Isobel Langton joined The Exeter as CEO in April, taking over from the retiring Andy Chapman.
In her first Q&A since taking over the position, she told Health & Protection, why she took the job, what she learned from her previous roles and what her goals are for the mutual.
Why have you taken on this role?
Having spent much of my career in pensions but more recently protection, I am passionate about the vital role the protection and health industry provides for ensuring people have the financial resilience to withstand the worst that life can throw at us. I am keen to continue on my protection journey and focus on creating great customer outcomes and experience.
What are your immediate objectives and challenges in your new role?
Right now, I am in listening mode and really trying to understand all that is great about The Exeter and what we need to preserve, as well as looking at those things we need to change. The challenges and opportunities of my role as CEO will emerge from this process.
You’re succeeding Andy Chapman – what will you seek to change, build upon and retain from his time in charge?
The culture at The Exeter is great, with a large customer focus and an engaged and committed workforce that needs to stay. As we grow though, and with more people working away from the office, we will need to be very intentional about who we are so all colleagues and partners can continue to contribute to our success. I feel very privileged to be following in Andy’s footsteps and inheriting the strong leadership team that he has built over the last few years.
What lessons and successes will you take from your time at Royal London and try to adapt and develop at The Exeter?
How you grow safely, how you retain the best attributes of the business while introducing the necessary processes and practices to ensure a good balance between risk and reward. At Royal London, we more than trebled the size of the pensions business and we had to be very clear about who we were and who we wanted to continue to be while still embracing new ideas and experience.
Who has been your biggest mentor at Royal London or even earlier in your career?
I have had far too many to mention. The great thing is you can learn equally from the best and the worst leaders and I have experienced both.
What mantra do you live your life by?
Treat others how you wish to be treated yourself and do that by really thinking through how you would feel if you were on the receiving end.
How do you plan to improve diversity at the organisation and across the sector? Do you have any initiatives planned?
Changing the diversity landscape across an organisation The Exeter’s size requires awareness, involvement across all levels of the business and some clear, targeted activity. Before I joined, steps had already been taken to ensure that our culture reflects the inclusive nature of The Exeter and its members and I will be looking for us to drive meaningful and practical processes to ensure this continues.
What is your message to protection advisers at this extraordinary time?
What you do really matters, keep doing it and doing it well. My message for wealth advisers is why aren’t you looking at protection?
Are there areas of the protection market that you see as dysfunctional?
I think there can be a little too much focus on competitors, trying to keep up with each other while offering lower and lower prices. Personally, I think we need to be innovative and really think about the problems we are trying to solve and by that I mean we should be focused on what our customers really need.
What would success look like for you at the end of 2021? And five years from now?
By the end of 2021, I would like us to be clear about the organisation we need to be to meet the changing needs of our customers and employees and have a clear plan in place of what we need to do to get there.
In five years’ time, I would like to be able to look back and know that I have been part of the team that has taken The Exeter to the next level, in much the same way that Andy can now look back at The Exeter’s successes during his time as chief executive.
