As an insights and strategy professional, you're often called to help guide strategy, innovation, and any other amount of business decisions. Here are some common elements that I've found in the most successful insights professionals with whom I've had the pleasure of working. This works on the client-side and the agency-side.

2. WHAT IS THE TRUE GOAL OF AN INSIGHTS
PROFESSIONAL?
To be a TRUSTED PARTNER to Senior Executives… leveraging insights as
your currency.
3 aspects of a trusted partner
1) Know your stuff.
2) Know your business.
3) Know your culture.

3. KNOW YOUR STUFF
To be a trusted partner, you have to know the tools of the trade, how they work, and
how they can be leveraged to answer the big questions that are holding your
business back.
To be effective, every insights professional should strive for technical mastery of the methods
that are important to their particular area of the business. It is insufficient to stop at
awareness of the tools that make your role necessary.
Think of it this way. Would you invest with a Financial Planner that couldn’t explain the stock
market?

4. KNOW YOUR BUSINESS
To be a trusted partner, your partners need to know that you KNOW the mechanics of
the business. Why? Because they want to know that this has already been taken
into account whenever you bring a recommendation.
An insight loses its impact when it can’t be acted upon because the business model/
dynamics were not considered.
You have to take the time to understand your business. How are things made? What impacts
profitability? Who is the competition? How do these things impact the consumer
experience?

5. KNOW YOUR CULTURE
To be a trusted partner, you have to an effective communicater. What’s the RIGHT level
of data to inform a decision? What information is necessary for THIS particular
stakeholder? How does this team communicate (charts and slides, email, or 1-
pager)?
Different organizations absorb and communicate information differently. Some organizations
are data-led and will not move forward without significant amounts of quantitative data.
Others are intuitive /creative and will react negatively when presented with numbers.
MOST organizations have elements of both!
In general, the type and the amount of data is dependent upon 3 things: 1) the risk involved
(which goes back to knowing the business); 2) the level of change involved; and 3) the
person to whom you’re communicating.

6. TO BE EFFECTIVE, YOU MUST BE IN THE KNOW!
1) Know your stuff.
2) Know your business.
3) Know your culture.