Description: This article is an overview of the SOA Leadership & Development Section Council's current projects, recent accomplishments and some immediate focal points of the Leadership & Development Section Council's efforts.

Description: In this article, we aim to outline the advantages of smaller programs and gather opinions on the challenges these programs face in their efforts to emphasize these strengths. For our purposes, we define small actuarial programs as those with a relatively low student enrollment count. The following are three key advantages of small programs, which are similar to those of small colleges:(a) Enhanced benefits from small class size; (b) Adaptable curriculum; (c) Increased opportunities for each student. A variety of similar other issues are also discussed with recommendations, challenges, and invitations for further dialogue.

Description: A real life situation is posed involving a management, leadership, or other business decision, and readers are invited to submit their responses to "What Would You Do?" This case study involved an actuary struggling with being moved from a job she loved to one she didn't, without any prior consultation.

Description: Develop a better understanding of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) across the financial services and risk management industry, with a focus on actuaries. Panelists will address topics such as industry-wide diversity efforts, as well as current challenges facing diverse groups. Come listen to these panelists share perspectives on attracting, fostering, retaining and increasing diverse actuarial talent, in addition to the SOA’s DEI goals in the coming years.

Description: Inclusive Leadership: A Conversation

Description: Advice for first-time attendees to the SOA ImpACT conference

Description: As product development professionals, we know that getting customer feedback is a key component of the product development process. If crafted carefully, these sessions can uncover true unmet needs, unlock the next product innovation, and create market share gains, all while creating something that contributes to society. As quoted during one of our last focus groups, “Magic stuff happens here.” When designing your research, are you doing all that you can to promote inclusive thinking? By focusing on the design of your study—through overall theme and by paying attention to the details in the process—you can uncover new perspectives that you may not have considered, if not for being deliberate in your actions. Instead of just avoiding structures that create biases, we need to actively incorporate inclusivity. Our team performed a study titled “Designing Solutions to Empower Women,” which focused on women’s viewpoints and how those could be incorporated into life insurance product development. I would love to share some of my experiences and tips collected along the way.

Description: It is well established that empowerment of staff is a critical leadership trait. But what are the metrics to recognize that you have achieved it? What steps enable this achievement? Which psychological attributes explain its efficacy?This article proposes to answer these questions through a multi-disciplinary examination of empowerment in the context of three leadership domains.

Description: Actuaries advancing in their careers, leadership and influencing skills is essential. This webcast illustrates the challenges and methods of influencing in organizations using excerpts from a cinematic case study about a newly promoted senior manager in a large insurance corporation.

Description: A project approached correctly has a higher chance of succeeding and being more efficient. Goal-setting is one key to a successful project. In this lecture we give a more detailed description of good goal setting and avoid ambiguous catchy terms.