SIXTY ONE TIPS FOR YOUNG ACTUARIES
TIP 47. ‘Always be engaged. This means listening and paying attention.’
At the closing session of 2020: The Year that Was, panellists were asked: “If there is one thing you would do differently to address the big sustainability and existential issues of our time, what would it be?”
I shared that a leader’s response to tackling sustainability challenges ahead is not just about acting quickly or allocating more resources immediately, even though these are important. It will be increasingly important how leaders place and use their attention, with respect to people, context and timing.
The concept of PACT from Prof. Gillian Stamp describes four key ingredients of effective leadership. She said that effective leaders:
a) treat people as people and not as things;
b) know that attention is their most precious resource and that where they place it is the most powerful signal they send;
c) read and provide external context for opportunity and risk, and internal context for work to be done and people to flourish
d) have an acute and astute sense of time.
At the IFoA leadership level, we need to recognise that our most precious resource is attention. And how we place our attention will impact the way the IFoA and the profession respond to the challenges ahead.
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People
Effective leaders understand people create, need and work in relationships. And those relationships are most satisfying, most effective, and least costly when they are based on trust.
Attention
Good leaders give attention to governance and accountability; to resources allocation value creation. They give attention to tone/ethos/culture and communication. They give attention to purpose and above all, they have to pay attention and have an acute sense of context and timing.
Context
Effective leaders read, shape and provide context externally and internally; they ‘join the dots and provide trustworthiness. They are “contextually intelligent” and reach out into external context with courage especially when it is unpredictable, critical and/or aggressive.
Reaching out into context builds insight and foresight – as one leader wrote “the failure to foresee is an ethical failure because serious ethical compromises today (when the usual judgement on ethical inadequacy is made) are usually the result of a failure at an earlier date to foresee today’s events and take the right actions when there was freedom for initiative and to act.
Good leaders also encourage people at every level in the organisation to reach out into the context of their work even when it is difficult to do.
Timing
Good leaders see time as a resource; they judge when to speed up when to slow down when to take the moment. They know that sequence can be momentum, that sometimes they can push it harder; at others, it is best to leave time to its rhythm and use patience to the advantage of the organisation.
Sources: Gillian Stamp of BIOSS & The PACT of Leadership (ATTENTION)
61 TIPS for Young Actuaries
TIP 1 to Tip 7 - The Foundational Years
1. Congratulations on becoming an actuary. It is the beginning of life-long learning.
2. The first principle of success is constancy of purpose
3. The second principle is drive, focus and determination.
4. Imagine what is possible with your life.
5. Success is inevitable to the person with unlimited enthusiasm. Read Napoleon Hill’s “Law of Success”.
6. If you face challenges or failures, regard them as learning opportunities. Never give up.
7. Develop the art of speaking well in public. Dale Carnegie’s book on “Developing Self Confidence in Public Speaking” is still the best around.
TIP 8 to Tip 15 - Building a Career
8. Have a strategy on your career. Pursue it with passion. Passion is at the heart of excellence.
9. Take ownership of your work. Go the extra mile for the work you are given.
10. Be Responsible. As a person and in all the roles you take on.
11. Always prepare. If you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail.
12. Be the solution to the problem. Do not be the problem.
13. Be the go-to person in your workplace. This is not difficult. Use C.A.D.I.F. – Committed, Attention to Detail and Immediate Follow Up – this is from Mark McCormack’s “What they do not teach you at Harvard Business School”.
14. Be a pioneer. Be bold. Without courage, there will be no progress.
15. Travel and work elsewhere. It will help you understand we are all different and we are all the same.
Tip 16 to Tip 21 - Building a Nest Egg
16. Have a a financial savings program. You are as rich as you save, not as you earn.
17. Acquire assets not liabilities. Learn to say no to stuff which do not matter. Simplify your life.
18. Do not time the market. It is time in the market that matters.
19. Start early, invest monthly via dollar cost or value-based averaging in a diversified portfolio.
20. Do not forget term life and health insurance for yourself and family.
21. Economically, your job is your greatest asset. Treasure it and invest in it.
Tip 22 to Tip 31 - Professional and Community Life
22. Be quick to say sorry and take responsibility. Do not cover up. Be authentic. Always.
23. Engage your colleagues. Do not avoid your bosses, and do not forget the cleaners and receptionists.
24. When investigating a subject or solving a problem, look at different angles. Always turn the page. Never assume anything. Turn every goddamned page.
25. You are an actuary. You must do your work with care and competence. Understanding the problem is more important than getting to the answer.
26. Live your actuaries code – all the time. Be a credit to your profession.
27. Volunteer to do things for others; the community, the profession or the workplace. Be helpful, kind and generous.
28. Have a sense of humour.
29. Challenge the consensus and groupthink. Do it with respect and humility.
30. Read Frank Redington’s papers, in particular, The Flock and the Sheep. Read past presidential addresses. Also, Craig Turnbull’s History of Actuarial Thought. This will give you a flavour of our profession.
31. If your workplace is not right for you, leave. It is better to act early rather than late. You are more independent than you think.
Tip 32 to Tip 39 - Lessons and Meta Advice
32. Make notes. Carry notebooks with you. Be inspired by Leonardo da Vinci.
33. Stay curious – curiosity opens up windows and make you a more interesting person. Read Steve Jobs’s “Stay Hungry Stay Foolish” commencement address.
34. Invest time in Quadrant 2 activities. Things which are important but not yet urgent. Read Steven Covey’s “7 Habits of Effective People”. It is still one of the best books on personal development and leadership.
35. Learn new skills every year. Spend at least five hours a week on learning new skills. On social media, on languages, on programming languages, on new technologies. Stay current on data science and machine learning.
36. Read widely – at last one good book a month. Any book, which gets your attention. Of relevance to our profession are those on digital and biotechnologies, social platforms, new economics, culture, behavioural finance and genetics.
37. It is not only about knowledge. The real voyage of discovery is seeing things with new eyes. Question the paradigms you operate in. Read Gillian Tett’s ‘Silo Effect”.
38. Have mentors, coaches and guides. Be guided by the stars of the night and not the lights of each passing ship.
39. Jim Collins said, “Good is the enemy of great. It is just so easy to settle for a good life.” Do not settle for a good life. Settle for a great life.
Tip 40 to Tip 50 - Taking a Sabbatical, Family and the Second Half
40. Your partner in life. This is probably your most important decision. Use your head wisely. And your heart.
41. Take a long sabbatical. You can do this in-between jobs. Take a second degree, which is very different from your first, if you can.
42. Spend time with your family. Children, siblings and parents. This is precious.
43. Make your message compelling. Never give a speech unless you have something meaningful to say.
44. Read Lynda Gratton’s “The 100 – Year Life” and Herminia Ibarra’s “Working Identity”. These will help you in designing your increasingly long life.
45. Treasure your health. Have an exercise regime. Every day. Get a gym or yoga trainer, or any other trainer.
46. Sleep well. Sleep helps us improve our concentration and productivity. And enhances our immune system.
47. Always be engaged. This means listening and paying attention.
48. Always be engaging. This means speaking to the person and not at the person.
49. Understand culture. Culture is the game in town. The rest are sideshows.
50. The internet has democratised knowledge. Curate your own digital library. But be focused! Social media is part of life – use it.
Tip 51 to Tip 61 - Spiritual Life and a Repose
51. Connect the dots across domains or paradigms. So read different types of books, talk to different groups of people and go to different places. Go to the heart of the problem by talking to people who really know the issues. Navigate the paradigms.
52. Care about is happening in our world. Make a difference. Remember Redington, who is probably the greatest actuary in the last 100 years, said, “An actuary who is only an actuary is not an actuary.”
53. Your spiritual and inner lives are paramount. Do yoga, prayer or meditation.
54. Do not lose force on distractions and irritations.
55. Your attention is your greatest resource. Use and direct your attention wisely. Understand narrow and wide attention. Read Marion Milner’s “A Life of One’s Own.” It is revelatory.
56. Most of us are mechanical and asleep most of the time. Wake up. Waking up means mindfulness and walking into a space of self-awareness.
57. We have a choice on how we want to respond to others and external events. Read Victor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning.” Only human beings can do this. Use this gift.
58. Keep a journal. Journaling refreshes our purpose.
59. Sir Francis Bacon said, “I hold every man a debtor to his profession; from the which as men, of course, do seek to receive countenance and profit, so ought they of duty to endeavour themselves by way of amends to be a help and ornament thereunto.” Be a help and ornament to your profession.
60. We live in a world of uncertainty. Use judgement, not models.
61. COVID-19 is unmasking the precarity of the world. Use your influence to help create a better world.