Emad Rahim’s story is that of survival against incredible odds. He had to overcome numerous
challenges to achieve the success he is enjoying today. Emad Rahim was born in a concentration camp in the killing fields of Cambodia. On the day when he was born, his father was being
tortured. Rahim’s father was later executed. His older brother died of starvation and illness. He
is the last of his father’s bloodline.
Emad did not know any of these things growing up. He had never
methodologies to improve their bottom line was ignored. He could
wanted to know his history until 2008 when he found informa-
now implement the ideas he had tried to sell to his seniors in the
tion about his roots during a project he was undertaking. He
other organization. His non-profit, Human Service Association
thinks this discovery would have probably destroyed him if he
soon grew and turned into a full profit.
had found out during his teenage years. He is thankful this information got to him in the right time and made him stronger and
revitalized his resolve to succeed. He says he realized he needed
to succeed and make his father proud.
Resilience: From the Killing Fields to the Boardroom is
the title of Rahim’s upcoming book. He expects the book to be
released in January 2015. The book is a motivation booster. It is
taking bits of his story and tying them to his survival, his adapting,
Emad grew up in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, New York in the 80s when
his leadership philosophy and the transformation his story and
the area was full of gangs and drug dealing. His family moved
experiences can bring – SALT (Survival, Adapting, Leadership and
out of the area after he got shot being at the wrong place at the
Transformation). The target audience for the book is young people
wrong time. For him, this was a blessing in disguise: it gave him a
fresh out of college, mid-level managers in need of motivation and
chance to live a different life and even pursue college education,
community leaders trying to figure out a way to move forward
something no one in the neighborhood had done.
from a place of frustration. He hopes leaders can use examples
Emad says he watched some of his friends have kids at a very young
and experiences outlined in his book to become better leaders.
age, others imprisoned and even others die in gang violence. This
Speaking on education, Rahim says today there are very many
made him yearn for a better life. He did not want to end up like his
ways of learning that you need not go through the educational
friends. This motivated him to focus on school. Consequently, his
system in the traditional sense of the phrase to achieve learning.
graduation from high school was a great self-esteem booster and
The options for learning are numerous and anyone can find the
it made him want to go to college and pursue further education.
type of classroom that can accommodate their learning abilities and
He says he discovered he was dyslexic and ended up going to
personality. He believes if he succeeded, no one is an exception.
a community college where he struggled through learning. He
“You don’t have to go to college to be successful. College is not
would later find educational programs designed for people with
for everyone. But you should have a game plan. There should be
difficulty in learning. He joined Empire State College where he says
an end goal. You should be motivated to do something differ-
he accelerated and matured in that environment. Emad Rahim
ent,” he says.
is an entrepreneur, a business leader and an associate professor
and program director at Bellevue University. He says he went from
hating education and barely graduating high school to earning
his doctorate, something he never thought he could ever achieve.
Today, Rahim is celebrated for his exceptional talent for making
swift assessments of businesses in varied operational challenges.
Emad describes success as facing challenges, overcoming them
and reflecting for satisfaction and happiness. In the next five years,
he hopes to give more and connect with more