My CEOs

For some time now, award ceremonies have been held for CEOs and CFOs. I looked at the candidates and found it hard to believe. Because there were CEOs of unsuccessful institutions that have poor company standing and no communication. So, what should one look for when choosing a CEO? Who is a successful CEO?

1. The company must be institutionally successful, open, and transparent. Success is visible even from the outside by what institutions do. For example, in the finance sector, Hakan Aran is doing work that elevates İş Bankası. In the automotive sector, BYD and İsmail Ergun are again producing extremely successful results.

2. They must be open to communication. Being a CEO is a difficult task. It requires serious skills. It is not enough to just know the company's field of activity; it requires managing all of a company's KPIs and departments simultaneously. In the career journey of a person who has taken on the CEO role, returning to the same position becomes a natural expectation. However, in this process, temporary pauses may occur in their professional lives during certain periods. Truly strong leaders, however, do not view these periods as a retreat, but as an opportunity to reposition themselves. What makes them different is the path they follow during this process; they prepare for the future by maintaining visibility, productivity, and their sphere of influence. I think one of the most successful names in this regard is Serdar Urçar from HP.

3. Furthermore, a CEO keeps communication channels open both while in an active role and after leaving the position. In this regard, I think Serdar Urçar is again a very correct name.

I tell people around me who are new company executives that they should pay attention to this issue. Roles do not last forever. If your plan is not to start your own business, you must definitely manage your own communication for your career. Because if you did not become a CEO by chance, you will want to be one again in the future, and this career planning passes through close relationships.

İŞ BANKASI AND ITS NEW APPLICATION

As someone who has been a jury member for web and mobile application competitions in Turkey and abroad for fifteen or twenty years, and as a columnist who writes articles and prepares files specifically about websites and applications in the finance sector, I am well-versed in this area. Last month, İş Bankası renewed its mobile application. If you follow me on LinkedIn, you have an idea about my views on the application. Let me mention it briefly here: I found it very successful. Both the way the application works and the user interface are like a true mobile application. It is useful, easy to navigate, and everything you are looking for can be found easily. Despite this, the other day, they called my wife from İş Bankası. They conveyed that they noticed she had been on the application for a long time and was having difficulty finding the locations of services. They said that if she wished, she could revert to the old application and explained how she could do it.

Truly, hats off to them! Both making a good application and following up on the audience that might not be happy with this innovative idea when the application arrives is, for me, the final point of digital transformation. I congratulated İş Bankası for this human-centric approach. However, I also thought that the company that realized the mobile application deserved a congratulation. First, I sent a message to İş Bankası CEO Hakan Aran via LinkedIn and asked for the name of the company that realized the application. Although we have been connected for a long time, I did not receive an answer from Mr. Hakan. Later, I asked this information to İş Bankası via their Twitter account; unfortunately, I did not receive an answer from there either. Later, I reached this information within a day or two through Lobby, İş Bankası's communication agency. I reached the names of the Fatih and Fırat İşbecer brothers, who had previously realized a very successful application for Turkish Airlines (THY). They had exited their software companies after successfully creating the THY application. The name of the company that realized İş Bankası's mobile applications was Commencis. Although they have been among my connections for a long time, I sent messages to both brothers and unfortunately did not receive a response. So be it. I think they made a very beautiful application. It must be celebrated...

KPMG: GENAI REVOLUTION IN CORPORATE CULTURE

KPMG has conducted a study; it has revealed that the adaptation of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is not only a technological evolution but also points to deep transformations in corporate culture.

Other findings are as follows:

•That senior executives are using GenAI tools intensively,

•That the need for restructuring in data quality, employee adaptation, and management strategies has become evident,

•That leaders are planning to integrate GenAI into performance evaluation processes,

•That human-centric cultural adaptation is essential for the sustainable success of digital transformation,

•That beyond investments in technology, one must also be prepared for the cultural transformation that will shape the future of the business world.