Description: In the Leadership & Development Section’s Leadership Inspiration Contest, entrants were asked to tell us what inspired them to be a better actuarial leader. Here is the winning entry from the “Defining Moment / Event” category.

Description: Article focusing on points to consider to improve hiring.

Description: Tired of Strategic Planning? by Eric D. Beinhocker and Sarah Kaplan

Description: This article summarizes the discussion from the spring meeting session: Managing Your Career Within a Traditional Employee Setting. Perspectives are shared from a consultant's view, and within an insurance company.

Description: This article is a review of the book by Joshua Foer. It covers the history of memory techniques, the way a human brain organizes memory, and various problems and successes in memory recall. The author starts by interviewing memory savants, and learns from them that the ability to perform seemingly impossible memory tricks is simply a matter of studying and practicing proven techniques used for millennia. This review suggests that actuaries can benefit greatly from some of these techniques despite the availability of electronic hand-held devices to recall facts because the person who does not need to rely upon such devices can have a huge perceptual advantage in executive presentations.

Description: The December 2013/January 2014 edition of The Actuary magazine—the Society of Actuaries’ flagship publication.

Description: Shapiro 1990 documented some of the criteria used by actuaries when selecting the assumptions for actuarial valuations. He noted, however, that many of these criteria are often were in conflict with one another. This paper uses expected utility theory to model this process of choosing actuarial assumption when faced with potentially conflicting criteria. The three criteria considered are prudence, best estimate and conservativeness.

Description: A real life business dilemma faced by an actuary is presented, and readers are invited to answer "What Would You Do?"

Description: This article discusses the need to be self-aware of our development items, and to stretch ourselves to get better in the areas that we must develop.

Description: Goal setting and helpful resources for 2018.