Description: With increasing demand for quality new-hires, it is increasingly important to hire the most impactful employees. Actuaries who think creatively can have a disproportionately positive effect on their employers. In this article, we discuss how to identify this type of person during the interview process.

Description: This article covers the importance of letting teams lead you as a leader, that it's okay to admit you're not okay even at work, and that it's important to find informal ways for virtual teams to connect.

Description: Relationship management is your ability to use your awareness of your own emotions and those of others to manage interactions successfully. Given enough time and quality exchanges, we can form a relationship with any person we encounter. We should strive to develop positive relationships with people we like, and even with those we don’t like as much. Once established, both parties will understand each other better and benefit from the connection. Relationships can be challenging, especially at work or under stress. Skillfully managing them will help you initiate direct and productive conversations to alleviate misunderstandings, solve conflicts and achieve desired goals. This article explores strategies to develop the skill of relationship management.

Description: Based on the book “Emotional Intelligence 2.0” written by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves, the four skills necessary to improve EQ are– 1) self-awareness; 2) self-management; 3)social awareness; and 4) relationship management. This article explores the skill of self-awareness by sharing examples and personal stories, highlighting three strategies to practice. In addition to lowering stress and becoming happier, having a greater ability to regulate our emotions gives us confidence, helps us communicate better, allows us to understand multiple perspectives, builds trusting relationships, and frees us from our assumptions and biases. Ultimately, this gives us more potential to influence other sand make better decisions.

Description: Self-management is your ability to use awareness of your emotions to stay flexible and direct your behavior positively. When you understand what you are feeling, you can effectively choose how to react. Knowing your individual tendencies can help you prepare for future events by consciously deciding to change or adjust your behavior when certain situations occur. The article shares strategies, examples and personal insights to illustrate how to develop the skill of self-management.

Description: This is the third in a four-part series dedicated to strategies for improving EQ, based on the book Emotional Intelligence 2.0 written by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves. In previous issues of The Stepping Stone, I discussed the skills of self-awareness and self-management. In this article, I will share a few more of the book’s strategies and provide examples and personal insights to illustrate how to develop the third skill of social awareness in personal, social, and business situations.

Description: We are living in a time of significant changes which are taking a toll on some employees. To assist our team members through these tumultuous times, being a supportive manager is key. We discuss using emotional intelligence to help employees have a positive work experience.

Description: This article is an overview of the SOA Leadership & Development Section Council's current projects, recent accomplishments and some immediate focal points of the Leadership & Development Section Council's efforts.

Description: A regularly occurring column in this Leadership and Development Section publication, it is a platform for the Section Chairperson to communicate with the readership regarding upcoming important topics that this Section will focus on in the current year. This article provides an overview of the new plan of focus for the newly-elected Leadership and Development Section Council for 2023.

Description: This article discusses two key challenges one must overcome to gather the best data for managers to make data-driven decisions.