Description: This article provides key themes of effective project management and case studies to illustrate their successful application. Key learning outcomes are: • To understand project management goals and key themes for success • For students, be empowered to manage. For managers, empower students to develop project management skills in tandem with their technical skillset

Description: This article is about developing your professional skills, attitude, and networking ability and broadening your areas of expertise so that you stand out as an individual in the competitive marketplace.

Description: This article provides a model to assist teaching and coaching. It has been used to improve relationships and performance both in individual situations and in group settings.

Description: Executives often tell subject matter experts such as actuaries, “You should think more strategically!” But the executives never define what they mean by “thinking more strategically”. This article defines the skills actuaries need to be perceived as being more strategic. It will provide practical steps actuaries can take to gain more strategic influence and escape the trap of being perceived as only a subject matter expert who provides limited strategic value.

Description: This is the first installment of a two-part series that aims to provide valuable insights on how a new (re)insurance company can become an attractive destination for actuaries (Part I) and then how to retain them (Part II), thereby facilitating the company’s long-term growth.

Description: It is well established that empowerment of staff is a critical leadership trait. But what are the metrics to recognize that you have achieved it? What steps enable this achievement? Which psychological attributes explain its efficacy?This article proposes to answer these questions through a multi-disciplinary examination of empowerment in the context of three leadership domains.

Description: To provide high level information on a book selected and discussed during the December book club session, The Ten Commandments of Risk Leadership. In addition, this article serves as a promotion of the SOA book club as well as the upcoming sessions.

Description: What it takes to lead teams is significantly different from what it takes to excel as an individual contributor. A leader's first mistakes is to think they have to do the same things they did before just with more volume and greater speed. Leading a team requires a transition to new behaviors and mindset. This article attempts to give you a few ideas to make the transition from leading yourself to leading others

Description: What are the keys to creating the sort of actuarial career that leads to senior leadership roles? Is it to put more and more work into your technical skills, or to develop the 'soft skills' that make you standout among other actuaries? Learn one of the keys to self-marketing in a natural way, so you can make sure that opportunities find you.

Description: We will demonstrate three analytical tools along with a sample case study showing how they might be applied to a fictional actuarial organization within ABC Life. The goal is to highlight how they might be applied to perform a health check of an actuarial function organizational design. This can measure effectiveness quantitatively via benchmarking how an actuarial function might stack up against the industry and management expectations. The tools and techniques are critical for actuarial leaders and managers but are also relevant to all actuaries, since we can all benefit from understanding how our individual work efforts fit into the bigger picture of an organization.