Khalid Kurji, B.A. 2005

2005 Major: History; minors in Political Science and English

How has being a History graduate from Duke helped shape you personally and/or professionally?

"In a multitude of inter-related ways that would be too hard to describe here, so I'll focus on three big ones: 1) Argumentation - This is probably the most obvious one, for good reason. The ability to structure a case in a persuasive manner that fits the facts, the audience, and the context has been of critical use for decisions large and small in my career. I must note also that the ability to self-structure an argument is the critical skill here - too often people try to jam what they want to say into some pre-arranged powerpoint framework that might feel intelligent but that falls apart on the first interesting question. 2) Information Capacity - My work requires learning a lot of new areas of knowledge relatively rapidly and using that information to discern between which subject matter experts will make for viable high-growth startups. Success requires not only being able to ingest information on whole new areas fast, but being able to recall key facts and concepts from your own brain (you can't google in the middle of your 15 minutes with a world leading thinker). All of those short answer quizzes and exam portions were critical for me to build the required intellectual muscles. 3) Bias against over reduction - A good historian is never monocausal, but a lot of managers and business folks seem to think they can be. The more I move up in the world (taking on larger and larger teams, dealing with more and more expensive technologies/problems) the more I realize how valuable it is to think about decisions in 360 degrees and in full context. It doesn't eliminate unintended consequences, but it hones ones ability to understand how first-order concerns might compete and work through tradeoffs with nuance."

What advice would you give students in Duke's History programs? 

"-Do an honors thesis

"-Write your papers early, have someone from a STEM major read them, and then re-write them (re-vision based on the views of an outsider views are as valuable as coming up with new arguments)

"-Range as widely as you can geographically and chronologically."