Arcelik CEO Hakan Bulgurlu shares his career-defining lightbulb moment with CNBC’s “My Biggest Lessons.”
Hakan Bulgurlu has learned a lot of lessons over his career, but he says the most important one is trust.
Bulgurlu told CNBC “Make It” that earning the trust of his customers and employees has been an essential part of being the CEO of household appliances company Arcelik, which owns brands such as white goods giant Beko.
However, he learned the value of trust when he was much younger, as a young jeweler’s assistant at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey.
“I was a young boy, maybe 12, 13, 14 years old,” he said. “You can look at me as an intern doing a summer job.”
Bulgurlu was entrusted with pricing the jewelry at the store.
“The tourists trusted me, a young boy who could communicate clearly in different languages. I could be more expensive than the shop right next door, but they still chose to buy from me because I was able to build that relationship and trust,” he said.
“I think self-confidence, when coupled with trust, can take you a long way in life.”
This is just one of four of Hakan Bulgurlu’s biggest lessons. Watch the video above for more.