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

Description: Executive coach Marcel Schwantes returns for Part 4 of a six-part series, discussing one of the most counterintuitive best practices of servant leaders—allowing others to share leadership. Here, he describes the four basics for creating leader-leader rather than leader-follower cultures.

Description: How great servant leaders develop their people.

Description: Executive Coach Marcel Schwantes demonstrated that applying daily practices of Servant Leadership is really the best way to engage workers to perform at a high level, which will improve the bottom line. Here Schwantes returns to kick-off a six part series that delves deep into the best practices of what a servant leader is, and does.

Description: Emails are to the business world what cars are to a road trip: we can't get anywhere without them. This article offers 6 specific strategies to write emails more effectively. The theme is that re-reading your emails to check for a clear goal, conciseness, appropriate tone, etc. is a worthwhile time investment as it saves your reader time and prevents problems caused by miscommunication.

Description: The transition from personal producer to manager/leader is a shift that can be difficult for many professionals, including actuaries. Appreciating and understanding the fundamental differences between the two roles is critical to success.

Description: The author briefly describes a hypothetical example of several unconscious biases in the workplace, drawing upon the behavioral economics work of Kahneman and Tversky. He presents data to refute the snap judgments that are all too common in human interaction.

Description: This interview with Andrés Villegas, an Associate Professor at UNSW Sydney, explores his journey from Colombia to Australia, his research on mortality modeling, and his contributions like the R package StMoMo. He discusses the importance of mentorship, industry-academia collaboration, and the role of actuaries in addressing global issues such as population aging and climate risk.

Description: Actuarial functions are being asked to do more with less: being challenged to provide more value to the business through applying insight and foresight. This article examines ways in which actuaries can provide business insights with very limited investment. The article provides actionable steps that actuaries easily apply to their daily work.

Description: Christine Hofbeck began her actuarial career in retirement consulting, but after a few decades, a few practice areas, a bestselling book and a stint on a reality television show, she found herself in the world of reinsurance. Reinsurance News talked with her to learn more about her background, her advice to other actuaries, and her outlook on the future of the profession.