Leadership From the Field: Control the Controllables

After 11 years in the insurance business, I still find that some of my best lessons come from getting back into the field.

This past week, I traveled to a new territory in Texas to work alongside some of our agents at Samuels Insurance Group. I went there with a specific goal. I wanted to earn an Eagle.

For those unfamiliar with our organization, an Eagle is a recognition we give to agents who protect at least 10 families in a single week while meeting a required premium level. It's something we take pride in because we know the work involved.

When someone earns an Eagle, we encourage them to write a letter to the organization about their experience. Not just the results, but what it took to get there.

What did they learn? What challenges did they face? What helped them stay focused?

We call this Leadership From the Field.

I believe it's important because the longer you're in leadership, the easier it becomes to spend your time teaching, coaching, and helping others without regularly experiencing the work yourself.

And there's something valuable about getting back out there.

You remember the rejection. You remember the conversations that don't go the way you expected. You remember the emotions that come with a difficult day.

You also remember how rewarding it is when you sit across from a family and help them make a decision that could positively affect their future.

That's what I wanted to experience again.

Making the Time Count

Before leaving, I thought about the time I would be spending away from my wife and our two children.

That time matters to me.

If I'm going to be away from my family, I want to make sure I'm being intentional with it.

My prayer going into the week was that God would use me to serve the people I encountered. Whether I was meeting with a business owner, speaking with a potential customer, or spending time developing one of our agents, I wanted to be present and make that interaction count.

I kept asking myself a question:

How can I be the hands and feet of Jesus to the people I meet this week?

That question helped me approach the week differently.

I wasn't there simply to prove I could still produce. I wanted to serve people, work alongside our agents, and demonstrate the same principles I regularly teach.

Control the Controllables

One of the biggest lessons from the week was something I learned early in my career.

Control the controllables.

We talk about this often in our business, but I think it's worth asking ourselves how consistently we actually practice it.

I couldn't control the territory I was working in. I couldn't control whether a business owner wanted to meet with me. I couldn't control how someone would respond to a presentation.

What I could control was my preparation, my attitude, my effort, and whether I followed the system.

At Samuels Insurance Group, we have a daily standard we call 3 out of 3.

• 8 hours in the field

• 6 closing presentations

• 1 family protected

It's a straightforward standard that gives our agents something specific to work toward each day.

Before the week began, I decided I wanted to earn an Eagle. But once I got into the field, I had to stop thinking about the Eagle and concentrate on the work required to earn it.

That meant staying focused on going 3 out of 3.

Some days will be easier than others. Some conversations will go well, and others won't. There will always be circumstances that you didn't anticipate.

But those circumstances don't change what you're responsible for.

If I committed to working eight hours, I needed to work those hours.

If my goal was six closing presentations, I needed to continue creating opportunities to make those presentations.

And if my goal was to protect a family, I needed to keep meeting people and giving them an opportunity to understand how our products could help them.

That's where my attention needed to be.

Service: Remember Who You're There For

One thing I noticed during the week was how important it is to keep your attention on the person you're serving.

It's easy to become so focused on a production goal that you start making every conversation about whether someone is going to buy.

I've been in this business long enough to recognize when that mindset starts creeping in.

But the people we meet aren't responsible for helping us reach our goals.

We're responsible for helping them understand what we offer and whether it makes sense for their families.

That requires listening, asking good questions, and genuinely caring about their circumstances.

When you approach people that way, the conversation changes.

You stop worrying so much about yourself and start paying closer attention to the person sitting across from you.

For me, that's what service should look like.

Integrity: Keep the Commitments You Make

Another lesson I was reminded of was the importance of following through.

It's one thing to set a goal when you're excited and everything feels possible. It's another thing to stay committed when the day isn't going the way you planned.

There were moments during the week when it would have been easy to justify doing less.

That's true for all of us.

But I had already made a commitment.

I knew what I wanted to accomplish, and I knew the daily activities that would give me the best opportunity to get there.

Integrity isn't limited to how we treat other people. I believe it also shows up in the commitments we make to ourselves.

If you tell yourself you're going to do something, follow through.

You won't always get the result you want, but you can take responsibility for your effort and the decisions you make along the way.

Growth: Eleven Years Later, I'm Still Learning

One of the things I enjoyed most about the week was being reminded that I still have plenty to learn.

Over the last several years, I've spent a significant amount of time recruiting, coaching, training, and helping agents develop their careers.

I enjoy building leaders. It's one of the most rewarding parts of what I do.

But being in the field gave me another opportunity to work on myself.

I had to pay attention to my approach, my presentations, my conversations, and how I managed my time.

I also found myself returning to lessons I learned years ago.

Sometimes we become so interested in finding a new strategy or improving a system that we overlook the fundamentals that helped us become successful in the first place.

Experience is valuable, but it doesn't mean we've finished learning.

After 11 years, I still want to be coachable. I still want to improve. And I still want to be willing to put myself in situations that challenge me.

Leadership: Be Willing to Do the Work

This is probably the part of the week that meant the most to me.

I never want to lead an organization where we ask people to do things we're unwilling to do ourselves.

If I'm going to ask an agent to spend eight hours in the field, I should be willing to do the same.

If I'm going to coach someone through rejection, I need to remember what rejection feels like.

If I'm going to ask someone to trust our sales process, I need to have enough confidence in that process to execute it myself.

I believe there's a difference between understanding how something works and having recent, practical experience doing it.

Both are valuable, but practical experience helps you lead with a different level of understanding.

When an agent tells me they're having a difficult week, I want to understand what they're experiencing.

I want to be able to help them work through it because I've been there myself.

That's one reason Leadership From the Field is so important to me.

Our agents need to know that we're willing to work alongside them.

We're not exempt from the challenges they face because we have leadership titles.

We still have to manage our emotions, prepare ourselves, stay disciplined, and do the work.

The Eagle Was the Goal, but the Values Guided the Week

Looking back, I can see how the four core values of Samuels Insurance Group were connected to the experience.

SERVICE: I wanted to put people first and approach every conversation with the intention of helping someone.

INTEGRITY: I made a commitment to myself and worked to honor it, even when the day became difficult.

GROWTH: I challenged myself to get back into the field, sharpen my skills, and continue learning.

LEADERSHIP: I wanted our agents to see that I believe in the standards and systems we ask them to follow.

Those values weren't just something we put on our company materials.

They were principles I had the opportunity to practice throughout the week.

And that's what I want our organization to continue building.

A culture where our values influence how we work, how we treat people, and how we develop leaders.

One Final Thought: Get Your Mind Off Yourself

If I could share one piece of advice from this experience, it would be to get your mind and heart off yourself.

I know how easy it is to become consumed with your own expectations.

You start thinking about whether you're going to hit your goal, what people will think if you don't, or whether you're still capable of performing at the level you expect.

I've had those thoughts too.

But I've found that when I spend too much time thinking about myself, I'm not giving the people around me the attention they deserve.

So I try to bring my focus back to the person in front of me.

How can I serve them?

What can I learn from this conversation?

Am I doing what I said I was going to do?

Am I making the most of the opportunity I've been given today?

Those are questions I can do something about.

And as a man of faith, I also believe God has given me an opportunity to use this business to make a difference in people's lives.

I don't want to lose sight of that responsibility.

The week reminded me why I enjoy this profession, why I believe in the work we're doing, and why I want to continue developing leaders who understand the importance of serving others.

If you're working toward your first Eagle, your next promotion, or another personal goal, I hope you'll remember that you don't have to control every outcome.

Start by taking responsibility for the things within your control.

Make the commitment. Follow the process. Keep learning. Treat people well.

And when you have the opportunity to lead someone, be willing to work alongside them.

That's what Leadership From the Field means to me.

Patrick B. Samuels
Samuels Insurance Group