Heath Ritenour of IOA Talks Celebrating Freedom — Company Leaders
Although Heath Ritenour had chosen the theme for his message to Insurance Office of America (IOA) months in advance, he had no idea how true that theme would feel to him. Just one week before the event, he’d been declared free from cancer. Nine months earlier, he had no idea what was in store for him when he got the diagnosis. What he couldn’t expect was that he would be a changed man from his experience-changed for the better. In fighting cancer , Heath Ritenour discovered there was more to freedom than he’d realized.
Heath Ritenour’s Journey
January 11th was Heath Ritenour’s first day of chemotherapy. He was given a nine-week regimen, a really tough one. He needed several hours of chemo a day. In order to keep his life as normal as possible, he’d opted to stay out of the hospital and receive his treatment in an outpatient facility.
During his first time there, Heath Ritenour felt fear and uncertainty about the journey he was about to begin. He had no idea what to expect, and he was feeling overwhelmed. A fellow patient there introduced herself and asked about his story. After sharing, Judy assured him that she knew he would be fine, and then she shared her own story.
Six years prior, Judy had been diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer and given no hope in her prognosis. She had the surgery, but it wouldn’t be enough, the cancer had just progressed too far. Nonetheless, she went through with the chemotherapy. Then, after multiple rounds of chemo, something incredible happened. Her last scan had been clear, and this was Judy’s last treatment!
The story really helped Heath Ritenour. Judy was significantly older than him, and he felt happy for Judy and hopeful for himself. Judy told him that she was sure he’d be just fine, just as she was, and Heath believed her. However, he didn’t know how much that early conversation would come to affect him.
From Broken to Empowered
A couple of weeks later, Heath Ritenour started to really feel the ill effects of chemotherapy, from hair loss to nausea, to other deeply unpleasant side effects. He’d opted to do without a port, so he had to have IV infusions for each treatment, and before long, they had trouble finding his veins.
On one particular day, Heath Ritenour just felt broken. Thankfully, they were able to find a vein in his hand on the first try, and then they started the five-hour drip. Plenty of time for Heath Ritenour to continue feeling like he just couldn’t take any more of it.
That’s when talked to Michael. Both were about the same age, in their early forties, and shared their cancer stories. Michael explained that he’d been diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer. The surgery had been completed, but the doctors were without hope. There was still just too much cancer remaining, and the chemo just couldn’t do enough. Rather than killing the tumor, it was only preventing it from growing. As a result, Michael explained, he’d have to be on chemo for the rest of his life, no matter how short that ended up being.
Hearing Michael’s story changed something for Heath Ritenour. His perspective shifted, and suddenly his own situation did not seem so terrible. Something else happened during Heath Ritenour’s conversation with Michael. He told Michael about Judy, who was given the same diagnosis about Michael, but she’d been ok.
Heath Ritenour could tell that the conversation had a deep impact on Michael, and that was when Heath Ritenour had a deep realization. He was able to find some good that came from the disease he was battling. In fact, it could inspire him to help people more.
Frustrated by a Lack of Control
The lack of control over his own life that cancer brought with it was frustrating for Heath Ritenour. He felt broken and empty, but when he talked to Michael, he realized goodness could come out of it.
What CEO and business leader Heath Ritenour realized was that while he was so frustrated by his lack of control, he’d never actually had that control, to begin with. This led to an unbelievable amount of freedom.
Once Heath Ritenour was able to give up that need for utter control, he felt an enormous amount of gratitude for all of the good in his life. When else would he ever have the opportunity to read and grow and become a better person? He was forced to do it and is now thankful for it.
Before he got sick, Heath Ritenour used to think of all the things he to do, an endless list of tasks he must accomplish. With cancer, all of that changed and his mentality shifted to all the things he to do. Everything in life became a privilege, from getting to take his kids to school to get to go into an office where he loves working.
Another great thing to come out of his illness was some of the conversations he had with his children. In particular, one stood out that he had with his eight-year-old son after he had a bad day. Heath Ritenour shared that he had a lot of wins in sports and business. What he gained from life didn’t come from those wins, it came from his failures and challenges, where he learned the most. Getting to talk to his 8-year-old about this was special.
It’s so common for people facing serious illness to realize how much they took for granted their good health and their family. It makes those things so precious. However, for Heath Ritenour, another thing that became precious was his work life. Despite battling cancer, he wanted to be at the office. It mattered to him, he cared about the people there.
He went from feeling very negative to feeling blessed. Why do people keep working during chemo? Oftentimes, it’s for corporate reasons. For Heath, it was a true appreciation of his role there and everyone else. He’s so much more thankful for IOA than he ever was. He now has more of a passion for the business than before.
Freedom at IOA
After sharing his personal journey with cancer, Heath Ritenour began speaking about what it means to celebrate freedom at IOA. This means freedom from all of the corporate nonsense. While there are over 1,200 team members at IOA, which requires some corporate oversight, IOA never places ridiculous expectations or rules on anyone.
Freedom at IOA means you’re free to be an entrepreneur. You’re free to build something. You don’t have anyone looking over your shoulder micromanaging your every move. The producers at IOA are free because they are self-motivated people who don’t need to be micromanaged.
For Heath Ritenour, the job of leaders at IOA is to focus on building a better business every day, running a better company, and helping build and create tools to make the job easier to build the book of business and sell more. From there, it’s then just necessary to get out of the way and fan the flames of new business. Heath Ritenour is proud that there are producers that outearn him as the CEO, rendering him unique amongst insurance companies.
Another important component of freedom at IOA is the professional freedom to be the husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, all the people outside of work a person is meant to be. Partners have the opportunity to coach sports and participate in after-school activities. If that means they are in the office less, that’s okay.
The Next Chapter
Heath Ritenour values the people and IOA so much more after facing cancer. He’s softer than he used to be and is better because of it, a better husband and father. He has more compassion and believes he is a better CEO for it as well.
He is excited to be CEO for many years to come and to see more of the company’s incredible growth. Heath Ritenour knows how unique and different IOA is, as well as how special it is for the value it places on a work-life balance. The incredible success the company has had so far is only the tip of the iceberg.
Heath Ritenour is healthy and more fired up than he’s ever been before to take it to the next level. He needed the community of IOA while he was sick. And they were there for him, and they were a motivation for him. It’s relationships that matter more than anything else, and that is what IOA is all about.
Originally published at http://companyleaders.org on April 7, 2021.
