Maedean Johnson

I think the way that I was raised was one thing that had a huge impact on how I was reared. I've also done a lot of things that were not popular and didn't get a lot of attention, but they helped grow me as an individual. For example, there are a lot of things that I volunteered to do that other people didn't want to do, and it actually changed the course of my career in many ways. When I was getting bored at my desk, I went to my manager and said I wanted more challenges, and he sent me to a meeting about technology. That turned out to become one of the biggest things for me. They created a whole division for technology underwriting, and because I had attended all those meetings, I was a natural shoe-in when they developed the department because I had the most experience. That changed the trajectory and the opportunities I had, including how I ended up at Zurich because of my technology background. I also volunteered to go all over the country while maintaining my desk to teach underwriting assistants how to underwrite. I ended up at home office meeting a number of people that I would have never met, and because I met those people, that's one of the reasons I got tapped on the shoulder to be a part of the underwriting transformation. All these things didn't get me any accolades or promotions, but they got me exposure and connections with people that I would have not met sitting at my desk.

My advice would be don't chase the title and don't chase the money. That only gets you so far. Look for opportunities, take the opportunity, learn from it, and don't be so quick to want to jump to a role. Learn what you need to learn in the role that you're in so that you can prepare yourself for the next step in your career. Make connections with people, and be careful how you treat people coming up your ladder because you may have to meet those same people in different ways in your career. You don't want to burn bridges. One of the biggest things is to treat the underwriting assistant, the janitor in the office, and the president of the company all the same exact way.

I think one of the biggest challenges is getting people prepared for the changes that are coming, because if you don't prepare for the changes, you will get left behind. Getting people prepared for transforming and how transformation needs to happen is one of the biggest challenges. A lot of people think they can just throw a system at something without actually dealing with the process behind it and the workflow. Just getting people on board who say 'I've always done it that way' drives me crazy. It's about getting people out of that mindset and creating a paradigm shift in their mind of how they think so they can prepare themselves for what's coming ahead of them. It's helping them understand that the transformation is not to replace the underwriter, but to help the underwriter make better decisions and support the underwriter. As a woman, and especially being an African-American woman, one of the challenges has been making sure my voice is heard and being taken seriously. Sometimes people tend to discount what you have to say because of their own biases. Sometimes people are not prepared to see me walk in a room because I'm not what they expect, but when we have the conversation, there's a level of respect that does end up happening because of what I bring to the table, my value.

Integrity is huge for me. I like to say people whose 'who' matches their 'do'. I value people who represent themselves authentically, who stand by their word, and people who can be trusted. I also value someone who's willing to roll up their sleeves and do some of the stuff that's not very glamorous but is needed. But integrity is one of the bigger things for me. That's like a huge, huge deal for me.