Name: Aflac CEO Talks Up A.I.: “It’s the next wave. We like it. We’re impressed”
Uploaded: 2023-03-01
Duration: 11 min 22 s
Description: Dan Amos shares his wisdom on A.I., ESG, why he’s lasted in the CEO job for 33 years, and one thing people don’t know about the Aflac duck.

Dan Amos shares his wisdom on A.I., ESG, why he’s lasted in the CEO job for 33 years, and one thing people don’t know about the Aflac duck.

Aflac CEO Talks Up A.I.: “It’s the next wave. We like it. We’re impressed”

Leadership

Aflac CEO On A.I.: “It’s the next wave."

Dan. So good to see you again to talk about Aflac, you know, it's remarkable that you've been running the company for 33 years and you've had a great track record all along the way of introducing new services for your customers and staying up to date. And I understand now now that you're using more technology in your business, ai artificial intelligence, tell us how is ai impacting your business today? Well, I think things are changing faster today than ever. For example, we have just this is futuristic, but there's this company that we've invested in that will take a photograph of you and with that they can tell your health hard to believe hadn't been all worked out. But it looks like the future. We can process business much faster uh to the degree that we used to take two weeks to process the claim. We have the ability in certain cases to process it in that. So it changes every day. And so I think you have to invest in the future. Well, it's interesting that you talk about all the change in the industry because when you started at aflac, you started out in the field, you're a salesman and you were going door to door selling insurance and of course, so much as since then how do these new technologies, not just Ai but also things like social media, help your aflac agents to do more marketing or to bring in new customers. We've had the aflac duck for 23 years. And I can remember when we first did the aflac Duck commercial, we didn't have a flight dot com. So just go back that many years and we really didn't know what to do. And so now with different ways we can send people different directions, we can send you, if you see the commercial to recruit you, we can send you to handle the claim, we can send you to buy our stock. We we've got the ability to move you throughout the system to anything that might uh be a benefit to you are of interest to you as a consumer. And I know insurance companies like Affleck also like to get those younger customers gen Z's and millennials and you have to reach them digitally. Not in person necessarily right to the contrary. They don't want to be reached in person a lot of times. So, absolutely, that's the case and how we get to them and they don't cut on the tv set every day and watch it. So how we get to them is hard. That's why it's wonderful to have a good brand. If they know your name already, you can go to the internet, you can go to social media and they, you don't have to explain who they are because they know the Aflac duck. Well, I've been told that you live by three principles of risk management and you rely on these principles for many of your key decisions here. They are. Don't risk a lot for a little, don't risk more than you can afford and always consider the odds. How has a flex investments in Ai so far measured up against these principles, I would say from an Ai perspective, we it is a good decision on our part. And what I always say is I like evolution, not revolution. So a consistent pattern of investing in ai like we do with our investments to look for things that are gonna be changing. You've got to do that. If you just sit back, you'll miss everything, we weigh what the benefit is and what the potential is into the future. But you have to be moving to a i in some shape form or fashion. And each company will have to decide what that is. And can you see doing more investments in ai looking ahead. Oh yeah, no question. Yeah, I can see and not only that, I think everybody will be doing. I imagine if you were in the internet, he said, oh I don't need the internet and you know, a lot of companies probably thought that when they first came out and now look today. So absolutely, it's it's the next way how big it's gonna be, what it's gonna be. None of us know, but we do know that we like it, we're impressed with it. And so I think we're going to see more of it. Let's switch gears and talk a little bit about the economy and its impact on your customers, You've been concerned about this and you've said that inflation is terrible for the average consumer. We've seen that it's been true for food prices and gas prices. But what about for insurance benefits? One of the last things people drop is their insurance because uh it would be terrible at a time of need. We know statistically That about 57% of the consumers in America don't have $1,000 in cash that they can get hold of. So that would be for any reason whatsoever. So If you're buying insurance and you're paying for it weekly, monthly, quarterly, whatever it is, the odds are that you will need it during these inflationary periods of time. I saw that we're running about 6%. Now inflation, it was as high as 10. It's been lower, but it's running about six. And so it's it's it's a, it's a real challenge. So if inflation stays high and interest rates continue to go up, what can Affleck do, do you have pricing power? Can you raise prices? We can, we've never had rate increases on our basic supplemental health insurance products once you buy, we've we've been able to hold our our prices at the same rate. So how much of a headwind is this for your business? I've been through the cycles And they affect us, they affect the customer and they affect uh in every way. But we've been able to to make it by having as little of increases as we could have. Uh we've worked through those processes and we just have to take it on. But generally there, that cycle does break. We, you know, we're hoping that it will be in 2023, but we'll have to watch it and see dan. As we said at the beginning of our conversation, you've been running a flak for more than three decades. You're one of the longest serving Ceo on the Fortune 500 Affleck is also ranked on our fortune list of the 100 best companies to work for 20 years. Now. What's the secret to your success remembering that a company is made up of people and taking care of the people is important, taking care of the customers which are people. But as much as we talk about technology, it's still a people business. And so I think that is vitally important and to be forthright and let people know where they stand and what they need to do to achieve the objectives. Um makes a real difference. Well, Ceo, 10 years these days are shorter than ever. I mean, what can other Ceo learn from what you've been doing at Affleck all these years and especially your leadership. I would say that I'm very focused. I don't try to do too many things. I say, okay, we're gonna come out with a new product. I don't let people pull me different directions. I stay on the product or if it's technology, we stay on the technology. But every, but I always call it a shotgun approach versus a rifle approach. I like to be the rifle approach that stays on it and not try to hit 10 things. I want to do one well and then I'll move to the next one. So I think that's one of the things I would say make a difference of your leadership is that you have been a big believer in corporate social responsibility. What we all call today? S g long before other people saw the importance of it. Why was so obvious to you? And it's still such a controversial topic these days. I've always said pride of something makes a difference and I'm very proud of being socially responsible and that we've chosen something to do now. I think it's a good business decision. We've got a brand that's important. And especially with the younger generation, it's more than just dollars. It's more of what are they doing? And I think it helps us in recruiting. So I get smarter people that come to work. I think that helps it. And I think if I asked somebody on the street have you brother by this policy from company X or if you'd rather buy it from Aflac and by the way, Aflac helps Children with cancer And have done all of these things. Most people are gonna go with the Aflac for that reason. So I think it's a good business decision. You have also made a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion. Something that everybody's talking about these days. The numbers are very good. Almost 50% of a flax employees are female or people of color. More than 60% of the board members that Affleck are female or people of color. What more do you want to do and then how are you going to get there? I think it's our responsibility to make sure that everyone is treated equal. You know, one of the things that everybody kids me about is I have a saying that at my meeting that I have my staff meeting that I don't need to know what 60 year old plus white men are thinking, I'm one, what I want to know is what the young person of color, what the middle aged female, whatever the combination is, that happens. What are they thinking? And that's a good business decision. It's not just, it's the right thing to do. Yes, but it's also a good business decision. And I feel like it's one of the things that made me successful. So we can't end our conversation without talking about the aflac duck. We tried to get him to come here in the studio, It didn't work out, but you know, it's a household name, it's a pop icon. Tell us something about the aflac duck that we just don't know. Probably you don't know that over 70% of our business comes from Japan and Aflac. The name through the Aflac Duck has about 95% name recognition in Japan. Because of that, in the us, the duck has much higher or stronger voice. They have to be calm and quieter in Japan, but it is a slam dunk in Japan and what it's done.