We sat down to talk with 3 leaders who are artful in the art of “Netweaving” – a pay-it-forward form of networking. These leaders share their stories about how in creating connections and helping others they have been successful in growing their own leadership character as well as their businesses.
Bob is Principal of Littell Consulting Services, Second Opinion Insurance Services, LLC, and the Enrichment Company. Over his 40+ year career, he has worn a number of hats within the insurance and financial services sector. He has been Marketing Vice President for two different Life Insurance companies; has owned and run a large life insurance brokerage agency, and he has served as a consultant to a wide range of financial service companies, as well as high net worth individuals. Bob has chaired several national organizations and task forces in addition to having served on several local and national boards.
Bob is the author of over 250 published articles, and has appeared in, written articles for, or been used as a resource for publications including the Wall Street Journal, Smart Money, Business Week, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Medical Economics, Financial Planning, Financial Advisor. Selling Power, Sales & Marketing and many others.
Bob’s real passion today is speaking about a word and a concept he created over a decade ago called “NetWeaving” – a Golden Rule and Pay It Forward form of networking. If you “Google” the word today, you immediately see how this concept is spreading around the world. Bob serves on the Board and is the President of the “Pay It Forward Foundation” created by Catherine Ryan Hyde, author of the book on which the movie classic of the same name was based. With Catherine’s permission, NetWeaving is known as the ‘business’ version of “Pay It Forward”. Bob’s 2nd book on NetWeaving, “The Heart and Art of NetWeaving” is printed by Xerox and all $20 from the sale of the book goes charity and to help spread the NetWeaving message. Bob helped in the creation of CEONetweavers in Dallas, Texas and serves on the National Board. CEONetweavers is an organization of CEO’s and CEO partners who are dedicated to the concept of ‘servant leadership’. He is a co-founder of the Atlanta Chapter.
Carolyn Turknett is co-founder and President of Turknett Leadership Group, an Atlanta-based consulting firm providing leadership and organization development services to companies in a variety of industries. She has more than 20 years experience in management and leadership consulting. The focus of her work is character in leadership, organization assessment and change, executive team development, and leadership in turbulent times.
Ms. Turknett’s consulting engagements have included leadership and executive team development, cultural assessment and change, mergers, 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 flexibility and initiative.
Ms. Turknett received her B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Georgia, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She received her M.A. in Sociology, with special emphasis in organizational sociology, from the University of Georgia.
Lyn, along with business and life partner Bob, recently 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. Turknett Leadership Group sponsors a Leadership Character Awards program each year in partnership with the Siegel Institute for Leadership, Ethics and Character, honoring leaders of character in the business, education and nonprofit sectors.
Lyn has long been an active United Way supporter. She has chaired the United Way in DeKalb campaign, and is serving currently on the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta Board of Directors. She has served as chair of the Community Investments Committee, and has served with her husband, Bob, as co-chair of the United Way Cole Society for Leadership Giving. Bob and Lyn have supported the Partnership Against Domestic Violence as well, and in 2011 served as honorary chairs for the Hearts with Hope Gala. Lyn is also an elder in the Presbyterian Church.
Marci McCarthy is currently the CEO and President of Tech Exec Networks, Inc. (T.E.N.), an award winning technology and information security executive networking and relationship-marketing firm. As founder of the organization, she is responsible for driving the strategic direction of this widely respected, privately held company, remaining deeply engaged with a vast network of IT and information security professionals and solution providers.
McCarthy has 20 years of extensive business management, networking and marketing experience, including founding T.E.N.’s flagship program, the Information Security Executive® of the Year (ISE®) Awards. Celebrating its ten year anniversary in 2012, the ISE® Awards Program series is lauded by the IT industry as the premier recognition and networking program for security professionals. It recognizes the need for security professionals to be recognized by their peers and exchange information about technology best practices. Under McCarthy’s direction, the series has grown to a nationally acclaimed regional and national program series in major cities including Atlanta, Dallas, New York, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. Previously, McCarthy was the CEO and co-founder of Executive Alliance, an organization that hosts leadership-recognition forums to honor and recognize outstanding achievements of executives and their companies. Earlier in her career, she held management positions with Lancope, SecureWorks, Deloitte, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
McCarthy currently serves on TechBridge’s Board of Directors and its executive fundraiser committee. A lifetime member of the WIT Honorary Council, president of Women in Technology (WIT) in 2001, and former Board member, McCarthy led the Woman of the Year in Technology Awards (WOTY) program for five years. Other non-profit boards that she has served on include the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) and SciTrek’s Advisory Board of Directors. She is also the past Chairman of the American Diabetes Association Father’s Day Council and its acclaimed Father of the Year Awards program.
Nominated for the 2011 Leadership Character Awards sponsored by the Turknett Leadership Group, an honor given those who will contribute to others in powerful ways and help their organizations achieve bottom line results and long-lasting success, McCarthy has also has been recognized in “Who’s Who in Georgia’s Technology Community” by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, as a “Woman to Watch” by Atlanta’s BroadSheet and a WIT Woman of the Year in Technology (WOTY) nominee.
As a featured contributor to Women In Technology’s (WIT) book, “CLIMB: Leading Women In Technology Share Their Journeys To Success,” McCarthy is profiled amongst 60 leaders influencing Atlanta’s business, academic and technology landscapes. She is also a guest lecturer at George Washington University as well as a nationally sought-after speaker for panel discussions and executive roundtables on strategic technology and leadership topics.A magna cum laude graduate of Babson College, McCarthy holds a B.S. in Marketing.
