"Is Bottled Water Really That Bad?" - Yes

Via FastCompany

Did AIESEC inspire IBM?

Have you seen the latest recruitment campaign of IBM? Their motto is "Are you an IBMer?"

That kind of sounded familiar with my favourite organization's recruitment campaign that has been around for about 2.5 years.

TED Video of Elif Shafak on The Politics of Fiction

Plain intellectual and emotional beauty from Elif Şafak, author of my current book. Also the 1st TED Talk by a Turkish person!

Scalable idealism

Everyone is an idealist when they are young. And a great deal of people loses their idealist side when they hit their 30s (the rest loses it when they have a child). I strongly believe that had this not been the case, the world would be a much better place to live with a lot more innovation, and thus fulfillment and joy. Now I'm not a father (and I'm aware that "It's easy to divorce if you're single", as the Turkish saying goes!), but I still think that there's a solution to this dilemma.

We should learn to scale our ideals. In other words, if necessary, we need to decrease our expectations of being a "super hero" or a historical figure, compared to our mighty childhood dreams. I wanted to be like the great Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk when I was a kid. As time went by, I realized it may not be very possible within my generation (one of the reasons being, thankfully, that there is no such need for where I come from right now). Today I have different ideals, and I'm looking for different ways of how I can utilize my impact. I try to gain experience, learn and develop myself in those different areas that will enable me to do that. So in the end I may not be able to save a whole nation or be the greatest leader of all time, but that doesn't mean that I have to settle for an ordinary life either. We can live decent lives, and enrich the lives of other people in different ways with the best of our abilities.

The good thing about pondering these types of thoughts is that it lets you see the integration points of your current reality and your dreams and goals. From this point in time, as bright as the future looks to me, I see that there are a lot of clouds in between. Thinking about such matters helps to shed some sunlight on the way.

Yunus nerede? / Where is Yunus?

Hey all,

I know I haven't been blogging for a while. If you want to see what I'm up to these days, follow me on Twitter (@yunust), Facebook, or LinkedIn. Or just have a look at what I'm sharing publicly from the friendfeed box on the left.

---

Selam,
Son zamanlarda pek blog yazmadığmın farkındayım. Eğer neler yapıyorum diye merak ediyorsanız beni Twitter'dan (@yunust), Facebook'tan,LinkedIn'den ya da soldaki friendfeed kutusundan takip edebilirsiniz.

Would you mind supporting me by giving me a minute?

Hello my readers!

I have news for you:

I am standing as a candidate for One Young World to represent Turkey. It's a platform where I can represent my generation and my country on some of the greatest challenges ahead. More info here

Would you mind helping me become a delegate by voting for me?

Here's what you can do:
1. Most importantly, soon you should see my video in the YouTube Channel for One Young World. Click on "Vote" on top of the page and vote for my video by clicking on the green "Thumbs up" button. It's not on that page yet but should be there tomorrow I suppose. This is the most important one as if I get enough votes until November 1st, 2009, I may be able to attend the conference fully-funded by YouTube (one of the sponsors of the conference)!
Here's the link to the YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/OneYoungWorld

2. Follow this link and vote for me: http://bit.ly/Yunus_OYW. It's a link to a trustworthy Facebook application so if it asks you to give it the rights to access your profile, just accept it.

3. Follow this link and comment on, rate or favourite my video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RrU6NPK2NQ (below is the embedded version)



Thanks for all the support!

Zihin Haritam vol. 2

Bir önceki Zihin Haritalı gönderime gelen olumlu tepkiler sonucu, buyrunuz ikinci bilinç akışı, ikinci zihin haritası formatındaki gönderi:


Zihin haritamı PDF formatında görüntülemek için buraya,
orijinal MindMap formatında görüntülemek için buraya tıklayabilirsiniz. Özellikle linklerin çalışması için buradan Mindjet MindMap Viewer programını ücretsiz yüklemenizi öneririm.

Bu arada orada belirtmediğim hayatımdaki önemli bir gelişme de Aslı'nın buraya geliyor olması! :D
Kendisi de bir AIESEC'li olan kız arkadaşım Aslı, Kanada'da bizim şirketle (Alcatel-Lucent) eşleşti ve inşallah en kısa zamanda buraya geliyor. Gözümüz aydın! :)

İlginç Google Sonuçları

Anlamadığım bazı şeyler var. SEO konusuna çok hafif ilgim olsa da, valla bunu bilerek yapmadım.

FeedJIT'ten öğrendiğimiz kadarıyla, Mersin'den bir vatandaşımız Google'da "özsüt adana nerde" diye arayınca blog'uma iniş yapmış. Gariban kullanıcı ne yapsın, benim geçen yaz arkadaşlarımla Özsüt'te buluşma hikayem, Google'da Özsüt'ün ana sayfasından daha yukarıda çıkıyor:


Bunun zaman içinde düzeleceğine eminim, ama o zamana kadar hala internette kaybolan kullanıcılar için adresini vereyim bari de, insanların hayatını kolaylaştırayım: Adana'da Özsüt Ziyapaşa Bulvarı'yla Metro Sokağı'nın kesiştiği yerde. Servis 5 üzerinden 3.5 olsa da, ganaj'ları son denediğimde hala çok lezzetliydi. Telefon: 0322 457 24 24. Afiyet olsun :)

***
Beni şaşırtan bir başka Google sonucu da sayfamın yakın zamanda "AIESEC İngiltere" aramasında en tepedeki 3 sonuçtan birinde çıkmasıydı. Bunu merak eden, yolu buraya düşen okurlar için de söyleyeyim: Evet İngiltere'de AIESEC var. Benim şu an bulunduğum "Büyük Beyaz Kuzey" ülkesi Kanada'da da var hatta. Tıklayınız, öğrenininiz: www.aiesec.org.tr.

Herkese iyi aramalar.

Rethinking arts

How can one simply not blog about Web 2.0 when you see a "mashup" like this one?
It's dance, it's technology, it's people, and it's family.
Watch Professor Welch's famous video that explains Web 2.0 in the best (and probably the most enjoyable) way possible, then see this amazing "(re)mix".



Note how creative the show gets in the middle, how they get lost at the "Who will organize all this data?" part, then the way they "rethink" and finally form a "family" at the end.

After seeing this, I couldn't stop being thankful to the concept and creators of Creative Commons Liscense once again. I strongly recommend everyone to see the free online movie RIP: A remix Manifesto. A truly inspiring piece of art. If you want more, see the Download Decade series here or download its torrent file here.

Lessons from a "children song" / Bir "cocuk sarkisindan" dersler

Su anda Harvard'da calisan kuzenimi ziyaret etmek icin Boston'dayim. Evet, kendisi gayet zekidir. Ayrica kendisinin 2 yasinda dunya tatlisi bir oglu var (masallah). Tabii ki kucuk afacan ailenin tek odagi durumunda su an. Sonuc olarak evde en fazla izlenen kanal, Nickeladeon Jr.

Bu kanalda bir sarki duydum bugun. Iki cizgi filmin arasinda elinde gitariyla genc bir kiz cikip bir "cocuk sarkisi" soyledi:

"Kusursuz degilim, ama elimden gelenin en iyisini yapiyorum.
Kusursuz degilsin, ama seni gene de seviyorum."

Hayattaki ugras ve iliskilerimizin iki cumle icinde ne guzel bir ozeti. Ya da olmasi gerektigi halinin.

-----

Right now I'm in Boston, visiting my cousin who works for Harvard School of Public Health. Yes, he's quite smart. And he also has a 2-year-old-and-amazingly-cute son (masallah). Not surprisingly, the little brat is the number one focus for the family. As a matter of fact, the only TV channel they watch most of the time is Nickelodeon Jr.

I heard a song today in this channel. Between two cartoons, there was a "music time" where a young lady took her guitar and played a "children song":

"I'm not perfect, but I do my best.
You're not perfect, but I love you as you are."

Our most memorable efforts and relationships summarized in two sentences. Or summarized the way they should be.

Türkiye'de internet sansürü devam ediyor / Internet censorship continues in Turkey

SansureSansur - 05 (Eng. Subt.) from adboy on Vimeo.

Click the link below to see other videos / Diğer videoları görmek için aşağıdaki bağlantıya tıklayın:

SansureSansur Videoları

Pupils and teachers (Sufi tradition)

From Paulo Coelho's Blog:

Nasrudin - the eternal character of Sufi legends – was standing on his doorstep when he saw a teacher passing by with his pupils.

“Where are you off to?” he asked.

“We’re going to pray that God puts a stop to corruption, for He always heeds the prayers of children,” answered the teacher.

“A good education would have put an end to that already. Teach the youngsters to be more responsible than their parents and uncles.”

The teacher felt offended: “What an example of lack of faith! The prayers of children can change anything!”

“God listens to all who pray. If he only listened to the prayers of children there wouldn’t be a single school in the whole country, for there is nothing they hate more than their teachers.”

Welcome to Share with Friends - Free Texts for a Free Internet

Spiritual Activism?

The "Bleeping Herald", the online publication that started after the movie "What the Bleep Do We Know?", just sent out its most recent e-mail. They interviewed with a famous Yogi named Seane Corn, who considers herself a "spiritual activist". I really liked this term.

Here are some of the highlights of that interview:

"I've never done any service that has been selfless. I don't even know what that means. I say that because every single time I've gone out there into the world to be of service in any capacity, I have gotten more than I have ever given. My life has changed on so many levels and all I have to do is give time, energy, money, or some effort but what I get in return has been truly indescribable and priceless."

"Bleeping Herald: In spiritual circles there are often those who believe it's not a good idea to focus on the "dark side" of things whether it be their environments, their lives in general, etc., with the reasoning that focusing on the more "negative" aspects will bring that into one's own life. Since you can't do as much service as you do without dealing with hard issues, can you address that way of thinking?

Seane: I've heard that perception before, I just don't personally relate to it. To understand the light I've had to also understand and respect the power of the shadow. It is the flip side of the same coin. Everyone has obsession and jealousy, anger, hate, judgment, blame and all those negative perceptions and if you don't acknowledge them and you repress them, they come out in other ways."

This response above is a very key message. I especially see it as a response to the very much popularized way of thinking through the book "The Secret". Brodie, President of AIESEC International 05-06 and a current McKinsey Consultant, also mentioned the same approach in his blog.

On with the interview:

"This idea that there is an other, a you against me is really what's perpetuating the wars, the terrorism, and all the dysfunction of this planet so as spiritual activists, we have to be willing to go above it and see the bigger picture."

"So the real battle first starts within the individual and then it can transcend out into the community."

The most inspiring part of Barack Obama's speech in Turkish Grand National Assembly

Here's how Obama finished his speech today in our Grand National Assembly in Ankara:

"I know there are those who like to debate Turkey’s future. They see your country at the crossroads of continents, and touched by the currents of history. They know that this has been a place where civilizations meet, and different peoples mingle. And they wonder whether you will be pulled in one direction or another.

Here is what they don’t understand: Turkey’s greatness lies in your ability to be at the center of things. This is not where East and West divide – it is where they come together. In the beauty of your culture. In the richness of your history. In the strength of your democracy. In your hopes for tomorrow."

He definitely has a point. Personally, I don't find the "Bridge" metaphor that is given to our country by many people satisfying enough. I think we should consider ourselves as the "Center" between the West and the East with a growing economy, a peacemaker role in the region, and a real democracy.

CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Outbreak Notice

The Center for Disease Control has issued a medical alert about a highly contagious, potentially dangerous virus that is transmitted orally, by hand, and even electronically.

This virus is called Weekly Overload Recreational Killer (W.O.R.K.). If you receive W.O.R.K. from your boss, any of your collegues or anyone else via any means whatsoever - DO NOT TOUCH IT!!! This virus will wipe out your private life entirely. If you come into contact with W.O.R.K. you should immediately leave the premisses.

Take two good friends to the nearest liquor store and purchase one or both of the following antidotes:

• W.O.R.K. Isolating Neutralizer Extract (W.I.N.E.)
• Bothersome Employer Elimination Rebooter (B.E.E.R.)

Take the antidote repeatedly until W.O.R.K. has been completely eliminated from your system.

You should immediately forward this medical alert to five friends. If you do not have five friends, you have already been infected and W.O.R.K. is controlling your life.

Paulo Coelho, bir arkadaş ve ben / Paulo Coelho, a friend and myself

Neden sürekli Web 2.0 kavramıyla ilgili yazıyorum?
Az önce güzel bir örnekle anlatabileceğim bir sahne çıktı karşıma:

9 yaşındayken okuduğum Simyacı'nın yazarı, ben ve "dünyayı değiştirme" fikrine kafayı takmış bir arkadaşım, enteresan bir şekilde aynı sitede buluştuk. Yukarıda gördüğünüz resim, o anki ekranımı gösteriyor (Eğer yeterince hızlı davranırsanız siteye giderek kendiniz de görebilirsiniz).

İlginç olan, arkadaşım diye bahsettiğim bu kişiyle hayatımda yüz yüze 2-3 defa karşılaşmış olmama rağmen son günlerde internette tesadüfen karşılaşıp durmamız. Ne demek "internette tesadüfen karşılaşıp durmak"?
Twitter'da olduğunu öğrendiğimde en son paylaştığı videoyu, yakın zaman önce benim blogumda da gördünüz. Arkasından bu arkadaşın websitesine gittim ve oradan çok güzel başka siteler keşfettim. Sayfasında yer alan "Hayatımdaki en kritik anlardan bazılarının özü, insanlarla yaptığım basit sohbetlerde yatıyor" sözü, benim için ilham kaynağı oldu. Az önce favori kitap anlayışımızın birbirine ne kadar yakın olduğunu fark ettim.
Ve bu "karşılaşma"ların hiçbiri doğrudan iletişim yolları (e-posta, anında mesajlaşma, sohbet vs.) ile olmadı, gene de her biri benim için küçük ve güzel bir tecrübeydi.

Ve bunların hepsini, Web 2.0 adı verilen teknolojiler bütününe borçluyum.

---
Why do I keep writing about Web 2.0?
I just had a good example to explain it:

The author of The Alchemist (which was a book I read when I was 9), a friend who is obsessed with the idea of "changing the world", and myself somehow met on a website. The screenshot above is from that moment (You can see it yourself in the website as well, if you're fast enough).
The interesting thing is that I keep virtually running into this person that I call a friend, even though I have seen him 2 or 3 times face-to-face in my life. But what does "I keep virtually running into this person" mean"?

Lately in my blog, you've seen a video he shared on Twitter. Then I saw his website and discovered some other very cool websites there. His words "Some of the most crucial moments in my life boil down to simple talks." inspired me. And I just realized how similar our understanding of favourite books are.

And none of these "encounters" happened through a direct way of communication (e-mail, instant messaging, chat, etc.), and still all were small and nice experiences for me.

And I owe all of these to the collection of technologies known as Web 2.0.

Making Web 2.0 work in increasing the effectiveness of organizations

McKinsey Quarterly published another article on Web 2.0 this month. It is called Six ways to make Web 2.0 work. Not surprisingly, it's focused on businesses.

On the 4th bullet point, there is a recommendation that I find quite useful:

"Appeal to the participants' egos and needs—not just their wallets:

... a professional-services firm tried to use steady management pressure to get individuals to post on wikis. Participation increased when managers doled out frequent feedback but never reached self-sustaining levels"

I remember trying the same method (and facing the same challange) while I was working as a VP in AIESEC in Turkey Member (or, National) Committee in the Spring of 2008. We aimed to adapt wikis as the main instrument for knowledge management transition between Executive Boards that change each year. I was calling and sending e-mails to responsible people in Local Committees and reminding them to update their wikis, when they fail to do so by the deadline. Apparently, that was not the most effective management technique.

Let's read on:

"A more effective approach plays to the Web's ethos and the participants' desire for recognition: bolstering the reputation of participants in relevant communities, rewarding enthusiasm, or acknowledging the quality and usefulness of contributions."

I experienced this when I was working for the global virtual support team of Talent Management Unit 07/08. Since the team had to work virtually throughout the year, wikis and forums were our main channels of communication, rather than e-mails. And the thing that motivated me the most was our chair's recognition of good work. And for me, that didn't even have to be public, a private e-mail or an IM chat about my performance and some feedback (either positive or negative) was mostly enough.

I support the idea that a combination of both leadership and management will be even more required in organizations in the era of Web 2.0.

Basitlik İhtiyacı

Şu lafı duymaktan size de gına geldi mi?

"Gittikçe karmaşıklaşan dünya"

Ne yazık ki bu cümleden bize gına gelmiş olması, onun gerçekliğini azaltmıyor. Peter Senge'nin dediği gibi, hayatı düz bir çizgi üzerinde birbirine "sebep-sonuç ilişkileri" ile bağlı bir olaylar dizisi olarak görmek için artık çok geç. Gerçekten karmaşık bir dünyada yaşıyoruz ve bu da olayları karmaşık "sistem düşünceleri" çerçevesinde değelendirmemizi gerektiriyor. Ama en önemlisi, bu düşünceleri somutlaştırdığımızda, yani onları birisiyle paylaştığımızda, bir plana çevirdiğimizde ya da eyleme dönüştürdüğümüzde, yeniden basitleştirmesini bilmek.

"İşleri Sadeleştirme" konusunda en mükemmel örnek olmadığımı kabul ediyorum. (Yukarıdaki paragraf dahi yeterince "karışık" :) ) Evet, kendimi geliştirmeye çalıştığım alanlardan biri de bu. Neyse, konu ben değilim.

Söyleyeceğim şuydu: Dünya karmaşıklaştıkça, bizim için "basitlik ihtiyacı" da bir o kadar önem kazanıyor.

İnternete bu basitlik ihtiyacına karşı verilmiş çok güzel cevaplar var:

1. Google'ın her türlü ürününe bakın. Hepsinin temel özellikleri: Sade tasarım, basit kullanım, etkili sonuçlar.
   
2. Commoncraft Show – izlemesi en eğlenceli öğretici videoları yapan, iki kişiden oluşan (karı-koca :) ), süper bir şirket.
   
3. Son birkaç gündür sosyal medyada çok poplülerleşen ve daha da popülerleşecek gibi görünen, Küresel Krizi basit bir ve görsel bir dille anlatan The Crisis of Credit Visualized videosu. Ve daha az "basit" olduğu için daha az bilinirlik kazanmaya mahkum benzerleri.
   

Eminim bunlar gibi "n" tane daha örnek bulunabilir.

(Dipnot: Üretim Yönetiminde "Yalın üretim / 6 Sigma" tarzı kavramların bu kadar yoğun ilgi görmesi, bence buna dayanıyor. Artan karmaşıklık, beraberinde artan maliyet getiriyor. "Tedarik Zinciri Yönetimi" kavramının "Üretim Yönetimi" kavramının giderek yerini alıyor olmasını da, Sistem Düşüncesine yönelik artan ihtiyaçtan kaynaklandığını düşünüyorum.)

(Dipnot 2: Aklıma AIESEC'ten de iki örnek geldi:

1. Bu dönemin [08/09]Uluslararası AIESEC Başkanı Juan'ın internet günlüğünün ismi: Building Success from Simplicity!
   
2. Bizim TMU 07/08 sloganımız: "Simple Ways to Empower Talent" ;) )
   

Blogger'da görünüm problemi

Sevgili okuyucularım,

Son birkaç gündür blog'um bir garip görünüyor, farkındayım. En soldaki "widget"larım sayfanın en altına gitmiş durumda. Bu sorun anladığım kadarıyla sevgili hizmet sağlayıcımız Blogger'dan kaynaklanıyor. Son birkaç gündür bu durumu da mazeret bilerek tasarımda değişiklik yapmayı planlıyordum, ama Blogger Yardım Forumu'nda da görebileceğiniz gibi, Blogger üzerinde varsayılan şablonların dışında bir şablon yükleyemiyoruz bu aralar (böyle bir hata söz konusu). Şu an anladığım kadarıyla benim gibi madur olmuş n sayıda blogger var.

Nasıl çözüleceğini bilen varsa, bana mail atsın veya yorumlara yazsın lütfen.

Barack Obama, Ottawa'daki Türk'ü ziyaret edince / When Barack Obama visits the Turk in Ottawa

Birçoğunuzun bildiği gibi, Kanada'nın başkenti Ottawa'da yaşıyorum şu an.

Geçtiğimiz hafta, Barack Obama burayı ziyarete gelmiş. Beni görmek istediği haberi geldi, ama o aralar biraz rahatsız olduğum için buluşamadık. Onun yerine buradaki diğer Türk'lerle tanışabileceği mesajını ilettim kendisine. Sağolsun beni kırmadı. Hazır şehir merkezindeki Türk hediyelik eşya satan dükkana gelmiş iken, diğer etnik dükkanlara da uğramayı unutmamış.
Düşünceli adam vesselam.

-----------------

As many of you know, I currently live in Canada's Capital, Ottawa.

Last week, Barack Obama came to visit here. I received his message that he wanted to see me, but we unfortunately couldn't make it as I was not feeling very well then. I recommended him to meet with other Turks here instead. He never turns me down. He also stopped by some other ethnic shops while he was visiting the Turkish souvenir shop.
Such a thoughtful guy.