Aspiring Actuarial Leaders - The Modern Manager's Toolkit
1st Edition
Author: Julia Lessing
ISBN(s): 979-8-89016-397-4 | 979-8-89016-398-1
This book is designed for high-performing actuarial team members who are transitioning from technical roles to managerial positions. It aims to equip you with the necessary skills to manage teams, projects, and your professional development effectively.
On average, Actuaries increased their confidence as managers
from 56% to 80%
after working through this content on the GA Leadership Program.
Actuaries have worked through this content to:
Increase their overall management skills from 62% to 86%.
Increase their skills in managing people and teams from 61% to 85%.
Increase their skills in planning and delivering projects from 53% to 91%.
About the Author
Julia Lessing is a qualified actuary (FIAA) and Associated Certified Coach (ACC) based in Australia. Drawing on her 20+ year career as a consulting actuary, coach and educator, Julia developed the Guardian Actuarial Leadership Program to help actuaries transition from technical roles to team leaders. Actuaries around the world have graduated from the program with measurable improvements in their management skills and confidence.
“Aspiring Actuarial Leaders is a powerful and concise guide for new managers. Julia breaks down each skill step-by-step. Then she uses examples and quotes from practicing actuaries, so we can connect the concepts to daily actuarial work. This book fills a void that can help every actuarial manager gain the new skills they need for success.”
Linley Baker
FSA, MAAA, FLMI, Experienced Actuary, International Award-Winning Author
Is this book for you?
As actuaries, you spend years learning the technical side of our profession: attending lectures, crunching numbers, writing assignments and passing exams. But your career progress and you get promoted into your first management role, you realize that you need a whole new set of skills.
Actuarial managers need additional skills beyond technical expertise. While actuaries focus on high-quality technical work, managers need to supervise, delegate, and ensure the quality of work without doing it themselves. They also need to adapt their management style to different situations and personalities, support team wellbeing, and engage in strategic thinking.
You might have worked for one, or you might be one, a new actuarial manager with an empty management toolkit and not enough support. It’s lonely and exhausting!
You might find yourself doing all the work, carrying all the stress, and running out of time to do a good job. Your team members start to disengage, you see your friends less often and you start to wonder why you ever wanted the promotion.
But what if there was a way you could:
Feel confident in your ability as a manager,
Learn how to manage people and projects and effectively delegate work, and
Fill your management toolkit with tangible, tried and true strategies?
This textbook has been produced to help you build the skills you need to become a confident and effective actuarial manager.
Meet Anne Actuary and Mark Manager
Like our actuarial technical work, effective management involves skill and judgment and understanding of the context of each situation. As a new manager, you will have your strengths, weaknesses, and personal style that you will bring to your work.
To help illustrate management skills and concepts and to capture the range of possible approaches, you will follow two new managers throughout this book. Meet Anne Actuary and Mark Manager:
Anne Actuary is a newly qualified actuary who has just been promoted to the Manager of the valuation team at Amazing Insurance Co. Anne has a reputation for having strong technical actuarial skills and is thrilled to be promoted to manager. She has set her sights on the Chief Actuary role and is pleased to be one step closer to her goal.
Mark Manager is a recently qualified consulting actuary who has been promoted to Manager at the Fabulous Consulting Co. Mark is known for his strong coding skills and ability to build sophisticated models. He has set his sights on becoming a Partner at Fabulous Consulting Co and knows that building his managerial skills will be key to his success in reaching this goal.
“Using personas, such as Mark Manager, in examples makes the material accessible and engaging.”
Jennifer Ruskin
PhD SFHEA, Academic Director WIL and Employability, Associate Professor of Management
Aspiring Actuarial Leaders - The Modern Manager's Toolkit
This book is designed for high-performing actuarial team members who are transitioning from technical roles to managerial positions. It aims to equip you with the necessary skills to manage teams, projects, and your professional development effectively.
Praise for Aspiring Actuarial Leaders
“Julia’s leadership programs have helped to fill a large gap in the actuarial training program, with a focus on management and leadership skills that are not taught through the traditional actuarial exams. These skills are so vital for actuaries or any other professional to succeed in the workplace and progress their career.
My organisation has sent a number of qualified actuaries on the Guardian Actuarial Leadership Program, and I’ve noticed a huge improvement in communication skills, as well as project, stakeholder and people management skills from those who have attended this course. The program is very practical and is structured in a way that enables students to immediately apply what they are learning in their jobs, benefiting both themselves and the organisation.”
Mike Williamson
VP, Finance, Corporate Actuarial & Appointed Actuary, Australia, Pacific Life Re
“If you’re aspiring to journey from technical actuary to leader, Julia’s book is essential in your toolkit to enhance your skills to manage yourself, your team and strategic projects. It captures valuable insights from experienced actuaries and provides practical tips to implement in your current role to boost your career to the next level.”
Kim Clough
Insurance leader and Actuary
“Julia’s thoughtful, diligent and empathetic approach to learning and development combined with her wide experience as an actuary, manager and educator make her an ideal person to author this book for actuaries who are seeking to move from technical to broader management roles. Her book combines practical examples, insights from the experience of others and plenty of opportunities to reflect on what might work for you in different situations.”
Jenny Lyon
Actuary and Non-Executive Director
"Where was this book when I was a newly qualified manager? To learn these management skills I needed to rely on the (hopefully good) example of those that managed me in the past. Julia takes a systematic, holistic and thoughtful approach to developing the necessary skills for successful actuarial management and leadership. A valuable resource for all actuaries."
Simon Guthrie
Senior Lecturer, Nominated Accreditation Actuary, Macquarie Business School
Our Book in the Wild
Amanda Aitken:
“It’s so brilliant…well structured, easy to read, friendly and supportive writing style and full of great advice for actuarial managers.”
Sheridan Daniels:
"Packed with practical, systematic, clearly explained content, it’s the perfect companion for actuaries who’ve recently become managers, those who are aspiring to, and those who became managers without any leadership training at all.
“Aspiring Actuarial Leaders is hard to put down, and easy to return to over and over."
Jeremy Keating:
"I genuinely wish I had this book 14 years ago. It would have been invaluable when I was a new manager and would have better prepared me for stepping up as a department head.
“It’s a fantastic resource, and I have no doubt it will help a lot of people.”
Mike Callan: