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: 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: Wright State University is a public research university in Dayton, Ohio, with approximately 11,000 students. With the lowest tuition fees in Ohio, the university has an access mission and plays a critical role in the region by offering high-quality, affordable education. I joined Wright State University in fall 2019 as the director of the Actuarial Science program. In spring 2020 we attained the Universities and Colleges with Actuarial Programs (UCAP)-AC designation from the Society of Actuaries (SOA), becoming one of only three universities in southwest Ohio at this recognition tier. In this article, I would like to tell you about the journey our program has taken—its successes and its challenges. The goal is to offer a resource to other universities seeking to upgrade their Actuarial Science programs.

Description: A compilation of reader responses is presented to a real life situation. This issue’s case study involved a candidate for an actuarial position who didn't handle salary discussions well, and whether that should impact the hiring decision.

Description: Interview with Sara Teppema showing her career journey and leadership philosophy.

Description: How to design a meeting's environment to maximize participants’ positive mood, energy, and opinion of your meeting.

Description: This article contains tips for meeting people, building relationships and furthering your career in a simple, fun and authentic way.

Description: Now that Covid and other viruses seem to be leaving us (hopefully!), what is left of the aftermath? For two locked-down years, we no longer could network face-to-face, meet with colleagues at work, do lunch or breakfast, enjoy meeting for coffee, nor attend conferences or other events to experience great speakers up close. Nor could we show up as one of those great speakers ourselves! This article explores what's next in our newly virtual world of public speaking!

Description: Aneesha Deshpande tries to make a case for Writing as a way for individuals, particularly at larger organizations to drive impactful change.

Description: This month, Expanding Horizons had the opportunity to interview Tim Boonen, the winner of the Society of Actuaries’ (SOA’s) second Actuarial Science Early Career Award.