For years our agency founder, Gary Kimball, talked about how the insurance industry has an image problem. I continue to share that sentiment.

It’s akin to a plane crash. This time of year, millions of us climb into aluminum/composite tubes to be flung hundreds of miles per hour at 30,000 feet or more to visit family and friends. We do this, mostly, with confidence and not much concern about the airline industry until we learn of an incident of some kind. Suddenly, some are afraid to fly … because of one incident.

Whether it is capacity issues, carriers leaving certain states or regions, rising premiums, the talent crisis or denial of claims, these seemingly jolting situations are a mere fraction of the total contribution of one of the few industries that, without exaggeration, not only helps us in a time of need, but underpins every foundation of our society.

So, what is the solution?

Insurance leaders need to lean into what the industry, and individual companies, enable in the world. The messaging going forward needs to focus less on balance sheets, premium, products and capacity. Instead, a long-term image campaign is required. To do this successfully, a full-throated and relentless discourse is needed on the successes and enablement insurance provides across our society, in things large and small.

• Businesses can expand – and create jobs – because they have insurance to protect them in the event of an “incident,” whatever that might mean to the business.
• Technologies can be explored, developed and deployed because insurance exists to protect organizations and entrepreneurs from misapplications or hardware failures.
• Each of us can invite friends and family to our homes, regardless of season, weather and other conditions, with the reassurance that if a guest trips or gets hurt, there is insurance to protect them and us from financial devastation.
• Holiday gifts, as well as mission-critical medical equipment, can be shipped around the world without fear of loss or damage because these items are insured.
• Life-saving treatments can be developed because the scientists and doctors doing the work are covered in case something goes wrong, ensuring the entire enterprise isn’t lost to the detriment of those who depend on these treatments.
• Volunteers can support charitable events and serve on the boards of nonprofits doing social good because insurance shields them from junk lawsuits or legitimate, but not malicious, errors in action or judgement.
• You can buy your $1,000 smartphone and rest assured two days later when you drop it that you have insurance to cover the repair or replacement without breaking the bank.
• And those aluminum/composite tubes can help us get home to our families for the holidays because insurance protects them from complete disaster in even the most minor of errors, delays or missteps.

These and other messages are what consumers, potential industry recruits, business executives, homeowners, nonprofit leaders and others need to hear. In this moment, as we brace for a new year and all the challenges that come with it, we need to change the industry’s approach to its perpetual image problem.

I have spent a career reporting on, adjacent to and supporting the insurance industry. I am a convert. Despite the occasional bad press, there is so much the industry does that makes the world go round. We simply need to tell those stories, often, and starting now.