Furkan Karayel How to Build Your Leadership Profile as a Woman in Tech

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The Inspiring Journey of Furan Karel: A Woman in Tech

Imagine a little girl who lives in a small town long before the internet era. She dreams of being a software engineer but hasn't seen any woman do it before. Sounds daunting, doesn't it? Today, this girl has grown into a successful software engineer and is dedicating her life to inspire other girls into technology. I, Furan Karel, had no role models while growing up, and I wish to be one myself now. Here is my story.

Beginnings: Small town girl with big dreams

In my little corner of Turkey, dreaming of a career in tech as a woman was not just ambitious - it was unheard of. So, when I first shared my ambition with my friends at school, I was laughed at and reminded to 'come back to the real world'. That was when I decided that I would not only achieve my dream, but also inspire other girls to follow theirs.

From Turkey to Ireland - An International Tech Student

In the middle of my studies in Istanbul, I got transferred to Aloi IT in Ireland as an Erasmus student. Happiness knew no bounds when two weeks after graduation, I landed my dream job as a software engineer at Erickson. Yet, this was not the end of my career journey – it was just the beginning.

A Decade in the Tech World: Observations and Insights

Over ten years in multinational tech companies, I noticed a striking disparity - women were always in the minority, especially in terms of leadership roles. This reality hit harder when I realized that most tech company leaders lacked diverse ethnic backgrounds - most were less than 1%!

A Wake-Up Call and A New Cause: DiversIn Tech

Spurred by the need to change this narrative, I founded DiversIn Tech. The goal? To bring people from various backgrounds together to foster equal and happier workplaces. We now have over 20 ambassadors focusing on diverse areas including women in tech, LGBT groups, disabilities at the workplace, neurodiversity, ethnic culture, and gender diversity.

Leadership Redefined

Leadership, to me initially, seemed distant and elusive. I thought it meant managing a team or working in big companies. But then, a course instructor mentioned me as a leader who inspired diversity and inclusion, and I was taken aback.

I found solace in Bill George's definition of leadership: wanting to make a difference and inspiring others to join them in pursuing common goals. If Opera Winfrey and Malala Youssafzai, women who started with big dreams, can become leaders, why can't any of us?

Building Your Leadership Profile

Based on my experiences in large corporations and as an entrepreneur, here are some steps to shape your leadership profile:

  • Document your Skills and Achievements: Don't underestimate your capabilities and don't shrink away from celebrating even small wins.
  • Build Your Online Presence: Platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter can aid visibility in your field and connect you with like-minded individuals.
  • Ask for Help when Needed: People who aren’t shy to ask questions or seek assistance often navigate roadblocks more smoothly
  • Network: Join clubs and groups relevant to your field to gain insights from others' experiences and make valuable connections.
  • Embrace Public Speaking: It might be scary initially, but speaking in public boosts your image and establishes your authority in your field.

The Road Ahead

The stories of your journey, your struggles, your triumphs, and your dreams are what shape your leadership profile. It's time to let the world hear them! Remember, your authentic self should shine through in your journey as a leader. Always strive for inclusivity, diversity, and authenticity in your leadership practice.

So what is your next step towards building your leadership profile? Maybe it's updating your LinkedIn profile, overcoming the fear of public speaking, putting more time towards networking or simply reviewing your accomplishments – the path is yours to choose.

Regardless of the direction you choose, remember to embrace your authentic self and empower others. In this way, we collectively contribute to the creation of a more inclusive, diverse, and authentic world.

Want to Connect?

Are you inspired to start your journey, or do you already tread on the path of leadership? Either way, I'd love to hear from you. Connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter and let's take the conversation forward.


Video Transcription

Imagine a little girl who lives in a small town way before the internet era. She wants to be a software engineer, but she hasn't seen a woman who did this before. My name is Furan Karel. And this is my story.I grew up in a small town in Turkey and I didn't have role models, not even on papers or TV. S one day I shared my dream at school with my friends that I wanted to be a software engineer. I get some laughs. And then one of my teacher pulled me to my side and said for come, come back to real world. Since then, I said, maybe I can be the one who can inspire girls into technology or whatever they would like to achieve in their lives. I went to college in Istanbul and in the middle of my studies, I got transferred to ALO it, which is in Ireland as an Erasmus student. And luckily two weeks after my graduation, I landed into my dream job as a software engineer in uh Erickson. I was delighted. I was so happy and over the moon, I thought this was the end, but it was the beginning, I worked in multinational tech companies for 10 years in different roles. And what I've seen at those years was women were always in minority. And when it comes to women in the leadership, it's always more minority and even women in tech companies leadership with different ethnic backgrounds, less and less like 1% nearly. And a leader like me in tech companies s didn't even exist at all.

So this was my wake up call and I had to do something about it. I found that my company divers in to bring people from different backgrounds together to make equal and happier workplaces with over 20 ambassadors in different areas of diversity, including women in tech LGBT groups, disabilities at workplace, neurodiversity, uh ethnic culture, gender diversity and so on.

We provide inclusive leadership uh solutions, women in tech leadership, as well as uh intercultural engagement solutions for uh for companies uh honest with you that the idea for leadership was completely different for me. When I think of it, I thought leadership is not something for me because I wasn't managing a team. I wasn't working in big companies. It was very far away concept to me that I thought this is how you become a leader, somebody touch you with a magic sword and declare you to be a leader. And years later, actually, a few years ago, uh I was sitting in a uh in a course and the instructor knew me and I knew her and in one of her slides, she referred me as a leader who inspire uh achieving diverse and inclusion for others. I was shocked, I was very surprised because this didn't match into the leadership uh profile I had in my mind. But then I come across with the definition of leadership by Bill George. It says some leaders didn't see themselves as leaders at all. Instead they wanted to make a difference and inspire others to join them in pursuing common goals. If that isn't leadership, what is it makes so much sense to me? Now, what in what a a leadership is?

And imagine these leaders, I had the uh the photo of opera here as well. Opera Malala Mariri, they are completely different people from different part of the world. They didn't have big teams to manage at first. And what they had was they had big dreams so that people follow their lead to pursue those dreams. So which is so important. What I'm going to do now is I'm going to share a few tips and recommendations for you to build your leadership profile from um my observations working in big companies or working for myself or uh the experiences that I had uh people around me. The first thing is we women, we mostly under uh underestimate our skills and achievements. And uh I used to do that a lot as well and whatever I did wasn't enough for me in my, in my threshold, I wanted to do more and even the small achievements I didn't really appreciate. But how to overcome this is maybe write down your achievements, even though if it's small, write down your skills and achievements and read and remind yourself time to time, time to time, how great you are, how great achievements you you did and how much time and effort you actually spend on them.

Give yourself the credibility as building a, a leadership profile. It's very important to be visible. And linkedin and Twitter is a, are great tools to, to be visible uh with your expertise. I would uh highly recommend using those uh platforms. In fact, my first uh public speaking experience opportunity came from Twitter after I asked the organizer, why did she actually pick me? Because that was my first public speaking um experience. She said she saw my profile and she thought that I was uh doing the public speaking already from my profile. And it's also great opportunity to find people in your area to catch up with the events, what's going on in the world and who is um who is doing what in terms of uh leadership? I'm gonna be honest with you. I still struggle with this asking, asking for help opportunity, challenge a question even it's difficult. But from my own experience in the in the area, what I seen that people who ask move forward very easily and nine out of 10. If you ask the right question to the right person, it opens many opportunities for you, maybe have a look at that and, and um maybe try practicing it. Getting to the club is basically networking. Let's say you would like to transition your career to tech.

And uh and obviously you wouldn't have much friends by then uh with the people, people with the same background, then you get into the clubs, for example, like this or other groups, maybe local groups in your town that you get so much uh information and so much experience from those people's um experiences.

So networking opens many doors for you. And uh I, I've seen that and myself as well for many, many years, I didn't even knew the um knew the importance of networking. But when I start doing it a little bit, I've seen, seen the big difference, the opportunities start kept coming to me. And uh I was more visible in the field and um it was like a game changer surround yourself with positive people. I can't stress this enough because we have the control of our uh environment, the people around us, make sure that you choose your power team that they energize you, they motivate you but not drain you because life is so short to have negative people around. One of the last thing I would like to say is speaking public speaking, you can get the earlier you get into public speaking. Is the better. Um uh Like, i it's one of the scariest thing for many people in the world. But you can maybe start slowly, let's say you learn a new tool or a new skill and you can group your colleagues together in, at work and maybe at a lunch and learn session, you can present them what you learned. What are the mistakes you have done? What are the um w what are the learning process that you followed and et cetera? So this will grow more and more day by day and nobody is born with a public speaking um skill and you will be the go to person about that topic.

If anybody is having a problem with that, another thing to speak about is make sure that you talk about your own life story too. This connects you with the people and people are craving for authentic stories. What makes you, what makes your leadership here is an uh here is an opportunity to engage with you. So I'm going to give you two minutes and I ask you the question, what is the one action you will commit today to build your um leadership profile? Uh You can give us a short description and uh you go to manti.com, either from your phone or your browser and use the code 57 46 47. You will be prompted to uh a box so you enter your answer and we will be able to see your, all of your answers on the screen in a minute. I'll give you a minute for that linkedin profile speak. Commit to presenting my team on something I've learned. Grow, organizing a new CV. Very good be frank in asking questions. Amazing. Start public speaking and make your voice heard. Try to face fears and get out of my comfort zone. More networking, publish and out of my own speaking. My own my mind for the first time on linkedin. These are all great. You see, we are uh we are inspired by these uh amazing uh takeaways. Work more or uh work for more diversity, speak, increase my network. Amazing, amazing. I recognize what I have accomplished.

Very good, very important. Now, I'm gonna stop sharing this. And if you are taking one thing out of this uh presentation, my final note is actually embrace your authentic self and empower each other. We need this more than ever to support each other and support each other's authentic voice and authentic self. This starts with you, recognizing your own voice, recognizing your own values and authentic self. And this is the core of inclusive leadership. Thank you so much for listening to me and II, I hope you find this useful and feel free to connect with me on Twitter or linkedin. And uh I, I think we have few minutes to um answer questions. So please feel free to share your uh question in the in the chat box. OK. I see a question here. Uh setting high standards for self, does it good or bad? What's your take on this? Uh like growing up, I always had very high standards um Aparna, but to be honest, it didn't really help me other than holding me back. So I am embracing, I imperfection is at the moment there are great resources uh about imperfection is and how uh perfectionism is actually killing your time, killing your uh skills to be visible. I would urge you to accept your weaknesses.

You know, I have so many weaknesses that I start embracing and recognizing but maybe start working on them, but maybe keeping the perfectionism out of the picture because this is holding you and uh you don't want to hold back. Uh uh In my opinion, I hope uh I hope this, this helps to you. And I think we women, we are very perfectionist and um we, we set so high standards for ourselves. But, but that's for example, public speaking, I hold myself maybe five years to start doing things like this. Imagine I could have five more years experience. So what is the big thing you will tell your younger self? I would say, know your values and embrace your authentic values.

And um th this would be really important in our younger times. We, we are discovering, we don't know what we like, what we don't like and what will happen in the future, but recognizing and discovering more uh and not really worry too much about the future, but focusing on what you like, what you don't like. What are your skills working on those skills? Would be my um my recommendation to my younger self. You inspired me even in 10 minutes? Oh my God. I'm so happy to hear this. Thank you can take more. How do we set a line between confidence and overconfidence? Um I think it's a very good question. Um uh Confidence and overconfidence. I think we should be co we should do what is comfortable with us. Like if uh if we are feeling um uh confident, we believe in ourselves, it's very easy to be recognized by other people. But if it's like overconfidence, I think people do this on purpose. And uh like, I if you, if you don't aim for like over your confidence, I wanna be like this or this. So then recognizing those um confidence and making points that will help you to build your confidence is um is appreciated by people. I had that problem as well. I never wanted to advertise about myself. I wanted to disappear basically.

But then you should believe in yourself too so that other people can trust you. I'm sure you have so much to say your personal um stories build up. You know, this is my story. This is how my life shaped, but I'm sure you have a completely different path and you learned so much and you should share it with your, you know, uh bring in this uh authentic uh confidence to you and start sharing. And if you really do it for the sake of, you know, sharing, it's, if it's very obvious, if it's uh overconfidence or if it's uh an authentic confidence, yes, the session is recorded and uh how would I define myself as a person? I'm still discovering about myself. Um It's a journey. It like I read so many books about self discovery and um learning more about myself. I think the life is all about discovering about ourselves and there is no end to it. So, thank you so much and my session is over, happy to connect with you and uh thank you so much for listening to me. Enjoy the rest of your day.