Amitkumar Kakkad Ph.D. dares students to fulfill their potential

How Kakkad Ph.D. claimed a gratifying second career and emphasizes hard work in areas of weakness

Abigail Russell / Contributor / The USD Vista

University of San Diego business school professor, Amitkumar Kakkad, Ph.D., encourages students to reach for their goals and tap into their unfulfilled potential. Kakkad teaches courses within the realms of operations management and management science at USD. After he became an engineer, Kakkad established a second career in teaching and explained how it has illuminated his world. 

“For the first half of my life, teaching academia was not in the picture,” Kakkad said. “I had a taste of large companies, start-ups, and I wanted to try something different. So, I told myself, ‘If I don’t have to worry about making a living, I’m now free to choose a career that can be more satisfying.’ Academia gives something that industry can’t: the ability to positively influence students — who are the future.” 

Kakkad has contributed many things to the USD community and its students, including his involvement and leadership in the Fowler Business Concept Challenge (FBCC). This competition is open to all undergraduate and graduate USD students. It welcomes almost any business idea, rewarding the top 16 finalists with scholarship money. As the strategic advisor to USD’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Catalyzer, Kakkad explained what he believes is the true value behind the challenge.

“Students take an idea, from a little flash of light in their heads, to something that they can share,” Kakkad said. “They learn to make it convincing, and they achieve the ability to connect with other people. Are those good skills to practice whether they win or not? Absolutely. Everything we do in life, we are constantly selling our ideas, ourselves, and our concepts. The benefit is enormous, and it’s the biggest win.” 

With the goals behind the FBCC, Kakkad feels a great responsibility to guide his students on a successful path. While having an extensive career in business corporations and start-ups, Kakkad used his first career to multiply the impact he has on his students.

“I have the grand opportunity to help students with their business ideas every day,” Kakkad said. “I was part of successful companies in the past, and I love both parts of my life: engineering and teaching. One cannot do well without the other; when I was an engineer, I was very technical. Now as a teacher, I use some of my past experiences to help students, and they also help me with exploring myself.” 

While being surrounded by a data-driven world, Kakkad recognizes the enormous importance of the “right side” of the brain. The “right side” focuses on social interaction, creativity, and the arts. He emphasized how it’s essential to hone skills with both sides of the brain.

“I thought engineering was my destiny,” Kakkad said. “I used the left side of my brain heavily, and I wasn’t as good with the right. As an engineer when I was working, I realized that using just one side will never get you to where you want to be.”

Kakkad grasps that having one outlook or mindset will not lead to one’s end goal. He vocalizes his belief on the true purpose of working hard and toward a personal desire: to benefit civilization.   

“At the end of the day, technology, logic, and engineering needs to be put to use in a way that is beneficial to communities, the planet, and to people,” Kakkad said. “Science to me is never the end. I now have an appreciation for both sides of the brain, and teaching helps me explore the right side every day of my life.” 

Kakkad has lived in three different countries: India, England, and the United States. He was born in India, and uses his experiences and occupations in these different nations to provide knowledge and key insights to his students. 

“All of my experiences in different places have made me a wiser person,” Kakkad said. “But in a way, having lived in these three continents, Asia, the U.S., and the U.K., I now joke that I belong to all of them. However, to the natives of those places I now look like a complete outsider.” 

The different regions and cultures expanded Kakkad’s outlook and skillset. In addition, he also uses his extracurriculars to teach life lessons to his classes. 

“I don’t consider myself a daredevil, but anyone who looks at my hobbies would definitely assume that I’m an adrenaline junkie,” Kakkad said. “To me, I love doing things I enjoy while fully accepting the risk of them. I take my life lightly due to my hobbies; everything has a high chance of risk.” 

Whether he’s jumping out of a plane, paragliding, hang gliding, scuba diving, or drag racing, Kakkad understands his interests all have a factor of risk. He tells stories to his classes about these experiences that reiterate some sort of importance. For example, he enjoys racing cars and motorcycles. As a motorcyclist, he considers himself a good enough driver to never drop his motorcycle. However, he describes how he once tipped over his motorcycle while it wasn’t even moving.

“I take this story and use it to remind my students to always check themselves and their work: don’t just brush off things that seem like common sense. Please, verify your submissions on Blackboard,” Kakkad said. 

Although involved in high-risk activities, Kakkad uses his dangerous interests to assert meaning in his students’ lives. He also describes his teaching career as a rewarding opportunity to help students who have all sorts of strengths. He concludes how he believes students grow and gain their potential.

“When I get students who have strong ideas, I also let them know that their presentation is very important,” Kakkad said. “They must project efficiently and be convincing. It’s also vital for everyone to have a sort of humbleness. To say, ‘Hey, I’m not very good at this and need to work on it.’ We all should seek out people who have skills and strengths that complement our own.” 

Kakkad desires all students to seek discomfort in order to improve themselves. He believes that the students that have developed their entrepreneurial ideas for the FBCC have taken this step of growth