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The Forbidden Words

The Forbidden Words

“If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse” – Cole Rosenberger

The world we live in is known for continual improvements in technology, leadership, innovation, education, and overall knowledge. In order to be successful and remain ahead of one’s competition, one must also constantly develop and improve, learning new skills and mastering old ones. As the rest of the world is moving ahead, we must realize that stagnation is regression; complacency fatal.

As we celebrate our 50th year of existence here at Kuzneski, we proudly reflect on our accomplishments and progress over the years. However, we also must use this event as an occasion to look forward, taking a fresh start to the new half-century. We have already moved into a new building, taken on new people, including two summer interns and a fresh hire within the last month, and with all these changes adopted a new mindset. Taking a look at pitfalls that can befall a company, Andy decided we needed to update our company policy as a way to avoid these dangers. With that, we all agreed that never again would we speak the phrase, “But that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

It is undoubtedly a good thing to reflect on the past; learning from mistakes and failures and analyzing the factors that contributed to successes. Saying, “that’s the way we’ve always done it,” though, isn’t any sort of reflection or analysis, but rather mindless repetition of outdated methods. Repeating the past simply for the sake of familiarity, though convenient, breeds complacency. Though someone at some point may have adopted a quoting procedure or implemented a certain HR platform, by no means does it necessarily remain the most efficient, effective way to accomplish the task or provide the service.

Instead, we must combine the fresh eyes and outside experience of new team members with the expertise and know-how of more established coworkers. We have a unique blend of specializations and knowledge backgrounds among our Kuzneski team, and it’s evident to see what we’re capable of when these talents are combined. Recognizing our capabilities while making a special effort to rid ourselves of the crutch of “the way we’ve always done it” and moving forward with an open, inquisitive mindset, we are excited to see the results as the lessons and experience of the past are unified with an ongoing passion for learning, improvement, and service.

Paul Birch

Paul was a KIG intern during the summer of '16 where he earned himself the nickname "Pauly-B." In 2019, he graduated from Penn State University with a Bachelor's degree in Risk Management and Actuarial Science. He is now an actuarial analysis at Aetna, where they probably just call him "Paul."

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