Diary of an Insurer: Beazley’s Rafael Sanchez

Monday

As the crisp winter sun rises over the dreaming spires of central Oxford and another busy week begins, I wonder what could have been. A life afloat roaming the open seas? Exploring the heights of the Himalayas? Travelling the world with the Cirque du Soleil? 

Alas I come down to earth with a bump as I realise the more pressing concerns of child number one having lost his guitar ahead of today’s Christmas play rehearsal and child number two needing to be at school 15 minutes earlier for a maths test.

Or was it the other way around?

Preparing breakfast must wait for a few minutes as I scan through incidents handled by my team over the weekend. Important threat trends can develop when least expected and the underwriting teams are always interested to hear about any unusual developments in severity.

Satisfied that nothing serious has presented itself over the weekend I get the kids off to school – or rather – my wife (who is also a full-time professional) shoos us all out the door and we make it in time for the bell.

Today is relatively structured with three client calls and four internal meetings and is undertaken from my home office so it’s a great day to crack on and deliver.

Tuesday

I’m going in to Beazley’s London office today so I’ll need to be efficient this morning if I want to get my morning run in. 

It has snowed overnight and Oxford University Parks is glorious – blanketed with a thin layer of brilliant white snow – and following my run with a quick shower, I make the train with barely a minute to spare.

Today is dedicated to go-to-market planning for our European businesses and sees me meet with our chief marketing officer who has come over from Kansas City, our senior marketing manager who has flown in from Geneva and our head of client experience who is over from San Francisco. 

I get raised eyebrows when I complain about my 60-minute delayed journey from Oxford.

Wednesday

Though it’s not a guarantee I can motivate myself each week, today I do manage to get out on my bike super early this morning and explore some of the amazing gravel tracks near Oxford. 

This morning’s main activity is delivering a virtual cyber-crisis simulation for a UK publicly-listed brand so although I don’t need to travel I will be kept on my toes by having to motivate 12 stakeholders over video.

It’s a real challenge to keep 12 people engaged and I’ll often prep for these calls in advance by putting sticky-notes on my desk with participants’ names so I can remind myself who I haven’t spoken to in the past few minutes and where I need to direct my attention.

For this afternoon I have an even more important task which is to ensure I make it to at least half of my daughter’s hockey match against the school’s deadly sworn rivals. Despite the miserable weather they emerge victorious and even better my daughter scores the only goal. 

My proud dad moment is tempered by her refusing a hug at the end of the match because I’m embarrassing her in front of her friends but I do at least get a fist-bump.  

Thursday

I need to get myself to Heathrow today for a 4pm flight to Madrid but the children are boarding tonight and since they pack more clothes for one night of boarding school than I pack for a week’s holiday, we’ll need both my wife and I for the school-run (each of us laden down with musical instruments, sports kits and their boarding bags).

Straight after the school-run I’ve managed to fit in a visit to the UK’s Defence Academy where I have been a very occasional guest lecturer – it’s always a privilege to visit and this time I’m given access to the “tank shed” which also contains some interesting flying machines. 

Friday

El Retiro park in central Madrid is another favourite running destination and my questionable taste in music is thankfully hidden from the elderly ladies walking their dogs. 

I always find it amusing that whatever country you are in – the only people in parks at 6am are elderly people walking their pets, runners and the occasional person sleeping off a night well-lived.

My parents live in Madrid and this trip provides me with the opportunity to meet them for breakfast where my mother wastes no time in telling me that I am looking old and tired and that it’s all because I haven’t had her chickpea stew in years. 

Should I tell her that’s one of the benefits of living a thousand miles away from her? I don’t have the heart.

This afternoon I am presenting to a room full of CISOs and security professionals and in Spanish. Considering my name you might think this easy but I was born in the UK and although I am fluent it will require concentration to pull this off. Will I manage it?