Episode 14: Transforming Insight at Carnival

In this episode, Jan describes what it was like to lead an Insight team at an organisation that had to close its global operation during the pandemic, and how, despite the tragedy, he managed to seize the opportunity to make Insight ‘the lead huskey’.

Please listen to our podcast if you have the ambition to transform your Insight team!

Topics Discussed

• The importance of being yourself (4.45)
• The varied world of cruises (7.30)
• The Carnival Insight team and its journey (10.23)
• Working in Insight when the world stopped (14.03)
• The need for continuous development (20.03)

Highlights

• “We can see [the pandemic] as a huge opportunity here. With all the things that we've got sat there ready to go, this is the time we can see what the business needs, that maybe it hasn't realised yet. We should be turning all these residual contracted tools we have at our disposal to really help the business navigate this pandemic and work out what we can do.”
• “This idea of “Lead Husky” - the Insight leading the business. Going into the fresh snow, no one wants to be this sort of husky in the back. You want to be the husky at the front, really plowing through the fresh snow, working out what, and where, the opportunities are.”
• “So much of the past data ceased to be relevant for the data science models. But by joining together the strengths of the different sides of the Insight function, you could really put Insight in a far better place in your business, and a better place to understand what might happen next.”
• “If you can embed things like always taking time to join the dots at the end of the project. Think: Which are the stakeholders that could do with hearing this story? How does this new finding relate to things that we've seen in the past? How is it contradicting it? These are the times when more interesting things emerge, aren't they? But you need to build in time for that."

This is episode 14 of the Transforming Insight podcast. 

If you have the ambition to transform your Insight team and the role it plays in your organisation, please tune in to future episodes. Not only will we explore the 42 secrets of successful corporate Insight teams as outlined in the Transforming Insight book, we will also talk to senior corporate Insight leaders, delve into books that have inspired us, and discuss new best practice research carried out with the IMA’s corporate members.

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About James Wycherley, the author of Transforming Insight

James Wycherley was Director of Customer Insight and Analytics at Barclays from 2005 to 2015 when he became Chief Executive of the Insight Management Academy (IMA). A popular keynote speaker and acknowledged expert on Insight leadership, strategy, and communication, he is the author of the book Transforming Insight: the 42 secrets of successful corporate Insight teams, and over 35 IMA publications. He has provided thought leadership in the UK, Western Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, India, and the Middle East, and regularly hosts the IMA’s Insight forums - London, Manchester, UK Online and US Online.

The Insight Management Academy is the world’s leading authority on transforming Insight teams.

Resources:

If you would like more information on any of the ideas discussed in this episode of the Transforming Insight podcast, please visit www.insight-management.org

Copies of James Wycherley’s book Transforming Insight: the 42 secrets of successful corporate Insight teams can be purchased directly from www.transforming-insight.com

Disclaimer

The Transforming Insight podcast is published by the Insight Management Academy and produced by Zorbiant.

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