Speaking to Insurance Business, Palandra said Canadian clients are navigating rising complexity on multiple fronts, and her focus is on making sure they understand the full range of expertise available to them across Marsh's businesses.
"Our clients are navigating increasing complexity, whether it's economic or geopolitical or climate risk, AI, workforce, supply chain, the list goes on and on," Palandra said. "We have the full depth of expertise and insight to help them make better decisions, and I want to make sure that our clients really understand that full capability set, so that once again, they can pursue growth with confidence in their own businesses."
Read more: Marsh appoints Teresa Palandra as Canada CEO
Leading that effort, she said, doesn't require her to personally master every technical discipline across the organization. Instead, she draws a clear line between bringing together expertise and being the expert herself.
"There's a difference between being able to bring all these capabilities to bear and connecting the dots, versus needing to be the subject matter expert," Palandra said. "We have subject matter expertise across our businesses, we're very fortunate to have that, so I would certainly leverage that."
What she does see as central to her role, Palandra said, is aligning colleagues across the organization around a shared identity, rather than letting each business operate in its own silo.
"We all bring such unique and compelling skill sets and expertise to bear that when we combine it together, we really are unique and differentiated in terms of how we can support clients."
That "one Marsh" framing extends directly into how she thinks about her dual leadership role atop both Mercer Canada and Marsh Canada, which she said isn't really two separate jobs so much as one broader mandate spanning several businesses under a single umbrella.
"When I think of Marsh, I'm thinking of broader Marsh, which really spans across all of our businesses, which include risk, reinsurance and capital, management consulting and people and investments," Palandra said.
Her approach to leading across that full portfolio, she said, comes back to the same starting point: building a strategy that colleagues across every business can rally around, with clients placed firmly at the center of that effort.
"When we can create a common vision for us to all get behind, I think that creates connectivity across the organization, and it allows us to really put our clients at the center and all contribute in the ways that we do best" Palandra said. "The expertise we bring helps drive differentiated value that only we can deliver when we collectively bring our capabilities to bear."
Rather than setting business targets and working backward from them, Palandra said she believes the results tend to follow naturally when people and clients come first.
"Focusing on clients first, putting our people around them, I think the outcomes for the business will happen naturally if you start with the right motivation, purpose and priority," Palandra said. "Which is clients and people. I think the business outcomes will follow."
Asked what originally drew her to the insurance and risk advisory industry, Palandra pointed to the tangible, human stakes behind the work rather than anything abstract about the sector itself.
"There is a fundamental importance it brings to economic resilience and growth," Palandra said. "At its core, our work is about helping clients navigate uncertainty and protect their assets and the things that matter to them. There's something deeply meaningful about working in an industry where the value you create directly impacts people's livelihoods, job security, community wellbeing."
That combination of real-world impact and complex problem-solving, she said, is what has kept her in the industry throughout her career.
"That combination of intellectual challenge, human impact, and solving complex problems amongst really smart colleagues has been what's kept me in this sector throughout my career," Palandra said. "Risk management and advisory work requires deep thinking, there's an ethical judgment piece, and genuine partnership and relationships with clients. That's incredibly rewarding."
