Here is a little video I made from the footage I shot during Monterey Auto Week in August 2011. But this hardly does justice to the truly amazing experience. Enjoy!
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Saturday, October 08, 2011
thanks steve
I received this week's BusinessWeek magazine today (yes I get the hard copy). The entire issue is a tribute to Steve Jobs from beginning to end.
I'd highly recommend getting a copy, keeping it, and sharing it with your kids someday. He'll be remembered with the greats like Einstein and Edison.
I'm still processing the loss of such an inspirational human being, visionary and creative genius. Over the past couple of days I've read tons of excellent articles about Steve. Rather than make my own attempt, I'll likely compile a list of my favorites and post them here.
I'd highly recommend getting a copy, keeping it, and sharing it with your kids someday. He'll be remembered with the greats like Einstein and Edison.
I'm still processing the loss of such an inspirational human being, visionary and creative genius. Over the past couple of days I've read tons of excellent articles about Steve. Rather than make my own attempt, I'll likely compile a list of my favorites and post them here.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
my danville concours d'elegance experience and pictures are on egarage.com
Something cool happened the other day.
The "automotive storytellers" over at eGarage.com reached out and asked me to tell my story about the Danville Concours D'Elegance.
I've been enamored with their style (especially their videos like the one below) since prior to the site officially launching, so I was flattered when they extended the invitation to have a few of my words published on their site.
Check out my article and let me know what you think:
Danville Concours D'Elegance | eGarage - by Vincent Chiaro
And to whet your appetite, here's the eGarage teaser video:
The "automotive storytellers" over at eGarage.com reached out and asked me to tell my story about the Danville Concours D'Elegance.
I've been enamored with their style (especially their videos like the one below) since prior to the site officially launching, so I was flattered when they extended the invitation to have a few of my words published on their site.
Check out my article and let me know what you think:
Danville Concours D'Elegance | eGarage - by Vincent Chiaro
And to whet your appetite, here's the eGarage teaser video:
Monday, August 29, 2011
pebble beach concours weekend without the pebble part
Two weekends ago, I took a couple days off work and headed down to Monterey for Pebble Beach Concours except I skipped Pebble Beach this year. I went for the first time back in 2009 but last year I was in Istanbul at the time so I missed the whole thing.
Here's what I learned:
Skipping Pebble wasn't a big deal. I mean, it's pretty awesome to be surrounded by millionaires, billionaires, and their toys / investments but there is honestly so much happening in Monterey that weekend that you can pick and choose any number of events and still have a great time.
This year, I went to: Concorso Italiano, RM Auctions, Bonham Auctions, Gooding and Company Auctions (including a seminar on vintage car values), and saw some historic racing at Laguna Seca. I even crashed the tail end of the Quail Lodge event after Bonham's but they were getting mostly packed up at that point. At some point I think I need to make it to the McCall Motorwork Revival which combines planes and cars in one event.
If all you care about are the pictures, you can find my highlight album here:
I'll also try to post some more videos soon, but here is quickie of the Porshce 918 hybrid:
Here's what I learned:
- Cars can be an investment vehicle just like stocks, bonds, or artwork.
- Very few modern cars will ever appreciate in value. There are a couple of exceptions, and they are all extremely rare vehicles.
- The folks who take this seriously know the risk/return ratios for all the cars.
- 9 times out of 10, you'll be better off buying a car already restored by a reputable professional than having something restored (or restoring it yourself.)
- If you're serious about buying a car at auction, get there early, check it out, talk to lots of folks, and ask to drive it.
- The serious enthusiasts ship their cars all over the world for events like this.
- Be ready for opportunities but be patient. A down economy might present some once-in-a-lifetime chances to buy a car, property, etc at discount prices.
- Strike up conversations with random people. You never know what kind of interesting stories they might have. People are generally nice and happy to chat at these events, especially about cars.
- It's nice to capture these cars on camera, but sort of a pain in the ass to carry a camera around everywhere.
- There are very few "barn finds" left in the world and they are often more trouble than they're worth.
- If you want to buy a vintage car, buy something that you can park in a garage and drive when you want. Some of the massive old "gangster" style cars from the 1920s are totally ridiculous and I don't see how you could really enjoy them.
- It's great to see people still racing some of these old cars. Seeing them "battle tested" rather than restored to better than new condition is more interesting to me.
I also realized that I love the classic Gulf color scheme on just about any car. Perhaps a future look for my Elise?
eGarage.com and other sites have tons of good coverage and photos from the weekend if you're interested.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Turkey Photo Gallery
The photos included in the blog posts below were just a small sample from what I shot on the trip. Here is a link to my complete photo gallery:
2010 Turkey photo gallery
2010 Turkey photo gallery
Friday, August 27, 2010
Day 12 - Tourism in Ankara
Our final full day in Turkey spanned both Ankara and Istanbul and we didn't have any business items so there was more opportunity to do some tourist things. Professors Toppel and Alpin had organized some stuff which was nice so that we didn't have to think and figure things out on our own for the last day.
Ataturk Mausoleum - This is a memorial tomb dedicated to the modern founder of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. He is such a national hero to the people of Turkey and this monument reflects that. Picture George Washington multiplied by 100. The mausoleum was well done and they have military guards similar to those at Buckingham Palace in the UK (they don't move.) We did get the opportunity to see the changing of the guards. They are in different uniforms for the different branches of the military (Navy, Air Force, Army...)
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations - After the mausoleum we headed over to this museum for the rest of the afternoon before catching our flight back to Istanbul. This was definitely a cool and well designed museum with tons of ancient artifacts from the area. Probably most interesting though were the buildings the museum was in, which were build in 1471. The museum covers history from the Palaeolithic Age (8000 BC) through the Roman and Byzantine Period.
We were pretty much free to explore the museum at our own pace even though we did have a guide with us. But a few of us ventured outside to the courtyard, attracted by the sound of roaring fighter jets. Since Turkey's independence day was happening in 3 days, the military was preparing for the festivities. We saw hundreds of military personnel practicing their marches (many streets were closed and traffic was horrible), tanks, jeeps, and the Turkish equivalent of the Blue Angels. Military service is mandatory (18 months) for males in Turkey.
Later that day we took the bus to the Ankara airport, which was huge, new, and surprisingly empty. I'm guessing they built it for future capacity. The flight back to Istanbul was pretty uneventful except for one person arriving at the airport only to realize they'd left their passport back at the hotel. Somehow they were able to take a taxi back to the hotel and still make it on our flight. In Istanbul we were just staying at the Radisson Hotel by the airport on that last night since many of us had early flights back to the US the next morning.
After some confusion with the hotel shuttle, we finally made it there although some of the students gave up and took a taxi.
Neville, Harsha, Caroline and I had one final dinner at the hotel, which turned out to be one of the more expensive dinners on the trip. We were shocked at the prices, especially considering that their outdoor seating in the courtyard was directly in the flight path and the food was only so-so. We were all pretty sad that the trip was coming to an end. We ate and basically had an early night.
I felt like I bonded with the people on this trip in a way that just isn't possible when you're in a classroom setting. Even the people I've worked with on group projects as part of the MBA program don't feel as close as the people I travelled with for two weeks. I've often felt that the networking aspect of a part-time MBA program is one of the weaker parts (as compared to full time MBA programs) but between the LInC cohort and this study abroad trip I feel that I've built some lifelong friendships.
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
Ataturk Mausoleum - This is a memorial tomb dedicated to the modern founder of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. He is such a national hero to the people of Turkey and this monument reflects that. Picture George Washington multiplied by 100. The mausoleum was well done and they have military guards similar to those at Buckingham Palace in the UK (they don't move.) We did get the opportunity to see the changing of the guards. They are in different uniforms for the different branches of the military (Navy, Air Force, Army...)
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations - After the mausoleum we headed over to this museum for the rest of the afternoon before catching our flight back to Istanbul. This was definitely a cool and well designed museum with tons of ancient artifacts from the area. Probably most interesting though were the buildings the museum was in, which were build in 1471. The museum covers history from the Palaeolithic Age (8000 BC) through the Roman and Byzantine Period.
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
We were pretty much free to explore the museum at our own pace even though we did have a guide with us. But a few of us ventured outside to the courtyard, attracted by the sound of roaring fighter jets. Since Turkey's independence day was happening in 3 days, the military was preparing for the festivities. We saw hundreds of military personnel practicing their marches (many streets were closed and traffic was horrible), tanks, jeeps, and the Turkish equivalent of the Blue Angels. Military service is mandatory (18 months) for males in Turkey.
Later that day we took the bus to the Ankara airport, which was huge, new, and surprisingly empty. I'm guessing they built it for future capacity. The flight back to Istanbul was pretty uneventful except for one person arriving at the airport only to realize they'd left their passport back at the hotel. Somehow they were able to take a taxi back to the hotel and still make it on our flight. In Istanbul we were just staying at the Radisson Hotel by the airport on that last night since many of us had early flights back to the US the next morning.
After some confusion with the hotel shuttle, we finally made it there although some of the students gave up and took a taxi.
Neville, Harsha, Caroline and I had one final dinner at the hotel, which turned out to be one of the more expensive dinners on the trip. We were shocked at the prices, especially considering that their outdoor seating in the courtyard was directly in the flight path and the food was only so-so. We were all pretty sad that the trip was coming to an end. We ate and basically had an early night.
I felt like I bonded with the people on this trip in a way that just isn't possible when you're in a classroom setting. Even the people I've worked with on group projects as part of the MBA program don't feel as close as the people I travelled with for two weeks. I've often felt that the networking aspect of a part-time MBA program is one of the weaker parts (as compared to full time MBA programs) but between the LInC cohort and this study abroad trip I feel that I've built some lifelong friendships.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Day 11 - Stopping by the US Embassy
This was our first full day in Ankara and we had two visits on the agenda: Lockheed and the US Embassy.
Lockheed has a tiny office of about five people in Turkey, in fact, they decided we should meet at the Hilton Hotel in order to accommodate 26 MBA students. One of our classmates works for Lockheed in the US, so we had a good connection and rapport with the folks presenting.
The Lockheed presentation covered the political climate in Turkey but I was more interested to learn about their products. The F16 was first produced in Turkey in 1978 and Lockheed continues to see a big future in Turkey. Turkey has a strong military (when you border 9 different countries, that's probably a good idea) and buys a fair number of products from Lockheed. Of course this business has a long sales cycle, often 5 years or more. Another interesting tidbit was that the planes Lockheed sells to other countries (these sales must be approved by Congress) actually are not quite the same as the planes Lockheed sells to the US military. Again, probably a wise business practice when selling weapons (save the best for yourself)! There have been some changes in the access Lockheed sales folks have to generals and the various government decision makers that makes it more difficult for them to secure sales in this relationship driven culture.
I was bummed to find out that their cheapest product is around $50 million, although they did promise to include free shipping.
The US Embassy was interesting mainly because I'd never been to an embassy in a foreign country. Security was tight and we had to go through in groups of only five people at a time. We couldn't bring in any electronics; no phones, no cameras, nothing. During our visit we spoke with folks from the political department, the commerce department, the department of agriculture (USDA), and the commercial services department. We covered a whole bunch of topics, including many we'd already discussed on our trip, but it was cool to get the perspective from Americans living in Turkey. In general, their jobs seemed like they involved writing a bunch of reports...which sounds sort of boring but everyone we spoke to really seemed to love their jobs. (Incidentally, someone from our group confirmed that these foreign service jobs are pretty tough to get.) Basically, they said their job is to "add value on top of the stuff you see on CNN."
On a side note, our visit to the US Embassy was typically American and they were the only place we visited that didn't offer us Turkish tea or water. (And I assume they weren't observing Ramadan.)
We had some down time in the afternoon so I went off on my own in search of postcards. Ankara must not be very touristy (or at least the part we were in) because I walked for blocks and never found any.
That evening we had an organized dinner at the Washington Restaurant with the folks from Lockheed. It was a good meal and I was fortunate to be seated across from Marty who always keeps things entertaining.
Based on the recommendation from the Lockheed folks we walked down to a pub for a few beers but ultimately migrated to a bar called the Fat Cat almost right behind our hotel. Since it was really our last night together as a group, nearly everyone came out and we had a pretty big night. One interesting tidbit from the bar was that we were able to negotiate our massive bar tab when it came time to pay. Granted, we were pretty much the only ones in the bar, but we did drink a lot and I don't think you'd be able to haggle on the price at a bar in the US.
Lockheed has a tiny office of about five people in Turkey, in fact, they decided we should meet at the Hilton Hotel in order to accommodate 26 MBA students. One of our classmates works for Lockheed in the US, so we had a good connection and rapport with the folks presenting.
The Lockheed presentation covered the political climate in Turkey but I was more interested to learn about their products. The F16 was first produced in Turkey in 1978 and Lockheed continues to see a big future in Turkey. Turkey has a strong military (when you border 9 different countries, that's probably a good idea) and buys a fair number of products from Lockheed. Of course this business has a long sales cycle, often 5 years or more. Another interesting tidbit was that the planes Lockheed sells to other countries (these sales must be approved by Congress) actually are not quite the same as the planes Lockheed sells to the US military. Again, probably a wise business practice when selling weapons (save the best for yourself)! There have been some changes in the access Lockheed sales folks have to generals and the various government decision makers that makes it more difficult for them to secure sales in this relationship driven culture.
I was bummed to find out that their cheapest product is around $50 million, although they did promise to include free shipping.
The US Embassy was interesting mainly because I'd never been to an embassy in a foreign country. Security was tight and we had to go through in groups of only five people at a time. We couldn't bring in any electronics; no phones, no cameras, nothing. During our visit we spoke with folks from the political department, the commerce department, the department of agriculture (USDA), and the commercial services department. We covered a whole bunch of topics, including many we'd already discussed on our trip, but it was cool to get the perspective from Americans living in Turkey. In general, their jobs seemed like they involved writing a bunch of reports...which sounds sort of boring but everyone we spoke to really seemed to love their jobs. (Incidentally, someone from our group confirmed that these foreign service jobs are pretty tough to get.) Basically, they said their job is to "add value on top of the stuff you see on CNN."
On a side note, our visit to the US Embassy was typically American and they were the only place we visited that didn't offer us Turkish tea or water. (And I assume they weren't observing Ramadan.)
We had some down time in the afternoon so I went off on my own in search of postcards. Ankara must not be very touristy (or at least the part we were in) because I walked for blocks and never found any.
That evening we had an organized dinner at the Washington Restaurant with the folks from Lockheed. It was a good meal and I was fortunate to be seated across from Marty who always keeps things entertaining.
Based on the recommendation from the Lockheed folks we walked down to a pub for a few beers but ultimately migrated to a bar called the Fat Cat almost right behind our hotel. Since it was really our last night together as a group, nearly everyone came out and we had a pretty big night. One interesting tidbit from the bar was that we were able to negotiate our massive bar tab when it came time to pay. Granted, we were pretty much the only ones in the bar, but we did drink a lot and I don't think you'd be able to haggle on the price at a bar in the US.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Day 10 - Off to Ankara
Wednesday morning we reunited with our hosts from Duzce University and visited Standard Profil, a company that makes weather stripping seals for cars. Even though I'm a huge gearhead, I'd never given much thought to the seals around the windows, doors, and trunk so I was surprised to see this one component of a vehicle was such a massive operation. We had a chance to tour their factory where we saw raw rubber material being made into seals for a variety of modern cars from GM, Fiat, VW, Porsche, etc. It's a little odd that the region is known for agriculture, yet there is this large manufacturing plant here. It was cool to learn that they produce all their own electricity and heat at the plant using cogeneration (burning natural gas in essentially a gas turbine engine to create electricity and heat as a by-product.)
Standard Profil has been around since 1977 and is a leader in their industry. They made a smart move a few years ago and applied the diversification practices used in investing to their customers. Previously, GM was their largest customer, but now they get approximately equal business from VW, GM, Renault, and Fiat. Given GM's bankruptcy, this was a wise move and showed good management. Standard Profil is focused on their customers...they have a specific niche and they do that job well rather than trying to expand into many different parts of automobile manufacturing. When asked how they get feedback for improving their products, they indicated it was mostly from the OEMs who aggregate customer feedback and share it with their suppliers.
We left the factory and headed to a meeting with the Duzce Governor and Mayor. Given our past meeting with the governor of another small town, I expected this would be similarly "quaint". But when we arrived, it was a full-on press conference with journalists and cameras! I guess a group of MBA students from Silicon Valley meeting with the Governor is a pretty big deal. It was a very formal event, including the proper seating positions. I ended up being seated right next to the dean of Duzce University, who also served as a translator for the event. As expected, the entire visit was published in the local paper the following day. You can find the article here. (Notice me sitting taking notes in the second picture.)
Even though it was Ramadan, the Governor offered us juice and chocolates but not until after his assistant had gone around with lemon hand sanitizer to everyone in the room. Since we were sitting in his office, seating 26 of us was a little awkward but we made it work. The office was very new and nicely decorated. The Governor and Mayor answered a lot of questions and shared their insights with us. Some of the key topics were:
- Priorities for the region: Education, proper development of industrialization, addressing needs of the young generation.
- Common characteristics of successful business leaders in the region: Willingness to accept and take risk, courageous, keep track of world events, competent in analyzing how their business fits in.
- View of the US: Friends, important for the US to have friendly Islamic countries like Turkey, government style in the US is similar to the Ottoman Empire, people in the US don't have the correct view of what's happening in the world, the US isn't a different world -- it's part of the world.
I also came away with an appreciation for how the Turkish government functions. They have this local and central government (similar to our local and federal) but I think it's better in some ways. For example, the governor is appointed by the central government for a term of 5 years (for that specific region) while the mayor is elected by the people. They work together and there really is no hierarchy between them. One of the benefits of this is that the governor can make some less popular, but needed, decisions without worrying about being re-elected.
After the governor's office (where we again received nice gifts!) we proceeded to the Duzce Art (vocational) school to see some of the local craftspeople working. They were doing a bunch of activities such as painting plates, making jewelry, and creating what I called "oil and vinegar art". All the MBA students had a chance to do some of this too and the oil and vinegar art was by far the most popular. Basically, you had a tray of water and into this tray you splattered some different colored paints. Then you could use various tools to swirl them around or make interesting designs, but it was still entirely liquid even though they didn't mix together. Once you had a design you liked, you simply laid a piece of paper on top of the liquid and the color and "image" was transferred over. Pretty cool!
We had a few minutes to kill after the art school and luckily there was an outdoor bazar happening nearby. This gave us the opportunity to see how the locals shopped since the grand bazar back in Istanbul is very touristy. It was sort of like a farmers market in the sense that there was a lot of fresh food sold (including some tasty, salted string cheese stuff) but there were also staples like cleaning products, clothing, and bathroom supplies. Unlike in Istanbul, probably 98% of the women I saw at the bazar wore headscarves.
We ate lunch at the Berceste Restaurant which was OK but I didn't think it was amazing. They did have good baklava for dessert though!
After lunch we piled back into the bus for the long drive to Ankara, Turkey's capital. We arrived at the Rixos Hotel which is super trendy even though the customer service was less than stellar. They had metal detectors at the front door and the security guys in front of the hotel used mirrors to check for bombs under every car that pulled up. I'm not sure if this is standard but we later found out the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan was staying there at the same time so they might have had increased security. Most of the folks in the hotel lobby were in business suits so as MBA students we felt a bit under-dressed.
The hotel rooms were by far the fanciest we stayed in during the trip. When you put your key into the light switch, the whole room came to life including the curtains which were motorized and programed to open when you entered the room. The photos below can explain the modern style of the room better than I can.
For dinner we met up with a Turkish friend of Andrea's who had lived in San Francisco for three years. It was great to have a local guide us and take us out for dinner. We drove about 20 minutes from the hotel to a part of Ankara that felt modern and posh, sort of like Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles. The restaurants and bars were trendy and there were nice Porsches, Mercedes, and BMWs parked out front. Something that was particularly cool, but would never work in the US, is that when we arrived our host Cem spoke to the taxi driver and of course we asked how much we owed. He replied telling us nothing...that we'd pay the driver after he comes back to get us after dinner. What? Really? They exchanged cell phone numbers and off the taxi went. Sure enough, when we called him later he came back for us.
At dinner Cem asked "Do you trust me to do the ordering?" and of course we said yes so he got us an awesome spread of amazing food. The most interesting thing was a raw lamb dish in lettuce wraps. The lamb was heavily spiced and ground up. Even though it sounded gross it was actually very good.
Cem is obviously pretty well connected since he pulled some strings to get Andrea a room upgrade at the hotel and managed to get a few free rounds of drinks at the bar after dinner. This is also part of the Turkish culture. They're very relationship driven and you go out of your way to help out friends, as he was doing for us. This is something I'd like to adopt when I get back home. I feel like our lives are often so busy that you don't go out of the way to help people or even to really engage with people.
After dinner we headed across the road to a bar where once again we were able to sit outdoors in the warm climate. We proceeded to have a few more drinks, include the findik (pronounced 'fun dick'!) shots which are some type of hazelnut liquor (hazelnuts are a big part of the agriculture business in Turkey.) This was another one of the most fun nights I had on the trip.
Standard Profil has been around since 1977 and is a leader in their industry. They made a smart move a few years ago and applied the diversification practices used in investing to their customers. Previously, GM was their largest customer, but now they get approximately equal business from VW, GM, Renault, and Fiat. Given GM's bankruptcy, this was a wise move and showed good management. Standard Profil is focused on their customers...they have a specific niche and they do that job well rather than trying to expand into many different parts of automobile manufacturing. When asked how they get feedback for improving their products, they indicated it was mostly from the OEMs who aggregate customer feedback and share it with their suppliers.
We left the factory and headed to a meeting with the Duzce Governor and Mayor. Given our past meeting with the governor of another small town, I expected this would be similarly "quaint". But when we arrived, it was a full-on press conference with journalists and cameras! I guess a group of MBA students from Silicon Valley meeting with the Governor is a pretty big deal. It was a very formal event, including the proper seating positions. I ended up being seated right next to the dean of Duzce University, who also served as a translator for the event. As expected, the entire visit was published in the local paper the following day. You can find the article here. (Notice me sitting taking notes in the second picture.)
Even though it was Ramadan, the Governor offered us juice and chocolates but not until after his assistant had gone around with lemon hand sanitizer to everyone in the room. Since we were sitting in his office, seating 26 of us was a little awkward but we made it work. The office was very new and nicely decorated. The Governor and Mayor answered a lot of questions and shared their insights with us. Some of the key topics were:
- Priorities for the region: Education, proper development of industrialization, addressing needs of the young generation.
- Common characteristics of successful business leaders in the region: Willingness to accept and take risk, courageous, keep track of world events, competent in analyzing how their business fits in.
- View of the US: Friends, important for the US to have friendly Islamic countries like Turkey, government style in the US is similar to the Ottoman Empire, people in the US don't have the correct view of what's happening in the world, the US isn't a different world -- it's part of the world.
I also came away with an appreciation for how the Turkish government functions. They have this local and central government (similar to our local and federal) but I think it's better in some ways. For example, the governor is appointed by the central government for a term of 5 years (for that specific region) while the mayor is elected by the people. They work together and there really is no hierarchy between them. One of the benefits of this is that the governor can make some less popular, but needed, decisions without worrying about being re-elected.
After the governor's office (where we again received nice gifts!) we proceeded to the Duzce Art (vocational) school to see some of the local craftspeople working. They were doing a bunch of activities such as painting plates, making jewelry, and creating what I called "oil and vinegar art". All the MBA students had a chance to do some of this too and the oil and vinegar art was by far the most popular. Basically, you had a tray of water and into this tray you splattered some different colored paints. Then you could use various tools to swirl them around or make interesting designs, but it was still entirely liquid even though they didn't mix together. Once you had a design you liked, you simply laid a piece of paper on top of the liquid and the color and "image" was transferred over. Pretty cool!
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
We had a few minutes to kill after the art school and luckily there was an outdoor bazar happening nearby. This gave us the opportunity to see how the locals shopped since the grand bazar back in Istanbul is very touristy. It was sort of like a farmers market in the sense that there was a lot of fresh food sold (including some tasty, salted string cheese stuff) but there were also staples like cleaning products, clothing, and bathroom supplies. Unlike in Istanbul, probably 98% of the women I saw at the bazar wore headscarves.
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
We ate lunch at the Berceste Restaurant which was OK but I didn't think it was amazing. They did have good baklava for dessert though!
After lunch we piled back into the bus for the long drive to Ankara, Turkey's capital. We arrived at the Rixos Hotel which is super trendy even though the customer service was less than stellar. They had metal detectors at the front door and the security guys in front of the hotel used mirrors to check for bombs under every car that pulled up. I'm not sure if this is standard but we later found out the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan was staying there at the same time so they might have had increased security. Most of the folks in the hotel lobby were in business suits so as MBA students we felt a bit under-dressed.
The hotel rooms were by far the fanciest we stayed in during the trip. When you put your key into the light switch, the whole room came to life including the curtains which were motorized and programed to open when you entered the room. The photos below can explain the modern style of the room better than I can.
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
For dinner we met up with a Turkish friend of Andrea's who had lived in San Francisco for three years. It was great to have a local guide us and take us out for dinner. We drove about 20 minutes from the hotel to a part of Ankara that felt modern and posh, sort of like Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles. The restaurants and bars were trendy and there were nice Porsches, Mercedes, and BMWs parked out front. Something that was particularly cool, but would never work in the US, is that when we arrived our host Cem spoke to the taxi driver and of course we asked how much we owed. He replied telling us nothing...that we'd pay the driver after he comes back to get us after dinner. What? Really? They exchanged cell phone numbers and off the taxi went. Sure enough, when we called him later he came back for us.
At dinner Cem asked "Do you trust me to do the ordering?" and of course we said yes so he got us an awesome spread of amazing food. The most interesting thing was a raw lamb dish in lettuce wraps. The lamb was heavily spiced and ground up. Even though it sounded gross it was actually very good.
Cem is obviously pretty well connected since he pulled some strings to get Andrea a room upgrade at the hotel and managed to get a few free rounds of drinks at the bar after dinner. This is also part of the Turkish culture. They're very relationship driven and you go out of your way to help out friends, as he was doing for us. This is something I'd like to adopt when I get back home. I feel like our lives are often so busy that you don't go out of the way to help people or even to really engage with people.
After dinner we headed across the road to a bar where once again we were able to sit outdoors in the warm climate. We proceeded to have a few more drinks, include the findik (pronounced 'fun dick'!) shots which are some type of hazelnut liquor (hazelnuts are a big part of the agriculture business in Turkey.) This was another one of the most fun nights I had on the trip.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Day 9 - Duzce University
Tuesday was a pretty long day of riding the bus as we headed out to Duzce University, which is about 3 hours away from Istanbul. We had a huge bus for our 26 people so basically everyone got their own row of seats which made things more comfortable. But I was sad to leave Istanbul and the Point Hotel which had begun to feel familiar.
On the way to the university we had a planned lunch stop sort of in the middle of nowhere but which turned out to be one of the best meals I had in Turkey. Since it was still Ramadan and this part of the country is much more religious than Istanbul, our group was literally the only people in the restaurant. Aside from the great food, another memorable moment was crashing the bus. The road to the restaurant had this archway we had to drive under and even though the bus driver got out and checked, we still didn't fit. Whoops!
After lunch we continued to the university, which is almost brand new (built in 2006) and focused on agriculture (think UC Davis). The first stop was the Herbarium which is like a plant museum. Next, we went to the main auditorium where we were welcomed with open arms. I'd heard about Turkish hospitality, but this was completely overboard. I think it helped that one of our professors, Linda Alpin, was friends with the president of Duzce University, Funda Serifoglu. They welcomed us and had each of us introduce ourselves to the small audience. It was quite a cermony including the exchange of gifts between the professors (and later gifts were given to all of us as well.)
Then we a short coffee break afterwards where we met two Turkish English instructors who I think enjoyed practicing their english with us. Next, we piled back into the bus for an adventurous drive down some twisty mountain roads to a 200 year old mosque out in the middle of nowhere. I was surprised our bus could even make it down some of these streets. While out in this rural mountain area, we once again saw the other side of Turkey...people living basic lives near poverty. But chatting with the folks at the mosque they actually seemed happier than most Americans I know, despite not having much.
We made a pit stop back in town to check out an old Roman theatre from about 800 BC. Our hosts served ice cream sandwiches which were a welcome relief from the mid-day heat. And we must have been quite a sight for the local kids in town as it seemed like a bunch of them came to check us out. We also went to a history museum that covered the local history dating back to some 2000 BC. America is such a young little baby by comparison.
View Larger Map
Once back in the bus, we hit the road headed to our final stop for the night -- Akcakoza on the Black Sea. A buffet dinner at the hotel and overlooking the water was waiting for us when we arrived. Akcakoza is a pretty small town, but at least it did have a city center part and a fair number of buildings. After dinner a few of us went to the hotel pool and ventured into the Black Sea early the next morning. It's hard to believe that Russia is just across the water. During breakfast the next day (again looking over the sea) we saw a couple of dolphins just off the coast. This hotel (Diapolis) is in a great location but the rooms are a bit dated even though they're huge (in fact there were two separate rooms in each room.)
But I appreciated getting to see some parts of Turkey outside of Istanbul especially because things are vastly different once outside of the big city.
On the way to the university we had a planned lunch stop sort of in the middle of nowhere but which turned out to be one of the best meals I had in Turkey. Since it was still Ramadan and this part of the country is much more religious than Istanbul, our group was literally the only people in the restaurant. Aside from the great food, another memorable moment was crashing the bus. The road to the restaurant had this archway we had to drive under and even though the bus driver got out and checked, we still didn't fit. Whoops!
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
After lunch we continued to the university, which is almost brand new (built in 2006) and focused on agriculture (think UC Davis). The first stop was the Herbarium which is like a plant museum. Next, we went to the main auditorium where we were welcomed with open arms. I'd heard about Turkish hospitality, but this was completely overboard. I think it helped that one of our professors, Linda Alpin, was friends with the president of Duzce University, Funda Serifoglu. They welcomed us and had each of us introduce ourselves to the small audience. It was quite a cermony including the exchange of gifts between the professors (and later gifts were given to all of us as well.)
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
Then we a short coffee break afterwards where we met two Turkish English instructors who I think enjoyed practicing their english with us. Next, we piled back into the bus for an adventurous drive down some twisty mountain roads to a 200 year old mosque out in the middle of nowhere. I was surprised our bus could even make it down some of these streets. While out in this rural mountain area, we once again saw the other side of Turkey...people living basic lives near poverty. But chatting with the folks at the mosque they actually seemed happier than most Americans I know, despite not having much.
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
We made a pit stop back in town to check out an old Roman theatre from about 800 BC. Our hosts served ice cream sandwiches which were a welcome relief from the mid-day heat. And we must have been quite a sight for the local kids in town as it seemed like a bunch of them came to check us out. We also went to a history museum that covered the local history dating back to some 2000 BC. America is such a young little baby by comparison.
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
View Larger Map
Once back in the bus, we hit the road headed to our final stop for the night -- Akcakoza on the Black Sea. A buffet dinner at the hotel and overlooking the water was waiting for us when we arrived. Akcakoza is a pretty small town, but at least it did have a city center part and a fair number of buildings. After dinner a few of us went to the hotel pool and ventured into the Black Sea early the next morning. It's hard to believe that Russia is just across the water. During breakfast the next day (again looking over the sea) we saw a couple of dolphins just off the coast. This hotel (Diapolis) is in a great location but the rooms are a bit dated even though they're huge (in fact there were two separate rooms in each room.)
 |
| From 2010 Turkey |
But I appreciated getting to see some parts of Turkey outside of Istanbul especially because things are vastly different once outside of the big city.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Istanbul Day 8 - Back to work
Today turned out to be pretty interesting with visits to Hurriyet Daily News (an English newspaper), Eczacibasi Group (another holding company), and Turk Telcom.
We started with the newspaper, where we all crammed into their tiny conference room. The building itself was nice and writers worked in an open floorplan of long desks with many computers in a row. This is similar to the setup I recall in the Google Dublin office and I assume it's typical of European companies. The discussion quickly turned to politics, even though I was more interested in the business of running a newspaper in Turkey. However, the editor offered an interesting framework for the news. He feels like are the five "stories" being told in one form or another in Turkey. These are:
1) The Armenian Genocide
2) Islam vs. Secularism
3) Honor killings
4) Status of women in Turkey
5) Freedom of expression in Turkey
Google any of those terms in order to find out more about them.
He also mentioned that he likes to hire writers to cover topics about their own culture. He doesn't want to hire a Canadian to come write about the Kurds, he wants a Kurd to write about the Kurdish conflict. I think this is a pretty good approach. He said they are more familiar with the issue and write with more passion, yet through the editorial process he can ensure they are presenting a balanced viewpoint. Seems like good management to me.
Censorship is an issue in the Turkish media, and especially self-censorship. One issue is that there are very few public records. For example, you can't just walk into the records office and say "I'd like a list of all the property owned by so-and-so."
From a business perspective, advertising isn't very mature in Turkey yet. The biggest advertisers are P&G and Turkcell. As a result, his paper lost $2 million last year. I guess newspapers are struggling worldwide for readership. He felt that his paper won't exist in a paper format 5 years from now and I'd guess that this has to do with Turkey's young population and their willingness to embrace new technology. (Most Turks are under 35.) This is also why Garanti Bank has been so successful launching new products and features.
Eczacibasi was another great visit and they welcomed us with open arms. Their building is amazingly beautiful, just like the design of their bathroom products (sinks, faucets, etc.) They had quite a spread of snacks and beverages in their 21st story conference room with panoramic views of Istanbul. In general, the company felt much more "modern" than the other holding company we visited, the Dogan Group. The main difference I noticed was that with Eczacibasi you could actually see the synergy between the companies they owned whereas Dogan felt like a random hodge-podge of companies.
They have a ton of joint ventures and this is a good way for foreign companies to enter the Turkish market. Many are 50/50, which is a bit unusual but the business development manager who gave the presentation said they work quite well. Many are with German and American companies, so they know these cultures and how to do business with them. Sinan (biz dev manager) indicated that Russia would be the next country they probably do big JVs with.
The question of innovation came up again and they take innovation very seriously. In fact, they have a direct report to the CEO who is a sort of innovation coordinator -- this seems like something I'd like to do! Similar to other organizations, they have a system where employees can submit ideas and be rewarded for those that result in products. They also have an annual "Innovation Day" where they update everyone in the company on innovations submitted by employees.
When I asked about the biggest cultural challenge working with Americans, Sinan said it was distance and a lack of knowledge. Basically, American's don't do their homework on Turkey and have a lot of misconceptions. Many don't do their market research. And they don't know the story of Turkey. On a side note, I think you have to be an ex-supermodel in order to work here if you're a woman (judging by the employees we met).
Our next stop was Turk Telcom. We met with one of their VPs who previously spent 16 years in the US, some of that time working at Yahoo!. They are the #1 DSL provider in Turkey and have 6M customers (abouot 92% market share). They also deliver landline telephone service.
Turk Telcom was government owned until about 2005 and the Turkish goverment is still a major shareholder. It's weird to think that they're a 168 year old company...you don't find many of those in America. Lately though, they've been shifting their strategy to actually deliver what customers want, which didn't matter in the past because they had a monopoly and customer had to accept whatever they delivered.
We started with the newspaper, where we all crammed into their tiny conference room. The building itself was nice and writers worked in an open floorplan of long desks with many computers in a row. This is similar to the setup I recall in the Google Dublin office and I assume it's typical of European companies. The discussion quickly turned to politics, even though I was more interested in the business of running a newspaper in Turkey. However, the editor offered an interesting framework for the news. He feels like are the five "stories" being told in one form or another in Turkey. These are:
1) The Armenian Genocide
2) Islam vs. Secularism
3) Honor killings
4) Status of women in Turkey
5) Freedom of expression in Turkey
Google any of those terms in order to find out more about them.
He also mentioned that he likes to hire writers to cover topics about their own culture. He doesn't want to hire a Canadian to come write about the Kurds, he wants a Kurd to write about the Kurdish conflict. I think this is a pretty good approach. He said they are more familiar with the issue and write with more passion, yet through the editorial process he can ensure they are presenting a balanced viewpoint. Seems like good management to me.
Censorship is an issue in the Turkish media, and especially self-censorship. One issue is that there are very few public records. For example, you can't just walk into the records office and say "I'd like a list of all the property owned by so-and-so."
From a business perspective, advertising isn't very mature in Turkey yet. The biggest advertisers are P&G and Turkcell. As a result, his paper lost $2 million last year. I guess newspapers are struggling worldwide for readership. He felt that his paper won't exist in a paper format 5 years from now and I'd guess that this has to do with Turkey's young population and their willingness to embrace new technology. (Most Turks are under 35.) This is also why Garanti Bank has been so successful launching new products and features.
Eczacibasi was another great visit and they welcomed us with open arms. Their building is amazingly beautiful, just like the design of their bathroom products (sinks, faucets, etc.) They had quite a spread of snacks and beverages in their 21st story conference room with panoramic views of Istanbul. In general, the company felt much more "modern" than the other holding company we visited, the Dogan Group. The main difference I noticed was that with Eczacibasi you could actually see the synergy between the companies they owned whereas Dogan felt like a random hodge-podge of companies.
They have a ton of joint ventures and this is a good way for foreign companies to enter the Turkish market. Many are 50/50, which is a bit unusual but the business development manager who gave the presentation said they work quite well. Many are with German and American companies, so they know these cultures and how to do business with them. Sinan (biz dev manager) indicated that Russia would be the next country they probably do big JVs with.
The question of innovation came up again and they take innovation very seriously. In fact, they have a direct report to the CEO who is a sort of innovation coordinator -- this seems like something I'd like to do! Similar to other organizations, they have a system where employees can submit ideas and be rewarded for those that result in products. They also have an annual "Innovation Day" where they update everyone in the company on innovations submitted by employees.
When I asked about the biggest cultural challenge working with Americans, Sinan said it was distance and a lack of knowledge. Basically, American's don't do their homework on Turkey and have a lot of misconceptions. Many don't do their market research. And they don't know the story of Turkey. On a side note, I think you have to be an ex-supermodel in order to work here if you're a woman (judging by the employees we met).
Our next stop was Turk Telcom. We met with one of their VPs who previously spent 16 years in the US, some of that time working at Yahoo!. They are the #1 DSL provider in Turkey and have 6M customers (abouot 92% market share). They also deliver landline telephone service.
Turk Telcom was government owned until about 2005 and the Turkish goverment is still a major shareholder. It's weird to think that they're a 168 year old company...you don't find many of those in America. Lately though, they've been shifting their strategy to actually deliver what customers want, which didn't matter in the past because they had a monopoly and customer had to accept whatever they delivered.
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