Description: This teaching session, number 80TS, was presented at the 1999 Spring Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held May 24-25 in Atlanta. The instructors focus on increasing the awareness of managers to motivate, stimulate, and challenge their difficult employees. A variety of techniques and tools that assist managers to increase productivity and maximize performance capacity are provided. Discussion from participants is included. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 25, No. 1.

Description: Presented at May 2005 Spring Meeting. Panelists discuss strategies for increased modeling speed as risk management, valuation and product development activities have been requiring increasingly complex financial models.

Description: This presentation is a panel discussion from the 1991 Annual Meeting of the Society of Actuaries, held October 20-23 in Toronto. The presenters examine the role of product actuaries as marketers, discussing distinctions between marketing and sales, competitive analysis, including the technical perspective and agent input, market research, defining client needs and marketing opportunities, statistical marketing methods, educational/professional mindset, and the requirements to perform the role effectively. Discussion from participants is included. From the Record of Society of Actuaries, Volume 17, No. 4B.

Description: Negotiation - it's not just for buying a car! Actuaries negotiate every day at work, whether it's getting buy-in to change a critical assumption or a more reasonable timeline to complete a project. This workshop will be led by an instructor specializing in executive education and will offer techniques you can use to be more effective in your day-to-day life.

Description: Communication is how you think about problems, how you present ideas and how you relate to your audience. An actuary presents alternate ways to communicate to groups of life insurance agents.

Description: This article continues the Passing the Torch Interview Series. Linda Liu and Amanda Jacques invite Simon Curtis, currently president of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) and recently joined Deloitte as a partner in their Toronto office after a long career at Manulife. Simon shares with us his career experience and talks about the changes and challenges facing the actuarial profession.

Description: Learn concrete strategies to manage executive dysfunction. The author discusses techniques she has learned along the way to improve productivity and manage time. High-level tips are: 1) Write it down. 2) Plan your day. 3) Don't let email and social media steal all your precious time. 4) Give your brain a little distraction. 5) Find an accountability partner. 6) Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. 7) When distracted, begin again. 8) Give yourself grace.

Description: Business Writing by Dan Shinnick from The Stepping Stone Newsletter, July 2004, Issue No. 15.

Description: The best managers make a point of catching employees doing a good job, and being sure to praise them on the spot. Management training classes teach us to document what our employees have done, good and bad, and to save those notes in our files to be well-prepared at performance appraisal time. From The Stepping Stone, April 2005, Issue No. 18.

Description: This article discusses using a true Win/Win approach to develop successful long-term relationships among individuals and businesses.