2013 June/July Immediate Past President

 

Outgoing President's Message 

Hello NAIFA Participants! On the State level, we’ve been together for 6 years…6 looooooooooong years! Hahaha. In that time, we have accomplished a LOT in moving the cause of NAIFA Washington forward as well as built a LOT of GREAT memories that I will never forget…until I trigger a LTCI claim…right? I could spend time listing all the accomplishments especially over the past two years as President (and if you want to go over this rather impressive list, I’d be glad to let you buy me a coffee or lunch…lunch would be better and talk about the “glory days”)!

 

Instead, I’d rather tell you a story about the difference between Lee Ioccoca and Jeff Kyle. (take LILI or read the Good to Great story about Ioccoca). How am I different than him…I look at my local and 4 of the 7 Officers and Board members, I recruited to NAIFA, recruited to leadership by managing expectations and mentoring them in the “ways of NAIFA”. I look at the State, I have built a tremendous team of leaders (including a couple who have now been elected and will serve as our President, as well as all of the chairs, co-chairs and some RVP’s! A think tank we refer to as the “Knights of NAIFA”, created an Ad-Hock Committee Chair position called “Communications” that has now given us a web presence, FB, Linked In, E-mail thru Constant Contact and we’re working through some challenges with on-line web conferencing and I’m confident we will have that “dialed in” sometime this coming year! Half of these Leaders are young (YAT young) and the others are helping me mentor them and THEY are my legacy!

I have full confidence in the hands I am leaving the Association in! We have GREAT young, up and coming leadership that will continue to move this association in the right direction! Iaccoca saved Chrysler but then caused it’s demise. I believe I have accomplished something Lee Ioccoca didn’t do! I may or may not have “saved” NAIFA Washington but, by moving it in a better direction through “Radical Transformations”, through being “Radically Committed to the Outcome”, through establishing and embracing our cause of “Radically Guarding Family Security”, through “Radical Sacrifices” NAIFA Washington has a much more realistic opportunity of being the association she deserves to be!

My legacy is simple! Through taking Radical Risks and modeling servant leadership, our most talented leadership across this state took notice, it helped me to effectively garner “buy in” and as a result, NAIFA Washington has put in place a great “succession plan” for years to come! Having said that, we cannot stop the momentum now! The boulder is now rolling with everyone pushing in the same direction and at the same time…Keep the “Big Mo” going! For you non-LILI grads, that is code for Big Momentum! It’s MUCH easier to keep the boulder rolling once momentum is moving it in the direction it needs to move in. If the momentum ends, it’s much harder to get going again!

I promised you 4 years ago that if I was elected, I would give you NO less than my best effort to make NAIFA an uncommon Association run by Uncommon servant leaders!

I told you great moments are born out of great opportunity!

I asked you to give me the same measure of commitment and trust that I give you and our goals will have seemed to have been too little!

I asked you two years ago, who wants to be part of something that’s never been done before, leading edge, visionary? Success is NOT measured by the position a person attains, but rather by the size obstacles they overcome! Together through herculean effort, WE have overcome monsterous obstacles…but we’re not finished! Never forget, our enemy is complacency, apathy, mediocrity!

You choose a leader for His HEART! But I’m not without fear! Without fear…there cannot be courage! When we work together…it’s our enemies who should be afraid!

I am SO proud to have held your trust, to have been your servant leader, to have worked with such talented leaders! We used to only talk about the NAIFA we wished we had…now we are living it! Again, NAIFA Washington has the foundation of being the Association it deserves to be!

As we move forward under the new leadership of Kevin Gleim, followed by John Nichols and Scott Fowler, continue to be “Radical” in your approach to service to NAIFA!

Lastly, and most importantly, I desire to recognize my wife Suzy and our children Laney and Cameron. They “live” NAIFA daily with me! It is a household word in our home. There has been a tremendous amount of “radical sacrifice” on their part over the past few years! Suzy, Laney, Cameron, I am thankful for you all! Grateful for your sacrifices so that I could do all that I’ve been allowed to do for NAIFA in our cause of Guarding Family Security. I have some good news and I have some bad news! Buckle up…the ride’s not over yet! I love you and you’re just the best family I could have been blessed with!

To my NAIFA family, I would be most appreciative if you would join me in honoring The Kyle family for their sacrifice to the cause of NAIFA!

Thank you all. I love you! God bless you, NAIFA and America! 

 Jeff Kyle, LUTCF, CSA, LTCP
Immediate Past President

PS- I will be the LILI Moderator for 2013-2014. Class begins in January 2014, so make that commitment and investment in your businesses and in yourselves and get registered soon!