Ep205 Serene Davis & James Orchard of QBE: Stars aligning for Innovation

How do you get big, globally diversified insurance companies to innovate? It’s something that we all know is way easier said than done.

That’s what today’s podcast is really all about.

Today I’m joined by two senior executives who are working together to implement change, improve efficiency and do new things at global insurer QBE.

Global Head of Cyber Serene Davis has been tasked with creating a global offering for cyber at QBE, where up to now development has been patchy, with different strategies playing out in various markets across the world.

And CEO of QBE Ventures James Orchard runs a small team whose job it is to assist senior executives like Serene in realising their vision through the partnerships and strategic investments that will build up the tech providers that will help them achieve their goals.

It’s a fascinating conversation and one that embodies QBE’s relatively new CEO Andrew Horton’s plan to imbue a culture of innovation across the group globally.

Indeed Mr Horton may not be on the show himself in this Episode, but his presence never seems to be far from the surface.

It’s clear from this lively chat that if you want to instil change and a culture of innovation you have to lead from the top and you have to resource it and be strong enough to accept that there will be many twists and turns on the road to eventual success.

Listen for yourself – for anyone who is grappling with the challenge of keeping a large insurance business up to speed and relevant, without throwing out the parts of its culture that have already got it to where it is, this will be a valuable listen.

NOTES

I let the abbreviation KPI through. It stands for Key Performance Indicator.

LINKS

We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:

https://www.advantagego.com/