While Bediha Tezcan excelled as a student, it’s more accurate to call her a lifelong learner. Armed with a rigorous mechanical engineering degree, she graduated into an industrial sales role that required a delicate balance of technical precision and interpersonal intuition. Her innate curiosity made customers feel heard, allowing her to flourish in roles where the human element matters as much as the hard skills. With effort and consistency, she supplemented her extensive book learning with the less tangible lessons taught by time and practice. Now, Bediha navigates her career by embracing the trial and error of lived experience.
Contacts mentioned in the article:
Bediha Tezcan, Export Key Account Executive at KLINGER Turkey
Learning how to learn
Some of the best advice she received early in her career was from an older colleague, who pointed out that the ability to learn was far more valuable than the knowledge itself. Bediha explains, “He told me, ‘Don’t think that you know everything. Just know where you should go for the solution.’ I don’t have to know everything if I know how to find it.” That framework has built customer trust, positioning her as a collaborative problem solver rather than as someone relying only on static expertise. Of course, building foundational knowledge was also key to her success. Her early career included work at a KLINGER subsidiary, where she gained extensive sealing and valve experience. After almost ten years in export sales, Bediha joined KLINGER Turkey. She started as a Senior Sales Engineer, then quickly moved into an Export Key Account Executive role, where she thrives to this day.
The relationships Bediha has built through her career are extensive, often leading to fortunate reconnection as paths cross again in later years. One KLINGER customer knew her from her 20 years earlier and was eager to catch up. Returning to the KLINGER Group brought a feeling of coming full circle, especially from the perspective of learning from colleagues.
“I started with KLINGER, maybe I will finish with KLINGER,” Bediha muses.
“It’s good to share your experience with the new generation. If you have been working for a long time, and you know the company for a long time, you transfer the knowledge to other people.” While she never stops learning from her peers and from her customers, being able to give back by doing the same for her newer colleagues offers a satisfying symmetry.
Insight through immersion
While formal education and peer guidance have taken her far, some things Bediha has simply had to learn by doing. This was especially apparent when she had her son in 2023. “Even when you read the books, it doesn’t give any idea,” she laughs. “You have to learn from your child, what he likes and what he doesn’t.”
She has also discovered through practice that coming to the office helps her to optimize a work-life balance. Engaging in her professional identity during the day lets Bediha be more present when she returns home. “My husband says, maybe you should go every day, because you are much happier or rather balanced when you come home. I like to speak, to share the things, to see the people,” she says.
As a woman in engineering, Bediha is well aware that cultivating a strong network of female colleagues is essential for navigating her industry’s unique challenges. She also makes a point to learn by observing, following the careers of her fellow women through industry news and LinkedIn. Women’s attention to detail is an advantage, she finds, in a field that relies on tight tolerances and precise specifications. Her inquisitive nature continues to serve her well, and as her knowledge base grows, so does her advice for younger peers. The most important aspect: never stop learning.
“In any age, in any time of your life, you keep trying to improve yourself ,” she shares. “You can achieve this. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible.”
