Oct 5, 2022
From being told she shouldn’t work because she was pregnant to being passed over for promotions simply because she is female, Sarah Muniz has seen a negative side of the insurance agency that is antiquated and leans heavily in favor of men. In an industry that is already suffering from a significant talent crisis, now is the time to take a look at the talent that is already in place but has been pushed out. Sarah Muniz has been in the insurance industry for over twenty years and is the author of Undiscovered Voices: Unlocking the Potential of Women in Insurance, a first-hand account of the challenges women face in the insurance agency. On today’s podcast, she sits down with Chris Hampshire for an honest discussion about the experiences and prejudices that women in the insurance industry face and where we need to go from here.
Key Takeaways
- Sarah immediately fell in love with the insurance industry, but not with the way she was treated there.
- Living in fear prompted Sarah to write the book that shares her story.
- Unfortunately, Sarah’s story is not an uncommon one in the insurance industry.
- The situations in which women are most comfortable sharing their stories.
- The impact that agency size has on managing these biases.
- Male brains versus female brains have different but equally capable ability to utilize problem-solving skills.
- The natural skills that women have to connect and read other people is an asset in the insurance industry.
- What fears are keeping women from speaking up?
- Insurance promotes average men — what does that mean for women?
- Solving the insurance talent crisis with the women who are already in the industry.
- The benefits of having females in insurance leadership roles.
- Ideas for creating more mentoring opportunities for women.
- Why is now the time to take a look at and correct these injustices?
- A five-year look to the future of the insurance industry.
- What Sarah wishes she had known at the onset of her career.
Keep Getting Better
Quotes
- “It’s surprising how common these stories are when women are in small groups.”
- “I’m met with a lot of women who have said, yes, this resonates with me.”
- “Every time I got pushback, I decided to do more research.”
- “Although our brains work differently, we can come to the same problem-solving skills at the end of the day, we just may go about it in different ways.”
- “Empathetic women are a huge asset in an industry where we’re trying to protect other people in their time of need.”
- “If we can take the talent we already have, foster it, and make things more equitable, we’re going to attract more to our industry.”
- “I believe we already do have a talent abundance, it’s just going unnoticed.”
- “We’re not trying to push men out, we’re just trying to come up with them.”