As I write this, I am exactly three weeks away from my 40th birthday. Some readers may be jealous of my relatively young age, but to be completely honest, I'm struggling with it.

I started in this business when I was 17, and I have been saying for a long time that at some point, I will go to an industry function and no longer be among the youngest in the room. Well in almost 23 years, that hasn't happened yet. I feel a responsibility to the future of our industry. I have two amazing and beautiful children, but I have failed miserably at exciting young people to join our ranks. Let's face it: We all have.

Insurance is among the most disliked of industries, but for most of us, it has provided a pretty good lifestyle. I would even argue that for a very long time, we did less work than most and were better compensated than most. It may be in that very equation that we lost the younger generations.