Description: This is a perspective of the upcoming year from the view of the Chair of the Council of the TaxationSection. Following the challenges from the past year and since the arrival of the pandemic, I discussed how we will adapt to this new virtual or hybrid world and how the Taxation Section will continue to offer material to its members.

Description: An article discusses using response keypads for greater audience participation at presentations. This participatory tool allows speakers to assess how knowledgeable their audience is in a topic.

Description: A discussion of the efforts to implement straight through processing and standardization of the HIPAA form for long term care claims data.

Description: Learning excellence is of value to both candidates and credentialed actuaries learning new areas. Learning mastery and excellence requires 1) use of executive function (EF), multiple brain areas, for example, verbal, formal (algebraic), computational, and geometric (rule of four), and 2) goal-setting, skillful breaking down of complex tasks into subtasks each of which are simultaneously 2a) clear and specific, 2b) achievable in a short time and 2c) challenging. 10 examples are presented illustrating use of the "rule of four" to achieve elegant solutions to otherwise complex problems as well as goal setting using fellowship-exam approaches, approaches to multi-component problems, and skillful use of databases as visual organizers. The material reflects a new approach to learning complexity that is easier to use than the pedagogic hierarchies and unifies them.

Description: Feature article highlighting readers’ responses to a previously published hypothetical workplace dilemma where unlocking assumptions resulted in an unexpected DAC writedown.

Description: Responses to the previous issue’s Actuarial Ethicist case study where a new CEO questioned the conservative nature of the chief actuary's LTD claim reserves.

Description: The author, the new Chair of the Management and Personal Development Section Council, will be using this column to share her personal development journey and hopes others can learn from and avoid her mistakes. From The Stepping Stone, February 2012, Issue No. 45.

Description: Book review of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, by David Allen.