WFuturization expert and business strategist Eren Yagmuroglu graduated as a bachelor of Management of Information Systems. The İstanbul born innovator founded Maxfield & Parrish in Los Angeles and Heminngway in Istanbul to futurize artists’ & organizations’ branding and marketing concepts by using his own methods. In the same year, he participated in the HBX CORe program at Harvard Business School Yagmuroglu joined the Recording Academy Grammy’s / Los Angeles as an Academy Member. Let along he is the humblest, kindest and most dedicated human being I ever had the pleasure of meeting.
Onur A. K.
First of all, hello.
Eren Y.
Hello.
OAK
How are you?
EY
Thank you so much. Nice to meet you.
OAK
Thank you for your time.
EY
You are welcome.
OAK
Before I mention the scope of your profession, I would like to talk about you a little bit. How did you meet your profession, how did your path cross with art? Would you like to talk about these?
EY
Actually I am interested in music, especially including guitar and electronic guitar for many years. Ever since my youth, art has never been missing from my life and in fact, has always been at the forefront. In the last year of high school; I took exams at Berklee College of Music for Jazz Composition department and I got accepted but for various reasons, I was not able to continue my education through music.
OAK
But that didn’t stop you.
EY
Even though that effected my motivation unsympathetically; I was sure that I wanted to continue my life with music and art. Yet I was not able to fully understand my mission. There was always a volcano inside of me that I felt as ready to explode; wanting to change things, wanting to solve problems in a global scale. This is a phenomenon that evolves and evolves throughout the human life. I’m thirty-five years old now, and I’m still not sure this phenomenon has matured. Maybe in a decade, I will have more mature and more effective ideas.
OAK
What is your mission here?
EY
At this point, my mission is to ensure that art can reach people by using the interdisciplinary activity. If we can bring people to the art of painting, sculpture, music, literature, dance and other fields to the point where they can touch; by providing contact with art, we can spread courtesy and subtlety. Frankly, even thinking about it makes me happy; it would be great to see gentle, subtle people around. This is certainly not an aristocracy dimension, but on the contrary, it is possible to reach courtesy through art from all walks of life, from all parts of the world. Courtesy and sensitivity have become important in every part of the world. There are situations that has taken its start with our generation, especially in order to hang the borders of the world and minimize and even end discrimination. We are now at a time when individuals can create great changes through technology rather than states or large institutions. These developments helped me to hold onto this mission.
OAK
We are experiencing technological and humanistic changes globally. How did this lead you?
EY
I have been pushed in time to the questions such as how can I use art as a tool to bring people to courtesy, which tools do I need to use? These questions eventually led me to the technical aspects of art. For people to reach arts; it has to be delivered to the public and potential audiences in a very fruitful way and various technical analyzes had to be done in this operation. If we can inform them about the opening of an exhibition, about a music on digital platforms or about the plot of a play; we can bring children, youngsters, all type of audiences to the halls, concerts, galleries, museums.
OAK
This will change the attitude of the states.
EY
Of course. If we can do what we have to do, states will want to provide their support to arts in a global scale and the performing arts organizations will have no fear of sustainability. Closing down of an opera house in a city or a gallery cannot exhibit because of the low interest of the audience becomes a harbinger of a big problem. Think about it; artists will be deprived of performing their art, there will be no gain, investments will be reduced, more art centers will be closed, less art will be created. No state will be interested in this kind of a society. Right?
OAK
What do you promise to “your audience”?
EY
While we perform community management activities, we create a storytelling concept about the experiences where the audience will witness significant moments. Although this is the technical side, what matters to us is the emotional side. This courtesy, subtlety, as well as discipline are that our mission promise. When people work in a disciplined way, adhering to their own missions, they can get a financial and moral return. Especially the question of “What if I can not gain from art, should I have chosen another profession?” Ask yourself please; would you like to leave yourself in the hands of an unhappy doctor? Let everyone do the work they love and belong to. If that is art, one can provide sustainability here as well. We hope that, after these crazy times, state policies will change with the perception of sensitivity which will lead to a massive global development.
OAK
I’d like to talk about your school life. I know it’s a question you’ve come across many times before.
EY
Yeah.
OAK
The reason why I want to emphasize in particular is that many young people today do not consider many options because of their fear of failing or because of their belief in failure. Your school adventure is out of this cluster; you have continued your way by breaking your own perceptions. How did you begin this adventure and how did it change you?
EY
To tell you the truth, I don’t think I’m a very successful academic person. It’s clear that I’m not even mildly successful. In order to achieve an academic success in the education, had to be shaped according to my characteristic features. Not just for me but for every individual. Information given like capsule, given to everyone in the same way; should have actually been taught in smaller classes, more specific styles for each student. Of course, aside from the basic sciences, as well as the everyday information that we have to repeat or learn some other day. For example, I need to study trigonometry to understand a new form of creating digital art I’ve been working on recently. A teaching system could be and should be established by considering students’ personal tendencies, but we did not have these opportunities and this vision of education.
OAK
We still don’t have it.
EY
Unfortunately, we don’t. Although, I received trainings that made great contributions to me. With the support of my family, I was able to take the opportunity to study with amazing teachers who provided courage to discover great paths. After I graduated from a college in Cyprus, I applied to Berklee College of Music. It was disappointing for me not to go, even though I was accepted because I believed that I could find answers to many of my questions the moment I went there. I had dreams of benefit from Berklee as a stepping stone to enter the Dream Theater or Metallica J
OAK
We all have similar dreams.
EY
Of course. When I got more experienced, I realized that not everything was like the dream I had. After experiencing this disappointment for a while, I decided that this was not the end of the world, and I finally decided to fight it. Then, I started my undergraduate education on Management of Information Systems at the Kyrenia American University, where computer-based training was in vogue. I started my master’s degree in the same field after graduation but I dropped. I was eager to come to Istanbul and start international relations. Therefore, I settled in Istanbul. Although my office is in Istanbul, I started to execute international affairs.
OAK
But you didn’t settle for that.
EY
The university education I received was not exactly what I thought and wanted. I was missing some areas that I needed to learn and want to learn. And that made me feel eager to learn more. So I started looking at Ivy League schools online. I was constantly sighing through the pages of those eight schools. I kept pacing the floor. I spent about six to seven years on those pages. One day I stopped and said, “Why don’t I try?” Now the world is changing and I thought it might not be the same. While looking, I found myself on the page of Harvard, then on the page of Harvard Business School and finally on the application page. At that time, I was interested in a program called HBX-CORe.
OAK
What is this HBX CORe program?
EY
You can obtain a certificate by completing the three courses specified in the Master’s program with or without credit. These courses may count as credits if you want to continue your graduate studies. On the page of HBS, you see a phrase like this; documents and high grades are required, but you may also write us a letter. As a school; we are looking for people who want to change the world. In addition to the necessary documents, I wrote a letter describing my mission and then after a week got accepted.
OAK
Congratulations on your courage and success. How was this CORe program for you?
EY
The case-study based education is fantastic and the technological/pedagogic developments of their system is so engaging. I failed two of the three classes I’ve been talking about, and I only passed from one. I couldn’t get the certificate because I couldn’t get a passing grade on average. I discussed this with one of my professors; “I have no academic success; I could not pass these courses. I don’t know if this section is for me, how should I get going? “I expressed my concerns.
OAK
It’s really a difficult choice.
EY
It was up to my choice; after graduating from here, would I like to be a CEO in the company of someone who is an entrepreneur like me, or would I like to appoint an Ivy League graduate as my CEO to my own company? So I decided that I wanted continue with my own business. Moreover, the education system is also in motion. If a person feels deficient in any area, he / she can go and complete package trainings on this subject in those schools and continue on his / her way. For example; There will be a comprehensive training that I will participate in next year. In this three-day program, by meeting people from many areas; how they succeeded, how they were liberated, how they tried to change the world; we will discuss those. Especially in the period we live, education continues uninterruptedly in different ways in people’s lives.
OAK
Can we claim that these programs devalue the fixed education systems of universities?
EY
This is not to discredit university education, but in many companies, people who have developed themselves personally in many areas can be preferred. By creating its own curriculum, one can continuously improve himself / herself without being bound to institutions. We are able to improve the knowledge and interpretation mechanism by blending the information that can be inaccessible at the institutions. All of these allow people to be reminded of certain emotions, thoughts and be liberated. There are also analytical and mathematical aspects to consider. In order to examine the society, to understand and interpret their habits, this technical information needs to be collected and academically learned. Therefore, we will always need the academic institutions and academic staff to support this mission with their valuable discoveries.
OAK
Where do these changes take us?
EY
Changes will lead us to success. Success in my life is always equivalent to freedom. I prefer to associate success with freedom rather than measuring with financial gains and rewards. The more we can live the life we want, the more we can make our own decisions without any form of fear, the more successful we are. My goal is to explain this to people.
