Benefits advisors spend an enormous amount of time and energy studying those around them. Every day, they ask countless questions, listen closely to people's perspective and challenges, conduct online research, track analytics—all in an effort to learn more about the companies and communities they hope to help.

While it's tempting to believe the secret to it all could be uncovered by gathering enough data, discovering the right tool, or finding a perfect cost-saving strategy, we know that will never really be the case. No matter how much this industry changes and modernizes, it will always be about people. Which means it will always be complicated, changeable, messy and worthwhile.

"People want to do business with other people," author Patrick Galvin told attendees at the recent Q4Live conference in Tampa. Galvin admitted that he wasted tens of thousands of dollars on high-end marketing efforts before finally rediscovering this simple truth and shifting his focus to personal relationships.

Throughout the conference, conversations about resilience, curiosity, passion and humanity offered a look into a key part of our industry's people equation: the advisors themselves.

It's endlessly fascinating to sit in a room full of benefits advisors as they share their successes, challenges and mistakes. To hear terms like "obsession," "amnesia," "empathy" and "authenticity" used to describe their quest to fix health care and reduce the pain caused by a broken system that hurts countless people every day.

As Jessica McCool says in her Face of Change interview on page 8: "If you take 10 brokers, they'll each do things a different way, have different resources and recommendations."

Instant Insights /

The painful process of discovery

More From HR Executive

Related Stories

Recommended For You