I am here with you today to talk about a magical word, which is the secret and, at the same time, the power of the Greek people and which motivates us daily, since the day we were born, to function and flourish by adopting the concept of the Whole Person.

This is the word: “philotimo.” It cannot be translated nor does it appear in international dictionaries, but it exists in the heart and soul of each Greek individual.

Philotimo concerns all the specific, unwritten rules of moral function, and it is really what a professional successful insurance agent needs to excel.

Philotimo has countless translations. Allow me to refer to just a few.

First, philotimo is the ability to know right from wrong and the willingness to do what’s right.

Philotimo also means respect, honesty, integrity, creativity, dignity and courage.

Philotimo represents the intersection between personal and social values and is expressed through sincerity, first to yourself and your values and then to everyone around you.

Philotimo is your inspiration.

It is your motivation … your drive!

It’s your good character: All of the kind, noble things you do daily, your guiding morals, your North Star, your virtues against your vices.

Philotimo is also like a second chance. Think of how many professional successes we’ve had because someone gave us a second chance. And think of how many second opportunities we gave to our people, to our competitors, to ourselves. That is philotimo.

Philotimo is your will to do things for people without expecting something in return. It is when, instead of coming back home after a busy day, without being asked to, you decide to go and visit a client at the hospital. Philotimo is to go back to your family that night and explain to your partner, to your children, that you were late because you had to do what’s right. We all have done something like that. That’s why we are here.

Every day we carry out missions. Some succeed; others don’t. But we never give up because it’s only then that we can have remarkable results and be honored as human beings and as insurance agents too. This is philotimo.

You know that the greatest title we can have is the title of insurance agent. I love it. And only if we connect it to all the traits a Whole Person has, do we give the correct meaning to it.

There is a secret to happiness, to strength, to affluence.

A sealing guarantee at the heart of every human relation, at the heart of being a good insurance agent — this is philotimo. I invite you to search it, practice it, become it, because every time that I come to our Annual Meeting, I feel that everybody has a small or big “Greek person” in them. I see philotimo in them … in us!

Kyriakos Chatzistefanou is a 12-year MDRT member from Thessaloniki, Greece, who began his career in MetLife in 1992. He has degree in junior accounting, a diploma in management from Kingston University and a diploma from Chartered Management Institute CMI. He is a life member of the Greek Circle of Successful Agents of MetLife and has been distinguished five times.