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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, November 25, 2002

LEADERSHIP CORNER
AIG president changed the way insurance rates are set

Interviewed by Susan Hooper
Advertiser Staff Writer

Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
Robin Campaniano
Title: President and CEO
Company: AIG Hawaii Insurance Co.
Age: 51

Self portrait: If it's an honest self-portrait, I would have a very difficult time with words. I'm more visual. The typical response would be in "in control, in command, intelligent, organized." But I don't want to say that; I want to say, I'm pretty much like Dilbert, or the pointy-haired boss, with all these other shades that make me a caricature of myself. As a painting, what I see is a big backdrop using a Monet type of haze, with a Hiroki Morinoue sense of water, and the orange and the burgundy colors of Gauguin on his second trIp to Tahiti. You look at the colors and they're sort of wild, and I think that's how my staff would describe me. But in the foreground, a Corky Trinidad-inspIred caricature of Dilbert.

Favorite book: A specific book would be Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude." A favorite author would be somebody like Paul Theroux, who lives now on the North Shore. I read a book a week. Reading is a great way to learn and also to relieve the pressures of the job.

Favorite business book: I don't read business books. They're too boring.

Favorite Web site or search engine: Amazon.com. I look for stuff on sale.

Most remembered mentor: One who comes to mind right away is Judge Alfred Laureta from Kaua'i. I had the honor of servIng under Al as his law clerk when he had a federal judgeship in the Mariana Islands. He taught me how to be a lawyer and how to be very judicial. He showed me judicial temperament and how that should permeate everybody's life: How to be honest, fair, to be a person with integrity and to be humble at the same time.

Best part of the job: Seeing things work. Planning things out and makIng things happen. It's a lot of fun. You plan something out, you conceive an idea, you put it into action and it works. That's a great kick, and it could be introducing a new product or it could be developIng a new program. It could be developing a new department or division of the company and turning employees loose on it and watching it grow.

Worst part of the job: To me there's really no bad part about the job. I can whine and complain about being president of a company, but no one's going to believe me. At the end of the day I have to thank my lucky stars that I'm sitting in this seat.

Best decision as a leader: In 1989, as the lead insurance commissioner in this country, I changed the way insurance companies set rates, to make it more fair and more competitive for consumers. It changed the way insurance companies compete throughout the United States. And subsequent to that change on a national level, Hawai'i — like just about every other state — adopted the change that I proposed.

Worst decision as a leader: I view every decision I make as a learning experience. I'll study it so I can learn from it, because you can always make a bad decision. In my way of looking at life, a bad decision would be one that I've repeated. The question to me is: Have I repeated mistakes?

What I worry about most: Whether the decisions I make as a leader in AIG and for all the boards and commissions I serve on are conducive to building the state so that my children will have a future here.

Most difficult challenge: I serve on a lot of boards and commissions and I'm always getting a call from somebody saying, "Can you serve on this board or help us with this fund-raiser?" I'm trying to learn how to say no.

Leadership tip: This state has been so good to me. I never thought I would get the opportunities I've had to succeed. And I feel obligated to pay back those who've helped me by giving back to the state. What I consider the essence of true leadership in Hawai'i is to continue to look to ways to improve and repay those who have helped put you where you are.

• • •

Taking on... New opportunities

"I see an opportunity around every corner. With the strength of our brand name and our growing reputation in Hawai'i, we realize we can and should develop more products and services for our customers, and what we hope to do in the very near future is to make a broader array available.

"We've been very successful selling auto insurance, and we hope to add other products to our mix, such as life insurance and disability insurance. The problem, the challenge and the great advantage is that because there are so many opportunities, it's a matter of selecting the best ones to seek.

"It's difficult to sort them out, prioritize and find ways to implement a strategy to accomplish this. The ultimate challenge is to get the team infused with the enthusiasm necessary for them to spontaneously execute these wonderful dreams. But we've been at it for such a long time that when we start thinking about this there's a lot of spontaneous combustion already — expanding or offering the product a different way, or tweaking the products.