Natalie is an experienced innovation specialist with over 25 years as a corporate innovation director, business consultant, and entrepreneur. She has worked for and consulted with some of the world’s leading organisations, including Cisco Systems, GSK, Edgewell, and the Singapore Government. The inventor of The Six ‘I’s® of Innovation and author of the Award-Winning Book, Yes, You Can Innovate, Natalie has made her passion for purpose and people-driven innovation practical as well as inspirational to elevate people’s thinking on not only what they can create, but how – the mind, skill sets and cultural environments – that make everyday innovation happen.
Natalie Turner, Inventor of The Six 'I's® of Innovation
Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better. (Feel free to share your hobbies, passions, family life, and anything that makes you unique.)
If I define myself through what I do, in that case, I’m a business founder and entrepreneur, a professional speaker, an award-winning author, a women’s leadership coach and an aspiring novelist. I left the corporate world in 2006 and set up The Entheo Network. Initially, it was an innovation company, but it has grown, over the years, to house different passions and interests, including The Six ‘I’s® Innovation Model and Profiling Tools, my Natalie Turner speaking business, my book – Yes, You Can Innovate and the music brands of my husband, Carl Hinds, who is also my business partner. Carl is an open-genre DJ specialising in soul, funk and disco and plays at festivals, gala dinners, and corporate events. He is a presenter on Chocolate Radio, a worldwide 24-hour station with his brand Music for the Soul. He also broadcasts his Sunday Soul Sessions live on Mixcloud every week.
Natalie and her husband and business partner, Carl Hinds
If I define myself by my behaviour, the five words I would use to describe myself are curious, determined, passionate, thoughtful, and creative. If I define myself by geography, I am British but have travelled to over 90 countries, lived in Asia for 12 years – Singapore and Malaysia – and moved to Portugal in 2022, where we now live just south of Lisbon.
I have spent the last five years writing a novel – a love story based in Cambodia, in the temples of Angkor Wat. So, this takes a lot of my spare time. I also practice Qi Gong, an ancient martial art I learned in Asia. My husband and I also like to host parties. We are connectors and love bringing people together. So, we both have creative pursuits and our core innovation business; both are essential to cultivate and cherish. Of course, travelling, reading, spending time with friends and family, eating good food and drinking red wine are top of the list as well!
What inspired you to create The Six ‘I’® Innovation, and how has the business evolved?
I was a corporate Innovation Director in a large research firm in London responsible for using Design Thinking approaches to solving problems and creating new products and services for our clients. What I came to realise, was that more than design thinking was needed. We needed innovative approaches to help straddle the gap between commercial and marketing functions and organisational and people development. So, I left my corporate job and started The Entheo Network to focus on integrating these different elements into a holistic Model, which came to be known as The Six ‘I’s® of Innovation. The Six ‘I’s® offers a human-centred approach to innovation, blending design thinking with organisational development. We provide services, including training, certification programmes, speeches, coaching, and workshops, and our profiling tools have been used by top organisations worldwide. What started initially as a boutique consultancy in London has now grown to be a global network of Certified Practitioners made up of innovation consultants, leadership coaches and executives that work in organisational development and transformational change.
THE SIX ‘I’s® of INNOVATION
Can you walk me through the different services you offer and how they can benefit businesses looking to innovate?
We have three core services. Our flagship Programme is The Six ‘I’s® Certification Programme and Community Membership, which we run a couple of times a year. Since COVID-19, we pivoted by making it into a virtual hybrid programme where I coach people bi-weekly after they have engaged with the teaching content online.
The other two core Programmes we offer focus on developing teams to help them innovate more effectively– INSIGHTS to ACTION and The Six ‘I’s® in ACTION, a hands-on training programme that teaches people how to innovate through learning and applying different approaches and tools. Organisations use it for strategy and new project development, whether improved processes, digital transformation, or new product or service design. These programmes include The Six ‘I’s® individual and team profiles so that people can learn about their strengths and challenges. And, of course, we also design bespoke programmes and engagements for organisations.
What sets your approach to innovation apart from other companies in the industry?
For many years I have discussed the importance of PEOPLE and PURPOSE -driven innovation. The Six ‘I’s® has PURPOSE at its core and calls us to question what we are trying to create and why? It also incorporates culture and processes that support innovation, two areas many organisations find difficult to cultivate and nurture, and six different mindsets, not just the idea that one singular way of thinking is required. Innovation is not just about being creative. We must manage our ideas through a complex journey and need different people with diverse skills and ways of thinking. As well as providing an integrated and practical methodology, The Six ‘I’s® gives a way to measure people’s perception of their strengths across a range of skills.
Tell us about a pivotal moment that brought you to where you are today.
It was 2009. The Global Financial Crisis wiped out many businesses, and recession loomed. It was raining hard, and Carl and I sat in our garden office in Orpington, Kent. An email pinged into my inbox. I was invited to speak at a women's leadership conference in Singapore. I looked over the top of my computer and read Carl the email and said, 'What do you think? Shall I go? Beats sitting here in gloomy London!' He said, 'Why not!' And off I went. In four days, I had over 20 meetings with individuals and companies interested in innovation services, leadership training programmes, design thinking, and helping people to be more creative and innovative. I flew back to the UK and said to Carl, 'Let's go to Asia and take what we have built in the UK to Singapore,' so we did.
We spent a year commuting, building business connections and working with the United Kingdom Trade and Industry Body (UKTI), which helped to open doors for us. When we had enough business opportunities, we took the leap to rent out our house, and later sell it, and move to Asia. Initially, we thought we'd only be there for a couple of years. It turned out to be 12—two in Singapore and ten in Malaysia. We moved to Portugal in May 2022. That moment of receiving the email was pivotal to shaping the course of my life and has taught me a vital lesson, to be open to life is to be open to opportunity, and opportunity is all around us if only we open our eyes and hear its call.
You also have a business that supports Executive Women. Can you tell us more?
Yes, of course. Ten years ago, I saw a gap in women's leadership development for something more holistic – incorporating personal and professional development with well-being. This inspired me to start Women Who Lead, a retreat, coaching service, and community for female executives. Over the last several years, I have facilitated many retreats in exotic and beautiful Balinese, Malaysian, and Singaporean locations. It is a weekend of personal and professional discovery. Day one is spent exploring motivation and drive, and core strengths. We do this through the lens of the Enneagram, one of the oldest psychological tools for personal transformation. I have used the Enneagram for many years, personally and professionally and as a coaching tool, and it is incredibly powerful. On the second day, we focus on creative visioning and action – getting clear on the vision and how to bring it to life through The Six ‘I’s®. Woven into the design is a focus on well-being through massage, meditation, journaling, sumptuous food, and five-star luxury. It is a time to be spoilt as well as transformed! Through Women Who Lead, I also offer one-to-one coaching services and masterminds and act as a creative thinking partner to help women get traction on their ideas and reach greater levels of freedom and power.
What is your most significant career achievement so far?
We have the most impact when we align with our creative impulse – that charge of energy that spurs us forward to live in the world, help others, and use our skills and talents to the best of our ability. When I am doing this, I am living my best self; when I am helping others to do this, I am having my most significant impact. My core strengths are to inspire confidence in others, to help them see their worth, to call forth their gifts and to move mountains, or even countries, sometimes to enable this to happen!
The red thread of my life, if I look over my career choices, is pioneering the new and positively impacting people and the planet. I feel even more sense of urgency these days as things are hotting up, literally, around us. My work as a founder, a writer, an inventor, a speaker, a coach, a retreat facilitator, and an aspiring novelist – all these labels are merely platforms for the core message that, with the limited time we have on earth, how can we live in joy and make the most significant and most positive impact with our lives?
What last words of inspiration would you like to leave our readers?
Start with PURPOSE. Dig deep to understand who you are – your strengths, talents, experiences, and challenges. Then find an opportunity that converges with who you are, lights you up, and sets your heart on fire. You are going to need it. You are going to need this engine of energy to propel you forward. You will need such a strong vision of who you are in the world to survive the ups and downs, and there are many of them. Build and nurture networks. Be authentic. Create genuine friendships. Look for people who share your values and work with them.
When you cut ties to what is familiar and step into the unknown, you grow rapidly as a person. It can be sink or swim, and sometimes it's both! The ability to ride change, be resilient, build mental toughness, and, most of all, be open to life, diversity, and trailblazing the new – we don’t learn this from textbooks. We learn it through a rich and diversified lived experience. I wouldn’t have achieved half of what I have done if I hadn't taken the risk to step out and forge a new way of living, and I think, and firmly believe, there is still so much more to come!
Want to find out more about Natalie’s work, please visit The Entheo Network, which has all access to all her brands.
Enrol for her free pre-recorded Masterclass – Six Keys to Unlock the Innovative Potential of Teams
