Description: What are the keys to creating the sort of actuarial career that leads to senior leadership roles? Is it to put more and more work into your technical skills, or to develop the 'soft skills' that make you standout among other actuaries? Learn one of the keys to self-marketing in a natural way, so you can make sure that opportunities find you.

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: Investing in and taking care of employees can result in many-faceted positive results, for your team and for your firm. We first state the case for "taking care of employees," then exhibit several practical methods for showing you care for your employees.

Description: A summary about the first book club discussion on Never Split the Difference. Insights on key negotiation elements are discussed in the article.

Description: This article describes how we can choose to accept our setbacks in life and in our careers, or challenge ourselves to push through them.

Description: How the philosophy of Siddhartha (think, fast, and wait) applies to the business world today.

Description: This article is about the requirement of leadership and effective business development in the insurance industry.

Description: The Stepping Stone issue 60, November 2015

Description: Cassie He and Linda Liu, two actuarial students, invite Mark Freedman, the President-Elect of SOA to share with us his experience as an actuary, the challenges and opportunities facing actuaries and the outlook for the profession as SOA president.

Description: The true value of any leader is measured by how much they are able to accomplish through the work of their team. Actuaries in leadership roles are no different. But, to get the most out of your teams, leaders must first focus on building a high-performance culture. One that rewards measurable success and challenges everyone to reach farther all the time. There is no easy path to building a high-performance culture, but the benefits of a leader’s efforts will pay substantial dividends for the team, the leader, and the company. This series of articles is intended to educate leaders of large and small groups on how to build a high-performance culture and achieve outstanding results.