Leadership

Got bigger plans for your career and your life? Use this collection of must-read articles, many of which were written by actuaries, for actuaries, to help you get where you want to go. Got an idea for an article of your own? Contact us at imagewatch@soa.org.

Can Becoming a Thoughtleader Give You an Edge?
Positioning yourself and your firm as leading–edge thinkers in your field involves publishing articles and books, speaking regularly to professional groups, getting yourself noticed by the media and surveying your target market.Will such a strategy generate ROI? The answer is "yes".

Brainstorming--Generating Many Radical and Useful Ideas
Use brainstorming to break out of stale patterns of thinking to develop new ways of looking at things.

What It Takes to Be an Actuarial Trainer
There are personal trainers--why not actuarial trainers? What are the qualities that comprise a good actuarial trainer?

EI not IQ
Emotional intelligence differentiates the highest achievers from the rest of the pack. Learn how to enhance your EI.

Mind Tools Task Allocation: Picking the Right Player for the Right Job
To field a winning team, first you need to understand the game and the abilities needed to play it: There's no point in asking a football team to play baseball.

DISC Personality Styles by Donna Weninger, FSA, MAAA
Understanding personalities is vital to getting the best out of a team. Knowing your own personality style and that of your colleagues will help you understand how best to communicate with them.

Coaching for the Independent Actuary by Gerry Fryer, FSA, FCIA
Learn how being coached can improve performance and quality of life.

Fostering Excellence: Behind Every Great Employee is a Great Coach by Sam Phillips
Need an assist with your coaching techniques? The EXCEL Model focuses company leaders on the needs of the team and the organization--a winning combination!

Actuary Morphs into Coach by Gerry Fryer, FSA, FCIA
Study the difference between good and poor leaders, as well as the characteristics of productive and non-productive teams.

Coaching for Actuaries by Gerry Fryer, FSA, FCIA
Being coached can improve the performance of actuaries, deepen their learning capabilities and improve their quality of life.

Good Business: Leadership, Flow and the Making of Meaning by Gerry Fryer, FSA, FCIA
Read a review of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's remarkable book, Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning.

Managerially Speaking: Internal Politics—A Necessary Evil or a Disease that can be Cured? by Marcel M. Gingras, FSA, FCIA
Politics do not have to be a necessary evil, and that there is a cure.

Service with a Smile by Mark E. Green
Invest time and empathy into your relationship with customers, and reap the rewards of giving good service.

Tomato Management 101 by Dave Duncan, ASA, FIA
As leaders and managers, we have results to achieve. To get those results, we have to do the right things.

Why Should I Follow You? Four Tests of a Leader by David C. Miller, FSA, MAAA, MSCC
Evaluate your leadership motives, values, competence and style.