Measuring Business Performance

𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒚, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒐𝒔… As a leader, it's tempting to try to track every detail, but this approach can create bottlenecks and stifle team autonomy. Instead, focus on building systems that enable informed decision-making while empowering your team to work independently. 🎯 Identify Key Issues: Determine the few critical issues that require your direct attention, such as: ✅ - Revenue targets ✅ - Client retention ✅ - Compliance risks 🎯 Set Clear Escalation Guidelines: Establish clear guidelines for when issues should be escalated to you, such as: ✅ 1. New expenses over a certain threshold ✅ 2. Significant changes in project scope or timeline ✅ 3. Potential reputational risks 🎯 Use Dashboards and Written Updates: Implement dashboards and written updates to stay informed without creating unnecessary meetings or micromanaging. This could include: ✅ 1. Bi-weekly or monthly progress reports ✅ 2.Key performance indicators (KPIs) tracked on a dashboard ✅ 3.Regular check-ins with team leads 🎯 Enable Autonomy: By building systems and setting clear guidelines, you enable your team to work autonomously while still maintaining visibility and control. This approach: ✅ Fosters trust and accountability ✅ Encourages decision-making at the team level ✅ Frees up your time to focus on strategic priorities 🎯 Stay Informed, Not Overwhelmed: By focusing on key issues and using systems to stay informed, you can make better decisions and drive business outcomes without getting bogged down in details. Curious to know…What's your approach to building systems and enabling autonomy in your team?

In a new paper at Organization Science, we find that gendered responses to expressions of passion—a commonly used criterion in evaluating potential—both penalize women and advantages (unexceptional) men in high-potential selection processes (joint work with Joyce He and Celia Moore). https://lnkd.in/eeBjc_7j Across two studies—an actual talent review process and a preregistered experiment using videos with trained actors (plus two supplementary studies)—our paper shows: 1️⃣ Replicating prior work, we find a gender gap in high potential designations: men are more likely than women to be designated as high potential even when they perform the same. 2️⃣ Gender biases around passion provide one helpful insight into why this difference occurs. We find: ➡️ a male advantage: passion more meaningfully shifts predictions of diligence for men than women ➡️ a female advantage: passion is viewed as less appropriate for women than men, in particular those expressions which are highly affective and likely evoke stereotypes of women as "overly emotional" We summarize our work in a new Harvard Business Review article, including recommendations for what organizations can do to fix the gendered passion bias: https://lnkd.in/eT7DAdsq 1. Prioritize clear and objective criteria. Where possible, focus on concrete and objective indicators to evaluate potential rather than using subjective criteria like passion. 2. Encourage direct conversations over emotional displays. Rather than inferring how passionate and hardworking an employee appears to be based on their emotional expressions, managers should engage in meaningful conversations with employees to thoroughly gauge their commitment and motivations. 3. Broaden the criteria for high-potential selection. Expand the criteria for evaluating potential to include a mix of personal values, goals, and skill sets, which can help provide a fuller picture of an employee’s qualifications. 4. Conduct regular bias audits. Implement regular assessments of high-potential programs to identify gender or other biases in their selection process. 5. Consider raising the bar for moderately performing men. Given that reasonably high-performing men often receive an added boost from expressing passion, consider raising the performance bar for this group — for instance, by expecting higher levels of diligence commensurate with expectations for women.

Germans are buying less and less life insurance products. Sales as measured by new cases peaked in 2005 and contracted ever since. Sustained low interest rates created negative spread issues on traditional products and the removal of tax incentives in 2005 bit into regular premium sales. However, the protection market, which is not all that subject to either of those dynamics has also shown poor performance. The introduction of disability insurance was mildly successful, but the pure risk (mainly term) sales have decreased significantly. On the accumulation side the introduction of hybrid (ILP with guarantees) helped stem losses but sales have been flattish at best for the last decade. In 2005, 82 million Germans bought 7.3m policies which equates to 9% NB penetration. By 2023 this had dropped to 5%. It seems the industry has lost the ability to be relevant for their customers (note that savings deposits in Germany keep trending up to record highs every year). In Singapore 2023 NB penetration was a massive 25% (1.5m policies over 6m population). To avoid the German scenario Singaporean insurers should not take this for granted and instead keep working hard at creating relevant and fairly sold products that cover all segments of the population.

SAP 50 Years of Reinventing Enterprise IT 5️⃣ DECADE —- Still at TOP When I look back at SAP’s journey — and my own 15 years as a consultant — one thing is clear: SAP has stayed relevant not by being “static ERP,” but by constantly transforming ahead of industry shifts. Timeline Since Start till 2025 🔰1972 → SAP founded in Germany, delivering mainframe-based financial accounting. 🔰1992 → SAP R/3 launched → true client–server ERP, revolutionized integration across Finance, Manufacturing, and Logistics. 🔰2004 → SAP NetWeaver era → middleware + integration hub (XI/PI), laying foundation for connected enterprises. 🔰2010–2015 → SAP HANA → real-time in-memory database, breaking batch-processing mindset. 🔰2015 → SAP S/4HANA → digital core, simplified data model, Fiori UX. 🔰2021 onwards → RISE with SAP → Business Transformation as a Service. 🔰2023–2025 → AI & Sustainability-driven ERP → embedding AI copilots, sustainability reporting, and industry cloud. 🚀 Major Transformations That Kept SAP Ahead 1. Integration First → While many ERPs solved silos, SAP mastered end-to-end integration across Finance, Supply Chain, and Maintenance. 2. Technology Shifts → From mainframe → client-server → cloud → AI — SAP adapted earlier than competitors. 3. Industry Focus → Unlike generic ERPs, SAP doubled down on industry solutions (oil & gas, automotive, pharma, utilities). 4. Business Model → RISE with SAP changed ERP from a license game to transformation-as-a-service. 5. Sustainability & AI → Embedding ESG, predictive maintenance, and generative AI directly into ERP workflows. 💡 Takeaway for IT Enthusiasts SAP’s story is not just about ERP. It’s about reinvention every decade. And that’s why, even in 2025, SAP is still the “iPhone of Enterprise IT” — continuously upgrading, continuously relevant. 👉 What do you think will define SAP’s next 10 years — AI-first ERP, or something we can’t even predict yet?

*Beyond Claims Settlement Ratio: Why Claims Paid Ratio Matters* When evaluating an insurance company's performance, we often look at the claims settlement ratio. But is it enough? *Limitations of Claims Settlement Ratio:* Only shows the number of claims paid, not the amount Doesn't reveal if a claim is underpaid *Introducing Claims Paid Ratio (CPR): A More Comprehensive Metric* CPR reflects the total amount paid out in a fiscal year versus claims available for processing. This metric provides a more accurate picture of an insurer's claims payment performance. *Why CPR Matters:* Helps policyholders understand the likelihood of receiving fair compensation Enables insurers to identify areas for improvement in their claims processing Fosters transparency and accountability in the insurance industry Let's move beyond claims settlement ratio and adopt a more holistic approach to evaluating insurance companies. Share your thoughts on the importance of Claims Paid Ratio! #insurance #claimssettlemnt #claimspaidratio #transparency #accountability

SAP has overtaken Novo Nordisk to become Europe’s most valuable company. The German software giant has benefited from shifting its business model from selling software licenses to cloud-based services, including AI applications, which investors find attractive. This shift has driven a more than 40% increase in SAP’s share price over the past year. Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk faces increased competition in the anti-obesity drug market and struggles to develop a follow-up blockbuster drug, leading to a decline in its stock. Analysts expect SAP’s cloud business to continue growing rapidly, with AI integration further boosting its future prospects.

Claim costs change for different reasons. Understanding what’s driving that change is key for pricing and reserving. Loss trend measures how claim costs change from year to year. It reflects shifts like medical inflation, changes in legal behavior, or increased use of high-cost procedures. Loss development tracks how reported claims change over time. A minor injury today might turn into surgery and legal fees months later. Or it might settle for less if there’s subrogation or a favorable investigation outcome. Trend and development are used in both pricing and reserving, but they serve different purposes. In reserving, loss development factors help estimate the ultimate cost of claims. This helps insurers decide how much to set aside for claims that have not yet been paid. In pricing, losses are developed using loss development factors from the reserving analysis. Then, trend is applied to adjust those developed losses to reflect the conditions expected in the future rating period. This helps the insurer decide how much to change rates going forward. The overlap fallacy refers to the mistaken belief that loss development factors and trend factors are measuring the same inflationary changes, leading to a potential double-counting issue. To avoid double counting, trend should only reflect changes that development has not already incorporated. Trend and development are more like stepbrothers than twins. Understanding how they differ allows actuaries to apply them correctly. #actuarialscience #riskmanagement #insurance #careers #themaverickactuary 

Understanding Key Reinsurance Ratios: Reinsurance ratios play a vital role in evaluating the financial health of reinsurers. These ratios provide insights into risk management, claims handling, and profitability. Here are some important ones to consider: 1. Loss Ratio: Measures underwriting profitability by comparing incurred losses to earned premiums. A lower ratio indicates effective risk management. 2. Expense Ratio: Evaluates operational efficiency by comparing underwriting expenses to net premiums earned. A lower ratio signifies optimized processes. 3. Combined Ratio: Combines loss and expense ratios to assess overall underwriting performance. Below 100% indicates profitability. 4. Retention Ratio: Shows the proportion of risks retained compared to those ceded to reinsurers. A higher ratio demonstrates confidence in risk-bearing capacity. 5. Leverage Ratio: Compares debt/liabilities to capital and surplus. A lower ratio indicates a conservative and stable financial position. 6. Loss Reserve Ratio: Assesses reserves' adequacy to cover future claims. A higher ratio indicates a conservative approach to reserving. 7. Solvency Ratio: Measures the ability to meet financial obligations. A higher ratio reflects a strong financial position and resilience. Understanding these ratios helps in informed decision-making, fosters confidence among stakeholders, and supports a sustainable insurance industry. #insuranceindustry #riskmanagement #claims #finance #insurance

Women face harsher feedback than men. Fix it before you lose talent. Data you can’t igore as a Leader (Textio & Stanford): → 76% of women receive negative reviews. Men? Just 2%. → Women are 22% more likely to get personality critiques. → 56% of women are labeled “unlikable.” Men? Only 16%. → High-performing women face the same bias as low performers. → Women internalize bias 7x more than men. As a result, it’s causing your best talent to leave. How to fix it: 1/ Structure Every Review → Standardize criteria and ditch “gut feelings.” → Focus on measurable outcomes. → Document specific examples to ensure fairness. 2/ Upgrade Your Leadership Team → Conduct bias-detection workshops. → Practice feedback calibration with leaders. → Review patterns to catch unconscious bias early. 3/ Monitor Feedback → Track reviews by gender. → Compare personality vs. performance comments. → Standardize practices across managers. When to start? Your next review cycle. How?  → Use structured tools like Waggle AI to eliminate bias. → Waggle AI help structure feedback & monitor your unconscious bias in meeting. Because talent doesn’t have a gender and neither should your reviews. 👉 Repost to raise awareness about bias in feedback. 👋 Follow Sarah Touzani for actionable leadership insights.

NoP and Sum Assured parameters are very important, in life insurance business, to be evaluated both interms of population covered and also size of risk coverage for insured lives. While looking at last 20 years period, Policies (Ind NB) issued in FY25(2.70 Cr) remained at same level as that of FY2004 (2.62 Cr) although it peaked in FY2010 (5.32 Cr). NBP premium (Ind New Business) being a focus area for Insurers, it increased by 6.4 times in 20 years. It was 26k Cr in FY2004 and 167k Cr in FY2025. Average premium (Ind NB) per policy ticket size has also increased considerably to Rs 62k (FY25) as compared to Rs 10K (FY2004) Pure Protection product sales strategy ( last 7-8 yrs) has yielded good result for the industry. Average Sum Assured (Ind NB) per policy in FY20 it was 6.91 lakhs whereas it has increased substantially to Rs 12.79 lakhs i.e. almost doubled in last 5 yrs. Core business seems to be getting its due attention from seller as well as buyers. Important points - 1. If insurance for all to be achieved by 2047, then 20 yrs NoP data doesn't provide any confidence unless policy number is among the major part of sales target or innovativation takes place in Group Insurance, Guidelines, products and processes, for large population coverage. 2. Sum Assured is an "Assurance" of financial risk mitigation (primarily feel of having insurance cover itself) associated with mortality, morbidity and longevity. Pure Protection, Health products and Annuities / Pension products shall fit the business strategy. Savings products already very popular and strong in the market. Two graphs being given hereunder for better insight / interpretation / understanding