Leadership

She’s one of my favorite all time leaders in her empathy, openness and collaborative approach.

Her tenacity in navigating this challenging environment, and creativity in thinking of new ways to attack core challenges, deserve praise and recognition. She is a pioneer – forging a path where none was before. This is hard, personally draining work and she handles it with aplomb.

Natalie is one of the most open-minded and flexible Principals at ZS. She understands the innovation concept of “try many experiments, fail forward fast” is the path to innovating. She also understands that innovation cannot happen if you approach a complex, ambiguous problem thinking that you already have the solution.

We have accomplished a lot in just a short amount of time, and this would not have been possible without Natalie’s willingness and encouragement to try new things, and her radical open-mindedness while she also offered support, ideation time, transparency and very timely communication.

At the team level, it is thanks to her relentless focus on making sure that everybody understands the context, priorities, and goals of our work that we continue to align great talent to compelling outcomes for ZS.

Natalie has many strengths which include openness, transparency, big-picture thinking, organizational savvy and commitment to the individual success of team members. She truly cares about everyone on the team and works to ensure they are informed, enabled and successful.

Natalie is a great leader and one of my favorite superiors in a long career doing UX. She’s passionate about the field, innovation, the team and the company and helps the rest of the team be infused by and carry that passion. One of the best leaders at ZS that I’ve observed or worked with.

I will always have something to learn from Natalie, and I appreciate and love how she always says “we are all learning together” – so humble and so inspiring!
Fantastic all-around leader, with motivating and innovative ideas and ways to meet client needs – especially in new places. Natalie has the perfect management style for me, she’s my emergency button when I need her, gives great advice and helps strategize in ways that move me, my work, the team AND the clients forward – sometimes all at the same time!

Natalie is always accessible and generous with her input and guidance. She is thoughtful and uses her wealth of experience wisely when providing feedback and direction. She is also genuinely committed to creating an atmosphere of open-communication, positive energy, and trust within the UX team.

I’m so glad I get to be a part of Natalie’s team. She does so much to ensure that we’re part of well functioning team, while maintaining transparency and giving everyone plenty of opportunities to participate. I’ve seen Natalie transform UX from a fledgling group of ZS misfits into a large and thriving team that has become central to much of what we do as a company. She’s somehow able to focus on the big picture while still paying attention to the important details that require her attention.

Natalies key impact for the UX team and broader organization is her no-nonsense but also very positive approach to our clients, teams, the work and culture at ZS which is unwavering, consistent always positive and future focused

Natalie is able to trust her team members to get the work done well and efficiently. Her trust and high expectations of the team make us want to work harder and deliver good work. She sets a strong example of what makes a consultant successful as she is always working and learning. I appreciate her laser focus and organizational skills. She will ask for opinions and ideas, showing that she is open to fresh ideas.

In the past year or two, I have seen Natalie move from being THE voice [of Pride@ZS] and doing most or all of the heavy lifting to organizing a group that takes some of that burden from her. This will make it much more sustainable – for her and for ZS. Personally, Natalie has opened my eyes a great deal and helped me see the need to be more vocal in my support of inclusion at ZS – and I appreciate it a great deal.

Natalie is the epitome of a leader. She operates on the principles of transparency and unbiasedness. She clearly communicates team’s future vision and expectations from the team members which is highly appreciated. She is very approachable and is genuinely interested and engaged in investing in empowering of the team and making it a better place to work.

Her “impressive leadership of Pride@ZS was recognized by many peers. People really admire your commitment and have been touched personally by your passion. People are both grateful for and impressed by the impact you have had on the firm.

Natalie is a leader who inspires those under her to feel empowered in their own journey through ZS. Her transparent and straightforward leadership style helps foster a trusting and open environment.

In commenting on [Natalie’s] management style, team members were generally complimentary in the way [she strikes] the right balance of personal involvement vs. empowerment. This is leading to a very satisfactory experience for most people.

Very organized and detail oriented – develops a plan and executes against it.

Aggressive in driving tasks and projects to completion.

Data-driven. Rigor in her thinking. Supports her rationales.

Colleagues also highlighted a couple of cases where [Natalie] demonstrated strong leadership in the way [she] handled conflict/tension, and this inspires further confidence in [her].

A UX person was assigned to help my team with something and it wasn’t working – it was causing some issues. Natalie got appropriately involved and showed good consideration for the individual as well as stakeholder needs – showed good leadership.

She showed tremendous leadership in the restructuring of our Pune team – she confronted the issues head on rather than dodging them.

Collaboration

I like how Natalie seeks out (potentially) contrary viewpoints as a way to pressure test ideas and strategies, or where we might anticipate issues arising. She always supports us and acts as a valuable thinking partner when I am trying to resolve an issue.

Natalie is a fantastic collaborator and thinking partner.

She gives everyone lots of autonomy which is much appreciated by all of us.She takes an appropriate level of involvement in my work. She was very collaborative and willing to work through our interaction style to get it to a place that was more comfortable for me.

Natalie and her team are very collaborative and oriented around problem solving. They come up with good ideas that resonate with clients.

Natalie adds a ton of value. She partnered very effectively with me and my team. She has built a very strong team with the required areas of expertise and they have had a tremendous impact on a big project. The client has given very positive feedback and has given us additional opportunities.

We had a really fantastic partnership on my client. Her availability was outstanding – very responsive. The client doesn’t think of us in this space and Natalie did a lot to help establish credibility. The proposal was very strong and she was very good at anticipating the client’s questions and being prepared for them. The model of support through a combination of Natalie and a local UX person worked great.

Natalie is always accessible when input or help is needed and is eager to support client projects and internal initiatives. She is also remarkable in seeking alignment with other areas of ZS and communicating ZS direction, goals and the way that UX can contribute to the firm’s success.

She is also very considerate and open, accessible when input is needed and eager to support and enable her team – both professionally and personally.
Always displays very high ethics and a tremendous amount of empathy for all involved.

Communication

Natalie does a wonderful job of communicating to the team and making sure that we share the same priorities, but most importantly that we understand why they are priorities in the first place. I appreciate the time and energy she spends crafting detailed communications and leading discussions that make us all feel like we’re part of the process.

Natalie is at her leadership best when she motivates leadership team members by acknowledging their achievements and accomplishments – it picks us up if we are working hard, and keeps us in a positive mindset. I know Natalie always has my best interests and the best interests of people at the forefront.

Natalie has a great ability to explain very complex strategy and long-term vision while connecting it to the changing business landscape. She also provides access to key data points and information relevant to the teams work, allowing them to factor the relevant information into their projects.

Her courage to speak up and to engage other leaders to do so [about Pride@ZS] has, in my opinion, made a big difference in making ZS feel like a place where people can feel comfortable being themselves.

Natalie has been passionate about Pride for some time. She has shown great vulnerability in sharing her story, especially in the early days when she did not know how that story might be received.

One of the most amazing things about Natalie is her transparency. You always know how Natalie feels about something and why she feels that way. She sets clear expectations and outlines how she wants to be involved. This straightforward approach makes working with Natalie such a pleasure.

Peers and team members cited your strong communication skills as a big ingredient in your success.

She’s good at challenging clients and being very persuasive. She broadens the conversation effectively and gives the client more to think about.

I highly respect how she represents UX and our capabilities … very persuasive with clients. Natalie is very articulate and powerful in her communications about the opportunity to integrate UX and BT. I am also seeing good progress in how her people are developing in this regard.

I do feel that this was a difficult year at many levels and for many reasons but, such challenges certainly did not stem from areas completely under Natalie’s control. More than anything … Natalie always communicated such situations openly and timely.

Natalie’s communication style is consistently direct and transparent. She is not manipulative, passive-aggressive nor verbose. This makes working with her and for her supremely efficient and productive.

Brilliant communication and articulation skills. Amazing sense to build businesses and re-invent herself which is a great quality. A perfect role model for a leader or an organization. Solid collaborator and team player.

Talent Development

She continues to do an amazing job at creating a positive culture on our team, where everyone feels heard down to our freshest Associate.

She empowers me to lead my subspace and really enables me to grow by offering support as needed.

She has been empowering as a leader which gives us lot of room to flourish and take decisions. She is a fearless leader and the level of trust that instills in me as a leader offshore is tremendous.

Natalie has created a very productive culture of open-communication, positive energy, and trust within the leadership team and is always eager to provide opportunities for a wide range of leaders to take ownership of key areas. Natalie is always eager to recognize everybody’s contributions and celebrate success.

Natalie has put a lot of effort into developing future leaders, empowering the senior members of the UX team to take ownership and drive things forward. She has a talent for finding the balance between hands-on and hands-off that motivates the team and allows us to explore and innovate.

She is actively involved in my space. This is a new capability for the firm and she helped me define it starting with core principles. She then helped me establish priorities and determine how to track progress towards them.

Natalie, based on all of the testimonials I heard, in my experience you are among the strongest Principals [partners] in leading people. You are particularly distinguished in this area and it has had a big impact on the firm.

Peers and team members highlight your dedication to team development. You are particularly distinguished on this dimension and the results are evident in terms of engagement.

She cares deeply about her team and puts a lot of energy into developing a strong team culture, promoting their development through detailed feedback and coaching, and driving team engagement. She creates a very collaborative environment within her team.

She’s very committed to her people … very transparent and shares the good with the critical and advocates when appropriate.

As Practice Lead for User Experience, Natalie is always proactive in co-creating the overall direction for the practice and communicating priorities with the entire team. Her open and collaborative style fosters a culture of participation and engagement and focus on outcomes while at the same time providing a very human perspective. Natalie is always eager to praise her team and to celebrate contributions.

Natalie has “a particularly dedicated following among [her] key team members. The testimonials are inspiring.

Natalie is a big-picture thinker and visionary leader who truly cares about the people on her team and their impact at ZS. Because of her leadership, the UX function at ZS exists and is growing in awareness and importance.

Mentoring & Coaching

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Natalie through a mentor relationship. Her support, vision, and caring nature have been fundamental to my transition and growth within ZS. She has the perfect blend of an analytical and empathetical mindset that affords her the ability to be practical and matter fact but in a way that is inspirational and motivating.

As a PD coach she is always accessible and insightful, and I have especially enjoyed working closer to her in defining the direction of the UX Research offerings.

She’s immensely valuable to me as a coach in helping me navigate different situations and thinking about my career.

She’s immensely valuable to me as a coach in helping me navigate different situations and thinking about my career.

Along with being a lead sponsor on Custom Applications – Natalie has also been a great coach with regards to ensuring I get active guidance on a timely manner.

Natalie’s feedback & coaching in the last 6 months have been valuable for my professional growth at ZS. Her transparency and openness has been particularly appreciated as I encounter new organizational challenges and ‘level up’ to working with the senior leaders of the organization.