Dr. Turnbull is a world-recognized Thought Leader in global inclusion and diversity.
Her extensive research focuses on unconscious bias and its impact on all aspects of Inclusion. She has unparalleled knowledge on the complexity of inclusion, and a deep understanding of the patterns and mental models contributing to exclusion. Her ‘Inclusion Complexity Model’ identifies three Immutable Forces and four Permeable Forces that play a key role in Inclusion, and she knows what it takes to create an inclusive work environment.
She is the author of three online psychometric assessment tools on Unconscious Bias and Inclusion – namely, Cognizant, the ISM profile, and The Gender Gap Assessment. In May 2013, she spoke at TEDx on “The Illusion of Inclusion”. Pre-Covid19 she keynoted on these topics globally and has spoken to senior executives in Australia, Asia, Europe, UK, Canada, Latin America, and the USA. She has a cumulative total of six-million air miles.
Her client list includes Texas Instruments, Raytheon, J.P. Morgan Chase, Motorola, Hewlett Packard, AT&T, Microsoft, Xerox, Miller Coors Brewing, Altria, Spotify, Lockheed Martin International, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup. She has also worked in Australia with multiple corporations including Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Ernst & Young, Reserve Bank of Australia, Price Waterhouse Cooper, Westpac, Grain Corp, QBE Insurance, Australian Department of Defense, and many others on Unconscious Bias and its impact on diversity and inclusion.
Dr. Turnbull has five award-winning clients. She has made major contributions in assisting Texas Instruments to win the Catalyst Award and was instrumental in developing programmes for both JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup Europe, to win the prestigious ‘Opportunity Now’ Award and ‘Business in the Community’ awards. Commonwealth Bank of Australia also won the 2012 Catalyst Award – attributing the win, in part, to Cognizant, an Unconscious Bias tool developed by Dr. Turnbull; and QBE Insurance Australia has been named Australian Employer of Choice, in 2015, attributing their win in large part to
Human Facets work on Unconscious Bias and Inclusion with 450 of their top leaders.
In addition to her PhD, Dr. Turnbull has two master’s degrees in Organizational Behaviour and Mental Health Counselling; and an Undergraduate Degree in Psychology and Sociology from the Open University. She was also president of the Open University Students Association and, in that role, had lunch with the Queen and Prince Phillip, attended The Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, and met Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Baroness Jenny Lee. She has been playing golf, since she was 12 years of age, and the last golf course she played in Scotland was St Andrews, in 2004.
She is a member of a number of professional societies, including the Academy of Management (AOM) and the American Psychological Association (APA). In 2009, she won the ‘Distinguished Research Award’ for a journal article – ‘Diversity & Inclusion: Developing an Instrument for the identification of Skills deficiencies’, published in the Academy of Strategic Management Journal. She is also published in the Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict Journal, and the Reflective Practitioner journal. Her latest book is The Illusion of Inclusion, which is her seminal work on this topic. As a professional member of the National Training Laboratories (NTL), Helen designed, developed, and delivered their first-ever three-day Virtual Annual Member Meeting, for 100 members, in addition to two conferences on mitigating racism. She is an accomplished keynote speaker and is recognised by her National Speakers Association peers as a Certified Speaking Professional member of the National Speakers Association (NSA); and a Global Speaking Fellow (one of only 33 people in the world with this designation).
