We are chasing after leadership; hopefully, it will turn out for the best for us. Following the acceptance of the form we initially filled out on the YGA website, the road to the YGA Summit appeared before us. And so, another journey began for me. From our class, 4 of us, including me, passed YGA’s first elimination round, and since we had a +1 who was already a YGA member, there were 5 of us just from our class. By the way, let me mention that we made it to the final 2,000 out of 50,000 people. A total of 26 people from our university were participating. Before heading to the summit, we all met up, bought our bus tickets, and on the final day, we hit the road to Eskişehir, completing our transit to Istanbul from there. Since the YGA bus departed from Eskişehir, we managed to spend at least a little bit of time in Eskişehir at 1 AM.
*You don’t become a leader by listening to leaders; leadership develops by taking responsibility in the field.
Afterwards, we hit the road to Istanbul and finally started to take our seats in the Summit hall. Then, the first speaker took his place on the stage. By the way, among the speakers, the names that stuck in my mind are Mehmet abi (brother/senior) and Sinan abi. The reason I remember the names of these seniors so well might be that they delivered their presentations with such an energetic vibe. I won’t lie, for instance: when fatigue and sleep deprivation kicked in after a long journey, and the first speaker abi went on a bit long explaining his company’s development in a very plain way, I dozed off. I didn’t want to sleep, but falling asleep allowed me to sacrifice only the first part rather than the entire seminar. It was a profitable trade-off for me.
* To make an idea real, you first need to dream it.
My friends whom I set out with before the summit were truly, genuinely great. Honestly, I don’t know if it would have been such a fun and beautiful day if we hadn’t gone as such a large group. Being united, being together, achieving success together—I think we managed to do exactly that on that day. If you ask how, I can say by acting as a team. Traveling with them, attending the seminar together, walking around together during the breaks, setting up a WhatsApp group, and taking group photos was all very fun and beautiful.
* Choose your dreams carefully, because they can come true.
Coming to what stayed in my mind from the summit, the energetic guy, Mehmet abi: even though I don’t remember exactly what he said (I say I don’t remember, but of course, I have some things in mind; I just can’t quite figure out which speaker said them. A general framework definitely formed in my head, though), he became one of the speakers who ingrained himself in my brain with his energetic demeanor, his gestures, and his striking presence. Also, his remark regarding Steve Jobs—that leadership is not something obtained after achieving something, but rather a much more important position—was validated by my own logic, which was another reason it caught my attention.
*A leader starts leadership first with themselves.
The other person is Sinan abi; I really liked his “ELİ, DELİ, and VELİ” (The Hand/Conformist, The Madman, and The Guardian/Saint) trilogy. In this trilogy, his explanation that the *eli* are the insecure people who conform to the system, the *deli* are the people who tear the system down, and finally, the *veli* are the ones who build the system, was one of the concepts that really settled into my head. He shared a clip from a Leonardo DiCaprio movie; honestly, I didn’t like this clip because, for some reason, it didn’t set a good example for me. There was greed in it. I believe that greed is a harmful thing. It can even strip you of your humanity. Of course, these are my personal views.
* Leadership is earned during the journey you embark on.
Another very important example that caught my attention in the hall was about a very simple and seemingly meaningless painting drawn by Picasso selling for millions, while thousands of more beautiful paintings aren’t valued as highly. Hearing that the reason for this lies in his past successful works and being number one in his field—making even a single dot he draws incredibly valuable—really impressed me. For some reason, this example reminded me of Steve Jobs and Apple. No matter what they make, they can sell it incredibly well. It all comes down to branding. If you promote your brand well, people will buy what you produce.
* So, which idol are you going to topple?
There was also Ümit abi; let’s not deny him his due now. He was seriously interesting. Generally, all the speakers talked about things based on the work they actually do. But Ümit abi approached the event from a completely different angle, framing it around Chaos, the Language Problem, and TENNIS. Sharing his fun and interesting memories with us was a uniquely beautiful part of the event. And him throwing tennis balls toward us at the end of his speech was one of the most striking moments. I say “toward us,” but not a single one actually landed in our section.
* To make an idea real, you first need to dream it.
Then there are my visually impaired seniors, Selim and Kerim abi. I mean, there is no life story quite like theirs. I can say they deserve the phrase “kudos to them” to the absolute fullest. Knowing what they have accomplished despite their obstacles makes one ashamed of what they haven’t done and of sitting idle. And of getting poor grades in classes. I won’t lie, Selim and Kerim abi delivered the best part of the seminar.
