Demystifying the inside track to academic, career and financial outperformance
The gap between what employers expect of university leavers and the emphasis of education at school and beyond has never been greater. Having a decent 2:1 in a relatively mainstream discipline is no longer enough to face the dreaded "real world" and come out on top. The result has been to give leavers of higher education an unenviable choice between the seemingly mutually exclusive goals of "happiness" and "success".
Jan Sramek's life to date has shown that there is no need to choose between these goals. This book shows how his stellar rise from living in one room with his entire family in the Czech Republic to achieving 10 A's and 3 Distinctions at A-level/S-level, close to £100,000 in scholarships, an academic career at Trinity College, Cambridge and the London School of Economics, four start-up businesses, internships and job offers from the world's most prestigious investment banks and hedge funds, and indeed a book by the age of 22, can be attributed to some basic and easily replicable habits.
Having partnered up with Muzaffar Khan, a successful Wall Street executive and one of his mentors, Jan decided to demystify the principles and strategies that made everything possible. Racing Towards Excellence is a simple how-to guide that reveals how simple habits and ideas lead to outperformance, and importantly, happiness.
Read more about the bookHow this book came about,
and why we wrote it.
The life of young people around the world has become more complicated in the past two decades. The pressure is on; expectations are increasing and the race for children to outperform and succeed in life starts earlier than ever before.
Indeed, increased access to education and career opportunities has been one of the greatest benefits of the wealth creation that took place across the world in the last two decades. It also means, however, that today's young generations are growing up in an environment that is arguably much more pressured than one where their parents or grandparents grew up.
Unfortunately, the teaching of life skills required to succeed in this new competitive landscape has, in general, not kept up with the developments. It is universities and employers across the world that eventually face the consequences of these problems. Too often, students and recent graduates are either relaxed and happy, or successful, but rarely both. Why? Nobody has ever taught the majority of them how to achieve both.
Read the full introductionAbout the Authors
Muzaffar Khan spent 10 years on Wall Street and in the City of London, working for investment banks (Citibank and Barclays Capital), as well as Moore Capital and Man Group, two of the largest hedge funds in the world. Having completed a 2nd degree at the LSE studying market failure in the carbon credit markets, Muzaffar is today a Principal and Board Member of Space Energy, a company seeking to harness the benefits of a new source of renewable energy - space-based solar power.
Jan Sramek works as an Emerging Markets trader at a leading investment bank in the City of London, having graduated with a First from the London School of Economics. During the last five years, he scored 10 A's and 3 Distinctions at A-level/S-level, was awarded almost £100,000 in scholarships, selected as an 'Olympic Hope' in handball, studied at Trinity College, Cambridge and LSE, run four start-up businesses and worked for the world's leading investment banks and hedge funds. He is the youngest ever nominee to the list of the Top 100 Rising Stars of European Financial Markets by Financial News.
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Testimonials:
Chris Howland, CEO, Mount Row Capital"Racing Towards Excellence makes essential reading for anyone stepping out into the big wide world. My only lament is that this advice was not available many moons ago when I left university!"
Previously Managing Director, Morgan Stanley
Peter Harrison, CEO HarrisonCareers.com"I wish I had read this book when I was 17, and again at 19 and again at 24! Congratulations to Jan and Muzaffar on an outstanding book. Buy it for any young person whose future you care about."
Previously Executive Director, Goldman Sachs
Hermione Way, 23, entrepreneur and journalist, named as one of Spectator Business's Stars of Tomorrow View all testimonials"This book should be mandatory reading for all students and graduates pre, during and post university."