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Random Sampler
Our Core Values
by C. K. "Stan" KhuryIt has been a privilege to serve on the CAS Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC) during the past two years. During this time, under the very capable leadership of Chairperson Stephen D'Arcy, the LRPC went through a comprehensive and thorough process, ultimately yielding the CAS Centennial Goal. One of the steps in the process was the identification of what the CAS would consider its core values. In this column I focus on these core values, describing them and making some observations about what the LRPC concluded.
Core values are defined as "the essential and enduring principles that guide an organization and its members." Looking back over the past 90 years, the LRPC identified five such values. In no particular order:
Learning. This is the belief that the continuing effectiveness of a casualty actuary is built upon dedication to the idea of life-long learning. This is, of course, most evident in the extensive learning associated with qualifying for CAS membership as well as by the numerous CAS continuing education activities.
Innovation. This is the belief that the continuing vitality of the CAS is best served when creative thinking and research are fostered and new ideas are openly entertained. This is evident in the numerous ways in which the CAS encourages the generation of ideas, and the sharing and discussion of these ideas, on different levels of breadth and depth.
Volunteerism. This is the belief that the core purpose of the CAS is best served when every member is directly involved in the affairs of the CAS and volunteers to serve other members. This is most evident in the remarkably high rates of participation of CAS members in all types of CAS activities. The most remarkable aspect of CAS volunteerism is that the rate of participation of members has increased as the overall membership has increased. Today three out of ten members are active volunteers. This clearly illustrates the depth of belief in the idea of volunteerism.
Community. This is the belief that members of the CAS are best served when the open sharing and exchange of ideas and research characterize the activities of the CAS. Indeed, one only has to go to any meeting of the CAS to get a full appreciation of the scope of sharing and exchange of ideas—not only in the regular sessions, but also in the hallways, at social gatherings, and through follow-up contacts after a meeting has ended.
Professionalism. This is the belief that the professionalism of casualty actuaries is best realized when the CAS, as an organization as well as its members individually, is committed to the idea of adhering to the highest professional and ethical standards of education, qualification, and practice. This is demonstrated through the myriad activities of the CAS and its members, in association with other actuarial organizations, that serve to articulate principles and guidance, codify standards of practice, provide professional advice in specific situations as needed, and, ultimately, when all fails, provide the means of administering disciplinary action.
I would only add two observations:
- None of the five core values is specific to the CAS and its members' area of expertise. In other words, while the LRPC views these values as relating to the CAS and its members, there is nothing about them that makes them necessary for the CAS to adopt. These core values are ennobling by their very definition and in the various ways that the CAS and its members choose to make them our own.
- It is noteworthy that these core values emerged by the process of observation, not by the promulgation of some board-approved statement of core values. For nearly ninety years, the CAS and its members have conducted themselves without an explicitly stated set of core values. However, in retrospect, viewing the success and progression of the CAS over these years, these are the values that turn out to have been operating all along. This gives them special gravity; they are not things that we just talk about, but things that we put into practice.
Setting aside the subject matter concentration of the CAS, putting all of this together yields an interesting working definition of the CAS:
The CAS is an association of individual professionals, each of whom is dedicated to the idea of life-long learning, each of whom is actively involved in advancing the practice, both in scope and in depth of subject matter, each of whom believes that the governance of the association is best achieved when large segments of the membership are directly involved in the affairs of the association, and each of whom adheres to the highest professional and ethical standards of conduct. This is a pretty formidable idea. I would suggest that the reader contemplate this definition and identify exactly how it manifests itself in his or her professional life. I promise you an interesting and revealing experience.
