Embody Change

As a sought-after leader, speaker, and mentor in philanthropy, Dr. Akhtar Badshah takes people who want to bend the arc of humanity toward good on a practical vision quest—one that helps them see their future as a dynamic and personal reality that calls them to act now in the everyday. We talk about how he does this on the world stage through his friendships with people like the Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus by amplifying his friend’s mission to end poverty through microfinancing, and locally, through his certificate on Accelerating Social Transformation at the University of Washington. Akhtar brings a fun irreverence toward our obsession with scale. In his career that included managing billions in charitable giving as the head of Microsoft Philanthropies, he somehow manages to nurture yet another 40+ year contribution to the world as an acclaimed visual artist, crafting figurative canvases of richly-hued deities, lovers, and human-animal hybrids. Hear how his art feeds into his voracious appetite for change and how we can hone our collective skill for real social impact from the “Doctor of Change” himself.