Diversified is a subscriber to ADVISEN. I find it to be a great tool and source of information regarding insurance and risk management. I have provided below a press release from ADVISEN forecasting the end of the Soft Market. That is too bad for all of our insureds, but a necessity to maintain the fiscal health of the insurance carriers.

ADVISEN FORECASTS END OF SOFT MARKET IN COMMERCIAL INSURANCE PREMIUMS FOLLOWED BY A GRADUAL AND PROLONGED HARD MARKET

PRICE INCREASES TO VARY BY INSURANCE PRODUCT

New York. December 30, 2008 – Advisen Ltd., the leading provider of information, analytics, and technology to the global commercial insurance industry, today released a report predicting that the commercial insurance premium market cycle is close to its bottom and that general commercial insurance prices will begin increasing by the fourth quarter of 2009 or the first quarter of 2010. Advisen research is based on its own industry-leading database of premium history and its database of the financial performance of 13 million companies.

“In years past, insurance companies recouped underwriting losses with investment income, but in 2008 the combination of underwriting losses and material investment losses means a five-year soft market is coming to an end,” said David K. Bradford, Advisen Executive Vice President and Chief Knowledge Officer. “The global recession may delay the return of hard market conditions by keeping demand for insurance down, but once the hard market sets in, it is likely to last longer than was the case in recent cycles.

“In previous hard markets, price increases attracted new capital investment to the market, and the increase in insurance supply led to short hard market cycles,” continued Bradford. “In the current economic environment, where credit markets are essentially frozen, capital to create new insurance and reinsurance capacity may be in short supply. With capital scarce, the coming hard market could be longer in duration than those of the past several decades.”

“. . . a surprising number of the most powerful and successful corporate lawyers in New York City have almost the exact same biography: they are Jewish men, born in the Bronx or Brooklyn in the mid-1930′s to immigrant parents who worked in the garment industry. Now, you can call that a coincidence. Or you can ask—as I do—what is about being Jewish and being part of the generation born in the Depression and having parents who worked in the garment business that might have something to do with turning someone into a really, really successful lawyer?”

“It’s those who lie outside ordinary experience who have the most to teach us.”

“We’ve been looking at tall trees, and I think we should have been looking at the forest.”

– from an interview of Malcom Gladwell about his new book Outliers

Diversified Insurance Group has a holiday tradition of sending an influential business book to our clients and partners at the end of every year. This year we’ve selected Outliers – The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell as our firm’s 2008 Book of the Year.

We have simple criteria when picking our book of the year: 1) it must be published in the given year, and 2) it needs to be both meaningful and enjoyable to read. This year we reviewed 10 books that fit this description and were all worthy of consideration. Outliers stood out, pun intended, because it was the most enjoyable. It is highly entertaining and readable. And given the economic challenges this country is currently facing we thought a little light reading would be appreciated.

Outliers helps us look at success in an entirely different way and explains various factors that contribute to extraordinary performance. Gladwell provides some fascinating and interesting examples to demonstrate his theories by examining the wealthiest people in the history of the world, from Nobel laureates to Junior Hockey All-Stars in Canada. Sharing his anecdotes, lists and conclusions will help enliven any holiday party or dinner conversation.

As a professional service provider, we are constantly working at ways to differentiate our firm and to stand-out from our competition — to be a true outlier in the most positive sense. One of the ways we’ve been able to do this is to associate with highly successful partners and clients. If it is true that you’re known by the company you keep, then we’re well on our way to accomplishing this goal.

We hope you enjoy this book as much as we did. If you get a chance, we’d appreciate your comments on the titles we’ve selected as our books of the year.

- Spence Hoole

Diversified Insurance Group donates to many worthy charitable causes and this year has included the Utah Food Bank among them. An affirmative vote was taken among the employees to forgo the annual Holiday Party and instead donate the money to a worthy charity to help the homeless and less advantaged. The owners gathered together and instead of forgoing the party decided to both make a sizable donation and to still hold the annual Holiday party.

A service committee was formed to both choose the charity and organize the service projects accompanying the cash donations. Diversified donated $3600 gathered from all of the employees of Diversified and will be donating service hours next month to help distribute food and serve hot meals to those in need at the Food Bank.

Last Friday we wrapped up the Summit 2008 Director and Officer Training Conference. Diversified is a major sponsor of the conference and puts a lot of manpower behind the conference each year. It is now in its eighth year and I have to say that it was in my opinion the best yet. Our down economy did not lead to the attendance increases we have seen in the past but attendance was strong and the line-up of both presenters and attendees was outstanding.

Doyle Arnold, CFO Zions Bancorporation led off speaking about Leadership in Turbulent Times.

George Feiger, CEO Contango Capital Advisors, gave the clearest explanation I have yet heard of the fundamentals underpinning the Financial Crisis we are going through.

Peter Gleason, Chair of the NACD gave an outstanding presentation on Board Management’s responsibility in detecting board oversight problems within a corporation.

All in all, it was one outstanding conference. It is accredited by ISS and also provided CLE and CPE for the attorneys and accountants needing those continuing education credits. All I can say is Wow, you really needed to be there.
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