On February 10, 2014 the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service announced that the Affordable Care Act's health coverage mandate for some employers will be delayed another year until 2016. The impact is to employers with 50 or more employees, but fewer than 100 employees, working at least 30 hours per week. 

Last month one of my partners and I went to speak to a group of CEOs, Presidents, and founders. The gentleman who runs the group is a retired executive from a large accounting firm. They meet monthly to discuss issues facing their businesses and organizations. While they’ve made a lot of progress with their businesses, he was worried about neglect in their personal affairs and put together a panel of experts to address various topics.

His line up featured a physician, an attorney, a personal wealth advisor, and us to speak on personal risk management. When he first asked me, it didn’t take long to accept as you might imagine. Getting a captive audience of executives in small group is a great business opportunity.

Whether in the workplace or at home, leading by example is a powerful motivating force. As a parent, you teach your children by example. As a supervisor at work, you can have a great, positive influence by not only your actions but also your expectations.

In great anticipation of John Torinus headlining this year’s Human Capital Summit on Solving Health Care on March 13, 2014, we are sharing his blog content. Stay tuned for more posts and insight from John as we get closer to our event!

The soap opera titled ObamaCare keeps burning and turning, and the episodes to come promise to be as unpredictable as the ones playing out.

Last week I wrote about my year in blogging. It seemed only right to start year two with a companion post with what I’ve learned about being personally engaged with social media as the CEO of Gibson.

Does it make sense for leaders to be socially engaged in business?

This content is used with permission from John Torinus who is headlining this year’s Human Capital Summit on March 13, 2014.

A comparison of health costs between Europe, Canada and the U.S. by Sue Davis, chair of the political science department at Denison University, Granville, Ohio, surfaced a major insight on why other countries spend far less on care as a percentage of GDP than America.

In great anticipation of John Torinus headlining this year’s Human Capital Summit on March 13, 2014, we are sharing his blog content on the 5 Steps To Control Health Costs. This content was derived from his book The Compay That Solved Health Care. In addition to this topic, John will bring new insight during our event from his latest book Opt Out On Obamacare, Opt Into The Private Heath Care Revolution.

Any organization can take immediate steps to tame the hyperinflation of health care costs and premiums. Innovators in health care delivery in the private sector have paved the way to proven methods for cutting costs. Not surprisingly, managing costs and improving health go hand in hand. Here are the basic steps that managers can take to not just curtail costs, but to reduce them:

This is my 52^nd weekly blog. It’s hard to believe a year has passed since I first gave this blogging thing a shot. Thank you for reading it, thank you for your comments – both public and private– and thank you for your inspiration!

There are plenty of articles that point to the value organizations receive when their leaders actively communicates to stakeholders. Blogging is a great way to do that and I thought I’d share what it’s meant to me.

• Platform For Important Issues:  Every week I have a formal venue to share my thoughts, struggles, goals, plans, or just my feelings on issues I think are important to our company, clients, and community.
• Record Of Gibson: There is a healthy written record of what we believe in at Gibson. If a prospective employee or client wants to know what we’re about, it’s all out there.
• Accountability Partner: I soon realized that every Friday when I publish another blog, in essence, I raise the bar for what others should expect of me.
• I’m Human After All: The thing is I make mistakes. Lots of them. And even I don’t have the discipline to follow my own public advice every time. (Those of you that already knew me well had ZERO doubt about my “human-ness”!) At the end of the day, I’m just a Dad, Husband, Friend, and Grandson myself, facing all the same issues that everyone else does.
• Honoring Mentors: It’s been rewarding for me to share how some truly amazing people took a liking and invested in me over the years. I’ll never be able to fully repay them other than trying to pay it forward to others. But the blog has given me a forum to tell a few more folks about these special individuals.
• Remaining Engaged With Clients, Centers Of Influence, And Other Leaders: Whether they are just being very kind or don’t know what else to talk about, rarely does a business meeting take place anymore without some good natured ribbing about a recent blog or advice for a future one. I’ve gotten some great ideas from them and learned about their journeys as well.
• Reconnecting With Old Friends, Professors And Colleagues: As the blog gained traction, emails and texts started to pour in with memories, fresh advice, and gratitude. Many start out with a “Your blog reminded me of my….” They are great stories and it means a lot that I am able in some small way to help trigger those memories.
• I’ve Learned A Lot: Some of the blogs were just stories I’ve wanted to tell, but others required some research. Even the whole idea of blogging turned me on to some great writers and thinkers. The advice and ideas I’ve received from others along the way has made my blogging experience worth it all by itself.
• I’ve Become A Better Communicator: My apologies for the length of some of my blogs. It’s tough to get your ideas out there in a concise 500 to 1,000 words! I knew I had some work to do when just a few blogs in, my Dad told me that he “really didn’t care for the most recent blog”. Hopefully they’ve gotten better! I don’t know if my 7^th grade Language Arts teacher Mr. Rothert saw it or not, but here I am, a writer of sorts.   
• Renewed Bond With My Grandmother: Yes, the blog about life advice from my Grandma Dorothy Gerber has been the most popular post. While that’s kind of neat and shows you how much people enjoy personal stories, it meant so much more to me. As we played a domino game over the Christmas holiday this year, it was still the topic of conversation with my Grandma, aunt, and cousins.

Knowing what's included in your homeowners coverage before you have a claim can be incredibly valuable!