Cricket generates leadership lessons for Ceylinco Life

A thought-provoking perspective on leadership through experiences on the world’s cricket fields was presented to representatives of the senior management of Ceylinco Life recently by Simon Taufel, a member of the International Cricket Council’s Elite Panel of Umpires.

Taufel, 41, who at that date had stood in 74 test matches, 174 ODIs and 29 T20s, conducted a half-day personal development programme that focussed on the qualities of successful leadership at the Life insurance leader’s head office in Colombo. Best known for his role on the cricket field, Taufel is also a professional trainer who has conducted programmes for many multinational companies.

The well-received program challenged participants to identify what they could do better in their respective areas of responsibility, to reflect on what each had done in 2012 to improve his or her contribution to the company and to set new personal as well as collective goals for the immediate future.

“Cricket can be a great teacher, and Simon Taufel has worked with the game’s greatest leaders of our generation,” Ceylinco Life’s Managing Director and CEO R. Renganathan said. “His insight into the attributes of leaders is applicable beyond sport to virtually any field of endeavour. It was a memorable presentation that produced valuable new ideas and compelled self-appraisal that will yield tangible results.”

The leader in Sri Lanka’s life insurance industry for the past eight years, Ceylinco Life has more than 850,000 lives covered by active policies. Gross Written Premium Income for the six months ending 30 June 2012 was Rs 4.9 billion and the value of the company’s Life Fund stood at Rs 41.778 billion at that date. Ceylinco Life accounts for 28 per cent of Sri Lanka’s life insurance market.