Episode 82: Christmas roundtable
It’s the last episode of 2025, and James celebrates his birthday while wrapping up Season 11 with a special Christmas roundtable discussion featuring his colleagues and regular guests - Lisa and Emma. We dive into the insights gathered from our recent forums in Manchester and London, where we engaged with numerous Insight leaders about the evolving landscape of corporate insight teams. As they discuss the key themes from these forums, James introduces the concept of the "Insight Professionals Pyramid," which outlines the essential skills and roles that Insight professionals should embrace as we navigate the future. The pyramid emphasises the importance of evidence-based activities, the generation of insights, and the need for Insight professionals to act as growth consultants, foresight pioneers, insight influencers, and knowledge stewards. And the apex of the pyramid is an ambition: an aspiration for all corporate Insight professionals to see themselves first and foremost as Insight activists. Much more on this to come in future episodes!
Lisa and Emma share their experiences from the IMA’s recent Insight forums, highlighting the positive atmosphere and the encouraging conversations around the role of Insight in driving organisational change. They address the initial concerns surrounding the term "activist" and how, upon deeper understanding, it resonated positively with attendees.
We also explore the current state of the Insight industry, acknowledging the opportunities and challenges posed by technological advancements, particularly AI. That’s the backdrop against which we Insight activists will need to reframe our mindset and play our new roles.
As we look ahead to the new year, James encourages listeners to reflect on their Insight teams and their capability and consider how they can enhance their value to their organisations. We discuss upcoming Insight forums in January and February, focusing on Insight leaders’ priorities for managing and transforming their teams, and Insight professionals’ priorities for self-development.
And we say thank you! Thank you to all our listeners for tuning in throughout Season 11 and hope you will join us again in early 2026 for the upcoming Season 12. We wish everyone a happy holiday season and encourage you all to embrace the opportunities for Insight growth and transformation in the year ahead.
Please listen to find out more!
Topics Discussed
- The Insight professionals pyramid (01.56)
- The importance of activism in Insight (5.05)
- Knowledge stewardship in the age of AI (12.03)
- Valuing Insights and commercial impact (17.23)
- January and February forum themes (25.39)
This is episode 82 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. We will explore the 42 secrets of successful corporate Insight teams; and the need for Insight leaders to write their own playbooks; 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.
You won’t want to miss this! So please subscribe - and thank you for listening.
About James Wycherley, the author of Transforming Insight
James Wycherley was Director of Customer Insight and Analytics at Barclays Bank from 2005 to 2015 when he became Chief Executive of the Insight Management Academy (IMA).
He published his first book, Transforming Insight, in 2020, and his second, The Insight Leader’s Playbook, in 2025, and he hosts the Insight forums and the Transforming Insight podcast.
An entertaining keynote speaker, he has presented over 50 times at Quirk’s events, a global record, and has provided thought leadership in the UK, USA, Europe, Canada, Australia, India and the Middle East.
The Insight Management Academy is the world’s leading authority on transforming corporate Insight teams, and its vision is to inspire and support every Insight leader to transform the impact of Insight in their organisation.
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
Disclaimer
The Transforming Insight podcast is published by the Insight Management Academy and produced by Zorbiant.
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