Now the lead account manager for a top producer at The Bucker Company, with 17 years’ experience behind her, Missy McGlone told Insurance Business that her career journey began with a rude awakening.
She was working as an assistant at an insurance brokerage, where she said that women were unable to progress their careers, were excluded from meetings, and were subjected to a high level of verbal abuse.
She rolled with the punches, until one day the company owner called a meeting and shouted at people, and her in particular.
“The owner singled me out in front of the group and made me so embarrassed that I didn’t want to show my face again,” she said.
It was a pivotal moment for McGlone who decided she would never repeat the experience and resigned. She knew The Buckner Company, had a contact there, so sent her resume across.
At Buckner, McGlone entered a different world. “It’s a much different atmosphere…this is one of the most respectful places that I’ve ever worked with,” she said.
McGlone’s producer is male, and for the last eight years they have together, from scratch, developed what McGlone calls “a niche marketplace”.
McGlone says the harmony between them stems from complementary personalities: “The good news for me is that I don't have a producer mentality, but I do very much have a support-of-that-producer mentality. So, there's never been a clash in power for me,” she said.
Building client relationships over the course of several years is a fulfilling part of the role for McGlone. “When you get to develop that relationship, and then you get to hear the things that are said after: ‘Oh, we just love working with Missy,’ or whatever it is that they appreciate, then you know you did it right that day.”
“My producer and I have always been able to work very well knowing exactly that our main goal is to help the clients,” she said.
