Lyn Turknett

Co-founder and Co-chair

Carolyn (Lyn) Turknett with her husband Bob Turknett is Co-founder of Turknett Leadership Group. She served as President of the firm for thirty years and now serves as Co-chair and Senior Consultant. The focus of her work is character in leadership, cultural assessment and change, and executive team development.

Ms. Turknett’s consulting engagements have included leadership and executive team development, organization assessment and change, and individual feedback and coaching. She is particularly interested in helping teams at all levels improve effectiveness and working relationships, and in helping organizations maximize intellectual capital and create cultures that support innovation and initiative.

Career Highlights

  • For Division of Large Telecommunications Firm: Led project to assess the division— interviews and quantitative survey— designed and co-facilitated team development sessions with the senior team over several years
  • For Large Nonprofit: Executive team development; individual coaching with team members, design and co-facilitation of team development sessions over two years
  • For Healthcare System: Leadership Team Development and Individual Coaching with a leadership team of four physicians and the administrator for operations and nursing.
  • For Global Software Firm: Organization assessment and intervention to decrease unproductive conflict and improve working relations among customer support departments

Areas of Specialization

  • Executive Team Development and Coaching
  • Cultural Assessment and Change
  • Organization Assessment
  • Research on:
    • Leadership
    • Constructive Developmental Theory
    • Gender differences in leadership style
    • Leadership character
    • Succession planning
    • Trends in executive development
    • Executive coaching
    • Executive onboarding
    • Retention
    • Organizational culture
    • Women in leadership
    • Revitalization after downsizing

Unique Attributes

  • B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Georgia, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. M.A. in Sociology, with special emphasis in organizational sociology, from the University of Georgia
  • Lyn, along with business and life partner Bob, published a book about their work together entitled, Decent People, Decent Company: How to Lead with Character at Work and in Life. The book is based on the Turknett Leadership Character Model™, a model that describes the kind of character all of us need to lead wherever we are
  • Ms. Turknett is a member of the Academy of Management, the Society for Human Resource Management, and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology
  • In 2012 she received the Linda K. Muir Award for Business and Law from the Georgia Women’s Institute
  • Turknett was selected as a recipient of the 2015 “Women Who Mean Business Award” by the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s program
  • In March of 2019, Lyn and Bob received the Heroes, Saints, and Legends Award from the Wesley Woods Foundation.

Awards

  • Hobbies

    Reading, grandchildren in any activity, occasionally tennis - trying now to think of cooking as a hobby

  • Favorite Food

    Aged white cheddar

  • Band

    My two sons playing together on guitar and banjo

  • Movie

    A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

  • Super Power

    Not fond of the term superpower, but ok at seeing connections between ideas and people

  • TV Show

    Friday Night Lights, This is Us, The Crown

  • Book

    Cutting for Stone – and many others

  • Quote

    “Assume positive intent” (anonymous); "My life has been filled with terrible misfortune, most of which never happened” - Montaigne

Consultant Insights

  • My ideal client is someone [an organization] that:

    Wants to create an engaged, purpose-driven, ethical culture where everyone takes personal responsibility for the success of the organization.

  • My superpower as a consultant is:

    As a consultant I can get an understanding of an organization quickly – business model, culture, strengths and areas for growth and improvement.

  • My philosophy on life is:

    Life is about connection and responsibility to each other.

  • I hope my legacy is one of:

    Commitment to the greater good – doing what I can to make a difference.

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