayers because he's going through a very challenging time. That's the biggest thing. Let's talk about what we do next. Here's here's what doesn't change.

You still are taking care of our customers in the same fashion. So laying out those things and communicating and kind of easing fears was was step number one. And it's like you have that going on, you also have the fear just in general of like the world is like that's a lot of change happening all in one location. And it's like to be in the port where you're cutting your teeth as your first time CEO. You never done this before. No one has done the global pandemic before.

It's like it's like but if you make it through that you're like pretty set smooth sailing from there on out. Well, probably not that but smoother than it would have otherwise been. And so to that point, so did that for five six months and then there was Joe got better. That was that was the most encouraging thing. And then there was an open interview because he was then I need to retire. I'm I'm I'm at a point.

Um, but it was it was easy to be able to interview with our board to say what I how I would uh operate as a CEO cuz it's well that's like I have been. Yeah. It's hey like things are going pretty well around here like you know the world's starting to open back up and we're we're rocking and rolling still. So then in 2021 you end up being named officially the CEO. Correct. Wow.

Yeah. Now, when you were young, let's say, you know, you many years, you know, but when you were thinking of the teacher route to I'm going to grad school route, like was running a business something that you had had in the back of your mind for the future? It was never in my mind even in 2020. Uh, at no point was I saying, uh, I'm I'm going to navigate in my career with this goal in mind. Yeah. Everything I was trying to do throughout my entire career was simply do what I was assigned.

Well, yeah, that's it. And and and if these other things come, so be it. I think sometimes when you I mean at that point you had adult children, you know, 6 years ago they would have been they would have been 22. Yeah. Like you you have adult children, you're like empty neester. you're kind of like, "Oh, we could," you know, but taking on new responsibility at different stages in life when you might be a little, I don't know, intimidated or excited like you know what they say like if you're not nervous and you don't care, right?

It's like you're definitely nervous when you're going and taking on this new role at a time where you probably could have just done the status quo and like sail into the sunset and gone to Florida. I know. Talk to people that the listeners that might be out there that are maybe at different stages of their career and are like, "Oh man, do I want to take this risk? Do I want to go, you know, take the promotion or or chase for be ambitious even later into my career? I was ridiculously blessed because um you you mentioned our kids that just were graduating college. So my job your job's not done as a parent, but it it changes and diminishes materially.

So if this opportunity would have come around when they were in uh seventh or eighth grade, I I can't think of the number of things I would have missed. Yeah. the number of uh tennis matches, golf matches, basketball games, baseball games, you name it that I would have missed because of responsibility. So I was very fortunate that that it came around this point. Um having said that the the idea of taking risk if you don't there isn't any return ever. Um and like just any investment you you you you're not going to get a return on it if you aren't willing to have a little bit of potential downside.

Yeah. I I you're never stretched. You don't get better by by in in anything. You're not going to get physically fit by just sitting. You're not going to get better at golf. Get better at your your guitar playing.

Pick something. You you've got to take some risk and put yourself out there. Well, and it's like you talk about being a model for your adult children that are like getting their career started. And you know, you're again, you raise these kids. You're, you know, put into a position where you've done the same thing for 12 years. And then you're put in a position where you have the opportunity to be a leader.

You and it's like a short-term test drive. It's like you could have done that and been like, "All right, that was a fun experiment. Like go find someone different, you know, like again, I want to ride off into the sunset." But talk about like leading from the front, not only from a company perspective, but a family perspective. You're like, "Hey, you know, I might be seasoned. I might be a veteran here, but I can still learn new tricks.

I can still push myself. I can still go pick up a new skill." Well, and and um talk about being blessed again. All of this happened, remember, during COVID. So, those young adult children were living with us. Oh, nice.

So, they got they not only did they get to watch, I got to ask them for help. Yeah. In various things. There are there were um everything we did was video at that point. You had to push out videos and so you had to make a ton of these videos and you get some assistance from them. Hey, how can I do this?

H what would communicate this more effectively? How would you if you were in your home? Well, you are in our home. How would you react if you saw something like this? So, being able to lean on them a little bit was really fun. So, you got triplet kids and everyone and you everyone's doing job interviews.

Everyone's like, you know, on the video like, yeah, you know, you guys wearing a suit for yours. I'm going to wear a suit for my No, I'm just kidding. We actually had our our niece lived with us as well because her mom uh single mom was a COVID unit nurse. So, and and long story why she couldn't. But anyway, um my favorite co memory, she did uh her school work in our pantry. Uh [laughter] yes, we put a desk in our pantry and you know, so many great podcasts started from the closet.

Like you live in like, you know, the biggest city. You're in New York. You have no space. You have like five roommates all living together and you're like, "The only way I get me sanity is in my closet that's like 2 ft by 2 ft." It's so funny. [music] This summer, I'm exploring Indiana from top to bottom in a Roman wrapped tundra.

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Find a participating warm-in location near you and book it today. Up to seven quarts plus tax and shop supplies cannot be combined with other offers. See dealer for full details. Now let's get back into the episode. What advice would you have for people that might be stepping into a leadership role after a generational talent? One, you got to be yourself.

You there is no way if I tried to be Joe, I would have failed miserably. There are things about him that made him great that I don't have and things about me that that he didn't have as much. Yeah. Um be yourself and lean into those strengths all the time. [gasps] Yeah. Uh the second though is to to to lean into the people because what made him part of what made him great is he built this team.

So recognize that no matter how generational talent, however great this person is, you're taking over. If they were any good, it's they had to build a good really good team to make that person look good. So hey, go lean on these people that have that are really really good that they that they built. Yeah. I think that's always interesting to to see, you know, 40 years doing anything. like you got to be pretty good at it and then coming in and it's like well the first thing isn't let's change everything what got you here is like you know you have a good foundation there and then how do you like pick up the ball and keep running and like lead in your own style like I do think that a lot of times it's like that can just be a challenging piece to come in when you have big big legacy shoes to fill without doubt it's easy to try to say hey look that worked I want to do the same thing the I guess One other piece of of advice I'd give if you were not just taking over for generational talent but taking over anything.

Um people expect change when you take over you you take advantage of that opportunity. If you you come in and it takes you three or four years to say hey I think we ought to do something different. Well why didn't you what is it about you? You've got a relatively short window to say look people are looking for change from somebody that's coming in new. figure out what's most important and go do that now and communicate that well where it's not like hey we're changing everything because it was broken or done wrong but it's like we're innovating and we're pushing forward and and you talk about you know a wild time to lead in a heavy on the backside heavy math heavy you know like data analytics the whole night AI like you've probably led in the last six years in the most like pivotal transformational time in large data sets and AI in innovation in in recorded history. Like talk to me about what what you guys have seen from this shift in the insurance business and how important like the math and the Excel and the AI and the this and the that are for what you guys are doing today.

Data is kind of king and queen right now that you have to have a ton of data. Uh insurance is baseline. You mentioned a lot of large numbers. Well, played. We have uh data from we got 225,000 households across the state of Indiana with all kinds of data that that we will be able to 225,000 households. What's like the average size of a household?

Um probably meaning by dollars or people about about four or four and a half. So four you think about like so it's like a million in a 11 million like 10% of Indiana it's like you know you are right you know covering correct that's that's wild it's fun and and and then and also by the way very um uh very important to remember that obligation when you go around town wearing the the shirt that has the logo and people see you there. If you did the math, 225,000 roughly 225,000 households at like a little over four people, like that's a million, let's say a million, just like use even numbers. Again, I'm not a math guy. Don't do public math on the pod. Uh that would be one in every seven.

Yeah. Like one in every seven people you see is going to like have be a a client in some way, shape, or form. Yeah. Like be like, you know, associated with what you guys are doing. Like that's pretty crazy. It go into a coffee shop and like throw a stone like Yeah.

The logo matters. Yeah. I I was just in Hobart, Indiana yesterday. The Rickies go, he's good. And had uh same thing. I stopped because uh the drive up and I'm 60 years old and I had to stop to go to the bathroom.

So walk in wearing one of the Indian farm and you see somebody and the first thing they say Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance. Oh. And you're like, "Oh, what's coming next? I've been with you for 30 years. You guys are great." Like good.

But but you hear that way more often. And my point is is that the the the magnitude of the responsibility recognizing how how many people we all and by the way the same thing would happen if anybody is wearing that shirt. We all represent the the entire company. This is why I was so excited about this podcast because it is a brand that's far bigger than any person. Like I mean you could and this is no disrespect to Kevin. We like Kevin but we could put you in a police lineup and say which who's the CEO of Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance and no one's going to pick.

No offense again. No offense. Now they will. They're going to know it's Kevin. But you walk in there and it's like and which is good. Like you want everyone to be the same because they're all representation of the brand.

I have no interest in people seeing me in that light necessarily other than I I love the company. But my point I prefer for that very same thing that they look at me the same way they would anybody else whether that's somebody processing a payment or somebody handling a claim or anything else an agent that that we all represent the brand. Yeah. Absolutely. So, do you spend a lot of time traveling the state? I do.

Uh, probably six, seven, eight times a year we'll get out into office. I will say uh when I took over in this role, I I I I don't mandate much. I've only mandated one thing and that was that every executive will be visiting a county off the local office in the field at least once a quarter to be able to connect with and see what's happening out in the field. Okay. So, I'm from a small town in northern Indiana, Marshall County. Shout out Bourbon.

Um, and we grew up like in a town of 1500 people and largely like as I moved from there to I went to Depal University. I went to Green in Green Castle. So, from I say this all the time. So, like the average the everyday listener is going to hear this story a decent chunk, but from 1500 to 12,000 to now I live in Indianapolis and I have since 2019. And largely like you can get caught in your bubble, right? And you like only think that you know again like you know differences in wages like you know a dollar in Indianapolis like you know might be more readily available to some people than in rural Indiana or a dollar in Broadripple is different than a dollar on the old north side like you know going out and getting out of your you know your little sphere is so important especially if you want to be a leader.

No doubt we in the state of India I can't tell you if we have 15 or 20 but there are way more than one or two markets the the way that a customer interacts what they want what they don't want uh how critical that that relationship is all of those things are different across uh they're not the same in Hobart as they would be in in uh Nashville Indiana. They're very very different. And so being able to have that and to have all of our leadership team have a better understanding of that has been very impactful. Yeah. You talk about like communicating. It's like the brand in a rural farming community when you when it says farm in the name versus the brand saying farm in the name inside the 465 loop is different very and how you talk about that and it's like oh you know my grandfather has farmed this land for 80 years.

Like we love Indiana Farm Bureau insurance. And it's like oh well there's there's no farm. I don't know if there still is. I think there's actually like one horse farm inside of 465 still. Like maybe TBD. You got to look.

I think it's on the northwest side of Pa by Zensville, but like largely not a lot of farmland in inside of 465. I might even say zero. But uh so how you're talking and communicating there and if you are I think that's a big piece too. It's like you don't want to be seen as oh the the corporate execs in their in their Indianapolis high-rise. It's like you got to get out there and see the world. No doubt.

And so what what I will do and what the executives will do when we're out there is we just just sit. I'm going to sit and I'm going to go around. I'm going to talk to every one of our employees for 15 20 minutes for I'm going to talk for 5 10 minutes just to ask them about their family. Ask them about how they where they grew up. Know a little bit more about them. A and then what what is it that is making your job fun?

What is it about your job that's not so great right now? What is it that we could do? Is there any from the home office side? what uh what do your customers want today and how are they interacting today that they weren't doing 5 years ago? Those kinds of things. And it's just a it's just a simple way to to let them know um I just have a different role.

I'm just this human being that has the same kinds of uh interests and fears and anxieties and challenges that that they do, but just have a different role than they do. Yeah. It's not a more important role. Yeah. It's just a different role. Yeah.

And like I don't I think it's a cool position to be in to get to go out and listen and then the key is like how you're taking in the learnings and it's like you know your your office that might be in southern Indiana it's like oh well you know when I was up in Hobart last quarter like they're talking about this and they have like you know this new way that they're talking about this or this new way that they're managing people or this new thing that they put in for customers like I don't know I think being able to share that knowledge is is helpful without a doubt most the the best ideas are the ones Just steal from other people. Yeah. Steal like an artist, right? Exactly. It's like you're not reinventing the wheel. You're you're out there like what your agents and what your offices and are doing in Fort Wayne is probably pretty comparable to what they could be doing in Evansville.

Yes. With the exception the only things that maybe Fort Wayne Evansville wouldn't be a great exception, but with the exception of the client needs and desires might be very different. So, we'll see. There are some offices that we have across the state where you'll get 10 to 12 walk-ins in a morning and other areas that won't see somebody for 3 or 4 days just because of the nature of the of the beast. Some people, some clients in those rural communities want to come in and just talk to their their their agent or their field operation associate. They want to they want to pay their their bill right there in as opposed to doing it online.

A lot of other people want the convenience. So, it's it's what we do is is similar perhaps, but but what the client wants can be different. Yeah. I mean, you know, the easiest way to get in front of like the right people in the small community just like I feel like uh every small town has like the old farmers that go into whatever the local coffee shop is. Ours cuz we didn't have really a coffee shop when I was growing up was our Subway. They did like quarter coffee.

Like literally, you get a cup of black coffee for a quarter. And those guys would be in there. I'd be driving to school every day. You want to know the workings of the town? It's all through there. It's like you take a buck in, you buy four coffees for the farmers, you're going to learn everything you need to know about your customers there.

Um, I love it. the the one thing we were talking about so obviously you said you had one big mandate was get out there see the state be in front of people and listen but like the industry as a whole has changed when you're talking about modernization of technology you know in inputting AI automation this everyone wants to talk about how every company is an AI company I mean for you and Indiana Farm Bureau insurance how have you guys adapted and learned in this like again crazy transformation ational change that's happened in the last 6 years. Uh yeah. So a couple of ways. I think we think it is very critical for us to also utilize every piece of technology that will help our employees and customers and we are confident and and have been proved that AI is one of those u however so we want to leverage that and I'll talk a little about why here in a minute. We want to leverage that.

But but we have to make sure that when we're doing it, we got to stay true to our value proposition, which is always has been and and will be as far as I can see in the future, our local relationships, relationships with from from agent to client, from claim rep to client, from field operations associate to client. Our relationships even amongst all of us, people won't be able to re be replaced. AI can't be empathetic to a person that's just had a very tragic situation. AI can't be um I don't think as effective at explaining what's going on with a a bill to a client who has a question. There there are variety of things that uh only the people can do. Yeah.

It's not going to make you chuckle when you're like sitting in a meeting talking having a cup of coffee, you know, like there is a little bit bit of using it as a tool but to but also having like the human connection. No doubt. So our our CIO has a phrase I think is wonderful. It's let let AI do the mundane, you do the remarkable. Oh, and I love it. I think it's outstanding.

Um, that's from a tech person. You you technical people know how to speak every now and again. So wait, wait, wait. Let AI do the mundane and you do the remarkable. Yeah, that is a mic drop right there. That's okay.

I like it. But back to the other point, there is a ton that insurance company, we are no different than many others in this regard, have a ton of mundane that when you add up all the mundane, it keeps people from doing the remarkable. And we have the need to be as efficient as we can with all those processes and eliminating the mundane so that our customers are able to receive everything from us quicker. Yeah. more efficiently which means keeping uh their costs to a minimum as well. Everything we're doing with u innovation in and AI is is toward that efficiency improvement.

Yeah. but maintaining the individual connection, the value proposition of that local relationship. And honestly, like I think that there's going to be a great leveling of tech, you know, like I think 10 years ago, the sleekst platform, mobile app, this that like you know, you could win by having developers, you know, craft a great mobile app. It's like today everyone can create a a really beautiful great interface mobile app, but not everyone can be on the back of a T-ball team. Exactly. Not everyone can be out there bringing donuts, like being a actual staple of your community.

And I do think the pull towards like shopping local, not just on, you know, the main street coffee shop and the main street, you know, restaurant, this type of thing, but shopping local, knowing that your dollar is going back in your community and is going to be the great analogy on the back of a T-ball jersey or like being spent in your community versus, you know, shipped on a tech platform out to somewhere else and lining somebody else's pocket. Like I think that local is really I don't know captivating lots of things even from like home services. Absolutely. People want to work with local contractors. People want to work with you know local plumbers, local this, local that. Like seeing that dollar stay in your community is important to people.

Could not agree more. And if I could take build on that a little bit and almost do a tiny commercial for us. One of the things that we uh I get a little bit amused and frustrated by is when when terrible things happen in the state of Indiana, meaning uh natural catastrophes, tornadoes, things like that. Um multiple people impacted. We will, by the way, there's a weird uh pattern. They seem to happen on Friday nights way way more often than they should.

But on Friday night, you get this something goes through and we'll wake up on Monday morning and you might hear one of our competitors have an ad on the radio that says something about we we are empathetic to we understand that something bad has happened. Uh we are sending our claims response team in and we'll take care of your needs or something along those lines. Impressive. Uh our claim response team lives in the community that was just impacted. our claim response team was there on Friday night with the people with a customer who's had their uh you their windows blown out with that had the roof blown off, you name it. And and we've been there Saturday and Sunday as well.

And by the time that many of our competitors arrive, we've got most of the largest impacted customers already um already addressed and and and helped that that local is what I'm getting to. that that that person that you mentioned that the coffee shop frequently that claim rep has been in that coffee shop that they know the individual that they are working with. Uh the agent is their advocate. All of that local flare if you will that we we think we do it crazy well and we think that the the the populace likes it. Yeah. Absolutely.

And you talk about like at least if something does have to get run up the flag pole, it's a shorter flag pole. Yes. Like it's a shorter flag pull from South Bend, Indiana to Indianapolis, then to Provo, Utah or wherever it might be. Yeah. No doubt. And and yes, people it's easy to um it's easy to find my name on our website.

Easy to find many others sometimes to much to my sugar, easy to find my name. Yes. And and and that connection that I try to foster not just with me and the field, but also with our executive team means that that people do our our agents, our claim reps are able to say, "Hey, I I had this thing happen uh to to me or to their executive very easily." One final kind of insurance question and then I want to shift the conversation to more broadly Indiana. What would you say to people out there listening that view insurance, home, auto, life, all that as a commodity? Yeah, it's just like it is a necessary evil.

I give you my premium. I want to find the lowest premium possible. What would you say to that? I I would say if you want to view it that way, fine. If you want to view it as a commodity, candidly, we're probably not the company for you. Yeah.

Uh there are if you're looking for the lowest price and lowest price only, that's fine. And this may or may not be the right analogy, but I tried to say, um, look, there are plenty of Walmarts out there. We're we're not the Walmart of insurance companies. We'd be a little bit more like a Nordstrom's. We're we're a white glove service. We're the ones that can answer for you.

If if you want someone I I'll use go back to my kids example for a bit. when uh you know four adult children they all handled differently but when they were going through making their first purchases that one of them went on I won't say where but one of the competitors sites and gets a quote I had to deal with them I said um I believe in Indiana Farm Bureau insurance strongly I think you should have Indiana Farm Bureau insurance but you're an adult you can do however you but what I'll say is if you can find something less expensive that you think I I'll pay the difference between us and that so that you get an idea to at least experience what we are and who we are and then you make your own choice. Well, he went out and he'll he goes through well here, Dad. Look, um you guys are X amount more expensive. Are we? Let's go through that.

And you walk through with him all the differences and and and when you go back and you do it apples to apples, we were literally identical. And then you start, well, that's not fair. They're doing kind of a bait and switch. They're Yeah, you're right. Yeah, they're not a bait and switch, but they're offering you something very different because they want you to view this as lowest price only. If that's what you want, go for it.

If you want someone to be able to walk through with you something that you don't understand very well. No, people don't understand insurance very well. They only deal with it a few times a year. That's what that's what we do. Yeah. And it's like all the different Oh my gosh.

Have you ever like gone through the process of buying a new car? Oh. And then it's like all of a sudden you walk out of there with a new insurance policy from like soldi car sales and I'm like wait why do I need this like what are we like I think my insurance and they're like do you think or you know then I'm like well now I'm second guessing myself where it's like you know you get you don't want to get into let's say an accident happens and all of a sudden you know you don't have the right level of coverage or policy and all of a sudden your car is like great we're going to give you five grand cuz that's what it's worth because you just drove it off the lot and you depreciated 50%. Exactly. And you still owed seven grand and you're like, "Well, where do I get the other two grand?" That's exactly right.

And all of those things are some that if you're going and purchasing online, which you can do for us. We we sell online as well. But but our our real value comes when you you have somebody to walk you through those differences. Value value and price are two very different things. We have a a great analogy. Uh Martha Hoover, founder of uh Cafe Padachu, right?

She came on and talked about value throughout her restaurants and they're like, "A lot of people think of value as getting the most for the least." Yeah. And it's like it's really finding that delta of where are you getting you're just like feeling at a point where I'm getting a lot and I'm comfortable with the amount that I'm paying for that. And it's not just like, you know, when you think about the the Wendy's four for four, it's like you're getting a lot for a little, but what are you really getting there? Like, you know, if you want a, you know, a lot of that, like, yeah, sure, you can get a lot for a little there, but knowing like the quality that's behind it. And again, the white glove approach, all that stuff.

So, I think that's a an analogy of price versus value and knowing really what's in the details there. Couldn't agree more. We do that with regularity with our agents to our clients that uh they will sit in front of our clients regularly and and look it everybody's got a different delta that you're willing to pay whatever. And so if it's worth X to you to to be able to ask me whatever you want to have that a lot of our clients have a cell phone personal cell phone of their their agent. Uh to know that you've got a claim rep that's sitting in your community or very close to it that you're going to have access to. Uh, it's worth that to many, many customers.

It'd be worth that to me if I wasn't with Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance. I know the industry. I know what I should buy in the policy if I still want to have somebody that I want to talk to. Um, my agent works in our office. He he may not be very excited that he works in my office because I can go ask him a question whenever I feel like. Um, and having that, I'm willing to pay a little bit for that.

And I think many people across the state are. Dude, it is nice in a world where it's like portals and passwords. Like again, you guys have that, but a lot of times I just text Clay. Shout out to my guy. Uh Clayo, how about that? See, that's a local thing.

I know who you're talking about when you say his first name. Clay's my guy. He's a good dude. Uh greatest basketball player in Triton Triton history. Dude was a dog. He's going to love this.

I hope he listens and I'll tell I hope he listens and and uh text him at some point. Ask him about his confusion in the rules of golf and a two-man scramble. Just leave it at that. [laughter] I love that. No, I so he was a few years older than me in um in high school. Dude could hoop.

Yeah. As someone who was not blessed and was cut from the basketball team, he that guy knows what he's doing on a basketball. I'll tell you one, he's a he is also a very very humble man. Oh yeah. Very humble. And he would never tell you that he's that good.

But it's it's nice to be able to like Okay. Uh this is my example. This is not even like a this is not a commercial. This is truthfully what happened. So, two years ago, we were planning our tailgate for uh the Indy500. I bought a 1986 Dodge pickup truck.

Like, you know, we did this whole thing. I was going on this mission to be first. Nowhere along the journey did I remember the idea of I probably have to get this thing insured. Literally, I was like, well, I don't who do I know that's in the insurance game. And uh I texted Clay and he like spits me back like a policy and like uh everything in in like I don't know, an hour or whatever. literally like before I like drove it to my friend's house to like service it a little bit and by the time I was driving out of there I was like I think I was covered.

I was in a good spot and I was like that's just something about being able to not have to go on and get my laptop or like again you can do all that now that I've had gone through the whole thing but being able to text someone and just like through text talk to a human being that I know that I trust. I don't know like that is just a part that I was like this was before we anything uh was working through with Clay. Yeah, I love that. And it it actually illustrates one of our core values, which is we will operate we will do operate business in the manner our member prefers. If you prefer to text Clay, great. If you prefer to go on our app and do that on the app, you want to go to the website, you want to send, you want to call the call center, fine.

We'll do it however you want to do it. Cuz like definitely texting your agent is not the most efficient process. You know, like the the lean six sigma people out there are probably like stick to the process, but it's convenient. It's like I just like operate my life through text. It makes it so easy. So, couldn't agree more.

I love it. Okay, we come to a part of the show where we talk all things Indiana. This question is brought to you by our friends at JC Hart. They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences and apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond. Check them out at homejart. com.

My question for you, why do you call Indiana home? Nate, I was born and raised in Indiana, west side of Indianapolis, as you mentioned, Cardinal Ritter High School. I have uh six siblings, all of whom remain in Indianapolis. Uh of those six siblings, my dad then has 18 grandchildren, 17 of whom are living in the state of Indiana. That one grandkid, that's mine. Uh my daughter has moved to uh Texas.

Uh but family is here. That's what makes home for me. Uh Indiana's fabulous. And I would I would trumpet the virtues of Indiana to anyone in in the country. Uh but candidly, if if I'd been born in Utah, I'd probably call Utah home because the people are what matter to me way more than the where. That is so interesting because I think those are the people that thrive the most in the Hooser State.

Yeah. are the ones that like you could have planted them anywhere and they would have just figured out how to make an impact and grow. And I think that that's that's special. That's really special. Okay, here's the question for you and I'm going to make you pick a favorite child. What's your favorite spot to visit as you travel around the state?

I have said this locally other than home. French Lick is my favorite place in the state of Indiana. Yes, I have. In the last like month, I've been telling everyone everybody knows about French Lake cuz it's like a silly name classic. You have to go. You actually do.

The history, it just feels like you're walking into a special place. Couldn't agree more. Like everyone's like, I don't know. And like the problem is is that a lot of times, you know, there's this there's this generation that probably went through when it was on its decline. But since I believe it's the Cook Community Foundation has like invested in there, they have like changed the whole game up. It is so nice and like you got to feel like you're in like a classy swanky establishment.

Absolutely. Well, to show um among their many reasons I didn't go into real estate. So my my wife is from Mitchell, Indiana, which is roughly 30 minutes from French Lake. Uh go uh Blue Jackets. Wow. Well done.

You're right. So, uh, her prom was held in, uh, I think is in the West Ben, uh, resort. And I remember when we first started dating and she takes me to show me this resort and I'm like, this place is a dump. And then shortly thereafter, the Cook group bought it. And I'm thinking, what are they doing? Who would go to this dump?

Well, the answer is a lot of people. And they a brilliant move on their part. And I I it is fabulous. love going there. We have uh both both personal uh trips and and company things there. Absolutely love it.

I mean, and you talk about for them uh with their headquarters in Bloomington, it's like a quality of place thing. Having cool stuff in the area like I mean, they've invested a ton in just like that south like central southwestern. I don't even know cuz it's just that whole corridor is is the Cook Community Foundation has just done excellent work there. French look is sweet. And if your parents are like, "Oh, it's kind of dumpy and trashy." They have not been in the last 10 years, 5 years.

Uh there's no way they could have been. Yeah, it is. It's so nice. Okay. One piece of advice you'd give to aspiring leaders. Okay.

Most of us are impacted by our own journey, but I I would say do whatever you're doing really really well. Yeah. right now if you aspire to anything to lead you're going to get noticed. Being an excellent we we'll pick u in our industry claim rep being an extra an exceptional claim rep won't necessarily mean you're going to be an excellent claim manager. But if you're a poor claim rep, you're never going to be a claim manager. You start with do what you do well.

Start there. Focus on that first. develop other things about your potential leadership skills, but that's that's table stakes. You've got to do that very very well. Make a difference in some fashion. Think about things outside of your normal sphere.

Look at your process and and improve it. Make it better than the people uh before you had it. Yeah. I think that so often people get caught up thinking about like what I'm going to do in the future that they like stop they stop growing where their feet are planted today. Exactly. And it's like, you know, for me in particular, like the more in early on in my career, you know, I did 5 years uh and 3 years in a tech startup and two years in the insurance game.

And I was always trying to talk my way into people making people think that I was smarter than I was. And literally when I when I like shut up and started asking people questions and like like you know getting featured in the IBJ or like these awards or people just started noticing when I stopped trying to tell them how great I was going to be like what I'm going to be the best entrepreneur ever and it's like stop just like be what you are today. Like I was a podcast host and I was just like asking good questions and all of a sudden people started to care. It's crazy but like grow where your feet are planted. But you're playing and but I think you have the second piece that I would which is ask a ton of questions. You got I mean there are such great wealth of information wisdom out there around all of us that that just ask.

There's a power in not knowing and not acting like you know. And I think that that is like a perception switch that a lot of people need to get to is like it's okay to not know. Hell, like we're all figuring it out, you know? Like it's the people that have like the fake like, "Oh yeah, I really know what's going on here." And it's like, "Mhm, sure." Well, I think the three smartest words in the English language are, "I don't know."

And then followed up with, "But I'll figure it out." Yeah. And and will you help me? Oh, I mean that I think that I don't know if that's a nationwide thing or a strictly Indiana maybe Midwest thing, but like I think that sometimes people think that asking for help is like such a puts you in like a power or a place of weakness when you also realize like that's an opportunity to build a relationship. People genuinely love to help. Oh yeah.

People genuinely want to help, especially in Indiana. And a lot of times people are like, you know, I'm tough. I don't need anybody's help to do anything. And it's like, well, by being stubborn about that one, you're foregoing the opportunity that you can be generous to somebody else down the road and help them out, and you're like missing out on building the relationship there. I totally agree. That's Yeah.

Wow. I love that. We've come to the final three questions that we ask every guest that comes on the show. First is your opportunity to shed some light on a part of the state that more people need to be talking about. What is a hidden gem in Indiana? Marinated turkey from Odin Locker.

Yes. Okay. I don't know about the marinated. I have not had the marinated turkey. Oh my gosh. Life-changing.

Maybe is a little bit over the top, but it is amazing. Amazing. I I've served it uh quite a few times and to probably 50 60 different people and not a single one said anything other than this is incredible. Multiple people have then asked for the address, driven the hour and a half from Indianapolis down just to get them and and come back. Marinated turkey from the Odin Lacquer. Correct.

So Odin is in Davies County which is like a a small pocket of the Amish population live down there and so like buggies whole nine yards and it is like a a butcher shop. Correct. Right. Butcher shop. Yes. That has a lot of specialties but but marinated turkey is their Everybody knows Odin for the locker.

Correct. Like it's the you know like the specialty meat spot. Yes. It's incredible. Get that drive down uh for your Fourth of July. put that on instead of a burger and you will be a favorite.

That is I mean there you go. Thanksgiving. You got it right there. Oh, it would be fantastic for Thanksgiving. That is a true hidden gem. Like one of the best ones.

Uh because those who know know and we've gotten probably, you know, like 20 or 30 comments of people saying you got to go check this thing out. So I I have not been down to the locker. Uh I'm really excited to go. Good. Okay. Next.

This is where we source new guests and learn about uh other people in in Indiana that are making a big impact. Who's a Hooser we need to keep on our radar? Someone who's doing big things. Uh I am convinced Luke Erdle will really easily fill the shoes of Braden Smith. I think he's going to be incredible. Um and I think I've heard him a handful of times and I think he comes across as remarkably humble and team oriented player.

I think he's a perfect fit for the Purdue basketball team. I mean, we just had we did a whole sports episode talking about Braden Smith, draft prospect, and then talking about Luke Hurle. I mean, I think he's going to be a dude. I do, too. I think he's he's different than Braden, but I think he's a shooter and left-handed. I think that's in and of itself is is an advantage.

Uh, defenders seem to struggle to remember that the person they're defending is left-handed. That way, it's different. Exactly. All of a sudden, you're like, you you're trying to shuffle the opposite direction. and you're like, "Wait a second. I haven't had to do this before."

He just beat me again. Yeah. I'm excited to see that one. Uh, we have a a running office bet of whether he will start as a freshman. I say yes. I say yes.

Um, time will tell. Okay. I am going to tell you, we uh I'm switching up this last question for you. Okay. I want you visualize, okay, your time on the west side of Indianapolis to Franklin to all the different places you've traveled around the state of Indiana, the different offices, you know, different communities that you guys are in. When you close your eyes and think about the perfect Indiana memory, when you think about what it's like to be, what embodies being a Hooser, what is your favorite Indiana memory?

It's going to sound really weird, but I'm going to do it anyway. I I was my favorite Indiana memory that I think embodies the Hooers. Uh I I was I was at Miami, Ohio, uh dating my current wife, my only wife. Not just current wife, dating my wife. I always say that. Yeah.

My current Yeah. You know what it is. And at the time she wasn't my wife. She was at Franklin College. And so, uh, a Friday after, uh, classes was driving back and going through between Shelbyville somewhere on on 44. So, and I don't remember the name of the town.

I should, but, uh, there's a one stoplight and and one bar that that's kind of it. And anyway, my car uh, fails and it it dies and I'm in the middle of absolutely nowhere. And um it's dark before cell phones and you have uh you know I get out and I'm starting to walk and the very first vehicle that passes stops. It's just two guys in a truck. Hey, you need help. And I'm about a mile and a half from that bar.

They take me to the bar. I don't have any uh any money to do anything, but the number of people at the bar that offer to help me to make a phone call to do different they they've offered to take me places. Um and and it sounds goofy to say, but that to me speaks what we as a state are. every person that I ran into, literally every person I ran into on that stretch from being uh, you know, the first two guys in the truck to the the person who owned the bar to different people at the bar, all of them offering to help in some fashion. And I think that that's to me that's uh who what make one of the many things that makes Indiana incredible. That is a great a great Indiana memory that and by the way, I had had a few beers while I'm I'm waiting cuz I drive at that point anyway.

Yeah, come the gar is toasted anyway. It's like sit down, wait for whoever's coming, pick you up, come there. I mean, that's like like an iconic Indiana story that uh I don't think is unique to just you. No, like people, again, talk about asking for help. People genuinely want to help. If people can, they will.

And time and time again, that's come to fruition. So [gasps] Kevin, it has been so much fun getting to hang out and hear about your journey as someone who is mathematically inclined that can that can communicate. I think that is a truly special set of skills to have. I think that uh again your commitment 26 years at one company that is I don't want to say like a lost art but something where you know staying at a place and digging your roots in and making an impact is something that I think uh a lot of the younger generation I don't know isn't necessarily isn't as common you know it's like every 5 years if you don't make a move like you might be falling behind or blah blah blah blah blah and it's like well there is still a benefit in digging in making an impact you know, coming to work every day and figuring out how how do you grow where your feet are and it has just been so much fun getting to know you and your journey.

And we didn't even get to the part about the triplets. Like that just has to be crazy. Like did you guys know going in that you were having triplets? We knew. So I uh we knew early in the pregnancy. So uh we had just purchased a uh GMC Yukon and I remember saying to my wife, "This is stupid.

We don't need something this big. We got two of us. We don't need a Yukon." And then coming out of the doctor's office looking around, I'm not sure it's big enough. Uh yeah, it it was a lot of fun. Was it your first or did you First and then we were uh we were blessed with another one uh 14 months later.

Yeah. Yeah. I just can't imagine going in there in uh with no children and coming out having to play zone defense. Uh exactly. More of them. [laughter] That's wild.

But congrats. I love that. Uh they are How old are the triplets? Triples are 28 and younger daughter is 27. Incredible. That's so fun.

Um I mean, you know that talk about it's like get it all out of the way. Absolutely. Yeah. You want to have four kids, you might as well get it done in one one fail swoop. Rip the band-aid off. Um it's amazing.

Stories can multiply. There we go. That was He's never used that one before. He wasn't saving that for the end of the show. Uh man, this has been so much fun. If people want to learn more about you, if they want to learn more about Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, where can they do that at?

You go to our website ww. infarmbureau. com or yeah text anyone in your local community too because you have what was the thing we are where you know we are where our customers are. That's the we're in the local communities. You can find us all over the place. 150 plus places around the state of Indiana.

I love it. As a faithful customer, uh it has been an awesome experience. It's been great getting to learn more about you. I appreciate it and we'll talk to you soon. Look forward to it. Thank you, Lane.

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