Re:think Reflections: Part 3

“I would in essence start a business consultancy with market research as differentiation.”

– Kathy McGettrick, VP, Market Development, S&D, IBM – talking about the future research firm

When I first launched Research Narrative in 2011, I built it around three fundamental beliefs that I often still espouse to anyone close enough to listen.

• Research is storytelling. In today’s world, it has to be.
• The research firm I want to run must be known for strategy and wisdom; we must be a trusted adviser whether we’re working with a showrunner, a CEO, or a fellow researcher. 
• Research service today is research mixology – it requires selecting and packaging innovative methods into a strategic research plan, and remaining nimble enough to introduce new innovations. Although I personally have methodology specialties, my business can’t afford to be limited to them.

I was pleased to discover that this year’s Re:think conference actually kicked off by perpetuating these beliefs. In particular, the opening session panel on “Embracing Change Before it Embraces You” reinforced these pillars, with panelists cleverly articulating many of the principles upon which I’ve built Research Narrative. Two ideas espoused by the panel especially caught my attention: curtailing naked research and embracing the research alchemist.

        Not what we mean by naked research.

No more naked research, please.

One of my favorite panelists, Kathy McGettrick of IBM, broached the idea that the world has moved away from “naked research” - research results relayed without context. And she’s exactly right; naked research is an artifact of a bygone research era. Today’s research needs to find meaning, and tie back to the business questions, challenges, or objectives at stake. In fact, such was the key learning of our RAABT forum: if you’re not involving key stakeholders, and putting research in their context, you’re falling short of the business impact you could (and should) have. I said it in Part 2 and I’ll say it again here: research is a means to an end. It is not, in and of itself, the end.

The future researcher is an insights alchemist, storyteller, and consultant.

In with the generalist, out with the specialist. The session’s panelists pointed out that the researcher of today – and indeed tomorrow – is an expert alchemist. (Credit again goes to Kathy for genius application of the word “alchemy”.)  As researchers, we now must bring tools together, bring information together, and ultimately concoct the exact right blend to find the business meaning in that mix. Then we must convey that, taking ownership and telling a (research) story to key stakeholders. Or, as a panelist later in the morning explained, “we need to make them smart.”

Mind you, without methodology specialists, generalists have no tools to which we can apply our research alchemy talents. Someone has to create those innovative tools and specialized methods. But in this brave new world of storytelling, business strategy, and insights alchemy, being a generalist is itself a specialty. One on which I'd bet my business.

-Kerry