AMA Insider Summer 2018/ OVER 55 | Page 4

President’s message Stronger Connections We’re always listening to you—and working to meet your changing needs 4 Summer 2018 AMA InSIder Understanding that journey from the perspective of the person going through it—from studying to obtain a Class 5 licence through to driver educa- tion and taking the road test—has helped us to advance our own thinking. We now have a better grasp of how to more seamlessly align that experi- ence with the way young people live their lives. Over the next while, we’ll be examining many more of the journeys our members are on in their lives. Our goal is to better comprehend the ways you inter- act with AMA—by listening to what you tell us is important, and then by finding ways to meet your needs in relevant, satisfying ways. We’re focused on better understanding how we can help, how we can improve the experi- ence of getting our services, and how we can improve the feeling you have along the way—the feeling of being engaged with, and surrounded by, family. As we head into a season of summer festivals, family vacations and community events, I hope you find meaningful connections with the people who matter most—wherever your journey takes you. Don Smitten President and CEO has taught me a lot over the years, as I’m sure you can imagine. Thanks in part to my son, Chris, I now know quite a bit of text shorthand, have had my face contorted with a Snapchat filter, and can’t really remember how I found out about great new music before Spotify. But as much as Chris and I enjoy technology together, we both also treasure the chess sessions we have, where rule number one is to put away our phones. It’s an interesting paradox. We’re living at a time when people have never been more connected, yet in some ways, it’s much more difficult to engage. Even our phones, designed to bring us together, have made our lives noisy with distraction: notifications, emails, texts, alerts and news all pull us out of the moment—and sometimes away from each other. I believe the solution is bal- ance. At AMA, we continue to make investments in technology to allow us to connect with one another quickly, easily and efficiently. But we’re also making invest- ments in people, because relationship-building and community outreach are the foundation of our organization. I’m impressed by the younger generation, and how well its members navigate the dynamic push and pull of the digital era. Their ability to evolve and adapt at a rapid pace, always keeping in step with change, should be an inspiration to any com- pany that wants to grow with them. Within our own organization, for instance, we recently took a close look at the journey of a young person who’s learning to drive, to identify areas where we could deliver superior experiences. Having a young-adult son