Letter from Turkey

Last week I received an email from a former student so I like to share with you:

Dear Professor,

After six years working for a software company in the U.S, I found a new job as a manager for a software company in Turkey. My responsibility is to help manage the company and expand the business in both the local and regional markets. My new company had about three hundred employees, their main work consisted of: Computer repairs, develop software for local uses such as create websites, manage small e-business, install commercial off the shelf softwares, set up wireless and wired network for other companies and provide additional information technology (IT) supports. My new company is small, compare with company in the U.S but they want to play a bigger role in the regional market. The IT market in the Middle East is very promising and there are many good opportunities for growth because there are lot of potential in this area. As a manager, my job took me to many countries in the region. In my traveling, I noticed few things that I want to share with you and CMU students:

From the technical view, the world is really one small place, or "The Flat World". All the technical things such as development methods, solutions, network infrastructure, security setup, etc, seem to be identical everywhere. Most companies use the same products that we used in the U.S. With my education and software experience, I have no problem at all.

However, from the management point of view, things are different. Each country has its own style of management and very different thinkings. Although we are in a "Flat word" technically, but we are still far away from management style. The issues here are the lack of new thinking, new ideas, and new learning. Most managers here are fifty or sixty years old and they come from a world that is very different from the world that I come from. They live in the past, they often talk about their accomplishments and how they get to their positions. They do not know much about what happen outside their "Comfortable zones" or maybe they do not care. They do not like to make quick decision but spend more time to think about it, basically they do not think but delay it as long as possible. They do not want to see things out of control, they do not want to see changes, they just enjoy what they have and not pay attention to anything, as long as it does not impact them. They spend more time in meetings but rarely come up with any decision. It seems that things change very slowly in the Middle East.

As you always ask us to share experiences with other CMU students, so here are some of my advices: "In the future, many of you will work on global project or for foreign companies, your CMU education will be your key assets. If your work takes you around the world than keep these things in mind: In many countries, nothing happens on time or within budget. Managers in the US often complain about projects running out of schedule or over budget but when you are working at global level, the problem may even get worse so always keep that in mind. Many people that you meet have different views than yours. It may create a lot of frustration and misunderstanding, so always be prepared to expect less than what you have planned for. Many places are not so effective and efficient and there are many opportunities to improve but you must be patient. You will find younger people eager to know more and willing to learn so spend time with them since they will be your best helpers. You will also find older people who want things to remain the same so you must be patient with them too. In many countries, bureaucracy is well rooted in the system and things move much slower than what you expected.

Management is not technical but mostly soft-skill, so take time to improve your communication skill, presentation skill, interaction skill, and most of all, take time to read more and learn more about other cultures. When you are working thousands of miles away from home, seize the opportunity to make new friends and enjoy their friendships. Most people do speak English but if you learn few sentences in their languages it would be better. They always appreciate that. I found people in the Middle East very friendly and even more friendlier than the U.S. They would invite you to their home and feed you a lot of foods. By the way, people in this areas know how to party and their party is different from the U.S. it lasts at least a whole day with a lot of foods and music. One thing very common is about music which is universal. You can find people in Turkey, Jordan, listen to rock and roll such as U2, Lady Gaga, or Beyonce as well as other music from India.

Theses are things that I learned and I thought it would be helpful for students in your class. I am sure other students may experience something differ from mine. One thing I am sure is the world is getting smaller and smaller, as time goes by and someday we all enjoy this "Flat world" together.

Sources

  • Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University