Description: As a manager, it’s critical to be able to coach and direct staff development, both for their success and your own.

Description: Some of the great works of classical literature still speak to issues that business leaders face today. The author focuses on Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War and Homer's The Iliad.

Description: “It’s Not About You” encourages the reader to take a broad perspective with respect to career advancement opportunities and to have an appropriate elevator pitch for all seasons. It suggests that anyone can develop the superior communication skills and strong presence required to deliver the most effective elevator pitch. It talks about the importance of focusing on the other person--their needs and the way they make decisions, rather than the speaker’s skills and experience. Finally, it recommends appealing to both emotion and logic, taking into consideration how the other person is more likely to make decisions.

Description: This article focuses on how a manager should focus on 'influencing' to get their team to be as high-performing as possible.

Description: This article discusses the lessons the author learned from the book The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni on the value of organizational health.

Description: To persuade successfully and non-manipulatively, it’s important to understand five key principles of influence. In this four-part series, I’ll be covering these five principles that are based on human psychology and behavior. Let’s look at the first two now.

Description: Actuaries must be able to present compelling arguments to win over their audience. For the first time, they may be managing a staff looking for direction, making recommendations to senior leaders, or trying to persuade non-actuarial colleagues who see the world differently. This series of articles is intended to educate young actuarial professionals on key business influencing skills that will be beneficial in the near term as well as throughout their careers. Part 1 is focused on leading and influencing a team.

Description: The author explores leadership—what it is, how to achieve it, and qualities of great leaders.

Description: Cassie He and Linda Liu, two actuarial students, invite Mark Freedman, the President-Elect of SOA to share with us his experience as an actuary, the challenges and opportunities facing actuaries and the outlook for the profession as SOA president.

Description: This article explains why leaders should care about the culture at their organization.