Description: As a dynamic entrepreneur, the question is not if you’ll need to prepare for high-stakes, emotionally charged conversations, but when you will have them. If you’re looking toward a business conversation where you want the outcome to be positive-oriented and forward-looking, there is some risk involved. It is worth your time to prepare and differentiate yourself before any words are spoken. Risk, in this situation, means that it could negatively or positively impact one or more of the following: Relationships, business outcomes, timing/efficiency, quality metrics, performance, or more. There is a literal cost to this kind of conversation going wrong! In this article, Libby Wagner shows actuarial entrepreneurs how to hold tough conversations that demonstrate respect and bring about the results they want.

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: "Stories have the power to change minds, and leading with facts and figures only hardens pre-existing opinions. Learn to leverage the power of story to effectively communicate with and enroll your stakeholders. Andrew Sykes, CEO, Habits at WorkAndrew Sykes is the founder and CEO of Habits at Work, an experiential sales training company on a mission to make sales the most trustworthy profession on the planet by empowering sellers to practice and embody the mindsets, skills, and habits that build and maintain customer trust. Sykes is a Lecturer of Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and part of the Kellogg Sales Institute Executive Education Team where he teaches the award-winning course “Entrepreneurial Selling.”"

Description: The April/May 2016 edition of The Actuary magazine—the Society of Actuaries’ flagship publication.

Description: Actuaries without Borders® (AWB) is a section of the International Actuarial Association (IAA) that helps provide temporary actuarial services in parts of the world where those services are lacking

Description: Chairperson's update on the International Section.

Description: Writing articles is not as hard as most people think, but it does take some thought and planning. This article gives practical tips about how to put "pen to paper" and write an effective article.

Description: With the rapid development of the Insurance market, insurance technology—including online insurance--continues to mature. Zhongan Online invests heavily in fintechand Zhongan Answer, an insurance robo-advisor, launched in 2018, could improve transaction efficiency by using artificial intelligence to communicate in a timely manner and solve the pain point of the perplexed insurance clause. Under a different consumption scenario, Zhongan Answer could reply to users in a timely manner, while also implementing private customized products and services by providing users with personal risk management and insurance assessment solutions so that users could easily and conveniently select the most suitable insurance plan. The intelligent shopping guide system of Zhongan Answer could improve transaction efficiency by analyzing the personal insurance intention and providing the humanized interpretation of insurance clause. Zhongan Answer has served millions of users and supported more than 100,000 insurance-related knowledge points with an accuracy rate over 90%. Zhongan Answer has provided more than four million Q&A services, and its intelligent shopping guide system covers more than 90% of insurance products.

Description: It highlights key initiatives and leadership changes within the SOA Education and Research (E&R) Section in year 2025.

Description: Knowing how we and those around us are wired is very important for having successful relationships, whether it be family, a work team or any interaction that can be built upon for the future (e.g., a potential client). There are several models of human behavior inexistence. Like any model, none are perfect. However, having one that can generally guide us the majority of the time with simplicity, practicality and success is of great benefit.