Tipping points

Ankit Fadia on “Social”, which puts together apps that can help in building one’s brand.

Ankit Fadia, author of the book Social - 50 ways to improve your Professional Life. Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Although we all use email multiple times a day, not many are likely to know the value of email signatures. It is one of the “cheapest pieces of real estate on the Internet,” says Ankit Fadia, the self-proclaimed ethical hacker, which people can use to “shamelessly promote their brand”. He demonstrates how, using an app called WiseStamp, signatures can be customised to include photos and links for self-promotional effectiveness.

This tip is to be found in “Social”, Fadia’s 16th book, a compendium of 50 ways to improve one’s professional life. The book is in the same mould as his earlier “Faster”, which offered 100 ways to improve one’s digital life. Although one’s professional and digital lives may sometimes overlap, the attempt has been to ensure that the contents of the books don’t, the author says.

While the 29-year-old’s fame came at an early age due to his prowess at hacking (greatly exaggerated, according to some), he has been canny enough to diversify his portfolio to appeal to a broader audience. After doing a show called

What the Hack! on MTV, where he shared tips, tricks and tweaks to get more out of technology, he started

Geek on the Loose on Youtube. While he continues to be involved with computer security — through talks, courses, and a consultancy (whose clients he does not name) — he has extended his brand beyond hacking.

Talking about the book, he says, “It is essentially marrying the tech stuff that I know with some of the professional experiences I have had in life and sharing it with people. In the West people are very aware of apps and websites but a lot of people in India don’t think of leveraging technology to improve their professional lives.”

The self-help book includes tips on scheduling conference calls, remembering people’s names, sending encrypted emails, getting one’s resume noticed, following up on things (“like a pro”), and networking (“like a pro”), among many others. On the need for the keeping an ‘elevator pitch’ ready, he writes, “I have managed to run into all sorts of accomplished people while travelling through airport lounges, flights and hotel lobbies. The challenging part about these chance encounters is the fact that you never have more than one to two minutes...In that limited amount of time, you need to put in the performance of a lifetime...”

The book combines sermons like these with screenshots of apps and websites that Fadia found helpful. On the intended audience for the book, he says, “Ideally I'd want a large chunk of readers to be students or very young professionals who have just got into the corporate world, and want to see what they can do to become more efficient or improve their professional interactions.” At the same time, he hopes the style of the book will win over tech sceptics.

The second of three books the author is writing for Penguin, “Social” will be followed by a novel set in the world of hacking.