“Coaching is serendipitous. You may start coaching with one aim in mind and end up with a different outcome that is more beneficial for you and the business.” 

Gurkan’s 30 years of management experience in the Information and Communication Technology sector gives his coaching an emphasis on customer responsiveness, cultural flexibility, people agility and making fast good decisions.

Experience

Gurkan has gained a wide experience of leadership, during an international career in the fast-moving Information and Communication Technology sector (ICT). He is familiar with business environments that require quick decisions, precision and timeliness together with a critical need to develop people.

During nine years at Turk Telecom was introduced to the comprehensive telecommunications business in the context of a massive organization with a “State Company” culture.

His first private sector experience came in IBM Turkey, where he gained insight into corporate life and extensive experience with international procedures, management by objectives and performance appraisal. At Ericsson he gained the experience of matrix organizations by reporting both to local and to foreign headquarters. Later as a board-level executive in STFA Group, he developed a greater understanding of strategic leadership issues, as well as shareholder and investor relations.

As one of the first four employees of the Turkish mobile telecommunication giant Turkcell, Gurkan had the chance of working as a top-level executive in wide ranging responsibility areas, such as Contract Management, Quality Management and Customer Care. During his Turkcell years, Gurkan also had the opportunity of working with different cultures, while he was in charge of operations in Georgia and Northern Cyprus.

He values people as individuals and loves listening to them. He employs this passion to reach a fruitful outcome both for individual clients and the corporations they lead. As one of a handful of certified business coaches in Turkey, Gurkan gained experience as an internal coach and mentor through the award-winning management development programs of the Turkcell Academy.

He continues as a contractor to Turkcell Academy’s leadership school, while developing his fulltime practice as a Praesta coach.