Insight250 Judge Perspectives: Innovation

The judges for the fourth annual Insight250 were announced last week. The international panel includes over 50 market research and insights experts. The panel has expanded from 30 in 2023 to provide deeper perspectives from more market research and insight leaders for the selection process and to continue to expand the global reach of the awards.

The judges hail from 25 nations across six continents and represent academia, enterprises, agencies, and associations worldwide. Approximately 80 per cent of the 2024 Judges previously received the Insight250 award, and about two-thirds served as Judges in 2023. The panel will be chaired again by Mark Langsfeld, CEO of mTab, and Kristin Luck, Ex-Officio President of ESOMAR.

Given these judges' diverse experiences and insight, I spoke with several of them to get their thoughts and perspectives on two different topics around Insight250. This feature includes ideas from several judges on the impact and traits they seek when selecting an Insight250 Winner.

As a reminder, nominations remain open until 31 March and can be submitted at Insight250.com/nominate.

The questions the Judges responded to were:

1. What do you think makes someone an innovator or leader in the insights space? 

2. What's your top tip for becoming more innovative and leading in our profession?

Sharmila Das

Chairwoman, Purple Audacity, India

What do you think makes someone an innovator or leader in the insights space?

The three Cs are Curiosity, Courage, and Consistency. I am not undermining intellect by any means. However, intellect or very high-level technical skills need the launchpad of the above-mentioned personality traits. We understand that being steadfast about holding these three is not easy. The difference between Leaders and followers lies in the grit and determination to not let go of these.”

What's your top tip for becoming more innovative and leading in our profession?

There are actually three parts of my top tip:

• “Part A: Do not ignore your intuition. Your intuition is part of your most authentic self.

• “Part B: Do not get fazed if someone else has already stated your intuition. Explore the nuance of your intuition and assess it with your judgment.

• “Part C: Failure is a reality. Take your well-calculated step but if that fails, accept and move on.”

Dr Roland Abold

Managing Director,  infratest dimap, Germany

What do you think makes someone an innovator or leader in the insights space?

Real innovators constantly question the status quo and don’t take “no” for an answer. But they always keep an eye on our main currency in the insights industry, which is trust.”

What's your top tip for becoming more innovative and leading in our profession?

Always ask yourself if the insights you deliver to your clients are trustworthy enough for you to base your own business decisions on them.”

Melanie Courtright

Chief Executive Office, Insights Association, USA

What do you think makes someone an innovator or leader in the insights space?

Leaders inspire and grow the thinking and skills of those around them to evolve and improve.  So for me, I look for people with a history of not just having great ideas but putting those ideas in action and driving them to make a difference among their clients, colleagues, and the next generation of researchers.”

What's your top tip for becoming more innovative and leading in our profession?

Get involved in the global associations!  No matter where you are in your career, be it a rising star or legend, the associations have places for you to learn and contribute to everything from standards and quality to events and marketing.  As you engage with those associations, you will meet people who will inspire you, listen to you, and help you grow your professional impact.”

Walid Benchama

Global Director Shopper & Channel Insights, The Coca-Cola Company, USA

What do you think makes someone an innovator or leader in the insights space?

A balanced combination of appreciating the existing and challenging its limitations. Committing to one single disruptive experiment per year ignites the right mindset and drives the industry's innovation agenda.”

What's your top tip for becoming more innovative and leading in our profession?

Remain continuously and constructively discontent to drive positive change and evolution where it creates the maximum impact and added value to your business.”

Marianella Ghiggeri

Senior Insights Manager, Netflix, Brazil

What do you think makes someone an innovator or leader in the insights space?

Curiosity: Innovation requires creativity and the ability to see beyond existing data or conventional approaches. It requires someone constantly seeking out new knowledge and data sources to provide impactful insights. 

“I believe leaders in our space have a deep understanding of data analysis but also understand the industry and business context in which the insights will be used. They combine technical expertise with a strategic vision to contribute to teams in driving decision-making.

"Another important skill is strong communication and being proactive in engaging with their audiences.

“Integrity: As insights leaders often deal with sensitive information, maintaining data privacy and ensuring the responsible use of data is fundamental to their role.”

What's your top tip for becoming more innovative and leading in our profession?

Innovation is not just about coming up with new ideas but also about implementing them effectively. It's about having the courage to challenge the status quo and persisting with the strong belief that it will benefit the strategy.

“My first tip is to embrace curiosity and keep on learning. The most innovative people are those who constantly learn, ask questions, and seek out new information or skills. Also, be adaptable and embrace change, as it often brings new opportunities for innovation. If you are already in a leadership role, set the culture of innovation. Encourage your team to think creatively. Show your team that you're open to new ideas and willing to take risks.”

Vesna Hajnsek

Senior Manager Intelligence, Swarovski, Switzerland

What do you think makes someone an innovator or leader in the insights space?

If you are asking me about what makes an innovator or leader: Curiosity, agility, connectivity and courage. Curiosity to identify pain points and unmet needs and take on fixing them. Agility in finding the solution - daring to look beyond the obvious solutions and connecting the dots in a way that might not have been done before. Connectivity, as in understanding good ideas, is created in collaboration and confrontation with the users and peers. Courage to step off the beaten path, out of the comfort zone into uncertainty.

“If you are asking me about what innovation and thought leadership in insights are, for me, it is looking within the industry to identify unmet needs or pain points and outside of the industry to see how we can address them.”

What's your top tip for becoming more innovative and leading in our profession?

Be curious and challenge the status quo to find solutions that improve users' and consumers' experiences.”

Fiona Blades

Chief Experience Office, MESH Experience, USA

What do you think makes someone an innovator or leader in the insights space?

Someone who can take a completely fresh perspective – often, this could be someone outside our industry applying learning from elsewhere. Someone who notices a problem – and wants to solve it! A tenacious and curious person with a passion and mission.”

What's your top tip for becoming more innovative and leading in our profession?

Once you’ve seen the problem, look outside our industry tools to solve it.”

Urpi Torrado

CEO Datum Internacional, Peru

What do you think makes someone an innovator or leader in the insights space?

Curiosity: As researchers, we should always be testing new tools, designing new solutions, and looking beyond the data. This will contribute to expanding knowledge and inspiring others.”

 What's your top tip for becoming more innovative and leading in our profession?

Never stay in your comfort zone; it means you are not innovating. Innovation is all about constant change and improving what you already do well. It is also important to attract talents from other disciplines with a higher level of knowledge.”

Mark Langsfeld

CEO mTab, USA

What do you think makes someone an innovator or leader in the insights space?

Innovation is really a dynamic skill that requires seeing the current state of a situation and looking ahead to identify the gaps and challenges and the opportunities and advancements to address them. With the speed of markets and complexity of technology, this is an ongoing process that should ideally be incorporated into every dimension of an organization, people, products, processes, and beyond.”

What's your top tip for becoming more innovative and leading in our profession?

The ideal advice is to get involved with the details that are holding back your organization, team, markets, products, and consumers. Where is the friction that is holding back success, This is where opportunities to become innovative to reduce that friction can emerge.”

Laura Ruvalcaba

CEO Brain Research, Mexico

 What do you think makes someone an innovator or leader in the insights space?

An innovator or leader in the insights space is characterised by their willingness to tackle research problems from new and diverse perspectives. They are open-minded and receptive to different approaches, constantly experimenting, learning, and adapting. They possess the ability to unlearn outdated habits and beliefs, allowing them to acquire new skills and evolve continuously.”

What's your top tip for becoming more innovative and leading in our profession?

My top tip for becoming more innovative and leading in our profession is to always challenge yourself to generate at least three alternatives when approaching a problem. This mindset fosters creativity and encourages exploration beyond the obvious solutions. Additionally, prioritize continuous learning and stay informed about emerging technologies and trends that shape our industry. Surround yourself with individuals who challenge and inspire you, and regularly step out of your comfort zone to cultivate a mindset of growth and adaptability. Make it a habit to experiment and embrace new experiences, even in small ways, to foster innovation and leadership in your professional journey.”

Arundati Dandapani

Founder, Generation1.ca, Canada

What do you think makes someone an innovator or leader in the insights space?

The ability to constantly learn, improve, and include diverse skills and talent is important for fostering insights-rich cultures and sustainable growth. True leaders and innovators are naturally inclusive and unafraid to challenge, editorialize, or unlock bolder insights for positive change.

What's your top tip for becoming more innovative and leading in our profession?

Collaborate and connect a lot with others in the profession similar to and different from you, across sectors and spaces you know and don’t know much about. Learn about the trailblazing trends, techniques, and technologies that are driving impact to truly understand the full potential of human-led intelligence at the epicentre of unique innovations. Data informs policy, and social work and also drives business impact. Taking an ecosystem approach helps finesse perspective: knowing what policymakers are legislating and how this impacts our work, measuring the private sector’s progress alongside, and also understanding how civil society is perceiving all of this as we go about gathering and analysing public opinion trends and sentiments are all important.”

Ben Page

CEO IPSOS, France

What do you think makes someone an innovator or leader in the insights space?

It's such a general question – an innovator will be someone who is genuinely delivering something that is new – but crucially for success – also something that is demonstrably better than alternatives.  There are endless new products, but relatively few, which are meaningfully better than existing solutions.  And so so often in our complex world, innovation is about a series of ongoing enhancements and re-combinations of technology rather than breakthroughs.  We can imagine a large number of things – but it is only when the tech hits a certain level that a breakthrough innovation works.

“I would also say that there is a difference between being regarded as an innovator and actually innovating. Plenty of people who have simply executed existing ideas well, not created any new ones, would often be cited as innovative—and good execution in itself deserves and receives credit as well.”

What's your top tip for becoming more innovative and leading in our profession?

Get the best collaboration between diverse teams, give them the space to experiment, and freedom to fail—capture your people’s enthusiasms, trial quickly with clients, and then be systematic in execution once you decide to invest/move in a certain direction.”

Tony Costella

Director Global CMI, Heineken International B.V. Netherlands

What do you think makes someone an innovator or leader in the insights space?

I love the three E’s model of leadership – which are as relevant to insights space as anywhere else, and that I always see in great leaders in the industry:

“Envision: Leaders create a compelling vision for the future of the industry. They inspire and motivate, aligning everyone toward a common purpose.

“Empower: Great leaders create great teams who share their vision. They then empower them with a sense of ownership, fostering autonomy and creativity to make ideas bigger and better.

“Enable: Remove obstacles and create an environment where people can thrive. This involves providing mentorship and coaching and ensuring that processes, systems, and structures support innovation.

What's your top tip for becoming more innovative and leading in our profession?

Make yourself obsolete”: What do you (and your team) spend most of your time on today? Figure out how you can do that in half the time (or, better still, in no time at all).

It can be scary to adopt this mindset (will I still have a job if we find faster ways to do the stuff people love us for?) – but the people who do this will always be valued and get to take on bigger challenges.”

Jean-Marc Léger

President / CEO, Leger, Canada

What do you think makes someone an innovator or leader in the insights space?

An innovator is not just someone who creates something new but someone who can turn invention into value. It’s not the greatest invention that matters, but the one the client is willing to pay for, and it’s not often the same thing.

Crispin: Thank you again to all those who volunteer as judges to help run the Insight250 and to those above for sharing their views. Now, it’s up to all of us to nominate those individuals around the world who we see as the leaders and innovators in our profession. You can nominate in multiple languages at insight250.com/nominate. Good Luck, everyone.