Walter Akana is a career and life strategist, who brings a unique blend of training and experience in coaching, personal branding, and online identity to guide mid-career clients who are hungry for change. Using proven discovery methods, as well as his own finely-tuned perceptions, he helps clients uncover their own “brand DNA,” and then convey who they are in a way that allows them to truly stand out. Passionate about learning, self-development, and self-direction, he brings a distinctive philosophy to running his life, and to working with clients: It’s your life, own it!
Point of View
Walter often takes a contrarian approach to traditional career advice. He sees the key to career and business success as the ability to convey one’s expertise while engaging one’s “brand community.” He believes this means shaking off the status quo and bringing distinctive value backed up by a brand story that shows others you’re the best choice to meet their needs because you’ve walked in their shoes.
Notable and Quotable
Walter’s career advice has been featured on marketwatch.com, cnnmoney.com, and online.wsj.com. A social media early adopter, he and his advice have been referenced in Smart Networking, I’m on LinkedIn, Now What?, Find a Job Through Social Networking, The Twitter Job Search Guide, and Social Networking for Career Success. He has also been invited to speak at major universities, including CU Leeds, Northwestern University, Georgia Institute of Technology, College of Management, Goizueta Business School at Emory University.
Owning His Life
Always one to quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) challenge the status quo, Walter has made his own game for most of his life. In high school, he took control of his learning by skipping classes to read whatever he wanted; it was his own version of independent study of things that mattered more to him than to his teachers. Then, in college, he bent and molded the standard curriculum to fit his own interests; and as a senior, he managed to slant his major toward an emerging field in psychology. While pursuing his masters in social work, he broke ranks with the more psychoanalytic bent of his school to learn behavioral approaches to helping people change.
Early in his social work career, Walter found the field unfriendly to self-directed, success-oriented people. So, he switched to a career as a professional development manager in the banking industry. As a self-motivated, life-long learner, it was a natural fit. Not only did it gratify him, but also showed how he could share ideas and tools to empower others to improve their performance.
Yet, in a world of corporate restructurings, Walter foresaw a time when job security would rely less on fitting a defined organizational role, and more on an ability to deliver clear value. He moved into career coaching as a vehicle to help others prepare for this new reality. As he did, he developed his own personal brand. When he saw its power, he became a certified personal branding and online identity strategist, providing more tools to help clients succeed a rapidly changing world.
Based in the Metro Atlanta area, he not only works well in face-to-face situations, but knows how to leverage new technologies and social media to work “in the cloud,” allowing him to work with clients around the globe.
Up Close and Personal
Believing that the key to a great life is moving beyond the traditional idea of “work” and “life” boundaries, Walter brings his passion for discovery and learning to a wide variety of activities, often mixing “fun” and “work.” With eclectic musical tastes, it is not unusual to find Walter listening to Pandora Radio as he works on various client projects. A recent convert to iPhoneography, Walter enjoys the social sharing of photos with people from all over the world. Finally, he prides himself on being able to (almost) keep up with other fitness fanatics half his age during his cross-fit workouts!
An Open Book
To learn more, you can “Google” Walter, subscribe to this blog, and follow him on Twitter. You can also contact him via the contact page on this blog, or directly at: wakana [at] threshold-consulting [dot] com.
