Sonja Teague, vice president at ESIS, spoke exclusively to Insurance Business about her impressive career and the men who have mentored her along the way.
Throughout her career, Teague has had several strong and memorable male mentors.
Teague’s first mentor gave her the book “Games Mother Never Taught Me”, written in 1978 for women looking to make it in the corporate world about the language, dress, attitudes, and unwritten rules of success.
She says the book gave her direction and guidance while recognising that she was an equal player.
“In my more recent years, I would estimate that 97% of my business partners are men. They have been some of my greatest advocates, tremendous supporters and friends,” said Teague.
“It is important to have someone to advocate for you when you are not in the room. Make sure you align with a mentor and leaders in various parts of your organization so that people get to know you and your talents. Remain humble and eager to learn so that you can create multiple channels and opportunities to rise,” she said.
But finding the right mentors and getting into the inner circles has traditionally been challenging for women.
“As humans, when we are taking over key positions and have the need to identify new leaders, we gravitate to our inner circle of those with whom we have strong relationships and high-levels of trust,” she said.
“If you are not in those inner circles, you will often be overlooked,” she said.
Teague acknowledges that it can be difficult for women to find ways to be a part of those circles when they are dominated by men.
“As women, we have to look for ways to make connections through projects or other corporate initiatives that will showcase our talent,” said Teague.
Teague believes the insurance industry is rich with those opportunities.
Reflecting on her career of almost 30 years across multiple areas, markets and lines of business, Teague remains passionate about insurance and optimistic about the future.
“Be passionate and authentic about everything you do in life. When you are passionate about what you do, you operate at a different level because you are committed and invested in what you are doing,” she said.
Teague says that she’s often dealing with diverse clients who need to report on diversity to their boards of directors.
“Clients and boards as a whole have changed over the years to become increasingly diverse, and they expect the same of their trade partners,” she said.
“There is no greater time to be a woman in the insurance industry, particularly when you work for a company who appreciates and embraces diversity,” she said.
