Driving Innovation: The CAS Accelerator

As I mentioned in the last issue of AR, my agenda for the CAS has been focused on our future and living up to the aspirations of our current and future members, and our various supporters and constituents. We certainly have challenges: We work in an environment that is questioning traditional business models, is experimenting with new and transformative technologies, and is redefining the needed skill sets.

If we are going to keep pace with the changing environment, where the next new thing may revolutionize our work overnight, we need a better approach than waiting to see what sticks. But how can we be effective and efficient in trying out new ideas in order to keep ourselves current and relevant? How do we break from traditional approaches, expand our skills and adopt or adapt to new technologies or new thinking? To answer these questions, the CAS must embrace innovation and take professional networking to new levels.

Innovation and the CAS Accelerator

Last year we established the CAS Innovation Council, whose mission is to focus on our future by tapping the ingenuity, creativity and inventiveness of our members and staff in a way that will accelerate our insights and ideas in order to drive an innovation agenda. We are not alone in realizing that we need to kick-start this endeavor; other associations have already been down this path. With outside help, we have learned that we need to create an innovation process that fits our mission and vision. There is no off-the-shelf version of an innovation process, but there is no need to reinvent the wheel either.

Rather than wait for a “good time” to push forward, our Innovation Council Co-Chairs Aaron Halpert and Kevin Bingham set up an innovation workshop this February. Despite it being one of the busiest times of the year for many actuaries, they found several engaged members who were fully energized by the workshop. The goal of the workshop was to think through how the innovation process should be designed specifically for the CAS. The workshop resulted in drafts of a CAS Innovation Point of View, CAS Innovation Principles of Action and a CAS Innovation Accelerator.

Our work started with drafting the CAS Innovation Point of View, as the workshop group explored how and why we should think about innovation. To develop the CAS Innovation Principles of Action, we thought about what was most important to us, such as creating value, collaborating with others, investing in our future, looking for opportunities, learning by experimentation and accepting the risk of failure while controlling the downside. These explorations culminated with design ideas for the CAS Accelerator, which will be our timer (we have set a 90-day timeframe) and our process model for decision making on new ideas and insights.

I am excited about using the CAS Accelerator to couple an excellent innovation process with our collective professional networks. To be successful, however, the CAS Accelerator calls for thoughtful suggestions. We need your input on how the CAS can help you and your connections make the most of professional networks in advancing actuarial work and careers. Please share your ideas and suggestions by leaving a comment on the CAS Roundtable Blog (www.blog.casact.org), where a version of this column has been posted.

All About That Network

In my travels to meet with groups of actuaries working for large employers, it is clear to me that they have very good resources to support their actuarial careers within their organizations. But there is also widespread actuarial skill and knowledge outside the confines of our employers, whether small or large. Our colleagues from past employers, our acquaintances from actuarial committees and meetings, our college buddies who found careers in or around the actuarial or insurance community, and our LinkedIn and other social media connections all form a bond and a network of professionals among us. Professional networks can be valuable resources just waiting for those wise enough to tap into them.

The value of tapping shared professional knowledge from online connections is real and growing.  However, the actuarial profession has been slow to harness the power of these online professional networks, and that should change. We need to think about how big we can grow our professional networks and what level of interconnectedness we can achieve.