First day in Istanbul, meeting new friends, professors, relatives and colleagues of the bride and groom.

Comedy Around the World is still in Turkey.  Istanbul.  City of 15 million people.  So it should be natural that the people here would like to gather, converse, share, inform, discuss, etc.  They are the most natural social networkers.

But what about the rest of us--those who do not come from a country or culture where this behavior is natural or automatic?  We have a lot of catching-up to do.  

Technology has changed not only the way we process information, shop, and learn.  It has also changed the way we interact with each other.  This includes the business climate, as well.  The former tenets of competition--win-lose and cut-throat attitudes--are gone.  Obsolete.  People can see right through that veneer.  Technology has made people--consumers--much more savvy and discriminating.  They want to see the real you.  They want to trust that you have their best interests in mind.  They want it to be about them, not about you.  This has always been true, but now it is even more so. 

I think on those nights in Istanbul, talking, eating, drinking, sharing, listening, discussing--with people I had just met, and in a language that I don't know well!  That didn't seem to matter:  they knew that I wasn't asking anything of them.  I was just listening to them, offering what responses I could in my limited knowledge of the Turkish language.  

It was odd seeing a laptop in the same room with all of us.  Although I wanted desperately to check my Facebook account, I stopped myself.  It was kind of sad to see the intrusion of technology into this warm, friendly, highly personal culture.  But it proved once again that technology is unstoppable--it is up to all of us to keep up. 

That's why it's imperative that you, "Get Your SHINE Together!" and learn a new way of communicating! 

Tesekkurler ederim!