This Spring, we were honored to have Gulru Gulkan (Commercial Financial Lead for Microsoft’s African region) for our speaker series session “Finance Skills and Digital transformation”. Gulru shared her remarkable journey of transitioning into the technology field and leveraging her financial knowledge and leadership skills to excel in her career.
Gulru received her MBA degree from UW-Madison in 2004 and started at Best Buy as a Senior Financial Analyst. Over the course of 7 years, she would rise to become Finance Manager and eventually was appointed as CFO of the company’s recently structured Turkey office. From 2011 to 2015, she served as a Senior Finance Manager at Vodafone Turkey before joining Microsoft in 2015. Today, she leads the Commercial Finance division for Microsoft Africa region.
During the session, Gulru shared her story of how her networking skills and adaptability proved instrumental in her career advancement. She shared her experience of successfully navigating through shifts within her company, resulting in her appointment as CFO for emerging markets. As a leader, she was given a challenging task to establish a proficient team in new markets to drive the company’s operations forward.
One pivotal lesson for me from Gulru’s narrative was not just about importance of skillset for career progression, but also about adeptly managing challenging business scenarios, such as how to effectively maintain employee morale in the case of discontinuing operations. She emphasized the importance of leaders understanding how to manage people effectively, ensuring equitable treatment and a sense of safety among all team members.
Another interesting aspect of Gulru’s dicussion was her insights into the impact of AI on today’s business landscape. She elaborated on how tech giants like Microsoft are harnessing the power of AI to enhance their service offerings and provide superior solutions to clients. Gulru stressed the significance of grasping AI’s capabilities and leveraging them as a strategic advantage as future emerging leaders.
In my opinion, invaluable lessons she shared offer a wealth of inspiration and guidance for us how to navigate through different career paths successfully, especially during times of challenging business situations.
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