Contrary to the trend of specialized 'monoline' companies, Aviva's CEO asserts that diversification offers significant capital benefits. It also allows for the efficient scaling of major investments, like generative AI, across numerous product lines—a strategy that has proven more resilient and successful over the last five years.
Insurers like Aviva are finding it increasingly difficult to price risk for predictable climate-related catastrophes, such as houses repeatedly built on known floodplains. The near-inevitability of these events makes them uninsurable, prompting the creation of hybrid government-backed schemes where the private market can no longer operate.
Amanda Blanc reconciles directness with the UK's typically non-confrontational business culture by emphasizing the need to be 'honest, but do it in a nice way.' Instead of bluntness or evasion, she uses constructive framing like, 'What could we do better?' This provides clarity and saves time without creating a harsh environment.
Aviva CEO Amanda Blanc believes superior execution of a good strategy is better than a brilliant one with poor follow-through. Her method involves cascading clear objectives to every employee, conducting relentless performance reviews, and embedding customer feedback at the highest levels to ensure actions consistently align with stated goals.
While culturally challenging, leading Aviva's turnaround during COVID proved beneficial for execution. The remote setup was a 'blessing' that eliminated travel and streamlined meetings, enabling leadership to focus intensely and accelerate major decisions, such as divesting multiple businesses, far more quickly than would have been possible otherwise.
Blanc's successful turnaround of Aviva began by divesting eight businesses where they lacked a top-three market position. This freed up capital, reduced debt, and allowed the core, high-scale operations in the UK, Ireland, and Canada to shine, proving that focused scale beats broad but shallow market presence.
Aviva's CEO notes her leadership has evolved to be more decisive with personnel. Experience allows her to recognize familiar, negative patterns early on ('seen this movie run... it doesn't end well'). Rather than delaying a difficult decision in hopes of improvement, she trusts her judgment and acts quickly.