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Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How this CEO built a 35-year reign at Aflac without burning out
As Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett prepares to retire, Aflac's longtime CEO, Dan Amos, is poised to become the longest-serving chief executive in the Fortune 250. Amos has led Aflac for 35 years and has spent more than five decades at the company his family founded. In an era of executive churn, where the average tenure of a Fortune 500 CEO is approximately seven years, Amos stands out not just for his longevity, but for how he has sustained it. Under his leadership, the supplemental life insurance company has grown into a $55.7 billion business with nearly $19 billion in annual revenue.'I enjoy what I do,' Amos tells Fortune. 'If you don't enjoy it, you can't do it for very long.' That passion appears to have fueled a rare and remarkable run. But Amos' rise wasn't preordained, despite his last name, he says. The son of Paul Amos, one of three brothers who cofounded American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus in 1955, he joined Aflac in 1973 as a commission-only sales rep, determined to prove himself on merit. After graduating from the University of Georgia, he joined the company in 1973 as a commission-only sales rep, determined to prove himself on performance alone. 'I went on a total commission basis to the company because I felt like everybody would say, 'He got handed the opportunity,' which is right. I don't deny that,' Amos admits. 'But when I went into sales, they couldn't say much because they looked at my track record and saw what happened.' In his first year, he inherited a sales territory generating $600,000 in annual premiums. Within a decade, that figure had grown to $11 million. He became president in 1983, COO in 1987, and CEO in 1990. Those early years shaped his leadership philosophy: set clear goals, track outcomes, and lead with accountability. 'You set these goals to achieve, and then when you've done it, it's something you could reflect and say, 'That was a great year,''' he says. While many of his peers chased aggressive global expansion, Amos made a contrarian call, scaling back Aflac's operations to just two countries: the U.S. and Japan. 'We found there was more life insurance in force in the U.S. and Japan than the rest of the world combined,' he recalls. 'So I asked, 'Why do we need to be anywhere else?'' That clarity of focus has served the company well. Today, Aflac is a household name, aided by the now-iconic duck mascot and consistent returns. Amos says his staying power has just as much to do with how he leads behind the scenes. His days start at 7 a.m. with meetings involving the Japan team, include a midday break for exercise, and often end with Sunday night check-ins. He surrounds himself with a trusted executive team—his general counsel among them—and expects directness. 'I spend all my time hiring the right people,' Amos adds. 'I set guardrails, and within those, they're empowered to lead.' That trust wasn't always there. In his early years, Amos admits he micromanaged everything until one moment made him pause. But one day, he realized, 'If I've got to do this, why do I need them? And I just stopped.' Today, that philosophy extends beyond his direct reports. Amos says he deliberately diversified Aflac's board to better reflect the customers it serves. 'I don't want it to be a bunch of 60-year-old white guys. I know how they think,' he explains. 'I want to make sure I know how African American females in their 30s think because they're potential policyholders.' His guiding principle, in a nutshell, is to evolve or risk irrelevance. 'If you don't adapt, you'll run off. Not changing is the kiss of death,' he says. Technology and remote work have only reinforced that mindset, he adds. 'You can work from anywhere now, and people believe you're actually working,' says Amos. 'That didn't used to be the case.' Despite no immediate plans to step down, Amos is candid about the toll of leadership.'I don't think people realize that you're never off,' he says. 'I could be on top of Mount Everest with a phone, and someone could reach me.' The added challenge of constantly being on call, according to Amos, is that CEOs don't have the luxury of telling their teams and shareholders they don't want to be reached. Still, Amos says he's learned when to draw boundaries. He has never missed one of his son's high school football games and says he encourages employees to prioritize family. He credits his wife with being a grounding force. 'If you're together as a team, it works out pretty well,' he says. After more than three decades at the top, Amos' advice to aspiring CEOs is simple but pointed: 'Go for it.' But he caveats that it's not the daily grind that defines great leaders. It's how they show up when things go sideways. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Aflac Is a World's Most Ethical Company for 19th Year in a Row
Only insurance company in the world to be on this list since its inception in 2007 COLUMBUS, GA / / March 11, 2025 / Aflac Incorporated: Originally published on Aflac Newsroom Aflac Incorporated, a leading provider of health supplemental insurance in the U.S. and the leading provider of cancer and medical insurance in terms of policies in force in Japan, was once again named by Ethisphere as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies, marking 2025 as the 19th consecutive year on this esteemed list. This year, 136 honorees were recognized spanning 19 countries and 44 industries, and Aflac is the only insurance company in the world to appear on this list since the award's inception in 2007. "For the last 19 years Ethisphere has shone a bright light on the positive impact of being an ethical company, and I am honored that Aflac's contributions have once again earned us a spot on their prestigious World's Most Ethical Companies list," said Aflac Chairman and CEO Dan Amos. "As a company that values purpose-driven profits, we know that being an industry leader is not enough. We must adhere to core values that build the trust of consumers, investors, our employees and our valued sales teams, which we have done for nearly 70 years." Care is at Aflac's core, and this long-standing, companywide dedication to purpose is shown through initiatives like its commitment to the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta with more than $187 million donated since 1995. Additionally, through its award-winning My Special Aflac Duck® program, Aflac has given more than 35,000 robotic duck companions to children with cancer and sickle cell disease in the United States, Japan and Northern Ireland. The company also places a high priority on issues related to regulatory compliance and maintaining a well-trained workforce, with a strong commitment to its code of conduct to ensure employees work within the highest ethical standards. "Congratulations to Aflac for achieving recognition as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies®. Behind this honor is a true dedication and a commitment to advancing business integrity. This approach is good for business - employees and other stakeholders value companies that prioritize the kinds of practices we measure with our process," said Erica Salmon Byrne, Ethisphere's Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Chair. ETHICS AND PERFORMANCE: THE ETHICS PREMIUM The listed 2025 World's Most Ethical Companies® Honorees outperformed a comparable index of global companies by 7.8 percentage points from January 2020 to January 2025. METHODOLOGY AND SCORING The World's Most Ethical Companies assessment is grounded in Ethisphere's proprietary Ethics Quotient®, which requires companies to provide 240-plus different proof points on practices that support robust ethics and compliance; governance; a culture of ethics; environmental and social impact; and initiatives that support a strong value chain. That data undergoes further qualitative analysis by our panel of experts who spend thousands of hours vetting and evaluating each year's group of applicants. This process serves as an operating framework to capture and codify best-in-class ethics and compliance practices from organizations across industries and from around the world. HONOREES To view the full list of this year's honorees, please visit the World's Most Ethical Companies website, at ABOUT ETHISPHERE Ethisphere is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that strengthen corporate brands, build trust in the marketplace, and deliver business success. Companies turn ethics, compliance, and culture into a business advantage by leveraging Ethisphere's data-driven program and culture assessments featuring the latest guidance and the practices of hundreds of global organizations across the 8 pillars of an ethical culture, and 240+ ethics, compliance, social, and governance data points delivered through a proprietary software platform. Ethisphere also honors superior integrity programs through World's Most Ethical Companies® recognition, brings together a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA), and advances ethical business practices through the Global Ethics Summit, Ethisphere Magazine and the Ethicast podcast. For more information, visit ABOUT AFLAC INCORPORATED Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL), a Fortune 500 company, has helped provide financial protection and peace of mind for nearly seven decades to millions of policyholders and customers through its subsidiaries in the U.S. and Japan. In the U.S., Aflac is the No. 1 provider of supplemental health insurance products.1 In Japan, Aflac Life Insurance Japan is the leading provider of cancer and medical insurance in terms of policies in force. The company takes pride in being there for its policyholders when they need us most, as well as being included in the World's Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere for 19 consecutive years (2025) and Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies for 24 years (2025). In addition, the company became a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in 2021 and has been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index (2024) for 11 years. To find out how to get help with expenses health insurance doesn't cover, get to know us at or Investors may learn more about Aflac Incorporated and its commitment to corporate social responsibility and sustainability at under "Sustainability." 1 LIMRA 2023 U.S. Supplemental Health Insurance Total Market Report Media contact: Jon Sullivan, 706-763-4813 or jsullivan@ Analyst and investor contact: David A. Young, 706-596-3264, 800-235-2667 or dyoung@ | Aflac New York | WWHQ | 1932 Wynnton Road | Columbus, GA 31999 View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Aflac Incorporated on Info: Spokesperson: Aflac IncorporatedWebsite: info@ SOURCE: Aflac Incorporated View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
