131
One of your sayings is "Discovery Never Fails...". That is a very powerful sentence, would you like to explain that a bit more?
Today a successful company is an institution based on experimentation. Most of the industrial companies are now building their strategies on discoveries and experimentation point because doing better is based on failures point to discover the better one will always have a positive reflection.
I advise many companies today, to boost pilot projects. And each project is managed like an independent entity. Even 3 project out of 10 is successful, they will find themselves in the champions league of their sector.
You have written some books, one of them in English called " Risk Management", can you tell us about it?
I wrote it with two colleagues after the 2001 banking crisis in Turkey. I remember it like it was yesterday, the darkest moments that we experienced. A devaluation of 239 %, interest rates like 9000 %, something comparable to what Venezuela lives on today.
Therefore we decided to reflect on this terrible experience and turn it into a checklist to avoid financial risks. The Book had a lot of impact In the emerging world. I was requested to send many copies of this book to Birmingham University, England as well.
Another of the many things you do is that you sit on the board of other institutions, tell us your experience and what you hope to accomplish.
This is an experience of exchanging ideas rather than giving speeches in the board. My duty is to put everything on track, monitor the risks and establish/maintain the corporate governance in institutions.
To accomplish that you have to be very calm, you have to be a very good listener, sympathetic but always stick to ethics. A slight elasticity in the ethics or a small negligence in the rules can ruin everything.
I am now an executive board member of various institutions in various sectors, including sports, iron and steel, telecommunication, payment systems, education, banking and non-bank financially solutions. This variety gives me tremendous opportunities like knowing great people, sharing knowledge, experiencing glory and agony as well. Every moment opens another door to another horizon.
You are also the former secretary general of the Turkish football federation. What was that experience like?
it was a pleasure an honor to serve my country, under the national flag. But there is also the other side of the medallion point. Football except for some countries like Spain, Britain, Germany, and the USA is not taken as a serious occupation. Although people put their life on it.
''There is not much respect for the expertise. Financial, scientific, psychology and marketing aspects are usually fallen down to the bottom of the to-do list. The word infrastructure is commonly understood as facilities, stadiums etc. However, the most important infrastructure and resource is the human.''
Developing football means grassroots. But most of the countries are only focused on professional football rather than developing youngsters. Germany made a tremendous effort and combined digital technology. Spain made a lot of investment for the grassroots. England chooses another path by forming the best national league with the best players from all around the world.
In my experience with The Turkish football federation, I understood one single thing. I have to be the president to change everything. Execution is easy but set a vision for the next century is the most important thing. In countries like Turkey, only the president of TFF has the power to do it. But of course, my experience of Secretary-General will help me if I will be the president of the Federation one day.