Trailblazer, role model, entrepreneur, speaker, lecturer and and author, there’s not many things in the area of Diversity and Inclusion in Ireland. Starting out as a software engineer, Furkan found herself being the only person who looked like her in many of the offices she went into. It was here that she found out why the need for D&I was so strong. Ever since, she has dedicated her professional life to uplifting those underrepresented groups in societies
Since then, Furkan has launched her own company, Diversein to “train managers to be role models for diversity and inclusion in the workplace,” authored her own book Inclusive Intelligence, become an accomplished guest speaker and worked with many of the top companies in the world to develop their Diversity and Inclusion team. I interviewed Furkan to find out more:
- What’s your origin story? How did a software engineer in Dublin become one of Ireland’s top D&I advocates?
Honestly, I hadn’t planned a career in diversity and inclusion. Looking at where I am now, I believe I was destined to be here. My childhood dream was to work in tech. I graduated from Athlone IT from the software engineering department. Fortunately, 2 weeks after my graduation, I landed my dream job. Overall, I have worked in the tech sector for 10 big years in different levels of software development. At first it felt good, but then I felt alone. I was sometimes the only woman or non-native English speaker on my team. The only this, the only that, on every team I joined. On the other hand, there was a clear lack of female representation in leadership. Particularly women who look like me, women from different ethnic backgrounds in the leadership positions of tech companies barely even existed at all. This was a big wake-up call for me and I knew I had to do something about it.
- Why did you feel the need to create Diversein, what was the company’s mission when it launched and how has that evolved into the services it offers now?
From what I have seen in recent years, “diversity, inclusion, belonging”, these words were being used a lot as a marketing tool by big organisations, but the action piece was always missing. The D&I organisations in the market were only focusing on gender. At first I wanted to volunteer for an organisation who look at D&I holistically like I do. I couldn’t find even one that looks at it not only from a corporate perspective, but also genuinely with community championing as well. So Diversein was born.
At first I wanted to give the mic to those who weren’t given an opportunity to speak about their truth at work (like me). So many people talked about D&I on my behalf, but none of them resonated with me. I also wanted to help specifically small or mid-size organisations to start their D&I journey. I wanted to start these conversations as much as possible and show them that it could be done with small or no budgets. However, over time, I haven’t seen any interest from small orgs as they don’t prioritise D&I, unfortunately blaming their time, team sizes and budgets. On the other hand, large organisations were more interested in my D&I or women in tech story and advice, so we changed our products and services to suit them. Our mission is to bring action-oriented diversity and inclusion solutions to organisations and leaders. We help global organisations and leaders build their inclusive leadership skills with clear actions and practical tools by delivering interactive talks and mentoring in a positive, inspiring, and empowering style so that they can unlock the full potential of their diverse teams authentically.
*Inclusive Intelligence” by Furkan Kayael
You recently wrote a book “Inclusive Intelligence: How to be a Role Model for Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace”. Why did you feel there was a need for the book to be written and what has the impact been since its launch?
Over the last few years, we have had the opportunity to work with global organisations leadership teams. These leaders were located in different parts of the world, work in a variety of roles and they have different ethnic backgrounds. What we found was that some leaders were so good at inclusion.
We have also seen a pattern of what made them inclusive leaders. They were these six skills: self-awareness, empathy, engagement, cultural wisdom, accountability and commitment. So Inclusive Intelligence concept was born as a meeting point of emotional intelligence and inclusive leadership.
In each chapter of the book, I described how these leaders authentically have been living these skills and embed inclusion in their agenda everyday. I don’t want our learnings to be missed. So it had to come out as a book. Since its launch in November 2021, it’s exceeded my expectations. Last year, I have started my book tour and have travelled to 9 countries (Ireland, UK, USA, Turkey, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary and Spain) in 25+ cities to introduce the concept and the book. Almost every second day, I receive lovely feedback on my Linkedin/inbox from a different part of the world. I am blown away by the impact.
- You are also an accomplished guest speaker. What have been some of your highlights of your speaking engagements? Are there any speaking engagements coming up that you are particularly looking forward to?
Yes, I speak at on average 50 events annually! I will be speaking at the amazing Networking Jean’s (Jean Evans) podcast soon about diversity and inclusion in networking. I also have a couple of corporate events on my agenda. One of them is McKenna & Co Solicitors. I am really looking forward to giving an in-person interactive lunch & learn session about diversity and inclusion for their team. I will also be attending the diversity in tech awards in London at the end of the month. I have been a judge at their recent nominations. So there are plenty of events to get excited about!
- What has been the biggest change in D&I since you became a D&I advocate? What gives you hope for D&I in Ireland and abroad in the near future?
The biggest change has been that many organisations are moving into the action phase, which is great to see. Most of my conversations with clients are based on interventions, action steps and strategy planning for leaders and organisations. This absolutely gives me hope to see more genuinely inclusive leaders and workplaces in the future for Ireland and beyond.