Entrepreneurship, Ethics and ALS
It just hit me one day. I finally realized why I have been so obsessed about business ethics during my start up years as a founder and the CEO. It was my father who secretly taught me those business values. And I never thought about it till that one day.
My father was diagnosed with ALS in February 2015. If you missed the famous ice bucket challenge, here is a brief summary for you about ALS: It is a motor neuron disease which slowly, or in some cases somewhat rapidly, kills the patient’s motor neuron abilities, such as walking, using hands, speaking, swallowing and finally breathing. It is the most terrible thing to see your most loved one to go through something like this.
Coming back to ethics… Or as one of our investors, Dawn, would call it, “intelligent honesty”. I started topLog in 2013 with two other friends. I did not have any business experience before then. I was a PhD student in Computer Science and had been a life-long student. So many things about the start up world was new and different to me. Mostly, its culture. Its very much “anything to get customers/investors/traction/press” culture. I never liked it and honestly, I never did anything to get a customer or an investor if it did not feel right. I could not “over-sell” our company to any potential investors, or potential employees or potential customers whereas I kept seeing people around me telling stories about how they can “change the world” with their half assed products and teams. To me, there is a very fine line between selling the vision versus lying. And many were just simply lying.
One might say that this might be one of the reasons that we could not become a billion dollar company. Maybe I was too honest to sell “the vision”. But that day, I knew my “intelligent honesty” was just engraved in me.
My father is an entrepreneur but a true entrepreneur. Not one of these rich kids trying to get richer or wannapreneurs. He started working with a mechanic when he was only 12 years old. He dropped out of middle school and opened his own shop when he was 20. He worked by himself for 15 years and fed a family of three with his bare hands. One day, he realized that there was no future in being a mechanic. Then, he opened a new business with a partner which they split only a year after. They started a sheet steel business building all sorts of things from sheet steel for big factories. That was 1995. He now owns a multi-million dollar business and has 35 employees working for him. He has never taken a vacation more than 3 days in a year, with the exception of my wedding. That time, he had to travel to Canada and stay with us for 10 days! 10 consecutive days off of work, the first time ever in his life! And then there came the ALS. In only 11 short months, he lost his speech, eating, breathing and all. He is stuck in a bed right now, most likely hating the fact that he cannot smell that steel anymore. And my 21 year old brother dropped out of his Engineering degree to take over the business. I was with them in Turkey last month. I heard every big or small customer telling my brother that they would like to keep doing business with him because he is my father’s son. Every other day another customer, vendor or a partner came to my brother saying that they will keep supporting him because my father has been one of the most honest and hardworking people they had ever worked with. And one day, I saw the respect and love he received from his employees. After his first operation from his stomach, three days after getting out of the hospital, he went to work. I was in the car, waiting to pick him up. When he got out of his office, I saw 35 people lining up in front of him and one by one, kissing his hand and saying “Get well soon, Usta” (Usta means Master in Turkish). This might sound weird to many North Americans but kissing hand in Turkish culture shows respect. Commonly, you only kiss your elders’ hands, not your boss’. Unless you see your boss like a father and a master… Even now I cannot hold my tears and I will never forget that moment.
That was when I realized the importance of the business ethics, “intelligent honesty” and hard work. That is exactly how I would want to be seen by my employees, my customers and my partners. To me, respect is one of the most important values in life. And earning that respect by working hard and also by showing the same respect to whoever I work with.
I was never able to get to that point with my own business but I can only hope that I am surrounding myself with people who share the similar values in business and in life. If we have to say goodbye to my father one day, I can only hope that I will be the role model for my children to pass that integrity and honesty in life.
