In this episode, Rahul talks to the Global Head of Customer Intelligence at Colt Technology Services, Noah Roychowdhury, about his roles in market research and customer insights.

After studying economics, sociology, and history, Noah’s keen interest in using social sciences in everyday contexts led him into the world of market research and insights.

How has Noah’s educational background helped further his career? Hear about Noah’s various roles, his experiences with working both agency and client-side, his important volunteering work, and get some of his valuable advice, all on today’s episode of Data Stories: Leaders at Work.

 
Highlights

• “I think sometimes there’s a risk in businesses where people get deeply institutionalised into a sector.”
• “The crucial challenge in what we do is how we can make things absolutely simple.”
• “The most powerful tool in my job is the pencil.”
• “You’re always going to grapple with uncertainty, so don’t come in with a pen.”
• “This business of being curious about people - no matter how you do it, you’re essentially tapping into gossip. If, as a young person, you find yourself being joyful listening to different people talk, and then making up your mind around what to do and what not to do based on those discussions, this would be a great industry to join.”

About - Noah Roychowdhury

Noah Roychowdhury is the Global Head of Customer Intelligence at Colt Technology Services, leading a team that is responsible for measuring and improving customer experiences. He has over 20 years of experience in various client and agency leadership roles.

In 2009, Noah volunteered as a Magistrate for the Ministry of Justice UK. Noah is a London Business School Alumnus.

Noah’s Influential People

Wendy Proctor

Matthew Sell

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Jofra Archer

Recommended Resources

Underground, by Haruki Murakami

Relevant Links

Website:              https://www.colt.net

LinkedIn:          https://uk.linkedin.com/in/noahroychowdhury

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In this episode, Rahul talks to the Associate Director of Central Insights and Analytics at King, Ritu Bhushan, about research and insights in the gaming sector.

Ritu’s journey started with a move from India to the US in her late teens. After completing her Bachelor’s in Business Management, Ritu’s career took turns through roles in tech startups, gaming companies, and a brief stint working for herself.

How did Ritu navigate moving to a new country? Hear about how she got into working for herself, the story behind her degree choices, her roles at Gamesys and King, and get some valuable advice, all on today’s episode of Data Stories: Leaders at Work.

 Highlights

• “If you were entrepreneurial, you wouldn’t be in business school taking a class about entrepreneurship. You’d be out there starting and building companies.”
• “Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Question things you don’t understand. Question assumptions. Question senior leadership.”
• “You don’t know what the opportunity cost of something that you’re doing is until you do things differently.”
• “A lot of businesses that are making money, that are doing reasonably well, don’t see the value in rocking the boat.”
• “Find a mentor in the space. There’s so much that you can learn from someone who’s 5-10 years ahead of you.”
• “Stay on top of agencies, tools, publications, by signing up to some kind of industry forum.”
• “Join a well-balanced team. If you’re slightly further along, build a well-balanced team.”
• “Working with people that are very different from yourself is a great opportunity.”

About - Ritu Bhushan

Ritu is the Associate Director of Central Insights and Analytics at King, the company behind games including Candy Crush, Pet Rescue Saga, and Farm Heroes Saga.

She has over a decade of experience leading research and insights teams, as well as extensive hands-on experience, at tech companies.

In 2016, she founded and led the Consumer Insights and Research Department at Gamesys.

Ritu holds a Bachelor’s in Business Management from Muskingum University and an MBA in Marketing from Fordham University Graduate School of Business Administration, which she completed on fast track in less than 15 months with a 3.9/4.0 GPA.

Ritu’s Influential People

Dan Ariely

Recommended Reading

Transforming insights     

Predictably Irrational

Relevant Links

Website:              https://king.com

LinkedIn:             https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritubhushan

In this episode, Rahul talks to Social Intelligence Lead at GSK, Daniel Gardner, about market research and social listening.

Starting off with a background in accounting, Daniel took an accidental turn into the world of market research.

How did Daniel get into marketing research from accounting? Hear about social listening, Daniel’s move to the client-side, his future in different research industries, and hear his advice to new and growing professionals, all on today’s episode of Data Stories: Leaders at Work.

Topics Discussed

1.       [01:30] Daniel’s educational background.

2.       [06:18] Accounting to marketing research.

3.       [13:03] About social listening.

4.       [22:19] Moving from agency to client-side.

5.       [25:56] To stick to healthcare research, or not.

6.       [30:18] Daniel’s Influential people.

7.       [32:49] Recommended resources.

8.       [35:00] Daniel’s vision.

9.       [38:23] Daniel’s advice.

Highlights

•  “The people that are exceptionally gifted in analytics aren’t always the best storytellers.”
• “This space isn’t going anywhere. If anything, it’s going to continue taking off.”
• “Fundamentally, it [social listening] answers questions that otherwise take a really long time to answer through traditional research methods.”
• “There’s never a shortage of challenges to face, but opportunities to be had.”
• “There’s so much that you learn from people beyond your industry, and the way they approach different problems and challenges.”
• “It’s so easy to pigeonhole yourself into the world of social media, and only social media.”
• “I don’t believe in career paths being linear.”
• “Be intellectually curious. Continue to view yourself as a student. Take a step back, recognise that you don’t know everything and you never will, but be open and receptive to learning new things.”

About - Daniel Gardner

Daniel Gardner is the Lead Data Analyst, Social Intelligence for the US Region at GSK.

He previously held this role at Pfizer, and was part of the joint venture with GSK.

His career started with the W2O Group, where he held various roles in analytics, market research, social listening, and data science.

Daniel holds a BA in Economics from the University of Maryland College Park and an MBA from the American University Kogod School of Business.

Daniel’s Influential People

Daniel’s media team and past bosses.

Jamie Dimon

Kat Cole

Relevant Links

Website:              https://www.gsk.com

LinkedIn:             https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielgregorygardner

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In this episode, Rahul talks to the CEO of Big Sofa Technologies, Kirsty Fuller, about her journey into market research, her various roles in different businesses, doing her Master’s Degree in Economics, and how she segued into creating her own business.

With a background in languages, Kirsty climbed the career ladder to the top, representing women in senior positions in a male-dominated industry.

How has Kirsty’s language background contributed to her success? Hear about the eye-opening experience working at Gillette, the founding of Flamingo Research, the story behind Big Sofa Technologies, the lessons learned along the way, and valuable advice for business leaders, all on this episode of Data Stories: Leaders at Work.

Highlights

• “Cultural context is so important, and you need to be able to harness the expertise and perspectives of people who are living in those cultures, and bring that to bear.”
• “When you learn a language, you don't just learn a language. You also learn a different way of thinking and conceptualising how things are expressed.”
• “As a female in this world, I’m already at a slight disadvantage. You have to work a bit harder. You have to be a bit more intentional about how you present yourself, come to work, and how you talk.”
•  “So much success in a business is about having brought together the right combination of people, and finding a way for them to work together incredibly productively.”
• “The advent of machine learning, artificial intelligence, automated analysis tools, etc, shouldn’t change the skills of the researcher.”
• “Listen more to clients than the competition.“
• “Know what your special thing is - the one thing that’s the most differentiating about your company and what you do.”

About - Kirsty Fuller

Kirsty has over 30 years of experience in the insights industry. She is an experienced business leader and a rare breed of female CEOs of a technology company.

She is the co-founder and former CEO of Flamingo, a multi-award winning insights and strategy agency that has since been acquired by Omnicom. Since 2018, She has been the CEO of Big Sofa Technologies PLC.

Kirsty is also the founding trustee of the charity, Purposeful, which works on behalf of adolescent girls in Sierra Leone. Since its involvement with the ‘With and For Girls’ organisation, Purposeful has expanded further across the globe.

Kirsty’s Influential People

Sue Knowlesworthy

Relevant Links

Website:              https://www.bigsofatech.com

                                  https://wearepurposeful.org

Twitter:                https://twitter.com/fuller_kirsty

LinkedIn:             https://uk.linkedin.com/in/kirsty-fuller-3324716

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In this episode, Rahul talks to the Founder and CEO of Delineate, James Turner (aka JT), about the fascinating and quick rise through the ranks in his career so far.

After getting a degree in Engineering, JT’s career took turns through research and marketing insights roles for 20 years before he founded Delineate.

How did James get into marketing insights with his engineering background? Hear about his experiences in various agencies and companies, his client-side and agency-side roles, how his career accelerated as quickly as it did, the entrepreneurial journey that led to him founding his own company, and get some valuable advice, all on today’s episode of Data Stories: Leaders at Work.

Highlights

• “You don’t really know the pressures of being client-side until you’ve felt it.”
• “When there’s a natural point to make a decision, do so, and have confidence that you’ll gain new experiences elsewhere and be better off for it.”
• “Doing one thing well, and everyone agreeing that the one thing will do, is far more powerful than trying to do many things less well.”
• “Don’t be afraid of generalists.”
• “I’ve not been afraid of finding people that don't have very specific experience, and teaching them.”
• “One of the reasons for not changing is continuity.”
• “Don’t be afraid of change.”
• “If you don’t understand a little bit about all these different dialects, you might not progress as quickly, or you might be less favourable than someone else who’s got that varied background.”
• “Make sure you build connections with great people now - people that you can call upon in the future.”
• “It’s not unusual for a startup to redo its strategy on a regular basis.”
• “People are the most important part of these businesses.”

About - James Turner

James Turner (aka JT) is the Founder and CEO of Delineate, a research, and insights firm that works exclusively with marketing and communications teams.

For 20 years prior to founding Delineate, James held agency-side and client-side research and insight roles at companies including Black Swan Data, Edelman Berland, BT, FreshMinds, IRI, Populus, and ICM.

In 2018, JT co-founded Opinion.Life, an international market research firm.

Today, JT is an industry speaker and lectures in research techniques.

James’s Influential People

Gavin Patterson

 Relevant Links

Email:                     jt@denileate.agency

Website:              https://delineate.agency

Twitter:                 https://twitter.com/jamesturner247

LinkedIn:             https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jamesturner247

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In this episode, Rahul talks to the Founder and Director of The Forge, Simon Garnett, about his career journey from studying theology to ending up in the world of marketing insights.

What was the motivation behind getting a degree in Theology? Hear about Simon’s many different roles, his experience working in innovative spaces, going from client-side to agency-side, the story of creating his insight agency - The Forge, and listen to his advice on following an entrepreneurial path, all on the seventeenth episode of Data Stories: Leaders at Work.

Highlights

• “It’s okay that you are motivated by different things.”
• “Everything can be of value, but nothing is of primacy.”
• “No one approach can ever give you the whole answer.”
• “Let’s remember that oftentimes we don’t make sense. We are flawed. We are contradictory.”
• “Remember that we are multidimensional beings. What you need as an individual is not likely to be just a single thing. It’s really important that, as soon as possible, you recognise that and you feed that. If we become obsessive and one-dimensional - one-dimensional things fall over.”
• “People treat you the way you let them treat you.”
• “The business that will win will be those that match up a great machine with a great human.”
• “What matters is the people you go into business with. Whatever your idea is, however good it is, it will be wrong.”

About - Simon Garnett

Simon spent nearly a decade during his initial career working client-side, with brands such as Diageo, GSK, and Nestlé. The client-side career helped him realise that he loved the upfront part of marketing, the exploration of the opportunity, forging together of insight, and the developing of a strategy to take advantage of it. Hence, it was no surprise that he leaped over the fence to agency-side soon after, and has stayed since then for over 10 years now.

He founded The Forge in 2013, to help clients with sense-making, taking the abundance of data and information that exists and creating a clear, actionable strategy for brands and businesses.

Simon holds a BA in Theology from the University of Cambridge.

Recommended Listening:

Tim Harford’s Cautionary Tales Podcast

 Relevant Links

Website:              https://www.thisistheforge.com

LinkedIn:             https://www.linkedin.com/in/simongarnett

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In this episode, Rahul talks to the Founder of Ten Bear Group, Jessica Thomas, about sales and insights.

Starting with an International Business certification and a degree in Media and Communications, Jessica’s career arch sees her in roles ranging from sales and social insights to starting her consultancy.

What is the story behind the name ‘Ten Bear’? Hear about Jessica’s experiences in multiple sales roles, the difference in working culture between Spain and the UK, her journey into insights and consulting, and get some valuable advice for junior insight pros, all on today’s episode of Data Stories: Leaders at Work.

Highlights

• “One of the ways in which I’m going to achieve work-life balance is actually enjoying the work side of it.”
• “A lot of clients will buy the product, they’ll buy the platform, get it in-house, they’ll get trained on it, and then it just gets left by the wayside.”
• "Always have people in the room that are more intelligent than you.”
• “Don’t wait. Do loads of courses on Udemy. Find out what it is that you enjoy. You can retrain at any point.”
• “If you’re going to go into starting a consultancy, you need to have that background of experience. Even if it’s not the right role, at least try and look for a company that does what you’re interested in.”
• “There’s nothing more valuable than training outside of your job and putting all the effort in yourself outside of your role. You can’t rely on companies to be in a position to move you to the role that you want. You have to make that work for yourself.”

About - Jessica Thomas

Jessica Thomas is the Founder of Ten Bear Group.

Since its inception in 2017, Ten Bear has grown to become an industry leader in digital consumer insights, harnessing the power of social listening, search engine data, and AI.

Even though coming from an unconventional professional experience, and ending up in marketing research and insights, Jessica has managed to build a successful career for herself in this industry.

Ten Bear has garnered multiple awards, including the Stevie Awards’ Bronze Award for Best Women-Led Startup of the Year 2019, the Social Media Marketing Awards’ Social Listening Agency of the Year 2019, and Goodman Lantern’s #2 Top 50 Women in Tech 2017.

Recommended reading:

Learning Social Media Analytics with R, by Raghav Bali, Dipanjan Sarkar, and Tushar Sharma.

Jessica’s Influential People

Kate Franklin

Relevant Links

Website:              https://tenbeargroup.com

LinkedIn:             https://uk.linkedin.com/in/sociallistening

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In this episode, Rahul talks to the Account Director at Media Zoo, Toby Kheng, about employee wellbeing and experience.

Toby shares anecdotes about his journey, armed with a degree in media production,  a career that spans roles in the food industry, telecommunications, and employee experience. 

Did Toby’s dissertation predict the media behemoth that is podcasting? Hear about his passion for employee wellbeing and experience, the Influential person that changed the way Toby sees the industry, and get some valuable advice to accelerate your career, all on today’s episode of Data Stories: Leaders at Work.

Highlights

• “I don’t see an endpoint. I think technology is never going to stop changing, and therefore the way we work is going to always need to change.”
• “We should be able to live in a world where everybody’s doing work that feels meaningful, purposeful, and feels rewarding.”
• “If you’re passionate about technology, and I think you have the right personality to share that passion with other people, then I can mould you into the person that you need to be, to be great at this role.”
• “There’s got to be a great appreciation that some of the functional stuff can be learned, but it’s more important that you hire the right people than the right CV.”
• “Be a bit braver. Take leaps of faith more often. Don’t sit too comfortably. Always push yourself.”
• “Learning may not always be the answer.”
• “Be curious. If there is a problem, don’t shy away from trying to fix the problem, and don’t go to the usual places you would do to try and find the answer, because it might not be there.”

About - Toby Kheng

Toby is a people and business transformation expert. He is extremely passionate about exploring the social impact of digitization and the workplace.

As a student of behavioral economics, and master of digital communities, combines his knowledge with learning and communications theory to support the transformation of global clients.

Toby’s career spans over diverse roles including Sous Chef at The Cloud Bar, Chalet Chef at Ski Total, Head Chef at Kai’s Bar, Learning Strategy Manager at Dixons Carphone, Learning Consultant at O2, Client Strategy Director at Freeformers, and Account Director at Media Zoo. He holds a BA in Media Production from the University of Lincoln.

Recommended reading:

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein

Relevant Links

Website:              https://mediazoo.tv

Twitter:                https://twitter.com/welearnandlive

LinkedIn:             https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tobykheng

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