WebCE's Weekly Wrap-Up: September 7-13, 2024

Reviews of 2023 and forecasts for 2025 have many industries sizing up their progress this year as they find their footing heading into next year.

While social inflation rose by 7% in 2023, the insurance industry has shown signs of surplus recovery. Real estate agents, buyers, and sellers are together navigating a new normal in the wake of the seismic $418M NAR settlement in April. As the funeral industry continues to grow, accounting continues innovating toward a solution to their pipeline problem.

Have a story you think we should include in next week’s Wrap-Up? Let us know!

This Week's Top Stories

How to Kickstart Your Post-Summer Career Development (Harvard Business Review)

“Engaging in a post-summer reset can help you gain motivation and build momentum for your professional development. The idea is to identify actions that will kick-start your learning in a way that’s easy to add into your day. Here are four ways to get there.”
A Better Way to Unlock Innovation and Drive Change (MIT Sloan Management Review)

“[W]e learned that by deploying a strengths-based approach at the individual level and then using it to constitute and manage diverse teams, we could win employee commitment to transformation. This approach can help reduce anxiety and burnout, increase inclusive and collaborative behaviors, and cut across hierarchical and functional boundaries.”
How Buyers, Sellers and Agents are Navigating the Real Estate Shake-Up (The Washington Post)

“Some [agents] are shifting their business to only work with sellers...Others are working harder to demonstrate their value to buyers and provide a menu of services the way listing agents do.”
Cyberattacks on US Utilities Surged 70% This Year, says Check Point (Reuters)

“There were 1,162 cyberattacks on average through August this year, compared to 689 in 2023, Check Point data showed.”
US Nuclear Verdicts Break Records and Drive Social Inflation to 7% in 2023: Report (Insurance Journal)

“Social inflation in US rose to 7% in 2023 – a 20-year high – a situation that is being driven by litigation costs from mega-jury awards, said Dr. Jérôme Jean Haegeli, group chief economist, for Swiss Re, who spoke during a press briefing at this week’s reinsurance Rendez-Vous de Septembre in Monaco.”
Why Advisors Should Discuss Funeral Preplanning with Clients (Insurance News Net)

“By incorporating funeral preplanning into your advisory services, you not only help clients manage their end-of-life expenses more effectively but also provide them with a means to ease the emotional and financial burden on their families during a challenging time.”
More Than 500,000 Americans Set to Lose Their Medicare Advantage Plans (Newsweek)

“More than 500,000 Americans are scheduled to lose their Medicare Advantage plans now that major insurer Humana is leaving 13 markets across the country.”
US Insurance Industry Begins to See Surplus Recovery (Verisk)

“According to key financial indicators for private U.S. property/casualty insurers, while the first half of 2024 experienced similar losses for insurers as those seen in 2023, the losses are no longer reducing surplus as they did over the past few years.”
Accounting Pipeline Crisis Presents Opportunity (The Journal of Business)

“Job security and stability for CPAs in the current environment is unrivaled, but the benefits of a career as a CPA go beyond steady employability.”
Funeral Business' Slow but Inevitable March Attracts Investors (Associated Press)

“The National Funeral Directors Association is forecasting that overall industry revenue will grow at an annualized rate of 1.2%, reaching $20.2 billion in 2029.”

This Week's Top Podcast

The AI Skills You Should Be Building Now (HBR IdeaCast from The Harvard Business Review)

“Generative artificial intelligence is here to stay, and that means employees and managers need to think even more carefully about how to make the most effective use of it.

“Accenture’s H. James Wilson, global managing director of technology research and thought leadership, and Paul R. Daugherty, chief technology and innovation officer, argue that we all need to build what they call ‘fusion skills.’

“They include intelligent interrogation (using research-backed prompting techniques to deliver better results), judgment integration (ensuring there is a human in the loop when necessary), and reciprocal apprenticing (training ChatGPT, Claude, Co-pilot or proprietary tools to improve while we get better at working with them).

“They offer advice on how to hone all three.”