(Cracking the Code with Greg Kozera - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

The Shale Crescent USA Team is part of a U.S. Commercial Services Roadshow to Turkey. Lynnda and I, along with SCUSA President Nathan Lord, arrived in Istanbul last Sunday. We were in three Turkish cities for Roadshow events, meeting with companies interested in investing in the USA.

Most Turks guess the actual number of people in Istanbul, the nation’s largest city, to be in excess of 20 million people and still growing. Homes and businesses take up almost every available space. Not much green space. There are buildings as far as the eye can see. Not high rise steel like in Tokyo – these are stucco or concrete multistory buildings. Most people live in apartments.

Türkey is eight hours ahead of U.S. Eastern time. Noon in Elkview is 8 p.m. in Istanbul. They are on year-round daylight saving time. This meant the sun did not rise until after 8 a.m.. Sunset was almost 6:30 p.m.

We were in Koceali, an industrial center, on Wednesday. It was a four-hour bus ride on a six-lane highway to Ankara, the capital of Turkey. We crossed 5,000-foot mountains with snow-covered pine trees on top. Turkey is very green with lots of trees and farm fields.

Ankara is a very modern, clean and safe city. The Turks are kind and polite people who go out of their way to help. I finally did a morning run when we were in Ankara since our first meeting was an 8 a.m. breakfast. I had my lighted hat on but still missed a step in the dark and went sprawling forward. I skinned both knees but was okay. A Turkish woman ran over to make sure I was all right.

The food and pastries were incredible in Turkey. As in Europe, we didn’t see any seriously overweight or obese people the entire week. Based on the traffic, my guess is the Turks may not walk as much as Europeans. Their healthy weights must be related to diet. Fresh fruits, vegetables and small salads are normal at meals. Bread of some type is standard. Beef, chicken, fish, potatoes and rice are the norm. I had sushi one night. We didn’t see pork all week.

Turkey is a Muslim country. Meals were served in courses. Portions were filling. Desserts were melt-in-your-mouth delicious. One night I had two scoops of ice cream with cotton candy on top. WOW! I learned baklava was of Turkish, not Greek, origin. It was incredible. I never felt stuffed or bloated like after many American big dinners.

Turkish drivers are impressive. The streets and freeways are jammed with cars. The narrow, curvy mountain streets of Istanbul have cars parked on both sides of the street, barely leaving room for one car. They are two-way streets! Traffic jams are common. Even most main streets have parked cars and still have two lanes of traffic in two directions.

From what we saw, accidents are not common. I didn’t even see as many dented cars as in West Virginia. Add to the traffic motorcycles and motoscooters weaving in and out of traffic. I was glad we had drivers.

Business in Turkey is more relationship-based than in the USA. Good relationships require communication. People want to do business with people they like. Turks like to know, like, trust and understand the people they do business with, on a personal level. This requires time.

Business meetings in the USA tend to be short and strictly business-focused. This week, we had three business meetings outside of the SelectUSA Roadshow with companies we know who are planning to expand to the U.S. They are seriously looking at the Shale Crescent USA. We have been working with two for some time. All three meetings lasted two hours or more. The first was in corporate headquarters with the CEO. When we arrived, there was a tray of delicious Turkish snacks. We shared our choice of coffee or tea. It was a totally relaxed discussion. We had personal and business discussions.

An hour into the discussion, the CEO’s administrative assistant entered the room with Turkish tea for everyone, even those of us who had been drinking coffee. I was concerned. In Japan the custom is when the green tea is served for business or personal meetings, it means the meeting is over. The CEO is a busy man, and we had already spent an hour with him. But the CEO didn’t indicate he wanted us to leave. I learned later from other Turkish people that in Turkey, serving tea is the opposite of Japan. It means the host wants the meeting to continue. We stayed another hour. It was a very productive meeting for everyone.

The second meeting was a breakfast meeting with a good friend who now lives in the USA and is doing the sales and marketing for his company and his mother, the CEO, in Turkey. She taught us a lot about Turkish foods and culture. We learned breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Proteins like eggs, meats and various cheeses are served. Fruits, vegetables like tomatoes and salads are followed by “desserts” like Danish rolls and donuts. Turkish coffee is served in a tiny cup and is very strong. Tea, not coffee, is the preferred drink in Turkey. This was another very relaxed and productive meeting.

The third was a productive lunch meeting. More next week.

When Americans hear about the Ukraine war or conflicts in the Middle East, they are halfway around the world. Turkey is literally in the middle of it all. Ukraine and Russia are right across the Black Sea. Iran is their eastern neighbor; other Middle Eastern countries are close by. Turkey has a strong economy. They are a hard-working people. They don’t talk. They do.

As mentioned in last week’s article, preparing for our trip to Turkey, I was anxious. Understanding drives out fear. I like Turkey and would happily return.

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Greg Kozera, gkozera@shalecrescentusa.com, is the director of marketing for Shale Crescent USA. He is a professional engineer with a masters in environmental engineering and over 40 years of experience in the energy industry. Greg is a leadership expert, high school soccer coach, professional speaker, author of four books and many published articles.