Description: Six pointers about career advancement for actuaries, based on real life experiences from my 47 year career.

Description: This article lists the leadership qualities which made U.S. Grant, an under appreciated historical figure, so successful.

Description: This is original content that cites the value of networking within the workplace. It describes the benefits that accrue to the individual employee, as well as research findings on the positive impacts internal networking has for organizations. The article describes six specific skills that make internal networking effective. It also provides ideas for gaining proficiency in these skills in the natural course of daily work activity.

Description: Leadership inspiration essay asserting that the things that are the most valuable to us are also the things that we have to work the hardest for.

Description: The article highlights the importance of learning and development (L&D) for personal and professional growth. While many have access to resources like seminars and online courses, few fully utilize them. Genuine curiosity, behavior shifts, priority management, and discipline are key to effective L&D. Learning is an active, deliberate process, requiring consistent effort and time management. It’s important to set clear goals, create a timeline, and schedule regular progress checks. Rather than relying on motivation alone, building disciplined habits is crucial for sustained improvement. Ultimately, personal growth is a self-driven journey, not dependent on external validation.

Description: This article highlights the importance of communicating concisely and effectively through email and other written forums, and when/when not to use written vs. other forms of communication.

Description: This article is about the need for actuaries and technical professionals to develop critical leadership and other soft skills, and highlights the ways the SOA Leadership & Development section provides tools to develop those skills.

Description: Inclusive Leadership: A Conversation

Description: The article describes principles for optimal sub-tasking of a project goal. Two experiments each one comparing different approaches are presented. A summary of principles for optimal goal setting presents seven key points: i)levels of outcome goals should be recognizable and lack ambiguity; ii) each subtask should be atomic, i.e. not be capable of being broken up into further subtasks, iii) the subtasks should be uniform, lacking ambiguity, so that any new trainee could master it without the need for further guidance; iv) each subtask should be attainable in a reasonable amount of time; v) mentor feedback should be provided during the initial stages of learning or training; vi) upon mastery of each subtask trainees should be encouraged to maximize their overall score; vii) after mastery of individual subtasks, while attempting to maximize scores, trainees should be provided with a mixture of easy, intermediate, and difficult tasks.

Description: The author discusses the importance of branding yourself and provides ideas to assist you in that process.