Blog – Tuesdays with Mary

Tuesday, April 2, 2024 I’ve been thinking about habituation. A long-time friend and colleague of mine is known for her fondness of the phrase It Is What It Is. It’s both an enigmatic and a rather matter of fact phrase, and I think it means different things to different people. Recently I was thinking about it with respect to the title industry. As human beings, we can habituate to both positive and negative things. It’s part of how our brains work, and we can habituate at surprisingly rapid speed. It can be a steadying force, as author Cass Sunstein describes [...]

Tuesday, March 26, 2024 On Sunday, March 17, October Research’s CEO and Publisher Erica Meyer and I presented to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC’) Title Insurance Task Force.  In addition to featuring key elements of our State of the Industry special report and our Voice of the Title Agent annual survey results, we presented a segment on a Day in the Life of a Title Agent.  Below is an excerpt from the presentation. If you ask title agents and underwriters about the days in their lives currently, they would reply that they feel they are especially and uniquely [...]

Tuesday, March 19, 2024 I’ve been thinking about the evolution of our work as it relates to the maturation of information technologies. Which doesn’t make me at all unique; much of the world is discussing the topic given the introduction of large language models (LLMs) of artificial intelligence (AI). I’ve been listening to tech reporter Kara Swisher’s new book, “Burn Book.” If you don’t know Kara, she was in Silicon Valley from pretty much the beginning. Her insights are illuminating, all these years later. Notably she states, “When you invent the ship, you also invent the shipwreck. When you invent [...]

Tuesday, March 12, 2024 I’ve been thinking about oddities in American culture and recently came across the story of Emperor Norton. If you’re not familiar, an odd gentleman living in the San Francisco area in the 1800s proclaimed himself Emperor of the United States – Norton the First. Amazingly, a large number of people humored him in supporting his reign. It’s a fascinating story. Mere citizen Joshua Norton first succeeded wildly and then ultimately failed in business, losing the inheritance from his father as well as his own money in real estate deals and as a commodities broker.  Though at [...]

Tuesday, March 5, 2024 I’ve been thinking about regulators. Since 1871, a group of the chief insurance regulators from each state and the District of Columbia have gathered to coordinate, monitor, and protect their oversight of the glorious patchwork quilt that is our state-based insurance system. They’re called the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), and they want to better understand how what you do helps keep their citizens protected. Next week, we’ve been invited to help with that mission. If you’ve learned over the years to skirt the dreaded cocktail party question, “What do you do?” (for fear of [...]

Tuesday, February 27, 2024 I’ve been thinking about how to keep your company safe from the new trend in fraud tactics, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) impersonations. Did you see the reports lately of the $25 million heist in Hong Kong? The bad guys can now impersonate you, on video with your voice, convincing your staff to wire money away, because you told them to. Let’s break down how this one happened. It all began as most do, with a phishing email. The request within it left the employee skeptical. However, it didn’t ask for any immediate action. Eventually [...]

Tuesday, February 20, 2024 I’ve been thinking about change and how it is often gradual, but also inevitable. This is true for relationships, careers, and yes, even matters of political persuasion and policy. Let’s jump back into the courtroom at SCOTUS and look at an example. Arguments for case number one, Relentless Inc., wrap up. We aren’t certain whether Loper Bright Enterprises will be called immediately next, or if there will be a break first. Some of us on the tiny wooden chairs in the alcove are really hoping for a break, our bodies need to move. Many of the [...]

Tuesday, February 13, 2024 I’ve been thinking about our courts, their workload and decisions, their continuing to function at a time when some other branches of government noticeably are not. I’m willing to bet that everyone reading this has at least one major issue of displeasure with a Supreme Court decision. If you’re like me, there might even be a decision or two you vehemently disagree with. And that’s OK. If we lived someplace where I was in agreement with everything they said, did, thought and wrote – my guess is that wouldn’t be a place some of you would [...]

Tuesday, February 6, 2024 I’ve been thinking about how amazing it is to be an American citizen. Especially the unique opportunities citizenship in a democracy affords every one of us. By now you know that colleague Elizabeth and I went to SCOTUS recently, to report on the Chevron doctrine cases heard during oral arguments. Those cases are hugely relevant to our business, and we will continue our coverage through the issuance of the court’s opinion and beyond. But since we have some time before then, I wanted to share what it’s like to witness all the sights and sounds during [...]

Tuesday, January 30, 2024 Ever since our coverage from SCOTUS on Jan 17th, I’ve been thinking about my dad.  When I was younger and still full of obstinate ambition, I declared to him that one day “I’m going to sit on the Supreme Court.” His response? Simply and approvingly, “I’ll be there.” You would have liked my dad, and he you. He would have thrived in the title business; his off-the-charts IQ would have loved the challenge of it. Instead, he chose to become a teacher and then later to work with his hands. He preferred to work at night, [...]