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: This article studies the syllabus as a dynamic, interactive teaching tool that informs and is informed by both solutions of complex course problems and student difficulties with these problems.

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: Winner of Poem, Art Entry, in the SOA’s 2022 Speculative Spectacular Fiction and Art Contest.

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.

Description: Come discuss the benefits and challenges of collaboration between academic institutions and industry stakeholders in shaping actuarial education and research agendas. Register for this event now.

Description: 'Rethinking Bias in Communication: Persuasion for Actuaries' will delve into the art of persuasion and the science of belief change. Drawing from contemporary works like 'How Minds Change' and 'Think Again,' this session will equip actuaries with tools to recognize and deal with cognitive biases present in communication, and foster a culture of continuous learning and open-mindedness. Attendees will leave with working knowledge of some of the psychological forces at play in decision-making and communication, strategies for engaging in more productive dialogues, and tools to facilitate belief changes in themselves and others.

Description: It's your first full day of productive learning! Start it off right with a delicious breakfast and warm welcome.

Description: Hear from three actuaries on their experiences working remotely in 2020 and beyond. Each participant will have a distinct viewpoint on remote work based on their situation, including: Liz Dietrich, who led her Prudential team through the initial shift to remote work during the pandemic and will address the team’s next steps. Amanda Hug, who joined Willis Towers Watson during the pandemic by interviewing remotely and then learned to integrate into the corporate culture the same way. Vincent Xuan, who will provide insight around how his team at Equitable adapted to remote work. During this webcast, the panel will share: Their perspectives based on their unique situations Best practices and leadership tips for managing teams and workloads remotely Thoughts on how we did as an industry with the shift to remote work Leadership skills that are critical for moving forward in a hybrid (remote and in-person) world