Setting the Stage: Zurich North America, the global property & casualty insurance company, holds an annual meeting of its top North American leaders. In 2009, this program was to be held in Chicago, and it was an opportunity for the central region to provide a learning experience unique to a Chicago meeting. As with any large organization, these executives manage large territories and many people, and are always looking to share best practices with one another. In addition, they do much of their work with each other by phone and email, so this yearly meeting is an opportunity to truly collaborate face-to-face with other leaders of this organization.

Playing the Part: In a ½ day session here at Second City, the top 12 leaders of Zurich participated in an interactive workshop focusing leadership in sales. Through a series of improv exercises and discussions, we hit on topics such as: negotiation tactics, holding effective meetings, adapting to chance in the moment, and listening to understand & consult. What came out of this program was a “teambuilding” experience appropriate for this level of leadership – they were able to laugh and work together while discussing true business challenges in an open forum. This event proved so successful, that in 2010 the program was cascaded to the next level of employees from Zurich’s office in Schaumburg, IL.