Jon Held is shifting to a brand new position in his firm. It’s not a full retirement, however all of us get the image. He acknowledged:
After 40 years as CEO of J.S. Held LLC, I’m proud to announce that I will likely be transitioning to a brand new position with the corporate as Government Chairman of the Board, efficient April 1, 2025. My resolution to make this transition is a part of a deliberate succession, and I’m excited to see it come to fruition.
With this transition, our President & COO Lee Spirer will assume the position of President & CEO. After we recruited Lee to affix J.S. Held final yr, he was introduced in with this transition in thoughts. After working intently with him for the previous a number of months, it’s clear that Lee is the proper match to guide the corporate by our subsequent section of progress. I stay up for partnering with him to advance our mission and imaginative and prescient in help of all J.S. Held stakeholders – our workforce members, purchasers, and traders.
In my new position, I’ll proceed guiding the corporate’s strategic course with Lee whereas growing my engagement with our purchasers and the industries we serve – a ardour of mine that also brings nice pleasure and power day by day.
I’m grateful for all that has led to this thrilling milestone for the corporate. It’s a second of celebration and validation, for me, that one of the best day of your small business life is when the telephone rings and it’s not for you. I want you all the identical alternative in your profession.
Please be part of me in congratulating Lee on his appointment to change into President & CEO. The way forward for J.S. Held is vibrant, and I stay up for all that we are going to accomplish collectively!
After I wrote a LinkedIn publish final week asking whether or not impartial property insurance coverage adjusters have been changing into disenchanted with their jobs and leaving the trade, I had quite a few responses. Steve Badger agreed. Being the badger, he then reposted it, including a consideration that contractors, public adjusters, and policyholder attorneys have been partially in charge for inflicting the exodus of property insurance coverage adjusters from the trade. This induced a large blowup of feedback.
Jon Held wrote the next. I might counsel all of us learn it rigorously and take two reads of the final line of his remark:
[T]he downside is advanced, and lots of feedback listed below are honest. On the finish of the day, little funding is made in schooling, there’s an growing lack of collaboration, and there’s a frequent perception that the policyholder and insurer are enemies. Politics ought to educate us that while you begin with mistrust, amicable outcomes are little greater than coincidence. Final week an previous pal who has been a service rep from the 70s and I have been reminiscing concerning the time we met an insured and PA, and knowledgeable them that their declare was improper. We settled rapidly for an quantity larger than the declare. The adjuster to at the present time believes that since he was taught “we pay what we owe”, informing his firm’s buyer of their error was his obligation. True story. Likewise, When the wintergarden of the world monetary middle reopened one yr to the day after 9/11 there was an enormous ceremony attended by the governer the mayor and the VP of the US. In his speech to the gang of a few thousand individuals, the CEO of the insured thanked the carriers, the adjusters and the specialists by title. Backside line, if you would like happiness, prepare individuals and make them really feel nice about what they’re doing.
For these of you who’ve watched my displays at IAUA and P.L.A.N. seminars concerning appraisal, I spotlight Jon Held as the kind of particular person a celebration to appraisal would wish to rent and discuss with him as a “Grasp” of the appraisal craft. He has been concerned in essentially the most important property insurance coverage appraisal of the World Commerce Towers, he writes tutorial papers on all sorts of valuation matters, publicly defends the appraisal course of, and writes strategies and suggestions for making the appraisal course of honest and one among integrity.
Success doesn’t occur accidentally. It takes imaginative and prescient, relentless effort, and a deep perception in one thing higher than oneself. Held is the embodiment of that perception. For over 4 a long time, Jon has steadily constructed an organization from the bottom up, remodeling it into a world chief in consulting companies for the insurance coverage and authorized industries. It’s price pausing not simply to replicate on the corporate his workforce has constructed, however on the sort of chief Jon has been—one whose energy comes not from title or place however from goal, humility, and a fierce dedication to others.
Jon embodies the concept that we should always try for—“to be, quite than appear.” There isn’t a pretense in his management—solely presence. His phrases usually are not flashy, however they carry the burden of expertise and emotional intelligence: “One of the best day of your small business life is when the telephone rings and it’s not for you. I want you all the identical alternative in your profession.” It’s a easy assertion, but profoundly revealing. True leaders don’t construct empires for private glory. They construct groups, cultures, and alternatives that outlast their very own time on the helm. Jon’s legacy isn’t just within the firm’s progress or footprint within the trade however within the individuals who have been mentored, empowered, and uplifted below his management.
To steer with integrity, to develop an organization whereas staying grounded, and to depart it higher than at any time in its previous—these usually are not straightforward issues. Jon Held has completed all of them with outstanding consistency. Take into consideration that assertion, “Backside line, if you would like happiness, prepare individuals and make them really feel nice about what they’re doing.” That line is greater than a administration philosophy—it’s a worldview. It speaks to the deep emotional intelligence that defines Jon’s method to management. He didn’t simply handle individuals; he impressed them. He helped them really feel valued, succesful, and seen.
As Jon strikes into the subsequent chapter of his life, he leaves behind greater than a profitable firm—he leaves a mannequin of what trendy management ought to seem like. Genuine. Empowering. Visionary.
Congratulations, Jon, and thanks for displaying the remainder of us what is feasible when management is rooted in character, not ego. You’ll have constructed an excellent public adjuster agency, restoration contractor firm or policyholder regulation agency as effectively. Nice management transcends.
Thought For The Day
“Management isn’t about being in cost. It’s about caring for these in your cost.”
—Simon Sinek
