Become a Mentor and You’ll Benefit Too!

Have you ever heard the old adage that ‘the best way to really learn something is to teach it’? This philosophy applies to being a mentor as well. When you actively mentor others, you deepen your understanding of your business, have a fresh perspective on the opportunities and challenges, and reconnect with your passion.

The importance and benefits of mentorship are often talked about, but how often does the rubber meet the road? Several years ago I had a wonderful conversation about this issue with the late, great Jack Curtin, who completely “got” the mentoring idea. He had been mentored early in his career and went on to mentor some of our industry’s most successful professionals. He understood that there is a difference between teaching and mentoring, and while he was accomplished and lauded for the former, he was most passionate about the latter. When he taught people he opened up their world, but when he mentored he showed them the beauty of that world and made them excited about living there. Jack loved the surety business and he wanted other people to love it too – and the best way he knew how to make that happen was to take people under his wing and let them see the business through his eyes. This generosity of spirit paid dividends to everyone involved – including Jack.

The NASBP 5-15 Leadership Circle has as a part of its mission to foster mentorship in our industry. As 5-15 members graduate beyond the early stage of their careers, they take on the role of mentors to those who come after them. This can take many forms: being a sounding board for ideas, providing advice about professional opportunities and challenges, creating connections and a network with industry peers, and helping to guide professional growth.

As part of the guiding leadership of this group, the NASBP President and Immediate Past President actively participate in all the activities of the group. I think this speaks volumes about their personal commitment to mentoring young professionals. I would like to take this opportunity as we approach our Annual Meeting to thank John Rindt and Spence Miller for all of their efforts to make the 5-15 Leadership Circle a meaningful experience for its members over the past year.

Look around and I’m sure you can easily find someone in either your professional or personal life who would benefit from your mentorship and then offer them your assistance… I know you will both be happy you did.

NASBP Commercial Surety Survey – A Benchmark Study 

We keep hearing that opportunities in commercial surety are increasing and business is growing. Now we are asking members to confirm this, as well as tell us what kind of bonds they are writing. A brief, ten question survey was emailed to all member key-contacts on March 29. We asked that the survey be passed along to the most senior commercial surety professional in the office for their response. Initially we asked that the survey be responded to by April 13 but we will keep it open until April 24 to be sure all member offices have the opportunity to complete it.

In order to provide meaningful benchmarking data we are asking some of the same questions we asked the last time we surveyed the membership in 2007. Here are 5 of the 10 questions asked in the 2012 survey:

• In 2011 what percentage of your total surety premium did Commercial Surety represent?
• Do you anticipate that your Commercial Surety business will grow in 2012?
• How many employees work on Commercial Surety at least half of their time?
• What types of Commercial bonds do your write?
• Are you aware of Commercial Surety Fundamentals – an online course providing CE credits?

The results of this survey are anonymous. The findings will be discussed at the Commercial Surety Committee meeting at the Annual Meeting as well as appear in the June 2012 Pipeline where the key metrics will be compared with those from the 2007 survey.

If you have questions or would like more information about the survey, please contact Cathrine Nelson at cnelson@nasbp.org.

NASBP Now Offers Continuing Education Opportunities All Year Long

NASBP now offers Continuing Education (CE) opportunities in a variety of ways throughout the year. At the Annual Meeting and at all the Regional Meetings, we offer a two-hour CE session that is approved by all states. In addition, the William J. Angell Surety School and theContracts and Bond Forms Workshop both offer a significant number of credit hours for licensed surety agents.

In addition to in-person courses, we now offer online CE opportunities as well. NASBP’s first online course – Commercial Surety Fundamentals – is available online any time you are! In addition, NASBP Members, Affiliates, and Associates can take any of the courses from WebCE’s catalog at a discounted price. And coming soon, we will add two new titles to our online course offering: Contract Surety Fundamentals and Financial Guarantee Fundamentals.

The author of this article is Ann Latham, Managing Director of Professional Development & Education for NASBP.