About the Book
"Finally, an academic who focuses on learning rather than education."
--Richard Saul Wurman, Creator of TED
THE GRADUATION GIFT: A Career--Discovery Classic! If you don't design your life, someone else will design it for you.
This much is clear: to get to the top of your field in today's dynamic and disruptive world, where underemployment is higher than ever and the future of work is ever-changing and uncertain, you need to be incredibly bold and innovative. But what about reality and its often-extreme hardships? Very few people have imagined, let alone experienced, the muzzle of a machine gun piercing their back, or survived an attempted kidnapping on the border of Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Hassan Akmal's mesmerizing, transformative, and debut story--often harrowing, frequently inspiring --will make you rethink giving up on your career and your lifelong ambitions. With intricate, powerful, and masterly career lessons on how adversity builds character, on the value of collaboration, and on steadfastly maintaining a positive mindset, his book provides new models of determination and outreach to connect you with brilliant, like-minded people in a connection economy. Above all, it is a catalyst for aligning readers and seekers with their true purpose.
How to be a Career Mastermind(TM) unveils seven secret windows to championing your own career, based on the highly successful "YOU Matter"--Design Your Career Crown program at Columbia University that has helped thousands redefine their "purpose and impact lens"--blending career and life vision with real-life narratives. Akmal audaciously redefines what it means to be a career coach--his reputation, gratitude, and powerful message of how to be your own Career Mastermind(TM), all consistent with his core beliefs, are unapologetically eye-catching.
Find your true ambition, close your eyes--are you ready to change your life?
"In a rapidly changing work environment where all generations are forced to adapt, Hassan provides timeless strategies into how to think about career and future prospects." --BEN ROYCE, HEAD OF PERFORMANCE DATA SCIENCE, GLOBAL AGENCY, GOOGLE
"While many of us are caught up in the habit of thinking about the next job we want, if we want a truly fulfilling life, we should be thinking about what kind of life we want instead. Hassan Akmal encourages you to take control of your destiny and discover a new way to look at life and a clear approach to unearth new opportunities that maybe weren't possible. You will learn how to use your own Kantian life lenses to create value versus focusing on just a positive mindset where you look for the value in what the world is offering you."--FRANCESCA LAZZERI, PHD, AI & MACHINE LEARNING SCIENTIST, MICROSOFT
"In this book, Hassan shares the secrets to masterminding a career in today's Gig Economy through the lens of his own personal and professional experiences. In sharing his story, Hassan shows the reality of ambitious pursuits: that life can present challenges at any moment and learning how to move past these obstacles can be critical for developing our career. Through the intimate details of his own challenges and his path to shaping his career, Hassan's story feels relatable and provides a real world context for understanding how to become a Career Mastermind(TM)." --Jennifer Shin, Director, Product, NBCUniversal Media, LLC
"A true visionary, Akmal provides a necessary framework for achieving personal and professional mastery." --Tony Arce, CEO, Red Ivy Marketing
About the Author :
Hassan Akmal, MBA, MPH, is the Inaugural Executive Director of Industry Relations and Career Strategies and founder of the Career Design Lab at Columbia University. An alumnus of Columbia University, Akmal blazed a successful path as a visionary, career thought leader, chair of Career Education, and Director of Career Services at several universities in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. He is a former professional tennis player and International Athlete Ambassador to the United States, and serves on the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) "Future of We"-Think Tank Committee. Additionally, he spearheads Columbia's "Career Week," a five-day premier conference on career disruption, impact, and the future of meaningful work-culminating with a future of career services symposium. Akmal is the host of the Columbia University "Behind the Scenes" podcast series that consists of in-depth interviews with industry leaders discussing provocative career-related topics that set the stage for students. As a change agent, he is committed to coaching proactive career-seekers who will promote multi-level innovation in our global marketplace. He aims to foster a university-wide career culture that's vibrant and diverse, and breathes success. In 2015, Akmal pioneered a connector model based on customized connections and communities entitled "BRIDGE: Building Relationships and Interconnectedness Directed towards Graduation and Educational (and Career) Pathways" at Loyola University Chicago. He also re-imagined and re-invented the career services model by directing students to inner-"view" themselves, connecting passion to purpose-thereby crystallizing positive career outcomes in the process. By leveraging the career ecosystem that's readily available, he believes we can help realize dreams and witness their global impact. Akmal is the CEO, founder, and president of Invitation Relief, Inc., a public-benefit charity for displaced persons and health. He is a former professor of global health, financial advisor for UBS Financial Services Inc., and business development manager. Additionally, he served on the External Advisory Board for Health Systems Management at the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing, and as a Loyola Chapter faculty advisor for Aahana, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to redressing social inequalities and empowering communities. With over 10 years' experience leading career and professional development, Akmal teaches individuals the importance of capturing their career and life vision, elevating personal brand in multi-layered social media, leveraging self-awareness, and purpose alignment-he believes these elements are both the keys to maximizing careers and the means of self-fulfillment. In his inaugural role as Vice Provost for Integrative Learning and Life Design at Johns Hopkins University, Farouk Dey leads programs and services that bridge curricular and experiential learning with life aspirations for undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs, and alumni across the university's schools and divisions. In his former role as Dean of Career and Experiential Education at Stanford University, he successfully built and scaled career and experiential learning by creating a vision of meaningful work and a networked approach of personalized connections and inclusive communities. Farouk has held senior leadership and board roles at Johns Hopkins, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Florida, the National Association for Colleges and Employers (NACE), the American College Personnel Association (ACPA), and various startups and non-profit organizations. His credentials include a PhD in Higher Education Administration, EdS in Higher Education Administration, MBA, MEd in Counseling Psychology, and BBA in Finance. Author of several articles and book chapters, and a nationally recognized leader in higher education circles for his transformational leadership abilities, Farouk has served as a consultant for many organizations and universities, faculty at several institutes, and keynote speaker at many conferences in the US and around the world.
Review :
"I can't type. This failure of mine has led me to recording my thoughts and having them transcribed. I decided not to take notes, which led to an enormous improvement in my memory connecting what I hear to other experiences and knowledge and a visual mental web of understanding. Both of these things have become a piece of the design in my life. This book is quite a surprise to me, not only because its author is an academic, but also in its endorsement of passionately designing your life.
The big design problem is the design of your life. Not the design of a car, or a house or even a curriculum--it is the design of your life. What you do in your life takes up most of your day and that design should not be left to others. This is a book about participating in your own learning. It is a remarkable, passionate guidebook--dense, but easily absorbed because you hear this rather wondrous man talking to you as you read. It feels like he is sitting next to you and delivering this wisdom for your understanding and your memory without notes; without a typewriter, without the formality of the educational system, giving you a plan that leads to the design of a personal learning system.
I particularly like his metaphors about tennis--I congratulate him on his efforts!"
--RICHARD SAUL WURMAN, CREATOR OF TED; AUTHOR OF OVER 90 BOOKS ON WILDLY DIVERGENT TOPICS; RECIPIENT OF THE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FROM THE SMITHSONIAN, COOPER-HEWITT MUSEUM; CONTRIBUTOR TO GENIUS: 100 VISIONS OF THE FUTURE, A PROJECT SPONSORED BY THE EINSTEIN LEGACY PROJECT, WHICH FEATURES ESSAYS SUBMITTED BY THE 100 GREATEST INNOVATORS, ARTISTS, AND SCIENTISTS
"Akmal demonstrates the true meaning of personal passion. He explains away the purpose of a life's work, and how it impacts those around us. This book is exemplary standards for the leaders of today, who find themselves in an ever-changing environment. This book will be the 'go-to' career book of the next decade."
--DR. MARTIN J. BOYLE, DM, MBA, CFE, LPD, CEB, CHS-III, DABCHS; AUTHOR; SECURITY SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT; UNIVERSITY DEAN; PROFESSOR; CEO; EXECUTIVE CORPORATE PARTNER
"Understanding the connection between purpose and intrinsic motivation, and the forward momentum these create in the actualization of our Ikigai (the Japanese concept of "Reason for Being"), is the start of a lifelong journey the author Hassan Akmal paves for us in this timely How-To book. How to be a Career MastermindTM encourages us to clear our dual lenses and realize the intricately woven, helix-like bond between our professional and personal visions for ourselves, and offers important lessons about the power of mindset in creating our most authentic career and life narratives."
--DORCAS LIND, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, DIVERSITY HEALTH COMMUNICATIONS AND ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT, HEAD - DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION, MONTEFIORE MEDICAL CENTER
"A pure, creative--visionary genius! Akmal transforms your global impact lens-- enabling you to find your zenith or "Z", and empowering you to 'trust the truth' within you: That cannot be sought, which grows not in heart."
--AMMAR LATIF, PHILOSOPHER AND PROFESSOR
"One of the most important books out there on career and life vision."
--NATHAN CANNING, FOUNDER AND PRINCIPAL STRATEGIST, PARADIIIGM, LLC
"A life changing journey complete with a roadmap. A must read for anyone at any point on their career path."
--CHRIS MARSHALL, PRESIDENT GRADUWAY NORTH AMERICA
