AIG - The Greatest Risk is not taking one

One thing about working directly with a CEO of a major global insurance company: you get a yes or a no immediately. Maurice 'Hank' Greenberg was that type of boss. Presenting ideas to him was something special. It took him less than 10 minutes to approve an idea. You were either on or off, and we made sure we were never the latter. AIG has a history in financing and securing massive projects. Even classified projects on behalf of the U.S., which did not end up in any of our commercials. The strategic brief we were handed said one thing that irked me tremendously; risk is a word you should stay away from. Stay away from? We decided to do the opposite; we decided to celebrate it. After all, wasn't this country founded on risk? Isn't sending a man to the moon risky? Doesn't immigrating to a far and away land carry some risk? Even Elvis was risking being banned from radio and TV if he didn't shop shaking those hips. Hank got it. And off we went.  (With Don Kurn and Steve Biegel) 

Another kind of risk: Insurers generally will do diligence before a payout. In this case, AIG insured an scientific expedition including the life of the team. One of them, Dr. Shemenski, fell gravely ill and if not helped within a few weeks, would surely perish. AIG send out for help. Where others would have given up, AIG did not and the doctor, well, read the ad > (with Bobby Pawar)