Actuaries on "rethinking retirement"

Retirement is becoming a big part of conversation in the United States.  People of all ages are wondering how they will live in retirement - or if they will be able to retire at all.

Check out "Rethinking Retirement," an article published in the June 2013 edition of Contingencies, a trade magazine focused on actuarial science.

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Rethinking Retirement

What's actuarial science, you may ask?  It's what actuaries do, of course!  :)

Actuaries, according to the USDOL's Bureau of Labor and Statistics,   "analyze the financial costs of risk and uncertainty.  They use mathematics, statistics, and financial theory to assess the risk that an event will occur and to help businesses and clients develop policies that minimize the cost of that risk."

If you like math and want to learn more about actuarial science as a career, check out the American Academy of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries.

Best,
Bryan

Career Tips from Bob Pozen

Bob Pozen, author of Extreme Productivity and Too Big To Save, shares three important career tips in a recent Fast Company article entitled "Bob Pozen, Master of Extreme Productivity, Shares His 3 Most Effective Career Tips."  One of the great things about Fast Company is that you'll always know the content by its title. :)  Here's a quick overview

CFA Podcast: Personal Brand and Skills Assessment

This CFA Institute podcast entitled "Personal Brand and Skills Assessment" defines personal brand and delves into the relevance of brand to personal and professional success in organizations.

The key takeaway is this:  whether you manage it or not, you have a personal brand.  Others make assumptions about you based on their experiences with you and with your work/impact.  Greater awareness of this can lead to greater career success.

In the interview: the CASH model

You’ve done the hard work of creating your personal brand, building a winning resume, and scoring the big interview.  You’ve investigated the organization, know what questions to expect, and have thought about what makes you different and better than other candidates.

Chances are you don’t interview every day, so you might be working against your nerves a bit.  To make it easier, remember CASH – four simple reminders during the conversation.

Good career advice from John Lees

John Lees, career author and author of How to Get a Job You'll Love, offers some great advice to job seekers in a tough economy.  For the out-of work job seeker, consider this.  Here's a 16 1/2 minute podcast he recorded for HBR's IdeaCast, just right for a short commute or while you get ready for work (or to find work) in the morning.

For the working job seeker looking for a career change, Lees has some sage advice as well.  Lees is a contributor to the HBR Blog Network, and one of his more recent posts is  "To Get the Job of Your Dreams, Stop Dreaming."

If you're thinking about your next steps for whatever reason, check out the podcast and the post - think you'll enjoy both.

Best,

Bryan

Followership

"I can't wait until I'm the boss and don't have to answer to anyone."

We've all heard something similar, either in business, in the community, children, or perhaps in our own voices.  It's a consistent refrain echoing across all ages, from the very young to the very old:  one day I'll be in charge.  For all of us, that day never comes - no matter our upward trajectory in an organization.

Too much of the wrong thing

As individuals matriculate through careers, it is quite common for blind spots to develop.  Some common blind spots have to do with interpersonal relations, focus and direction, and delivering on hard-to-quantify soft skills for the good of the organization.

Decathletes (Jump the Curve)

In his book Jump the Curve, visionary Jack Uldrich shares his "50 essential strategies to help your company stay ahead of emerging technologies." His focus is on what he calls the exponential executive, the successful forward-thinking leaders in the future.

4S Model: Steps

The final S of the 4S Model is Steps:  taking the steps to actually move the new, prepared you towards your career goals and aspirations.  The first three (Self, Surroundings, Skills) are about knowing yourself, understanding the environment in which you operate, and assessing and improving your unique skill set.  The fourth S is about creating your personal marketing plan.

4S Model: Self

At many large malls, large conspicuous maps are posted showing the many different stores, attractions, and points of interest throughout.  When the typical individual approaches a map like this, the first inclination is to look for a red dot, a big arrow, or the words “You Are Here.”

The first step in the 4S Model is Self, and focuses on creating your guiding mission and vision.  To get there, you have to understand who you are, where you’ve been, and where you want to go from a career perspective.

4S Model: Skills

In the same way organizations must continuously improve, you must also continually increase your capability to become more valuable to employers, clients, and other stakeholders in your career.

Capability is the overall combination of your knowledge, skills, abilities, and the other intangibles you possess.  Increasing this capability is the Skills step of the 4S Model, and is driven by your personal development plan.

4S Model: Surroundings

“No man is an island.”  This is the first line of John Donne’s famous poem “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” written back in 1624 as part of his private notes, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions.

Also popular in corporate circles is the story of a butterfly flapping its wings causing a hurricane:  a small event far away that creates a large impact.  While some of the nuance is usually lost, the point remains that we can be affected by events outside ourselves.

Surroundings are important, as they determine in large part what the effect will be of actions we take.  The better we know our surroundings, the more effective we can be.

Coaching

“Hey Coach!”

In little league, the NFL, and in soccer camps around the world, a coach is someone that teaches, consoles, trains, offers a shoulder to lean on, and can be counted on for swift correction.  The coach is the one that teaches teamwork, fundamentals, and how to win in style.

4S Model

In thinking about a career, it’s important to define exactly what that means to you as an individual.

At many universities, career is about getting a first job using the new skills from an undergraduate or graduate program.  Some organizations define career as more of a retention tool – focusing on keeping the individual engaged to drive organizational success.  Individuals at nonprofit and religious organizations might interchange career and calling, intimating that what they get up and do every day is driven by a larger force outside of themselves.

What is a career to you?

Elevator speech

Marketing and advertising can teach us a lot about creating a personal brand.

In advertising the challenge is to deliver a memorable and actionable message in thirty seconds to a minute.  On radio, these messages are a mixture of words and background sounds.  With television and streaming media, sights and sounds combine to deliver the message.  At an amusement park, all of the senses are stimulated to deliver the message in the first thirty seconds:  bright lights, bells ringing, the scents of tasty food drifting through the air – so sugary you can almost taste it, and the bustle of people.  The message that primes the rest of your experience is “you’ll have a great time here!”

In How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less, Nicholas Boothman writes:  “Believe it or not the attention span of the average person is about 30 seconds! 

Mapping your Future: 4S Model

Thinking about how to move forward in your career?  The 4S Model is a way of crafting your career approach in discrete, actionable steps.

GE: serious about leadership

In most large organizations, leadership is affirmed as a key contributor to organizational success.  Typically there is some form of leadership model, special programs for high potentials, and perhaps rotational programs to move high performing or high potential leaders through the experiences needed to lead and perform at the next level.

Leadership models come in all shapes and sizes, and most are helpful in keeping leaders (and aspiring leaders) focused and developing.  NASA offers an excellent graphical representation of leadership behaviors arranged on a disc, moving from large dimensions in the middle to more granular areas towards the outside.  The MIT Leadership Center promotes FCF (Four Capabilities Leadership Framework), which points to four critical components of leadership:  sensemaking, relating, visioning, and inventing.  Leadership powerhouse Lominger (part of Korn/Ferry International) has developed 67 leadership competencies and publishes a book called FYI:  For Your Improvement that’s now in its 5^th edition.And then there’s GE.

Case study: the annual review

Kaitlyn is a process engineer. She has worked for Jeremiah for quite some time, and feels like he understands her contributions to the team.

Several days ago, she had been looking forward to her annual performance review. She had saved the company $4 million in March of this past year, and remembered the praise Jeremiah had heaped on her in front of the company president. Shortly after this big win, the president asked Jeremiah to broaden her responsibilities. Kaitlyn expected a glowing review and a nice bonus check to cap off a stellar 2010.

Blockers

When I speak about talent management, I describe the work as follows:  talent management is about ensuring the right people are in the right roles at the right time.  It's easy to say - rolls right off the tongue.  However it's very complex, and not so easy to implement.

Most large firms have a formal review of talent at least once per year. A component of this conversation is to discuss individuals in three broad dimensions: performance against goals; behaviors that benefit the individual, team, and firm; and the potential to develop and contribute at a higher level in the organization.

Sun Tzu for Execution: How to Use the Art of War to Get Results

When I'm reading, I like to highlight passages and important nuggets of information that might be interesting or helpful to read again in the future. It directs the eyes and helps me maximize my reading based on my learning style.

At the end of Sun Tzu for Execution: How to use The Art of War to Get Results, by Steven W. Michaelson, I noticed that a great deal of the text had been underlined, something on just about every page.