Description: Investing in and taking care of employees can result in many-faceted positive results, for your team and for your firm. We first state the case for "taking care of employees," then exhibit several practical methods for showing you care for your employees.

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: Read how to combine people management and mentorship to create positive and open environments and improve employee engagement and productivity.

Description: The article presents specific operational guidelines when managers and staff are having difficult conversations. The article reviews half a dozen "popular" guidelines but shows that they are not specific. The article then in two layers presents specific operational guidelines. First the article based on a commonality of principles of email etiquette and Jewish Speech Laws reviews five guidelines for ordinary conversations: focus on events vs. people, focus on fixes vs. blames, being holistic (acknowledge any good done), be operational (indicate outcome and how to accomplish it), and use of tentative tone. The article concludes by adding three specific guidelines for difficult conversations: shared-self-evaluation, skillful use of breaks when emotions flair, and use of open-ended lead-on questions coupled with continuous empathy and offers of collaborative support.

Description: Latest installment in a series covering the application of Buddhist principles to the working world of actuaries. This installment specifically addresses how the desires and wishes of actuaries are never truly satisfied but rather just shift to other wants and desires, and what actuaries can do to find more peace in their workplace and careers.

Description: The author reviews 13 bad habits that create barriers to sales success.

Description: A look at how to apply knowledge of the Myers-Briggs preference pairs to communicate more effectively with those from other preferences.

Description: Learn to distinguish yourself from everyone else, starting with how you introduce yourself to networking contacts, hiring managers and executives.

Description: A compilation of reader responses is presented to a real life situation posed involving a management, leadership, or other business decision. This issue’s case study involved whether a recently departed employee should be offered the chance to return, and whether he should consider it.

Description: A compilation of reader responses is presented to a real life situation posed involving a management, leadership, or other business decision. This issue’s case study involved whether an actuary who had recently started consulting should consider a job offer to return to a corporate role.