Supporting the Group’s Future

The Tokio Marine Group Leadership Institute (TLI) was launched in April 2023 to train leaders globally across the Group. The aim is to offer unique and high-quality training programs that will establish a reliable pipeline of top-level talent. More than just training, the mandate of the TLI is to ensure the infrastructure is in place to identify, promote and support future leaders of the Group, who will realize integrated Group management, synergies and deliver value to all stakeholders.

Spearheading the TLI is Group Talent Division Manager Evan McKenzie, a native of Canada, based in Japan, who has been with the Group for nine years. Here, he shares about the inspiration behind the Institute, its methods, and what it has already achieved.

Innovation in a Time of Need

One of the largest challenges that firms around the globe face is adapting to a quickly changing business environment. According to PwC’s 2024 survey^*1 of 4,702 CEOs, 45% of those interviewed believed that their companies wouldn’t survive more than a decade on their current path. A common sentiment CEOs shared was the need to innovate to respond to dynamics such as climate change, geopolitical conflicts, and technological transformation.

One of the most important ways to meet these challenges is by developing leadership that is in tune with changes in the market, can offer fresh perspectives and implement new strategies based on those perspectives.

As Evan explains, this is particularly important for Tokio Marine Group. “We have a very long history – it’s 145 years, which can sometimes be a mixed blessing. It’s great to have this history and a strong culture, but at the same time, if we’re dealing with new situations and unknowns, we want to make sure we are still being innovative, still being new, and still transforming. I think the TLI’s mission is focused on enabling that.”

TLI works across the global Group and complements existing talent management programs, developing leaders who can create unique solutions to business challenges by deeply understanding issues and bringing diverse perspectives to bear on them.

While these leaders can help the Group itself thrive, their influence also carries forward to the Group’s customers around the world. And this is crucial in today’s changing – and uncertain – times. According to data from Ipsos^*2, 53% of those surveyed believed that 2023 had been a bad year for them and 70% believed it had been a bad year for their country. This is why it’s not just important to develop capable and skilled leaders, but also make certain that they also have soft skills such as empathy.

Evan explains that TLI’s potential to train talented leaders can help both the Group and those it serves. “The purpose of the company is to be there for our customers in their times of need. So, if someone's going to be there for you, you want the best person possible to be there. You want the person with the widest perspective and the deepest experience. This gives them the ability to make sure they are meeting the needs of that customer.”

World-class Programs

Evan explains that to select its participants, TLI works with the CEOs and HR departments of Group companies to find the right people to participate in the programs, and those who can best benefit from it.

“We basically provide criteria and some encouragement where necessary, but the people we get from our Group companies overseas are people that their own executives and their own HR feel are excellent talent and have room for growth and in learning more from the Group,” Evan says.

He adds that it’s important to have a diverse set of backgrounds that represents the breadth of the Group’s companies. “We have a wide portfolio of businesses; part of our success is the diversity of our businesses. So, we always aim to bring people together who have very different kinds of functional backgrounds and experiences.”

In addition to relying on global HR teams for participant choice, the TLI partners with them for program content. “For some of our programmes we will collaborate with people who work in learning development and other organisations to get their input, or to get their ideas on how something could be best done in a specific circumstance,” Evan explains.

Where the TLI comes into its own is its ability to provide training that can help executives continue to grow. “All of our Group companies have their own learning programmes – they offer complete development from being newly hired to being an executive,” Evan points out. “Where we fill the gap is we focus on what's above that. ”

“Whereas for an individual Group company, once you're already an executive, training opportunities can sometimes become limited to individual coaching or individual learning. So, we're able to bring together a group of CXOs and provide that full learning experience.”

While the training that is offered through the TLI can be varied, one common thread is shared: its quality is of the highest standard. Evan explains that Tokio Marine Group’s reputation helps it find partners to work with for training. “The secret to doing world-class training is to find world-class people and partner with them.

“It's not a secret, but one of the things that's really advantageous for us is that Tokio Marine is a pretty sizable organisation. So, people are very willing to take our calls when we're looking to partner with them.”

Take global senior executive program that the TLI recently conducted. For the first module, working with a partner, a theatre in Edinburgh was booked, and the participants worked with a company of professional actors to get them ready to deliver a play – in Shakespearean English – in front of an audience within four days. Evan points out that this challenging ordeal allowed the participants to quickly develop a strong sense of team in a very short period of time.

The next module, held a few months later, involved a week at a top business school in London, England, where participants engaged with professors to learn about best practices in a wide variety of industries. The final module brought participants together again, this time to Tokyo for a series of dialogues and the opportunity to meet the Group CEO and other executives to discuss their thoughts about the future of the Group.

A Winning Recipe

Since TLI’s launch last year, some 112 people have participated in the program. While this number may seem small compared to the 45,000 employees of Tokio Marine Group worldwide, Evan explains that the influence of these programs can be exponential. “Because these are programs that focus on leadership, the impact isn't only on you as an individual– the impact is also on your department, your division or your company.

“I think the best way to look at this isn't necessarily only about the individuals in the program in any given year. It is to think about who those people interact with and what kind of impact they can have.”

While it is still in its first years, Evan believes that the launch of the TLI represents an important move for Tokio Marine Group. “This is a big step. It shows a lot of confidence from our management that this is the type of thing we really need to be focusing on, and that the Group is ready to dedicate time and resources to focus on bringing great talent together.

“As you know, some 20 years ago, many of our major international businesses were not yet part of the Group. So TLI is clearly part of this wider initiative to really bring together the international business and the Japanese business together in a positive way.”

While Evan is a cultural anthropologist by training, when asked about how he views the work that TLI is doing – bringing together people from diverse professional and cultural backgrounds to achieve a harmonious whole – a different metaphor comes to his mind.

“We’re kind of like chefs: we gather different people, source the right ingredients and make sure we have the right setting, all to create something new and memorable that hopefully has an impact.”

• *1https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/c-suite-insights/ceo-survey.html
• *2https://www.ipsos.com/en/ipsos-global-predictions-2024

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