Today I am joined by Hassan Akmal, Executive Director, Career and Professional Development, UC San Diego, Author, Professor, Future of Work Expert, Career and Life Mastery Consultant, and TEDx Speaker.
During our conversation, Hassan tells the story of his extraordinary path through high school, and college, as a tennis pro, and as a career development professional. It’s a pretty incredible story and one that demonstrates the value of being intentional about designing your own life and career. Hassan and I talk about why everyone should be a curious explorer of their potential. Hassan shares why it’s important to begin the reflection process early when crafting a career and life vision statement, even if it’s not perfect.
About Hassan Akmal, MBA, MPH
Hassan Akmal is an American career and life mastery consultant, author, professor, thought leader, philanthropist, and former professional tennis player and athlete ambassador to the United States. He is best known for his Amazon best-selling book—How to be a Career Mastermind™: Discover 7 “YOU Matter” Lenses for a Life of Purpose, Impact, and Meaningful Work. He is the host of the UC San Diego Career Podcast (CP), Designing Your Career and Life. Akmal is very passionate about giving back and led global efforts in humanitarian work dedicated to Forced Migration and Health early on in his career.
Akmal has been a senior leader in career services for over fifteen years and in higher education for nearly 30 years. Akmal became the inaugural executive director of industry relations and career strategies at Columbia University in 2017 and cofounded the award-winning Career Design Lab. In 2018, he served on the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) “Future of We” — Advisory Committee and served as a senior advisor to Graduway (now Gravyty), a prominent and top 10 global EdTech startup. He wrote the foreword for the book, Career Revolution: A Design Thinking Approach to Career Development in a Post-Pandemic World, authored by Graduway’s CEO, Daniel Cohen. In April 2019, he delivered the keynote address on the “Future of Career Services” at the Global Leaders’ Summit hosted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He also serves on several other prominent boards internationally.
In December 2019, Akmal was selected as a speaker for Columbia University’s TEDx RE-VISION, RE-FOCUS-themed event that took place on March 27, 2021. His TEDx Talk was released in May 2021 and has already received over 1.5 million views.
Prior to his current role, Akmal served as the inaugural executive director of the UCLA Career Center. There he led an ambitious re-imagination of career services. In September 2021, he became the Executive Director of Career and Professional Development at UC San Diego. His new book, published in May 2023, is entitled, The Interior Design of Your Career and Life™. He also published a children’s version, You Are the Artist of Your Life: The Interior Design of Your Future.
Episode Highlights
- Hassan’s passion for tennis and deferring medical school
- Interests are things you do in your free time, passions are things you make time for
- Career and Life Design Framework
- Personal development first
- Hassan’s work motivating refugees and becoming the Director of the Career Services
- The role of serendipity and happenstance in career development
- Everyone is an entrepreneur
- We all need a purpose bigger than ourselves
- Every person possesses the power to architect their career and life
- Your career and life vision is what you see with your heart, not with your eyes
- Start with clearing your mind and begin the interior design of your career and life
- The future is going to need a skills-based playbook
- “You Are the Artist of Your Life” children’s book
- You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward – Steve Jobs
- You aren’t building a resume, you are building a career and life portfolio of your experiences
- Start the reflection process early and craft a career and life vision statement, even if it’s not perfect
- “Be a curious explorer of your own potential”
- It’s ok to not have it all figured out but you have to take time to discover your interests, strengths and values
- List your limiting beliefs, write your retirement speech, and ask yourself how you want to be remembered, what is your north star, what is your nexus, what connects all your careers to your life
- What connects all of your careers and what connects them to your life?
- Go seven levels deep on your “why”
- Some are on a journey to a destination and some are on a quest to find the destination.
- You are the director of your career and life.
- Happiness happens to you but joy is the truth that you choose to live.