More Than Just Interesting by Elizabeth Knox Oates

With more than 20 years of experience as an Insight leader, Elizabeth Oates knows that Insights teams have a critical role to play in the success of their organizations. And that success is driven through action, so every Insights team must be “more than just interesting.”

Using direct, actionable recommendations and many real-world examples, More Than Just Interesting shares specific steps to make a business consumer centric with strategies to win market share and succeed in the long term This unique guide for creating winning Insights functions will help Insight team leaders uncover meaningful insights to drive actions based on consumer needs, and in their roles as managers and mentors, develop outstanding Insights professionals.

This book is all about understanding opportunity cost, timelines, and how to create a process for integrating an Insights function’s findings—a deeper understanding of who consumers are and what they need—into business-operation decisions. Its FOUR steps to actionability approach will guide you through the discipline of creating and clarifying questions that are aligned to specific actions. You’ll learn that deciding on actions before research is NOT putting the proverbial cart before the horse; it’s an essential step to ensuring that insights are leveraged for the good of the business.

Given that resources are never limitless, skilled Insights leaders must choose how to manage budgets, time constraints, and their team’s human resources. Consideration must ALWAYS be given to value—the degree to which the insights will make their organization more consumer centric. 

The development and success of any Insights function is built on the talent, drive and direction of the team. Successful Insights leaders know how to create a vision for their Insights function and foster team-member growth in nine critical skill areas that will ultimately determine the function’s level of success in driving a business forward. 

While most successful business leaders see the value in consumer centricity, it’s still the job of Insights leaders and the professionals they mentor and manage to claim seats at the decision-making table and prepare their organizations to be consumer centric. Here at last is a guide to undertaking this challenging task with confidence.

(118 pages, paperback, ISBN: 978-1-941688-84-7; July 2024)