Meet the OT Icebreaker Session with Martin Jobin!

In PMI Duty Free, there is an initiative which has been developed by the Finding Balance, Building Connections Project Team to address the need of providing more opportunities to Duty Free organization to interact with the Operations Team members with smaller groups and at the individual level and get to know them as a person and as a leader more closely. During these sessions, we have the time and the opportunity to interact 1:1, ask questions and share views.

On 2 March 2022, I had the chance to join the Icebreaker Session with Martin Jobin. Martin is currently working as Global Head Consumer Experience, Marketing and Digital in PMI Duty Free. He previously worked as Content and Activation Director Europe in Nissan Motor Corporation, Digital and Communication Manager in Infiniti Europe and Global Digital Senior Manager in Volvo Car Group.

Before the meeting, I just had the chance to google “Martin Jobin” and saw that Volvo still publishes his comments on their official site. Martin stated that “We are becoming a centre of excellence in interactive marketing” for Volvo. This is truly a transformation in automotive sector. After reading this statement, I decided to ask Martin the question below:

“How do you transfer the knowledge you gained from automotive industry to our smoke-free future vision? When you turn back to your career in PMI, which project or success story makes you most proud of?

Thanks to Martin, he answered my question frankly and shared some key digitalization projects in PMI. He told that all success is a team effort. He also highlighted that Scandinavians were so good at digitalization in early 2000s. He made us remember Nokia and Flash, and stated that Volvo was a cutting edge in automotive industry in those years.

We were 11 colleagues together with Martin during the session. My colleagues asked personal, professional and corporate level questions and I learned a lot from Martin’s answers. Leaving the business-related topics away, let me write down his recommendations on career management. Here are some of my key take-aways from this session:

·       Don’t overestimate the other industry. In every industry, we need to adapt so many things. Don’t think that things do not change, they do.

·        When you are new to an organization, first understand the organization. Learn who does what.

·        Make sure you always work on interesting projects. Ask yourself these questions:

o   What do you want your CV to show in 20 years from now?

o   What is my elevator speech?

·        Be mobile, reach different experiences, be curious about business needs. Make sure you understand the business roles and think about what is required to make it happen.

·        Continue learning not to fall behind. Always grow yourself.

·        Don’t stop planning for the future.

·        Empower your team. Make sure you have an exit to relax, spend time with friends and spare time for sport.

Travel Trends of 2022

Although the COVID-19 pandemic devastated the travel and tourism industry, causing losses of almost USD 4.5 trillion, increasing vaccination levels and easing government restrictions are prompting the expectation of a strong return for the industry. ETF Managers Group recently published the travel trends for 2022. According to the report, the travel industry still has ample expansion opportunities.

Increasing vaccination levels are beginning to ease travelers’ concerns, and as the travel industry recovers from the pandemic-related blow, travel technology companies are naturally poised to reap the benefits.

The flexibility by the “Work from Wherever” Movement presents a unique opportunity for workers to pack up their laptops and mix leisure travel with remote work. With more companies allowing flexible remote work opportunities, we expect to see the travel industry continue to capture this growth as a result of the “Work from Wherever” trend.

In order to promote passenger and driver trust around safety and sanitation, ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft have implemented safety measures aimed at easing the concerns of both riders and drivers. Ridesharing companies have implemented safety protocols to alleviate this concern, introducing physical partitions between drivers and riders, and requiring masks to be worn throughout the duration of the ride. Second, the increasing cost in private vehicle ownership due to rising fuel costs, maintenance, and insurance has led car ownership levels among individuals aged 18-35 to decline over the past several years. Millennials ‘and Gen Xers’ preference for ridesharing over outright car ownership has been linked to the perceived time and cost benefits of shared mobility, as well as their desire towards technology and on-demand services.

2022 may also see a surge in luxury travel as pent-up international travel demand is unleashed amid the stabilizing health situation and loosening border restrictions.

So, now, make sure your passport hasn’t expired!

 

Travel Trends of 2022

By Devin Ryder, CFA

The Travel & Tourism sector was ravaged by COVID-19 concerns, mandated lockdowns, and international mobility restrictions. In 2020, the global Travel & Tourism industry lost USD 4.5 trillion. Hit particularly hard, the sector’s overall contribution to GDP declined by 49.1% from 10.4% in 2019 to 5.5% in 2020, compared to a global GDP decline of 3.7%. International visitor spending plummeted by 69.4%, while domestic visitor spending dropped by 45%.

2021 has given us a glimpse into the growth potential that reduced restrictions and greater consumer confidence could provide. The US DOT reported that the volume of flights operated in 2021 was approximately 6.2 million. While this is certainly greater than 2020 levels, this value represents only 78% of the volume of flights operated pre-pandemic in 2019 (7.9 million). Thus, the industry still has ample expansion opportunities.

Increasing vaccination levels are beginning to ease travelers’ concerns, and as the travel industry recovers from the pandemic-related blow, travel technology companies are naturally poised to reap the benefits. Consumers increasingly rely on online travel agencies (OTAs) and ridesharing technologies to access travel-related services in a far more convenient and cost-effective fashion compared to traditional offline services. The online travel booking platform market alone is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.91% over the period 2022-2026 to reach $ 204.81 billion. As for the global ridesharing market, it is expected to reach USD 61.24 billion by 2026, increasing at a CAGR of 17.32% from 2021 to 2026.

The “Work from Wherever” (WFW) Movement

The COVID-19 pandemic brought rise to the work from home (WFH) era, a trend that is predicted to continue into the foreseeable future. Among 127 company leaders surveyed by Gartner, Inc., 82% plan to allow at least some remote work, and nearly half (47%) said they intend to allow employees to work remotely full time going forward. This flexibility presents a unique opportunity for workers to pack up their laptops and mix leisure travel with remote work; we are already seeing these employees take advantage.

Travelers intending to work while away have a unique set of characteristics that are defining the new wave of WFW. They have above-average spending power, saving an average of $ 4,000 annually on spending, often associated with office work – commuting, business attire, eating out, etc. Additionally, they have greater flexibility around travel dates. To serve this preference, short-term rental companies like Airbnb (ABNB) and Vrbo (EXPE) have added optionality for flexible dates.

Remote work may exacerbate the rise of vacation rentals as a preferred means of accommodations. A key characteristic of the working vacationer is the need for a work-friendly space to stay. Their needs include a quiet and comfortable space to work, as well as fast and reliable Wi-Fi. Short-term rental companies are poised to serve this need and capitalize on the remote work trend, as they generally provide more space for work than the typical hotel room. These companies have been working to enhance their features to accommodate the needs of working vacationers. For example, in 2021, Airbnb released a feature that allowed travelers to check the Wi-Fi speed of the listing before they booked.

WFW travelers also possess a greater ability to take extended trips. Not only did working travelers plan twice as many trips as those who planned to fully disconnect, but more than half of employee vacationers added 3 or more days to the duration of their longest leisure trip. In February 2021, 11% of surveyed remote workers said they had taken long trips because of remote work flexibility; by early October 2021, the number has risen to 23%. With more companies allowing flexible remote work opportunities, we expect to see the travel industry continue to capture this growth as a result of the WFW trend.

The Year of the “GOAT”

In addition to those mixing work with leisure, 2022 may see a surge in luxury travel as pent-up international travel demand is unleashed amid the stabilizing health situation and loosening border restrictions. For this reason, Expedia is calling 2022 the year of the “GOAT” (Greatest of All Trips). In a poll of 12,000 travelers across 12 countries, Expedia found that more than two-thirds of Americans (68%) are planning to go big with their next trip, eyeing international destinations like Rome, Bali, London, and Paris.¹⁰ Travelers worldwide are eager to make up for lost time and go big on their next trip after a prolonged period of canceled trips and postponed celebrations. According to a November report compiled by the WTTC and Trip.com, 70% of leisure travelers across the US, the UK, Canada, Japan, and Spain expect and plan to spend more money on travel in 2022 than they have in the past five years. Looking ahead, the future of the travel industry is looking bright as higher-income households have seen their savings increase, coupled with surging travel demand.

Ridesharing

The global ridesharing industry saw a drop of ~ 17% in revenue generation in 2020 from 2019. Lockdowns curtailed the need to travel too far from home, and consumers remained hesitant to use ride-sharing services, even after lockdown mandates were lifted. In order to promote passenger and driver trust around safety and sanitation, ridesharing companies like Uber (UBER) and Lyft (LYFT) have implemented safety measures aimed at easing the concerns of both riders and drivers. Things are beginning to look up for the shared mobility market, with an expected CAGR of 16.7% over the period 2021-2030.

This is being driven by several factors. First, many local travelers are still feeling discomforted by overcrowded public transportation options, driving demand for more comfortable intercity ride models. Ridesharing companies have implemented safety protocols to alleviate this concern, introducing physical partitions between drivers and riders, and requiring masks to be worn throughout the duration of the ride. Second, the increasing cost in private vehicle ownership due to rising fuel costs, maintenance, and insurance has led car ownership levels among individuals aged 18-35 to decline over the past several years. Millennials ‘and Gen Xers’ preference for ridesharing over outright car ownership has been linked to the perceived time and cost benefits of shared mobility, as well as their desire towards technology and on-demand services.

In their Q3 2021 financial results announcement, Uber reported that gross bookings reached an all-time high of $ 23.1 billion, up 57% YoY, with revenue up 72% over the same period. Lyft saw similar results, reporting Q3 2021 revenue growth of 73% YoY. We believe we’ll continue to see similar growth over the coming years as consumers become more comfortable with the state of public health.

Conclusion

Over the past decade, travel technology has grown from a niche concept to a primary means of sourcing and booking travel services. Although the COVID-19 pandemic devastated the travel and tourism industry, causing losses of almost USD 4.5 trillion, increasing vaccination levels and easing government restrictions are prompting the expectation of a strong return for the industry. As we look to the future of a post-COVID-19 world, we believe travel technology companies are poised to not only capture the residual growth but help to propel the industry forward with technological advancements aimed at addressing shifting consumer preferences.

Capture the pent-up demand for global travel and tourism with the ETFMG Travel Tech ETF (AWAY), the first ETF to provide investors access to top technology companies at the forefront of travel bookings, advice, price comparisons and ride sharing.

Liderlik Tanımı İsteyenlere Sergen Yalçın'dan Bir Örnek

İş bilgisayarındaki kişisel dosyaların 1 Mart 2022'ye kadar silinmesi ya da taşınması istendiği için bu hafta kişisel dosyalarımı kontrol ederken, Atakan Kurt'un Sinan Kaloğlu ile yaptığı röportajın Sergen Yalçın ile ilgili bölümüne rastladım. Videoyu arşivime "Liderlik" diye kaydetmişim. Bulunduğunuz bir ortamda, sizden liderliği tanımlamanız istenirse rahatlıkla bu örneği verebilirsiniz.

Twitter'da da paylaştım: Link

Getting a Coaching on “Self-Doubt in Career” from Melissa Whiting

Recently I saw Melissa Whiting’s post in Linkedin, she was stating that there was a limited number of coaching places available to work with her. This coaching opportunity was for those who feel self-doubt is holding them back in their career, creativity, life or relationships. Melissa Whiting worked in Philip Morris International for more than 20 years and she was Vice President, Inclusion & Diversity (from Jan 2017 to Oct 2021) in her last assignment. Now she is a leadership, career and life coach, mentor, and gender equity & inclusion consultant. Upon seeing her post about coaching, I sent her a direct message and asked her availability. I was lucky and she accepted me.

This post by Melissa Whiting started the fire

Why did I ask for Coaching?

As Melissa mentioned in her post, the target group for this coaching offer was people who think that self-doubt is holding them back in their career. Am I one of those people? Maybe not a hundred percent but somehow yes. This is something related with my ambition towards a global role with wider responsibility outside of my country Turkey. Until now, I had the chance to work in global companies: PwC, General Motors and Philip Morris. When I was making a move to Philip Morris in 2013, I was expecting to have an international job opportunity, short term assignment (STA) or long term assignment (LTA). Unfortunately things did not go in line with my expectations since my experience was mainly based on statutory tax legislation in Turkey. Then I worked hard to learn more about transfer pricing, independent audit and financial reporting standards which will make me a candidate for positions in HQ which is located in Switzerland. I had dreams that my son would grow in a foreign company, learn foreign language (hopefully English) in childhood and we would have social network in which we could experience new cultures. While I was focused on my growth and making myself ready for the opportunities, the company’s strategy changed and the number of STA/LTA openings decreased. Despite this fall, there were still some opportunities and they were open in internal job postings site.

I know the direction I want to go but I can't go to that direction

I set up a reminder in 2016 and this was reminding me to check the job postings every Friday at 9:00 am. At first, I was only applying to Finance roles. Since there was no positive turn back to my applications, I enlarged the criteria while making applications, this time I did not limit myself with only Finance but also External Affairs and Global Communications roles in Europe. I stated my interest in yearly performance forms and meetings, but I even could not have an interview opportunity.

During this period, I got grades, moved to a different city and started to work with great people. I am on my own individual career journey, I am happy with what I have got but my interest in a global role in a foreign country is always a challenge for me that I want to experience. I am happy in my company PMI, and I find a meaning in it during the transformation journey of my company towards unsmoking the world. On the other hand, as I could not receive a call for an interview in the jobs I applied, this created a self doubt in my career. I was not receiving proper feedback after my applications, there was only generic mails so I invested more in myself. This situation led me to life-long-learning mentality. I spent more time for learning, receiving certifications, completing training programs. In order to increase my visibility, I shared more in social media, created blogs, youtube channel to show my progress, shared them in intranet site of my company but it did not work out. I changed the format of my CV, even got a training on CV update, added keywords, created job specific intention letters. Unfortunately, result did not change. Then I found myself caught up in comparison and judgment.  I have developed beliefs which were developed over time through the combination of my experiences, messages from others and societal and cultural conditioning. I even thought that being a non-EU citizen is a barrier for me (like additional workload to get work permit, etc.) which prevents me to reach the opportunities abroad. All these made me lose my confidence in myself. This was my main driver while I was asking Melissa for coaching. 

I believe in PMI's smoke-free future vision and I work towards it

What Melissa Made me to Discover

On the day of our coaching session, I was extremely excited. As I am not used to one-to-one meetings with VPs, the meeting made me feel “excitement”. I shared this feeling with Melissa in the opening of the call and she told that she was no more a VP to make me calm. I told her about my ambition, my efforts towards reaching my ambition and how it made me feel after all these applications. I called my current mood as “self-doubt in career”. This was not a doubt in my current role but a doubt in the way towards my dream job. I know that coaching starts with a goal and my goal was having confidence in myself within my career journey so that I can have a global role in a foreign country.

Melissa asked me some key questions to gain clarity about my goal. Within the coaching session and after that session, I am thinking about my answers to these questions. The main questions are:

• Why is this goal important for me?
• What can I control for achieving my goal?
• How can I still grow without thinking about my goal?

These are all great questions that made me think deep. During the coaching session, the most powerful recommendation was accepting that I can’t control what the company decides. I recently read from an article in Forbes stating that “We often want to control our environment. Or we may want control over the outcome of every situation. But the more you try to control everything around you, the more anxious you’ll feel.“ (2 Psychological Tricks That Will Help You Stop Worrying About Things You Can’t Control (forbes.com)) The main message of that article was “when you stop worrying about things you can’t control, you’ll have more time and energy to devote to the things you do have control over. And this can be key to reaching your greatest potential.” Now this makes much more sense and I concentrate more on my growth mindset, preparing to be fit when the opportunity comes, and keep looking forward the best opportunities to make my dream come true.

What is Next?

I have a son and I work hard to provide him the best options within my standards. Working abroad will not only be a challenge for me to develop my skills but also open the way for my son’s foreign language learning and become a world citizen. I will go on imagining what will be different in my life when I am assigned to my dream job.

I asked Melissa about her experiences when she was in roles outside of her own country. She told me that these assignments in abroad made her understand differences, see diversity, be humble and curious, listen and learn from other people and gain satisfaction from various experiences. In short, these are also what I look for, therefore hearing her experiences once again let me understand that my expectations are in line with her real time experiences.

Being connected to our dreams is one of the best ways we have to find a connection to our deeper, wiser selves. Therefore, I write in bold that I have an ambition to work abroad for my company PMI with my family, overcome the challenges with a growth mindset, be a life long learner in this journey and enjoy the career path with my family. This time, I am not only telling my dream to my manager or writing it down to my performance form but stating it to the whole world who will somehow read this content.

Thank to Melissa for providing me this coaching opportunity, she made me ask the right questions, think about the answers and re-invent my motivation towards my ambition.

An Awesome Coaching Session - Thanks to Melissa

Oksijeni Aldım ve Yazdım

Çok uzun ara verince ne kadar özlesen de dönmek zor oluyormuş yazmaya. Ne zamandır hep aklımda biriken bir şeyleri yavaş yavaş yazıya dökmek ama olmadı bir türlü… Bitmek bilmeyen uzun mesailer sonrası kaçamak anlarında yeniden bilgisayar karşısına geçmek istemedi gönlüm. İçimdekileri kalem alıp bir kağıda dökmeye de alışmamışım, eciş bücüş yazımı sonra bilgisayara aktarmak için ayrıca efor sarf etmek gözümde büyüyecekti, hal böyle olunca hep erteledim ama bu akşam artık o moda geçince affetmedim.

Bu sabah çok uzun bir aradan sonra gazete aldım. Okunacak gazete olmadı için uzun zamandır gazete almamıştım, bir süredir Serdar Kuzuloğlu’nun yazdığı haftalık Oksijen gazetesini merak ediyordum. Covid muhabbeti sebebiyle evde geçireceğimi bildiğim bu Cumartesi sabahında bir Oksijen alıp, Türk kahvesi eşliğinde okumaya başladım. Öyle hoşuma giden yazılar oldu ki, öğlen ajandamı ve kalemimi alıp sabah okuduklarımın üzerinden bir kez daha geçip kendime bazı notlar aldım. Şimdi not aldım deyince sanki yukarıdaki eciş bücüş yazımla çeliştiğim anlamı çıkmasın. Aksine o ifadeyi pekiştirir çünkü yazdıklarımı daha yeni tamamlarken bile okumakta zorlandım, bazı kelimeler henüz aklımdayken üzerlerinden kalemle bir kez daha geçtim, iyice okuması zor hale geldi ve bir kez daha neden kendim için kağıda yazmak yerine blog’a yazmanın daha kolay olduğunu anladım.

Odamın camına yağmur çarparken, arka fonda konsantrasyon artırıcı (evet youtube’da bu şekilde aratabilirsiniz) müzik eşlik ediyor ve ben gazeteden yazdıklarımı dijital ortama aktarıyorum.

Öncelikle Mario Levi’nin köşesinden radarıma takılanlarla başlayayım. İlki “Bir yetenek arıyorsanız tutkuda arayın”. Bu sözü ilk “Bir yetenek arıyorsanız tutku da arayın” şeklinde yazmışım ama sonra köşe yazısını kontrol ettiğimde “dahi” anlamında ayrı “da” kullanılmadığını, birleşik yazıldığını fark ettim. Bu söz kesinlikle çok iyi bir tespit içeriyor. Hem iş hayatımda hem de ilgi alanlarımda takip ettiğim başarılı kişilerin yaptıkları işe tutkuyla bağlandıklarını pek çok kez gördüm. İlgiyi, merakı tutkusu haline getirenler bir şekilde bunu işe de çevirdiyse önlerinde kimse duramıyor ve kesinlikle fark yaratıyorlar.

Mario Levi’nin köşesinde dikkatimi çeken basit ve net bir cümle daha oldu: “Herkes ancak bildiğini anlatabilir”. Tartışılmayacak kadar net bir konu bu. A’dan Z’ye bilmediğiniz konuyu anlatmaya kalkabilirsiniz, o konuda konuşabilirsiniz ama ifade ettikleriniz karşınızdakine bir yere kadar ulaşır. Kendimden örnek verecek olursam, youtube kanalımdaki en güvendiğim içerikler tüketici hakları ile ilgili konulara girdiğim videolar. Çünkü konuyu biliyorum, yıllarca tecrübe etmişim ve artık birilerine de bu konuda faydalı olmak için bir üst paragrafta gündeme gelen tutkuya da sahibim. Hal böyle olunca anlatırken güven de geliyor ve içerik diğerlerinin önüne çıkıyor.

Mario Levi’den son alıntım ise belki de benim bu gece bu satırları yazmamı sağlayan motivasyon kaynağım: “İnanarak yazmanın yaralarımızı sarmayı kolaylaştırabileceğini söylemekle yetinirim”. Hiç iyi gelmez mi yazmasını sevene yazmak, içindeki dökmek. İnsanlara güvenmenin iyice zor olduğu şu ortamda kendisiyle başbaşa kalıp içindekileri akıtmak…

Alıntılarla devam ederken bu kez Aslı Peker’in köşesinden devam edelim. O da George Eliot’tan bir alıntı paylaşmış: “İnsan her yeni kişiyle yeni bir hayata başlayabilir.” Bu sözün üzerine 18 yıllık evliliğini bitirdikten sonra hayatına yeni birinin girmesi durumunda yeni de bir hayata başlayabileceğinden bahsetmiş. Bense bu konuyu beyaz yakalı bakış açısıyla değerlendirip toxic bir yönetici sonrası yeni bir yönetici ile çalışmanın insana yaşattığı o yeniden doğuşunu, yeni başlangıcın kişiye ne kadar yüksek enerji depolayacağını düşündüm. Haksız mıyım?

Aslı Peker’in köşesinde kitap önerileri de vardı, bunlardan bir tanesi hikayesiyle özellikle ilgimi çekti, goodreads’te de okumak istediklerim listeme aldım ama burada da dursun: Siddhartha Buddha ve Hayatı / Edward Schure

Gazetede sütün ve süt ürünlerinin aslında bize öğretildiği kadar faydalı bir gıda olmadığına yönelik iki doktorla yapılmış uzun bir söyleşi de vardı. Bu yazıyı okurken doğruluğuna o kadar inandığımız şeylerin de bir gün challenge edilip aslında inandığımız doğruların yıkılabileceğini düşündüm. Tıpkı dostluğuna inandığımız ama şu an hayatımızda olmayan o eski dostlar gibi… Neyse, bu söyleşiden de aldığım sağlık temalı bir cümle vardı: “Yediğin şey ne yiyorsa osun”. Bence adam haklı, dağılabiliriz. Bir sonraki içimi dökme seansına kadar, kendimize iyi bakalım.