Howden Re Inspire: One year of Ignite

Building your network as you build your career

There's no single route through a career in reinsurance. People arrive with different experiences, develop different strengths and find opportunities in different places.

But few people build a career alone.

For Lena Pelini, an Office Manager in Howden Re's Minneapolis office, the connections created through Ignite have been one of its most rewarding outcomes.

"The most rewarding part has been seeing colleagues build relationships across the business that simply wouldn't have happened otherwise," said Lena. "Those conversations don't stop when an event finishes, they become part of how people collaborate every day."

Ignite creates different ways for those conversations to start. There have been breakfasts in London, New York and Minneapolis, virtual networking across locations and local events. At Howden University, a market-facing breakfast also brought junior colleagues and clients together to learn about reinsurance.

The point isn't networking for networking's sake. It's about creating useful connections.

Knowing someone in another team can make it easier to bring the right expertise into a conversation. Knowing someone in another office can make a global business feel much smaller. And meeting people beyond Howden gives early careers colleagues the chance to start building their place in the wider market.

As Oliver put it: "Watching colleagues connect across our global business has shown just how valuable those opportunities can be – not only for individuals, but for Howden Re as a whole."

Learning from different paths

A strong network isn't only about your peers. Access to people further ahead in their careers can help you understand the choices available – including paths you may not have considered.

That thinking led to Leading Voices, Ignite's global speaker series, which gives colleagues direct access to senior leaders from Howden Re and the wider Howden business.

"We wanted to create conversations that people couldn't find anywhere else," said Cecilia Assmundson, an Associate Director on Howden Re's Cyber team. "Hearing leaders talk honestly about the decisions they've made, the setbacks they've faced and what they've learned along the way helps people realise there isn't one route to building a successful career."

The first session welcomed Elliot Richardson, Executive Chairman of Howden Re, for a conversation hosted by Kayleigh Smith, an Associate Director on Howden Re's Market Engagement and Strategy team.

Elliot's first piece of advice was to get the foundations right.

"What's really important in those early stages of your career is that you must, must, must build the basics in those first two years. Some of it might be a bit boring and repetitive, but it's like building muscle memory. If you do something every day, it becomes natural, and those foundations stay with you for the rest of your career."

He also encouraged colleagues to back themselves when opportunities come.

"People used to tell me I was a bit young. My answer was always, 'Am I doing the job or not?' I've always believed that if you're good enough, you're old enough. Here, age isn't a barrier. We've got so much to do that the opportunities really are limitless."

But the conversation wasn't only about individual careers. Elliot also challenged colleagues to collaborate deliberately across reinsurance and the direct businesses rather than allowing internal boundaries to get in the way.

That matters because stronger connections make it easier to bring together different expertise, share ideas and act when an opportunity arises.

For Oliver, that access to different experiences is what makes Leading Voices useful.

"Leading Voices gives colleagues the chance to ask questions, hear honest experiences and see that successful careers are built in many different ways. That's incredibly valuable when you're starting out."

Creating the opportunities you want to see

Ignite itself is an example of taking ownership.

It wasn't created as a development programme handed down to early careers colleagues. A volunteer committee drawn from different offices and functions saw an opportunity to make something better and acted on it.

Alongside their day jobs, committee members have shaped the programme, organised events, brought colleagues together and created access to leaders across Howden. In doing so, they're developing their own experience too – from leading projects and communicating across cultures to understanding more of the wider business.

It's development through doing something for other people.

And as Ignite has grown, so has its reach. What began as a way to bring colleagues closer together is creating opportunities to connect across Howden and with peers and clients in the wider market.

That matters in an industry built on long-term relationships. Today's early careers community will move into new roles, develop different specialisms and work with one another from different sides of the market. The connections they make now can become part of how they work together later.