By Kenneth A. Kent
Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in America, and it’s easy to understand why. Almost anyone can play the sport—less athleticism is required than other paddle and/or racquet sports—but there’s an upper echelon of skills that has lured even professional tennis players to take up the sport.
At a recent presentation to the Southeast Actuaries Conference, I compared pickleball to the Code of Professional Conduct because of the way it is played. While I won’t go into the scoring of the game, which can cause consternation for many who play—although as actuaries, I believe we have an obligation to help less-mathematically-trained players in maintaining an honest accounting of the score—the play of the game relies constantly on honesty and integrity. I refer to honesty because it’s often difficult to determine whether the ball bounces inbounds, given the speed of a stroke. It is often up to the defending player to make close calls and because the game tends to be more social, most players will call close balls in. And I mention integrity because there is an area of the court called the “kitchen” that you are not allowed to step into unless the ball first bounces there. Players who violate this rule often call it on themselves.
(I will not complicate matters by providing a history and explanation of the naming of the game, nor the background of why a portion of the court is called “the kitchen”—suffice it to say it’s all about a dog.)
Why is integrity and honesty so important in this game, and how can it be compared to the serious importance of our profession’s Code of Professional Conduct? Despite it being a social game, sometimes you’re making these calls—in or out, kitchen fault or no—with the game on the line. But if your opponents suspect that your calls are inaccurate or that you are relying on them to call a penalty for bad behavior, you’ll likely soon find yourself with no one to play against. They would rather play with competitors who are honest and who play with a higher degree of integrity.
And for a parallel with the actuarial profession: If the public has reason to believe that we allow our biases to supersede a high degree of integrity and honesty, then why would they look to us for expertise and work product?
There is one more point I would like to consider with this analogy. In a recent article in this magazine, I read how Precept 13—the section of the Code that defines our professional obligation to identify when another actuary may have violated the Code of Professional Conduct, and/or by association the actuarial standards of practice and the U.S. Qualification Standards—is referred to the “snitch rule.” I think it is a mistake to represent Precept 13 thus. You see, one definition of a “snitch” is an insulting name for a person who informs the police or other authorities when others break the law or the rules. Taking responsibility by adhering to Precept 13 should never be considered insulting.
To me, Precept 13 is a means of providing the profession with assurance that we can defend and maintain the profession’s integrity and honesty. It is also a way to empower each of us with the responsibility to communicate with our fellow actuaries when we believe they are working outside the rules, ethics, and standards we have set out to protect our reputation with the public. This is the first step defined under Precept 13 when addressing and identifying when we believe a fellow actuary is not upholding a standard or Code—providing an attempt to reconcile a difference in practice. Irreconcilable differences can be addressed through a form of mediation by calling on the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline (ABCD).
It is important to recognize that the most of what the ABCD does is counseling and helping members of our profession recognize they may be calling too many balls out or unwittingly stepping into the kitchen illegally—or allowing personal bias to overshadow honesty and integrity. And if an actuary refuses to play by the rules of our profession, they need to understand that the ABCD may recommend to the actuarial organizations that those organizations disallow the actuary from further play under their credential.
You don’t need to know or play pickleball to understand the concepts of honesty and integrity, and you are not a snitch when questioning a line or kitchen call. You just need to accept the responsibilities defined for our behavior and obligations to each other—and the public—to play in the profession we have all dedicated ourselves to.
Kenneth A. Kent, MAAA, FSA, FCA, EA, is a past president of the Academy.
