Description: Six pointers about career advancement for actuaries, based on real life experiences from my 47 year career.

Description: The Leadership and Management Skills Workshop has been developed for mid-career actuaries who aspire to rise into C-suite roles. The New Manager Essentials Module includes interactive sessions on topics such as recruiting, delegating, operating a team, and performance management.

Description: A typical course has some "hard" parts. These "hard" parts are the places where weaker students begin to fail, lose interest, and give up. The paper introduces a metric by which to evaluate each course topic. High metric values indicate "hard parts" of courses. The paper recommends spending more course time on hard parts and less course time on easy parts. The paper also recommends using disclosure: Tell students - this part of the course is "hard" and they may feel uncomfortable which is why more time is being spent on it." This approach to hard parts works! Failure rates are significantly reduced, while retention, satisfaction, and student scores improve.

Description: This article lists the leadership qualities which made U.S. Grant, an under appreciated historical figure, so successful.

Description: Sam dives into how his experience as both a leader and a musician provide insight into how micromanagement disrupts the flow of an organization much like a live musician who overly focuses on one component quickly loses the flow of a performance. What does the symphony of actions sound like at your organization?

Description: Latest in series of articles exploring the adaptation of Buddhist philosophy to actuarial practice. This installment examines the challenges for actuaries in dealing with pain points in actuarial work, and how to best manage these forces so that the work remains aligned with professional standards.

Description: On May 31, the Joint Risk Management (JRM) and Leadership & Development (L&D) sections held their regular book club session to discuss The Influential Actuary by David C. Miller. We had 50+ SOA members attend the meeting who passionately shared their experiences and engaged with the author. This article shares insights about the book and discussion.

Description: An article summarizing the SOA Asia-Pacific Annual Symposium held June 12 - 13, 2024.

Description: "In this video titled The Power of Perseverance by Dave Dilon discusses the importance of resilience in both personal and professional life. Dave shares his experiences, including overcoming setbacks while working on health insurance regulations in Louisiana and teaching at Georgia State University. He emphasizes the value of a growth mindset, focusing on solutions, and being open to new challenges and learning opportunities. Contributors: Dave Dillon, FSA, MAAA, FCA,; Scott Allen, FSA, MAAA; Sam Behrend, FSA, MAAA; Jon Forster ASA, MAAA. "

Description: In this real life case study, an actuarial candidate tried to get the hiring manager to increase the level of the position for which she was interviewing. Did that raise red flags about her candidacy? A compilation of reader responses is presented, along with what actually happened.