A day that changed my outlook
I cannot quite remember the exact date, but I do know it was a Friday sometime this last winter. It was the first time I was a guest at a NAIFA meeting at the Contra Costa Country Club. NAIFA (National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors) holds monthly breakfast meetings for its members for educational purposes and networking opportunities.
At this particular meeting, the speaker failed to show up. As I recall, I was very much looking forward to the speaker, so I was particularly bummed. Little did I know at the time, I would be blown away by the conviction of the stand-in speaker. The president of the chapter apologized to everyone for the miscommunication with the speaker of the day, and asked politely if we could have someone step up and offer some stories. Up walks this older round faced individual to grab the microphone. Just as he begins to speak I am somehow reminded by his voice that I have heard him speak before. This gentleman who was a former NAIFA president, was none other than Dick Callahan, the Oakland A's/Golden State Warriors announcer!
Having no prepared speech, Mr. Callahan pulled from his library of stories that had amassed through the years to pull out some real special cases he had worked on, but one in particular still stung for him to think about because it was a recent case. He had a particular client for years. This client had recently needed to replace a life insurance policy that just had finished its term period. The client was an older gentleman somewhere near 70 years old. The client still was able to get insurance, but compared to his last term policy the premiums were significantly higher for the same amount of coverage. Because of this, the client decided to change the face amount to half of what it was before. The client still had a lovely wife…as Mr. Callahan was speaking a noticeable change in his voice occurred.
The client that Mr. Callahan was referring to passed away 2 weeks earlier. Mr. Callahan was noticeably upset at the loss of a client, someone who had become a friend, but mostly he was upset because he believed he didn't do a "good enough job pushing the client into keeping the same coverage." Although delivering a $500,000 check to the wife was not a bad thing, Mr. Callahan believed it should have been $1,000,000. Everyone knows $1,000,000 goes further than $500,000.
I was touched because although Mr. Callahan is extremely successful, it wasn't about the money to him. It was about providing for others. It was about walking up to that widow and offering condolences with a check in hand, something that would provide a little comfort amidst the turmoil of dealing with the loss of her husband of so many years. What struck me deeply was Mr. Callahan's conviction that he didn't do enough. As the tears rolled down his cheeks I realized that this isn't about how much money we all could make, it's about how much we all can make a difference to the people we call our clients.
I sat and ate breakfast that morning with Mr. Callahan, and although I doubt he remembers who I am, I will always remember that winter morning that changed my life…
