Description: How to deal with worst practices in spreadsheets and still have verifiable results.

Description: Describes a process for identifying relevant industry experience to credibility-weight with relevant company experience to set modeling assumptions and margins.

Description: Innovation has become a fashionable concept, but what does it really mean? Are the concepts of innovation and invention synonyms? Is innovation a good thing? If so, why so many oppose it? If we want to become innovators, what considerations should be kept in mind? Are there examples of innovative thought in the actuarial field? If so, can you think of some of them? If you want answers to these questions please read Jay Jaffe’s article, Becoming a More Effective Innovator. Innovation is a big idea in the business education, so much so that many MBA programs are including courses on the subject, so much so that, as we know, our Section is called Entrepreneurial & Innovation.

Description: This article describes the power of predictive modeling and its potential for the Life Insurance industry. It is already successfully used in the P&C industry.

Description: Continuation of article from previous issue. This article illustrates the practical and financial implications of applying nested stochastic techniques to a sample product.

Description: Many top-performing businesses aren’t just risk aware, but rather risk intelligent. Such a posture helps prepare companies for a major event and can demonstrate to a regulator or auditor that an appropriately strong control framework is in place. Better still, companies gain real strategic value from a “risk adjusted” understanding not only of their threats and vulnerabilities, but also the upside opportunities associated with various risks. It starts with having both qualitative and quantitative information to identify, assess and manage risks. Strategic risk management, at its core, is about creating value by increasing transparency and accountability, and quality of information. More than a mere compliance exercise, effective risk management enables more informed strategic decision making, increased accountability and transparency, a greater likelihood of organizational success, and – ultimately – competitive advantage, as borne out by many studies that correlate risk management and financial results.

Description: Humor in the workplace can improve productivity. This article describes a typical office relationship problem and how humor helped disparate teams work together.

Description: February issue of The Stepping Stone

Description: Issue introduction and theme of how to improve our technical skills and soft skills to better cope with a rapidly changing world.