September 23, 2025 • 23 mins
A 75-year legacy built on survival, relationships and faith continues to drive innovation at Conner Insurance, where CEO Ben Conner and his team focus on providing sound counsel during life's most significant moments.
• Founded in 1949 by WWII veteran Henry Clay Conner Jr., whose 30 months surviving in Philippine jungles shaped core values of seriousness, relationships, and entrepreneurial spirit
• Second-generation leadership of four Conner brothers emphasized shepherding the next generation into leadership roles while maintaining family values
• Mission evolved from "selling policies" to walking alongside clients during critical life moments including medical diagnoses, accidents, and positive transitions
• Over 80% of clients experience flat or reduced healthcare expenses through innovative supply chain management, especially in pharmacy benefits
• Team members know individual patients by name, working to source medications affordably for both employers and employees
• Documentary "It's Not Personal, It's Just Healthcare" educates about systemic problems in healthcare delivery
• Challenges traditional strategies like high-deductible health plans that create false "consumerism" while making healthcare inaccessible
• Remains independent despite private equity consolidation in insurance industry, focusing on talent development and embracing technologies like AI
Visit connerins.com to watch the full documentary "It's Not Personal, It's Just Healthcare" and learn more about their approach.
"It's Not Personal, It's Just Healthcare"
"The Ideal Team Player" - Patrick Lencioni
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
What does it take for a family business to thrive for
75 years and still be one ofthe most innovative players in
insurance today?
We'll find out in this episodeof Shift Shapers.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
This is the Shift Shapers podcast, Connecting
benefits advisors with thoughtleaders and entrepreneurs who
are shaping the shifts in theindustry.
And now here's your host, DavidSaltzman.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
And to help us answer that question we have Ben
Conner, who is CEO of ConnerInsurance and one of those
really rare unicorn-typeagencies that has been around
for a long, long time, and we'regoing to investigate some of
the reasons why and thephilosophy behind it.
Hey Ben, how are you doing?
I'm doing well, how are you?
Thanks for having me.
Oh, it's our pleasure.
(00:47):
We're glad you were able tomake some time for us.
So let's kind of right get intoit.
If you kind of reflect back onthe 75-year legacy that began
with your grandfather, henryClay Connor Jr, what are the
core values from those earlydays back in 1949 that still
guide the practice today?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
That's a fascinating question because my grandfather
has a very unique story.
He was in World War II and hewas actually missing in action
in World War II for over 30months and for those 30 months
he was surviving in the junglesof the Philippines, and you can
imagine an experience like thatchanges your life forever and it
(01:29):
certainly did for him.
So really, when I think aboutour business but I think about
our family in general it'sreally shaped by what that made
him as a person and it allowedhim—he was a person that was
extremely serious.
Everything was life and deathand in that experience he lived
(01:50):
in a life and death scenarioevery day for three years
basically.
So that's one.
Also, he's a very relationalperson.
The reason why he was able tosurvive well, number one is
God's providence, certainly toprotect someone in that kind of
a setting.
But two is he had a lot ofrelationships, not only with a
couple American soldiers, onespecific confidant named Frank
(02:11):
Gauvet.
He built relationships withlocal tribes that helped him
survive as well, and so heunderstood the idea of
partnership and relationship.
So, and I think, ultimately,when you're in a survival
adventure setting like that, itcreates in you an
entrepreneurial spirit thatlives for adventure.
So a really long-winded answerto a simple question.
(02:33):
But those core traits arereally the connective tissue in
our DNA as a family, but also asa company, of how we operate,
and then you attach that to ourcore values from a position of
faith as owners and leaders fromour family.
That's really exactly who weare in business as well as
(02:57):
personally.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Well, it's interesting because we were
talking, before we startedrecording, a little bit about
how wacky this business is andhow much change there always is.
But those values are timelessand I think that's probably why
they've been able to keepguiding you guys for all this
time, because some things don'tchange amidst all the sea of
crazy that we deal with on aday-to-day basis.
So let's move on a little bitin time frame.
(03:19):
How did the second generation,the four Conner brothers, shape
the company's growth, and whatcan you tell us about the
decision that they made torefocus operations in
Indianapolis?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah.
So they bought the business inthe 70s and my older uncles were
in the—there were four boys, somy dad and his three brothers
the older individuals were inthe work world.
Only one of the brothers was inthe business at the time.
My dad was still in college andmy youngest uncle was still in
high school when he sold thebusiness.
And my grandfather had thisidea of I'm going to shepherd
(03:54):
you in learning to run and leadthis business, which was maybe a
little.
I mean again, he was a verylife and death type person
really committed to.
This is like strong beliefs andhis belief was I'm going to
shepherd you into business andhe had a vision for them doing
(04:15):
things together.
In fact, he always had a visionfor them doing things together
because he wanted those boys tostay close when it came to the
third generation.
That's what our family knew.
So when I came in in 2006, I hada couple family members come in
before me, a couple after, butthey really tasked us with
opportunity and leadership earlyto see if we had the chops and
(04:38):
just like any most young people,we didn't at first, but we
learned and we made mistakes andthey helped correct us of why
are you doing things that way?
Or you know, just just some ofthose things around doing life
with people and in business.
And to the point where webought the business in 2015,.
Again, we were super young.
(04:59):
You know 2015, I was, you know,basically just turned 30 years
old and you know my my otherfamily members were in that
sphere of age.
So it was this idea of we weregoing to walk alongside you in
this journey, and now, nowseveral of my uncles are retired
my dad doesn't work very much,but it's, it was a a coaching
(05:21):
aspect of how do you do thisthing right and how do you
continue the legacy of caringfor people well, and those main
things that were important to mygrandfather at the time that he
did this, which was this is aserious business and we need to
do it well.
We need to build relationshipsand care for people, and then we
need to approach it from avalue standpoint.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
It's interesting.
Your Uncle Clay said somethingthat I thought was really,
really remarkable and probablycaptures a lot of the essence of
what you guys do.
He said the business was partof it, but it wasn't the heart
of it.
What did he mean when he wastalking about that?
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Well, the heart's people.
And it's about shepherding anexperience of we're not selling
policies.
I mean, we are, I guess, butthat's not the mission of it.
That is the delivery mechanismfor doing relationship with
people.
So when we think about, like,our mission at Connor is to
(06:18):
provide sound counsel and careduring life's most significant
moments, and what reallyoccurred to me, it was actually
it was in church several yearsago and I've always been
thinking like, hey, we makemoney by selling insurance
policies because we do personalinsurance, commercial insurance
and employee benefits.
So we sell policies, we consultemployers on benefit plans.
(06:41):
That's how we make money.
But what's our impact?
And it was a moment in churchI'll never forget because I was
always wrestling with that.
It's like man, everyone else,they make a widget and that
widget empowers something.
Or they're a nurse and theycare for people.
That's easy mission connection.
But insurance, what is it?
But when I was in church, therewas an opportunity for people to
(07:02):
go up and talk about how Godshowed up in their life.
There was an opportunity forpeople to go up and talk about
how God showed up in their lifeand I don't think we've even had
service like that before orsince.
So people went up and talkedabout their testimony of God's
goodness.
Five people went up and what Iheard was I had this medical
condition and this is how Godsupported and provided for me,
(07:23):
through people or directly.
I was in a car wreck and itchanged my life forever, because
I was injured and these kind ofthings.
Or I was diagnosed with thiscondition, or we had a house
fire.
That was one, and it changedour life forever.
We lost everything and I satback there and I was blown away
(07:47):
with the idea of, oh my goodness, in our field we actually have
the honor and opportunity towalk alongside those very
individuals at that very moment.
And what an incredible missionto be connected to that.
(08:07):
We get to show up when someone'slife has totally changed and it
can be positive too, likepeople having babies or people
getting married, and you knowthere's positive sides to it too
.
But we have the ability to walkalongside people and provide
that counsel.
We can show them that we didthe appropriate pre-work, that
there's a policy that we'llrespond at this time, and then
(08:29):
we get to go to the next levelof how can we care for this
person at this point in time?
Do we door dash some food tothem.
What do we do to help them?
What is that next levelopportunity that we can care for
this individual?
That just shows them that theymatter and that we really do
care about them?
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Well, but it goes beyond caring for your clients.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
You also care for people who were clients and
maybe aren't clients at themoment, and I remember you told
me a really interesting story.
Would you share that with us?
They were growing business, ourglobal business, and they're
like maybe Conor Insurance istoo small.
(09:14):
They since have come back andsaid, actually no, you guys
actually provided the bestcounsel, we had the best results
with you guys and you cared forus well, and that caring for us
well is even when they weren'tclients.
One of the individuals isdiagnosed with cancer and she
called us and said I've beendiagnosed with cancer, I don't
know what to do.
(09:34):
Can you help me?
And really what she was askingfor is what do I do next?
Or how do I know I'm gettingthe best treatment?
And we have a lot of reallywonderful partners it's not just
our team but the businesspartners that we have that we do
business with reached out toone of those individuals and
quickly helped that individualget on the right track and, you
(09:57):
know, make sure they're seeing aquality oncologist and that
sort of thing and just helpnavigate that situation.
And that was a really specialmoment.
It was special that she waswilling to share that.
Obviously, that wasn't my storyto share, that was hers and she
was willing to do that, butthat she would trust us to.
You know, cause that's what youknow.
It's one thing it's fun whenpeople hey, I want to come in
the office and joke with you andthat kind of thing, and I like
(10:19):
to have fun.
But what I care about more isthat someone would trust us
enough, or trust me enough, orwhoever, that they would want to
come to us when life is hardand get you know.
That's if we can help people inthose moments.
Those are, those are themoments that matter.
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Now back to our conversation.
So your clients have seen veryfavorable outcomes.
Over 80% experience flat orreduced expenses in the last
(12:05):
five or 10 years on their healthcare.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
What are some of the innovations or tactics that you
guys employ that drives thosekinds of results?
You know it really depends onthe client circumstance, which
is probably one of the keyindicators.
As we look, we go to problems.
We don't go to liketheoretically here's what we
should be doing.
It's like no, like let's solvelike actual, realistic problems,
but ultimately it's we pullapart and manage the supply
chain of healthcare and we'vebeen talking about that for now
(12:33):
seven to eight years.
It's a legit thing.
It produces legit results.
I think the most, the bestopportunity that exists in the
supply chain of healthcare is inthe pharmacy realm.
We are experts at that and it'sreally amazing.
As we've grown our team, we'llgo through you know our
quarterly reports of our entirebook of business and you know
(12:56):
our quarterly reports of ourentire book of business.
And no, even when and this wasthis blew me away we're going
through like the top 25 drugsspent for the quarter and our
team knew every individual thatwas accessing that medication.
They knew their familyinformation, they knew their
(13:16):
personal information.
They knew, if we were able to,why we wouldn't have been able
to source that differently orwhy you know what our plan was
for that member and again,because if we help this member
source this medication in asupply chain way, the member
gets the medication for free.
So it's important for everyonethat's involved the employer and
(13:39):
the member.
And our team knew every personon that list and I was just
blown away.
I was like we are doingsomething really special here
when we know names of peoplethat are going through
significant health moments andus trying to impact them
positively, like let's go, likethat's, there's nothing more
(14:02):
important that we can be doing.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
And that leads into my next question.
Beautifully, in 2024, youragency earned a suite of awards,
from Best Places to Work inInsurance to Agency of the Year.
How has building a stronginternal culture contributed to
those accolades?
Speaker 3 (14:19):
You know, I think, um , we are looking for folks that
are, as Pat Lencioni talkedabout, the ideal team player,
that are humble, hungry andsmart, and we have attracted
those folks to our organization.
And when people work like thatin this field, the natural
(14:43):
byproduct is they deeply careabout members of our employer
groups.
They deeply care about resultsfor the employers, not because
we're trying to air quotes, savemoney.
What we really know is theeconomics of the engine drive
what employees are spending outof their paycheck.
(15:04):
It drives the deductibles thatthey're spending at the point of
care or co-pays or whatever itmay be.
That's all a byproduct of theeconomics of healthcare, which
is ultimately driven through thehealth insurance delivery
mechanism, and if it's notmanaged well, then everyone
loses and there's just a focusto everything else besides.
(15:26):
That is total and utternonsense.
We focus on the thing and wesolve the problems within the
thing and therefore we candeliver better results than we
could have otherwise.
I think we started in generalwith pharmacy and there's a lot
of things that have changed overthe course of time and we just
need to adapt, just like mygrandfather's story.
He had to adapt.
(15:46):
Every day he was in the jungles, surviving every day, and every
day was different.
It produced a differentopportunity and a different
challenge.
Actually, the same applies withhealthcare.
Right now, every employer isdealing with a GLP-1 and the
rising cost of diabetesmedications, which are super
important and people need.
But there is a way where we cancreate a program that is
(16:07):
world-class, that is better thanwhat anyone is doing, because
we're thinking about and solvingthe problem differently.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Speaking of change and new things, you co-produced
a documentary called it's NotPersonal, it's Just Healthcare,
and it spotlights a whole bunchof system-wide challenges.
What motivated you to step intofilmmaking and what impact were
you looking to achieve?
Speaker 3 (16:28):
I think this problem that we're trying to solve is
confusing for a lot of peopleand it's complicated, and what I
saw in this documentary thatwas important for us.
You know, in a sense it wasdone so well that it followed
our brand promise of excellence.
I mean it's an excellentdocumentary.
(16:49):
I mean it also tells acomplicated story in a simple
way that's understandable foranyone.
It's intended for CEOs and CFOsand HR as they really wrap
their mind around the strategyof a deliverable for their
workforce.
But any American can watch thisdocumentary and start to
understand the systemic problemsthat exist within the system
(17:13):
and how.
You know and our friend DavidContorno says it so well that
it's not broken.
It's actually built exactly howit's intended and that's for
the benefit of those thatcreated it.
So how do we unwind that or howdo we understand the problem?
This documentary does a greatjob of simply and in an
entertaining way it tells thestory.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
How can people find that documentary Ben?
Speaker 3 (17:37):
So they actually can find it on our website,
wwwconnerinscom, and they canwatch the full length film there
.
And I would encourage everyoneto do it, regardless of the
position you are within acompany or if you're even in
buying decisions for employerhealth care.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
And we'll make sure to put a link in the show notes
on the Shift Shapers website aswell, so people can access it
there as well.
Now, one of the things that Iknow is, besides your
grandfather's philosophy andwhat he learned in his lessons
and all the empathy that youguys pump out, one of the things
that you guys live by isturning traditional strategies
upside down.
Can you expand on thatphilosophy a little bit?
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Yeah, I think a real easy one for me to harp on.
That comes to mind is the dogmaof high deductible health plans
and how that was going tocreate consumerism and bend the
cost curve and that sort ofthing, which is a total lie.
To be a consumer for something,you have to know the price.
(18:40):
It's not that you'reresponsible to pay, right, so it
doesn't create a consumer.
If someone mows my grass andthen I get a $10,000 bill and I
have the responsibility to payfor that, that's not consumerism
, that's not consumer practices,that's nonsense.
It's just passing anunaffordable bill to a victim,
(19:03):
if you will.
So that's a traditionalstrategy that's actually still
perpetuated.
And don't get me wrong, highnet worth individuals can find
benefit in a high deductiblehealth plan.
Yeah, yeah, triple tax benefit,this, that and the other, sure,
but for the average Americanit's disastrous.
(19:25):
We actually have a rule of thumb.
If you have a health plan wherefolks can't fill a medication
or they can't take their sickchild to work or take their sick
child to the doctor, you have aproblem.
You have a fundamental problemof a benefit that you're likely
paying millions for.
That's a total waste of moneythat no one is really getting a
benefit from.
So that's one of those of like,let's flip it on its head.
(19:49):
There's a lot of different waysin which we flip things on their
head.
When it comes to.
You know, how do we evaluatestop loss for a and this is
getting super nerdy, clearly buthow do you evaluate stop loss
differently for folks that havea more consistent workforce
versus a workforce with highturnover?
You actually should look atthat differently.
(20:09):
A high turnover environment isso different than maybe, an
environment that has tenure likea university or something like
that.
So you need to adapt yourstrategy and most people don't.
And what's interesting is, whenwe come and talk about some of
these things, it's like you aretelling me things that seem very
different and it just takessome time to get used to the
idea of the can thing foreveryone isn't necessarily the
(20:33):
right thing for you, and let'shave a conversation and let's
really try to solve somebusiness problems.
That ultimately, the goal ofthose business problems, the
reason it is a business problemis you're trying to care for
your workforce and it's notgoing as intended.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
And so let's just solve that problem.
So we've got a couple ofminutes left and I'm interested
to hear what you think thebiggest opportunities and the
biggest challenges ahead are foryour agency and also for the
business which we've talked alittle bit about, both in terms
of client service and internalculture.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Yeah, I think, from a challenge and opportunity.
It's the same, and there's alot of PE money in the insurance
agency space.
A decade ago, I would tell you,in Indianapolis there was a lot
of really strong independentinsurance agencies that have now
all been bought PE or moneymaking machines.
We're not playing that game.
So we're going to pick up a lotof talent along the way and
(21:27):
we're going to be able to makereally impactful growth for our
clients.
I mean, I think you know,obviously we grow as a business
and that's great, but we get toimpact another business in a
positive way and rebuild ahealthcare delivery model
through an insurance program,right.
So there's a lot of opportunitythere.
The challenge is there's tons ofmoney in the market, right.
So you know if people arethrowing a bunch of money around
(21:52):
, that can be a I call it adistraction.
You know you can throw moneyaround towards the wrong things
and in the long term it provesto not work.
In the short term it's adistraction.
So that's ultimately what it is.
From a business perspective,that's a challenge, but that's
something that is visible forsure.
Also, government health carethat's a thing.
(22:14):
I think.
Just the continuation of thestatus quo is a challenge, but
all those things are alsoopportunities that we're really
excited about.
Another opportunity that we'releaning into is just advanced
technology and the 2.0 of whatAI is.
You know, the internet changedthings dramatically, then the
smartphone changes thingsdramatically.
(22:34):
I think AI is going to besomething that is more, more,
creates more change thananything else, and we're excited
for it.
We're going to embrace it.
We think it can do a lot ofgood, and then we're going to
try to kind of stifle out thethings that are bad, you know,
and just move along and adapt inthat way.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
And that's a great place to end our chat for today.
Ben Conner, CEO of ConnerInsurance.
Ben, thanks so much for sharingyour story with us.
Yeah, thanks for having me,David.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
The Shift Shapers podcast is a production.
Yeah, thanks for having me,David.
What does it take for a family business to thrive for
75 years and still be one ofthe most innovative players in
insurance today?
We'll find out in this episodeof Shift Shapers.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
This is the Shift Shapers podcast, Connecting
benefits advisors with thoughtleaders and entrepreneurs who
are shaping the shifts in theindustry.
And now here's your host, DavidSaltzman.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
And to help us answer that question we have Ben
Conner, who is CEO of ConnerInsurance and one of those
really rare unicorn-typeagencies that has been around
for a long, long time, and we'regoing to investigate some of
the reasons why and thephilosophy behind it.
Hey Ben, how are you doing?
I'm doing well, how are you?
Thanks for having me.
Oh, it's our pleasure.
(00:47):
We're glad you were able tomake some time for us.
So let's kind of right get intoit.
If you kind of reflect back onthe 75-year legacy that began
with your grandfather, henryClay Connor Jr, what are the
core values from those earlydays back in 1949 that still
guide the practice today?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
That's a fascinating question because my grandfather
has a very unique story.
He was in World War II and hewas actually missing in action
in World War II for over 30months and for those 30 months
he was surviving in the junglesof the Philippines, and you can
imagine an experience like thatchanges your life forever and it
(01:29):
certainly did for him.
So really, when I think aboutour business but I think about
our family in general it'sreally shaped by what that made
him as a person and it allowedhim—he was a person that was
extremely serious.
Everything was life and deathand in that experience he lived
(01:50):
in a life and death scenarioevery day for three years
basically.
So that's one.
Also, he's a very relationalperson.
The reason why he was able tosurvive well, number one is
God's providence, certainly toprotect someone in that kind of
a setting.
But two is he had a lot ofrelationships, not only with a
couple American soldiers, onespecific confidant named Frank
(02:11):
Gauvet.
He built relationships withlocal tribes that helped him
survive as well, and so heunderstood the idea of
partnership and relationship.
So, and I think, ultimately,when you're in a survival
adventure setting like that, itcreates in you an
entrepreneurial spirit thatlives for adventure.
So a really long-winded answerto a simple question.
(02:33):
But those core traits arereally the connective tissue in
our DNA as a family, but also asa company, of how we operate,
and then you attach that to ourcore values from a position of
faith as owners and leaders fromour family.
That's really exactly who weare in business as well as
(02:57):
personally.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Well, it's interesting because we were
talking, before we startedrecording, a little bit about
how wacky this business is andhow much change there always is.
But those values are timelessand I think that's probably why
they've been able to keepguiding you guys for all this
time, because some things don'tchange amidst all the sea of
crazy that we deal with on aday-to-day basis.
So let's move on a little bitin time frame.
(03:19):
How did the second generation,the four Conner brothers, shape
the company's growth, and whatcan you tell us about the
decision that they made torefocus operations in
Indianapolis?
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah.
So they bought the business inthe 70s and my older uncles were
in the—there were four boys, somy dad and his three brothers
the older individuals were inthe work world.
Only one of the brothers was inthe business at the time.
My dad was still in college andmy youngest uncle was still in
high school when he sold thebusiness.
And my grandfather had thisidea of I'm going to shepherd
(03:54):
you in learning to run and leadthis business, which was maybe a
little.
I mean again, he was a verylife and death type person
really committed to.
This is like strong beliefs andhis belief was I'm going to
shepherd you into business andhe had a vision for them doing
(04:15):
things together.
In fact, he always had a visionfor them doing things together
because he wanted those boys tostay close when it came to the
third generation.
That's what our family knew.
So when I came in in 2006, I hada couple family members come in
before me, a couple after, butthey really tasked us with
opportunity and leadership earlyto see if we had the chops and
(04:38):
just like any most young people,we didn't at first, but we
learned and we made mistakes andthey helped correct us of why
are you doing things that way?
Or you know, just just some ofthose things around doing life
with people and in business.
And to the point where webought the business in 2015,.
Again, we were super young.
(04:59):
You know 2015, I was, you know,basically just turned 30 years
old and you know my my otherfamily members were in that
sphere of age.
So it was this idea of we weregoing to walk alongside you in
this journey, and now, nowseveral of my uncles are retired
my dad doesn't work very much,but it's, it was a a coaching
(05:21):
aspect of how do you do thisthing right and how do you
continue the legacy of caringfor people well, and those main
things that were important to mygrandfather at the time that he
did this, which was this is aserious business and we need to
do it well.
We need to build relationshipsand care for people, and then we
need to approach it from avalue standpoint.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
It's interesting.
Your Uncle Clay said somethingthat I thought was really,
really remarkable and probablycaptures a lot of the essence of
what you guys do.
He said the business was partof it, but it wasn't the heart
of it.
What did he mean when he wastalking about that?
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Well, the heart's people.
And it's about shepherding anexperience of we're not selling
policies.
I mean, we are, I guess, butthat's not the mission of it.
That is the delivery mechanismfor doing relationship with
people.
So when we think about, like,our mission at Connor is to
(06:18):
provide sound counsel and careduring life's most significant
moments, and what reallyoccurred to me, it was actually
it was in church several yearsago and I've always been
thinking like, hey, we makemoney by selling insurance
policies because we do personalinsurance, commercial insurance
and employee benefits.
So we sell policies, we consultemployers on benefit plans.
(06:41):
That's how we make money.
But what's our impact?
And it was a moment in churchI'll never forget because I was
always wrestling with that.
It's like man, everyone else,they make a widget and that
widget empowers something.
Or they're a nurse and theycare for people.
That's easy mission connection.
But insurance, what is it?
But when I was in church, therewas an opportunity for people to
(07:02):
go up and talk about how Godshowed up in their life.
There was an opportunity forpeople to go up and talk about
how God showed up in their lifeand I don't think we've even had
service like that before orsince.
So people went up and talkedabout their testimony of God's
goodness.
Five people went up and what Iheard was I had this medical
condition and this is how Godsupported and provided for me,
(07:23):
through people or directly.
I was in a car wreck and itchanged my life forever, because
I was injured and these kind ofthings.
Or I was diagnosed with thiscondition, or we had a house
fire.
That was one, and it changedour life forever.
We lost everything and I satback there and I was blown away
(07:47):
with the idea of, oh my goodness, in our field we actually have
the honor and opportunity towalk alongside those very
individuals at that very moment.
And what an incredible missionto be connected to that.
(08:07):
We get to show up when someone'slife has totally changed and it
can be positive too, likepeople having babies or people
getting married, and you knowthere's positive sides to it too
.
But we have the ability to walkalongside people and provide
that counsel.
We can show them that we didthe appropriate pre-work, that
there's a policy that we'llrespond at this time, and then
(08:29):
we get to go to the next levelof how can we care for this
person at this point in time?
Do we door dash some food tothem.
What do we do to help them?
What is that next levelopportunity that we can care for
this individual?
That just shows them that theymatter and that we really do
care about them?
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Well, but it goes beyond caring for your clients.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
You also care for people who were clients and
maybe aren't clients at themoment, and I remember you told
me a really interesting story.
Would you share that with us?
They were growing business, ourglobal business, and they're
like maybe Conor Insurance istoo small.
(09:14):
They since have come back andsaid, actually no, you guys
actually provided the bestcounsel, we had the best results
with you guys and you cared forus well, and that caring for us
well is even when they weren'tclients.
One of the individuals isdiagnosed with cancer and she
called us and said I've beendiagnosed with cancer, I don't
know what to do.
(09:34):
Can you help me?
And really what she was askingfor is what do I do next?
Or how do I know I'm gettingthe best treatment?
And we have a lot of reallywonderful partners it's not just
our team but the businesspartners that we have that we do
business with reached out toone of those individuals and
quickly helped that individualget on the right track and, you
(09:57):
know, make sure they're seeing aquality oncologist and that
sort of thing and just helpnavigate that situation.
And that was a really specialmoment.
It was special that she waswilling to share that.
Obviously, that wasn't my storyto share, that was hers and she
was willing to do that, butthat she would trust us to.
You know, cause that's what youknow.
It's one thing it's fun whenpeople hey, I want to come in
the office and joke with you andthat kind of thing, and I like
(10:19):
to have fun.
But what I care about more isthat someone would trust us
enough, or trust me enough, orwhoever, that they would want to
come to us when life is hardand get you know.
That's if we can help people inthose moments.
Those are, those are themoments that matter.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
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Now back to our conversation.
So your clients have seen veryfavorable outcomes.
Over 80% experience flat orreduced expenses in the last
(12:05):
five or 10 years on their healthcare.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
What are some of the innovations or tactics that you
guys employ that drives thosekinds of results?
You know it really depends onthe client circumstance, which
is probably one of the keyindicators.
As we look, we go to problems.
We don't go to liketheoretically here's what we
should be doing.
It's like no, like let's solvelike actual, realistic problems,
but ultimately it's we pullapart and manage the supply
chain of healthcare and we'vebeen talking about that for now
(12:33):
seven to eight years.
It's a legit thing.
It produces legit results.
I think the most, the bestopportunity that exists in the
supply chain of healthcare is inthe pharmacy realm.
We are experts at that and it'sreally amazing.
As we've grown our team, we'llgo through you know our
quarterly reports of our entirebook of business and you know
(12:56):
our quarterly reports of ourentire book of business.
And no, even when and this wasthis blew me away we're going
through like the top 25 drugsspent for the quarter and our
team knew every individual thatwas accessing that medication.
They knew their familyinformation, they knew their
(13:16):
personal information.
They knew, if we were able to,why we wouldn't have been able
to source that differently orwhy you know what our plan was
for that member and again,because if we help this member
source this medication in asupply chain way, the member
gets the medication for free.
So it's important for everyonethat's involved the employer and
(13:39):
the member.
And our team knew every personon that list and I was just
blown away.
I was like we are doingsomething really special here
when we know names of peoplethat are going through
significant health moments andus trying to impact them
positively, like let's go, likethat's, there's nothing more
(14:02):
important that we can be doing.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
And that leads into my next question.
Beautifully, in 2024, youragency earned a suite of awards,
from Best Places to Work inInsurance to Agency of the Year.
How has building a stronginternal culture contributed to
those accolades?
Speaker 3 (14:19):
You know, I think, um , we are looking for folks that
are, as Pat Lencioni talkedabout, the ideal team player,
that are humble, hungry andsmart, and we have attracted
those folks to our organization.
And when people work like thatin this field, the natural
(14:43):
byproduct is they deeply careabout members of our employer
groups.
They deeply care about resultsfor the employers, not because
we're trying to air quotes, savemoney.
What we really know is theeconomics of the engine drive
what employees are spending outof their paycheck.
(15:04):
It drives the deductibles thatthey're spending at the point of
care or co-pays or whatever itmay be.
That's all a byproduct of theeconomics of healthcare, which
is ultimately driven through thehealth insurance delivery
mechanism, and if it's notmanaged well, then everyone
loses and there's just a focusto everything else besides.
(15:26):
That is total and utternonsense.
We focus on the thing and wesolve the problems within the
thing and therefore we candeliver better results than we
could have otherwise.
I think we started in generalwith pharmacy and there's a lot
of things that have changed overthe course of time and we just
need to adapt, just like mygrandfather's story.
He had to adapt.
(15:46):
Every day he was in the jungles, surviving every day, and every
day was different.
It produced a differentopportunity and a different
challenge.
Actually, the same applies withhealthcare.
Right now, every employer isdealing with a GLP-1 and the
rising cost of diabetesmedications, which are super
important and people need.
But there is a way where we cancreate a program that is
(16:07):
world-class, that is better thanwhat anyone is doing, because
we're thinking about and solvingthe problem differently.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Speaking of change and new things, you co-produced
a documentary called it's NotPersonal, it's Just Healthcare,
and it spotlights a whole bunchof system-wide challenges.
What motivated you to step intofilmmaking and what impact were
you looking to achieve?
Speaker 3 (16:28):
I think this problem that we're trying to solve is
confusing for a lot of peopleand it's complicated, and what I
saw in this documentary thatwas important for us.
You know, in a sense it wasdone so well that it followed
our brand promise of excellence.
I mean it's an excellentdocumentary.
(16:49):
I mean it also tells acomplicated story in a simple
way that's understandable foranyone.
It's intended for CEOs and CFOsand HR as they really wrap
their mind around the strategyof a deliverable for their
workforce.
But any American can watch thisdocumentary and start to
understand the systemic problemsthat exist within the system
(17:13):
and how.
You know and our friend DavidContorno says it so well that
it's not broken.
It's actually built exactly howit's intended and that's for
the benefit of those thatcreated it.
So how do we unwind that or howdo we understand the problem?
This documentary does a greatjob of simply and in an
entertaining way it tells thestory.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
How can people find that documentary Ben?
Speaker 3 (17:37):
So they actually can find it on our website,
wwwconnerinscom, and they canwatch the full length film there
.
And I would encourage everyoneto do it, regardless of the
position you are within acompany or if you're even in
buying decisions for employerhealth care.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
And we'll make sure to put a link in the show notes
on the Shift Shapers website aswell, so people can access it
there as well.
Now, one of the things that Iknow is, besides your
grandfather's philosophy andwhat he learned in his lessons
and all the empathy that youguys pump out, one of the things
that you guys live by isturning traditional strategies
upside down.
Can you expand on thatphilosophy a little bit?
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Yeah, I think a real easy one for me to harp on.
That comes to mind is the dogmaof high deductible health plans
and how that was going tocreate consumerism and bend the
cost curve and that sort ofthing, which is a total lie.
To be a consumer for something,you have to know the price.
(18:40):
It's not that you'reresponsible to pay, right, so it
doesn't create a consumer.
If someone mows my grass andthen I get a $10,000 bill and I
have the responsibility to payfor that, that's not consumerism
, that's not consumer practices,that's nonsense.
It's just passing anunaffordable bill to a victim,
(19:03):
if you will.
So that's a traditionalstrategy that's actually still
perpetuated.
And don't get me wrong, highnet worth individuals can find
benefit in a high deductiblehealth plan.
Yeah, yeah, triple tax benefit,this, that and the other, sure,
but for the average Americanit's disastrous.
(19:25):
We actually have a rule of thumb.
If you have a health plan wherefolks can't fill a medication
or they can't take their sickchild to work or take their sick
child to the doctor, you have aproblem.
You have a fundamental problemof a benefit that you're likely
paying millions for.
That's a total waste of moneythat no one is really getting a
benefit from.
So that's one of those of like,let's flip it on its head.
(19:49):
There's a lot of different waysin which we flip things on their
head.
When it comes to.
You know, how do we evaluatestop loss for a and this is
getting super nerdy, clearly buthow do you evaluate stop loss
differently for folks that havea more consistent workforce
versus a workforce with highturnover?
You actually should look atthat differently.
(20:09):
A high turnover environment isso different than maybe, an
environment that has tenure likea university or something like
that.
So you need to adapt yourstrategy and most people don't.
And what's interesting is, whenwe come and talk about some of
these things, it's like you aretelling me things that seem very
different and it just takessome time to get used to the
idea of the can thing foreveryone isn't necessarily the
(20:33):
right thing for you, and let'shave a conversation and let's
really try to solve somebusiness problems.
That ultimately, the goal ofthose business problems, the
reason it is a business problemis you're trying to care for
your workforce and it's notgoing as intended.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
And so let's just solve that problem.
So we've got a couple ofminutes left and I'm interested
to hear what you think thebiggest opportunities and the
biggest challenges ahead are foryour agency and also for the
business which we've talked alittle bit about, both in terms
of client service and internalculture.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Yeah, I think, from a challenge and opportunity.
It's the same, and there's alot of PE money in the insurance
agency space.
A decade ago, I would tell you,in Indianapolis there was a lot
of really strong independentinsurance agencies that have now
all been bought PE or moneymaking machines.
We're not playing that game.
So we're going to pick up a lotof talent along the way and
(21:27):
we're going to be able to makereally impactful growth for our
clients.
I mean, I think you know,obviously we grow as a business
and that's great, but we get toimpact another business in a
positive way and rebuild ahealthcare delivery model
through an insurance program,right.
So there's a lot of opportunitythere.
The challenge is there's tons ofmoney in the market, right.
So you know if people arethrowing a bunch of money around
(21:52):
, that can be a I call it adistraction.
You know you can throw moneyaround towards the wrong things
and in the long term it provesto not work.
In the short term it's adistraction.
So that's ultimately what it is.
From a business perspective,that's a challenge, but that's
something that is visible forsure.
Also, government health carethat's a thing.
(22:14):
I think.
Just the continuation of thestatus quo is a challenge, but
all those things are alsoopportunities that we're really
excited about.
Another opportunity that we'releaning into is just advanced
technology and the 2.0 of whatAI is.
You know, the internet changedthings dramatically, then the
smartphone changes thingsdramatically.
(22:34):
I think AI is going to besomething that is more, more,
creates more change thananything else, and we're excited
for it.
We're going to embrace it.
We think it can do a lot ofgood, and then we're going to
try to kind of stifle out thethings that are bad, you know,
and just move along and adapt inthat way.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
And that's a great place to end our chat for today.
Ben Conner, CEO of ConnerInsurance.
Ben, thanks so much for sharingyour story with us.
Yeah, thanks for having me,David.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
The Shift Shapers podcast is a production.
Yeah, thanks for having me,David.
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