Chubb’s CEO 25-page shareholder letter touches on China, AI, and the fragility of democracy: ‘I am both optimistic and I’m concerned’
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Good morning. This is peak season for shareholder letters, in which CEOs share observations about their results, priorities and views of the trends shaping business. Most are short, bland and to the point. But Warren Buffett turned his letters into lessons on leadership (Greg Abel has now taken up the mantle at Berkshire Hathaway.) BlackRock CEO Larry Fink talked about “a deeper feeling that capitalism is working” in this year’s letter, and many eagerly await Jamie Dimon’s novella-length letter to drop soon.
In the canon of great shareholder letters, I would add the prose of Evan Greenberg, the chairman and CEO of Chubb Group. He has amassed quite a following and body of work in more than two decades at the helm (first of ACE Ltd, which later became Chubb after he acquired the insurer in 2016). He’s since built Chubb into one of the world’s most valuable property and casualty insurers, with a $126.5 billion market cap.
In his latest annual letter, he offers 25 pages of thought-provoking observations on the world between noting results like the record $10 billion in core operating income last year. “It’s personal to me,” he told me yesterday, noting that it takes him no less than three months and 15 drafts. “It’s not a writer’s turn of phrase. It reads as I speak, as I think … The subjects I pick are relevant to Chubb.”
Here are some edited reflections on the subjects he raised this year:
On China: “I’m deeply invested in it. My company is deeply invested, and it is the most important relationship in the world … I just spent a week in China, 10 days where I went to five different cities, to see new tech companies … the humility, the work ethic, the drive to innovate and create and succeed. They want to bring what they’re doing to America. Cooperation and engagement don’t mean surrender. It doesn’t mean you’re weak. The United States has so many advantages over China. Where we’re fearful is because of their scale, their size and their capability. I deeply admire the Chinese culture. I deeply admire the people. I’ll bet on them all day long. That’s different than the politics and the political construct of the country … Each picks their own.”
On AI: “The good that it can do in medicine and science, the potential it unlocks, is breathtaking. Technology is evolving but human nature has not evolved … We’re just as tribal, just as prejudiced as human beings as we’ve ever been, and we’re handing ourselves this powerful tool. We don’t even quite understand it yet so I am both optimistic and I’m concerned.”
On America: “Democracy is so fragile. Civil society is a participant sport. We are all members. I’m so sick of the dark side we find ourselves in—right and left—where we feed on the notion of denigrating who we are … I don’t know one person who comes from another country to live here and doesn’t say how privileged they feel and how lucky we are, and how much we take it for granted.”
On Leadership: “I’m the leader of a public corporation. I’m not the leader of a religious institution. I’m not the moral spokesman for the world. I’m acutely aware that I, as the CEO of Chubb, am an asset of the company … It’s an honor and a privilege to have my role, and it’s my responsibility to account to my shareholders every year for the company that they have invested in, and to explain it and to illuminate beyond the numbers … Chubb is my second greatest love. It’s all wrapped up in that when I write this letter. Every word matters to me.”
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com