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Journal of Insurance Operations
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Finding our Footing

By Mark O'Brien On 09.11.2012

Author's Note: First, as always, the views of this writer are mine and mine alone. They do not reflect the views of — nor are they solicited, condoned, or endorsed by — Perr & Knight and/or The Journal of Insurance Operations. Second, I've deliberately and purposefully omitted imagery and symbolism in this post. The occasion [...]

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Fishy Business

By Mark O'Brien On 09.04.2012
smelly-fish

Author's Note: This post was prompted, once again, by my colleague, confidant, and close counsel, Jonathan Spiliotopoulos. He was kind enough to share the prompting article with me and to suggest it as a topic for The Front Line. This is precisely why God invented friends.

In their efforts to vet applicants, [...]

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David’s Rock

By Mark O'Brien On 08.28.2012
david

Author's Note: Credit for fodder and inspiration for this post goes to my friend, colleague, and Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler of All Things Technical, Jonathan Spiliotopoulos.

In a new spin on Biblical resurrection, Goliath rose from the dead last week to put David back in his place. This particular resurrection was [...]

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Home to Roost

By Mark O'Brien On 08.21.2012
chicken

I suspect it's seldom that one actually has to practice what one preaches. I imagine most folks can dispense their admonitions and leave them quietly in the dust. I've just discoverd I'm not that lucky.

After noting the need for patience in marketing, after railing against the notion of More →

Baloney Merchants

By Mark O'Brien On 08.14.2012
ticket

Anybody who notices unpleasant facts in the have-a-nice-day world we live in is going to be designated a curmudgeon. (Paul Fussell, 1924-2012)

Especially in my posts here at The Front Line, I've been increaslingly fearful of positioning myself as a curmudgeon. When you write things like this, and this, and More →

Follow the Bouncing Brand

By Mark O'Brien On 08.07.2012
fender

According to a recent survey conducted by The Frontline Center for the Study of Patronymic Perpetuity, precious few brands achieve the revered status of iconic. Fewer still retain their iconic status through takeovers by public companies, buybacks by employees, ownership by investment capitalists, debt, disillusionment, and dilution-unto-absurdity of its product portfolio. But Fender Musical Instruments [...]

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Incoming!

By Mark O'Brien On 07.31.2012
shootinfoot

Author’s Note: This post was inspired by a conversation with my friend and colleague, Amy LaBossiere. All of the good ideas in here are hers. The rest are mine.

This is one of the most dangerous things I’ve read in a very long time. Combining pie in the sky, [...]

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Ahead: It’s the Only Way to Look

By Mark O'Brien On 07.24.2012
Irish Brain

For reasons too numerous and too extraneous to catalog here, I recently joined an online community of artists, illustrators, and other creative types. The phrase, creative types, appears here in italics because it holds a very special place in my life: At an insurance company for which I once worked in a marketing capacity, my [...]

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What Price Habit?

By Mark O'Brien On 07.17.2012
scared

Its source notwithstanding, this article is not about politics, it's about philosophy. Specifically, it's the philosophy of Self-Absorbed Self-Satisfaction, the twin sibling of complacency and the perennial bane of creative productivity. This particular philosophy can be stated, summed, and comprehensively explicated in one, simple, declarative sentence: "We do it this [...]

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Not Dead Yet

By Mark O'Brien On 07.10.2012
holy_grail

According to the betting line in Las Vegas, there are better-than-even odds that I don't get the point of this article. And I don't know Brian Millar. I am, however, quite certain he's a smashing chap, with a Permanent File full of good deeds, a profile full of experience, a head full [...]

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