VW CEO's 22-Year-Old Mentor—Turkishtime Magazine (Program Update & HR Conferences)

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

In its July 2017 issue, Turkish monthly business magazine Turkishtime covered Mr. Uygun and me, who am proud to be his reverse mentor, with an article entitled "VW CEO's 22-Year-Old Mentor".

The article features Mr. Uygun and me as:

"Bahcesehir University Industrial Engineering junior Kaan Ozkorkmaz evaluates the developments in the automotive industry through the eyes of Gen Y by meeting Volkswagen Passenger Cars CEO Vedat Uygun every week."

And the article continues with the details regarding my reverse mentorship with Mr. Uygun as I shared in my previous post. 

Print version of the magazine. For the first time in my life, my pose is covered full page by a prestigious business magazine :D

PROGRAM UPDATE:

Our reverse mentoring program was ended in April 2018 due to the change of Mr. Uygun's position in the company. We had a reverse mentoring program where we met regularly for over a year and that was highly beneficial for the both parties. Although it is stated in Turkishtime's July 2017 article above that we meet weekly, there were times when the interval between our meetings became wider due to both of our busy schedules (e.g., my trip to South Korea).

I was invited  to  two high-profile HR conferences in Istanbul, namely TEGEP 2017  and  PERYON 2018, to  share  my  experiences as  an  accomplished reverse mentor. Furthermore, I advised several companies on how to start a successful reverse mentoring program in their organizations.

With my reverse mentee Mr. Vedat Uygun and our moderator Dear Prof. Ipek Altınbasak Farina at PERYON Conference in November 2018, where we, as conference panelists, shared the details our fruitful reverse mentoring program.

And as one of the panelists at TEGEP Conference 2017 with two other reverse mentors. Our moderator was Dear Melek Pulatkonak, the founder of TurkishWIN (The Turkish Women's International Network).

My lovely friends Berfin and Ediz were also present at TEGEP '17.

Reverse Mentorship at Volkswagen Turkey

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Becoming an international actor in the automotive industry has always been my career aspiration. I am interested in marketing and management in the global automotive industry and pursue to reach the pinnacle of my career as one of the most respected automotive executives shaping the future of smart mobility. 

Now, I am doubtlessly grateful that I have made a vigorous start to reach my career aspirations by becoming the Reverse Mentor of Mr. Vedat Uygun, CEO of Volkswagen Turkey and board member of Dogus Automotive—distributor of Volkswagen Group brands in Turkey and holds more than 20% of Turkish Car Market. 

Since March 2017, I have been meeting with Mr. Uygun regularly to provide him with my analyses and recommendations regarding the marketing activities of the company and the latest developments in the global automotive industry. I proudly made the main presentation at the yearly strategic marketing meeting with advertising and digital agencies of VW in May 2017. In that meeting, I mainly shared my ideas to improve VW’s mobile app for a better customer experience and my suggestions to benefit from user-generated content campaigns to engage with the superfans of the brand. Upon Mr. Uygun's request, also the CMO of VW attends our meetings occasionally to get informed about my analyses and recommendations related to the marketing campaigns and customer experience of the brand.

I want to share our fantastic pose from April 2017 with my deepest thanks to Mr. Vedat Uygun. Having automotive chats with Mr. Uygun particularly about the future of car brands as mobility providers is like a dream to me :D

I have been chosen as the first student at BAU to start one-to-one reverse mentoring programme. For my reverse mentorship journey, BAU CO-OP Department organized a fantastic event in February 2017 where I made an extensive presentation to Dogus Automotive's executives that included both my automotive analysis and an introduction of the concept of reverse mentoring.

Photo of the event includes Director of  BAU CO-OP Mr. Toper, first from left, Director of BAU Industrial and Systems Engineering Prof. Bozbura (whose student assistant I had been, who taught me the concept of proactive job application and recommended me to our CO-OP Dept. for this project), next to me on the left, CHRO of Dogus Automotive Mrs. Kulunyar, third from left, and Corporate Communications Director of Dogus Automotive Mr. Bebekoglu, third from right.

Consequently, I had the chance to have a meeting with Mr. Uygun. I presented him my analysis about the global automotive industry. And I proudly became his Reverse Mentor in March 2017 :D

Collage of 2016

2016... Gratefully, it brought me the opportunity of experiencing new cultures, expanding my horizon, sharing happiness and obviously posing a lot :D With my dear family and friends, I enjoyed a lovely year full of memories. I just had a time to prepare this collage in the break—due to heavy snowstorm hit Istanbul—during my relentless final exams. And now, remembering all those great times through my Collage of 2016 is highly motivating for me to go back to studying :D

I have not published a year-end post before, but I hope it will become a tradition in my blog :D