In this edition of Global Leader Radio, we learn that leadership character can be a study in paradoxes. Co-Founders of the Turknett Leadership Group – Lyn and Dr. Bob Turknett, joined host Alvin C. Miles to describe why integrity and strengthening your character are foundational to effective leadership.
Here are seven takeaways from our discussion:
- “When juggling balls, try not to let the glass balls drop!”
- Top leaders are 100% accountable and responsible for shaping and setting organizational culture…
- …AND each employee is 100% accountable and responsible for making a positive impact on that culture.
- Worrying is praying for the worse to happen.
- Confidence is there for the taking.
- Our thinking creates the way we feel and we can train our brain to help us feel better.
- Our Character is something we should work to optimize every day of our life!
Listen to Lyn and Bob as they describe and unpack these points, then add their teachings to your leadership toolkit. Leadership IS a conversation!
Bob Turknett / CEO, Turknett Leadership Group
Dr. Robert (Bob) Turknett is an executive leadership coach and licensed psychologist with over 28 years of consulting experience. Both he and his wife Lyn are co-founders of Turknett Leadership Group, an Atlanta-based consulting firm providing leadership and organization development services to companies in a variety of industries.
Dr. Turknett specializes in CEO Consulting, executive team development and individual development and coaching. Bob has served as an executive coach to more than 1,000 executives in more than 100 companies, both large and small businesses in a variety of industries. His unique approach to coaching blends psychological expertise with extensive business knowledge. Typical engagements involve work with a leader and the entire team producing leadership development results that impact the whole organization.
Bob, along with business and life partner Lyn, 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™ 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.
Prior to founding Turknett Leadership Group, Dr. Turknett was in private practice for nine years for both the Georgia and Kentucky mental health and hospital systems. He was also a co-founder of the Georgia Psychological Health Network and Chief Psychologist for the Georgia Regional Hospital System. He received his undergraduate degree in business from Jacksonville University and his doctorate in psychology from the University of Georgia. He was a member of the Phi Kappa Phi honorary society.
In 2006, Dr. Turknett received the Leadership Entrepreneurial Award presented by Jacksonville University to an outstanding alumnus. He is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Georgia Psychological Association, the American Management Association, the Society for Human Resource Management, the Atlanta Rotary, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. In addition, Dr. Turknett is an active United Way volunteer and served two terms as co-chair, with wife Lyn, of the Cole Society for Leadership Giving. Each year the Turknetts devote a portion of their time to pro-bono work with various organizations.
Lyn Turknett / President, Turknett Leadership Group
Carolyn Turknett 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.
Current research interests include leadership and Constructive Developmental Theory and gender differences in leadership style. In presentations at national and local conferences and in publications, Ms. Turknett has addressed such topics as leadership character, succession planning, trends in executive development, executive coaching, executive onboarding, retention, organizational culture, women in leadership, and revitalization after downsizing.
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.
Ms. Turknett is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the Academy of Management, the Organization Development Network, the Society for Human Resource Management, and the Organization Change Alliance.
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. She is also an elder in the Presbyterian Church.
Contact Bob or Lyn: (770) 271-1723, lturknett@turknett.com or bturknett@turknett.com
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