When you’re part of an established company that’s almost 100years old, it’s easy to keep doing things that same way.

But to succeed in business in the 21st century, it’s importantto embrace change, said Jeremy Johnson,president of U.S. Commercial Insurance at New York City-basedAmerican International Group Inc., and president and CEO ofAIG-owned Lexington Insurance Co. Johnson spoke on “Building aSustainable Culture of Innovation” at the Entrepreneurial InsuranceSymposium, held Sept. 7–8, in Dallas.

As insurance professionals, it’s important to stay focused onthe mission of helping clients manage risk, Johnson began. “Everytime we price risk, we send a message to the marketplace on howsafe risk is.”

The insurance industry helps companies invest and grow, headded, by helping risk managers make the world a safer place. Inturn, technology helps the insuranceindustry make the world safer.

Here are his thoughts on what it takes to encourage employees toinnovate and to maintain that culture in an organization like AIG:

1. Embrace change, starting at the top

“At AIG, you have to embrace change,” Johnson explained. Herecommended looking for employees who have shown a tendency to beresilient and adaptable in many situations.

Johnson also said he believes that it’s important to pushdecision making as close to the client as possible to be able toadjust to changing conditions as needed. This has helped AIG have a94 percent retention rate with large national accounts, henoted.

“But innovation only works when management supports it,” hesaid.

2. Create time and space for ideas

Employees need down time, Johnson noted, as well as time to justthink, which is difficult to do when employees are always connectedto work.

Johnson encouraged the audience to create workplaces that allow employeesto exchange ideas in casual as well as formal settings. He alsoencouraged the audience to provide an atmosphere in which employeesfeel comfortable proposing changes from the bottom up.

3. Engage and empower the most innovative employees

AIG has a 12-week program called “Innovation Boot Camp” that hasgenerated dozens of new products and services Johnson said.

It started as a way to build community, and it’s being leveragedacross the company, which has 64,000 employees in 90countries.

4. Forge alliances outside the insurance industry

Johnson said he believes that it’s important to have formal andinformal partnerships outside IT and the insurance industry.

AIG is investing in wearable technology with Human ConditionGlobal, which describes itself as a “think and do tank,” to developwearables to improve worker safety.

The AIG Innovation Center is located in San Francisco nearAmazon and Verizon, Johnson noted, which encourages an innovativemindset and may create opportunities to innovate with othercompanies.

5. Use innovation to help clients reach their goals

Using drone technology is one way insurance companies can useemerging technology to help their clients manage risk.

Johnson cited the example of flying a drone through a client’swarehouse to create a map of the existing sprinkler system. AIGthen used artificial intelligence to determine whether the buildinghad enough fire protection and the appropriate coverage.

Johnson also discussed using virtual reality for training safetyand risk managers. The technology can help train a new generationof engineers and workers without putting them in harm’s way.

“The number one entity that U.S. businesses trust most withtheir data before anyone else it the P&C [property andcasualty] insurance industry,” Johnson said. He advised insurancecompanies to leverage the data they have available to help clientsunderstand what’s driving the risk in their organizations as wellas their industry.