Turkish Global Society (2024, Issue 3) published a long-form interview with me by Esra Kırkavak, titled “Öğrenme yoksa ben de yokum”, roughly “Without learning, there is no me”. The full interview is in Turkish; the magazine pages are below. Here are a few of the threads we talked about.

Leaving the comfort zone early

I studied industrial engineering at METU and once thought I would become an academic. I soon realised I wanted to be in business instead. After a short start in Istanbul, I joined P&G in Poland just as the country entered the EU. Learning Polish within a year, and learning how to adapt my leadership style to a new culture, turned out to be one of the real turning points of my career.

Digital before it was obvious

In 2007–2008 I had to choose between marketing and technology. Digital marketing let me combine both. At P&G I led digital marketing for the Middle East, Africa, Turkey and Eastern Europe, and later took on a global mobile innovation role as well. In 2011 I moved to Pfizer to set up digital marketing and business transformation, and went on to lead Commercial Operations in Germany, Pfizer’s largest market in Europe.

Leading through the pandemic

We talked about what the pandemic meant for a commercial organisation: pausing field visits almost overnight, giving the team learning opportunities online, and the personal habits I kept afterwards, such as walking one-to-one meetings.

Why marketing will become more exciting with AI

AI is changing everything from drug discovery to sales and marketing. My focus is commercial transformation: using AI to make content faster and more relevant, working across agencies, marketing and medical teams, and understanding customers better with every interaction.

The magazine pages (in Turkish)