Outside In with Charles Trevail

For decades, market research was considered an “auditing function” -- a department inside the business that looks backwards at an ad campaign or a product, and identifies all the reasons why it performed either well or poorly. But as organic growth became more important to a company’s success, market research transformed into a forward-looking insights function. “You can't have organic growth unless you understand your customers,” says Ravi Dhar, professor at Yale School of Management and Director of Yale’s Center for Customer Insights. He joins the podcast to talk about the evolution and role of insights and how to fix the tension that exists between insights departments and the C-suite.

Listen to this podcast to learn:

• The four stages of insights, based on Ravi’s research with Boston Consulting Group

• Why insights leaders should be in the room when strategic decisions are being made

• Changes in consumer behavior during the pandemic, and which new behaviors might persist

• The effects that two concepts -- “out of sight, out of mind” and “absence makes the heart grow fonder” -- could have on consumer demand after the pandemic subsides

• The inherent risk in looking to “consumers as scientists”

• Why insights require a collaboration of analytics, anthropology, and psychology

• The skills you need to become a successful insights professional now and in the future

For more information: https://som.yale.edu/faculty/ravi-dhar

Nicholas Thompson once wrote that WIRED’s purview is the future and that “the only way to think creatively about the future is with something like optimism.” But it’s hard to think optimistically right now. Our old ways of living have been fundamentally altered -- and may never return. Nicholas joins the podcast to talk about the profound changes we’re all living through and the broad implications this pandemic will have for society, businesses, technology, governments, and our environment.

Listen to this podcast episode to learn:

• Reasons to feel optimistic about our future (and challenges that will need to be solved)

• People’s perceptions of and attitudes towards Big Tech during this crisis

• The perilous state of data privacy when our health is on the line

• Are we experiencing a “work from home bubble” and overestimating the value of remote work?

• Whether the environmental movement may lose momentum in the years ahead

• How technologies like AI and blockchain may help build stronger governments and smarter policy

• Why coronavirus has been bad for (poorly run) democracies

For more info: www.nickthompson.com

Mathew Sweezey is a marketing futurist for Salesforce. Based on his research, he discovered that June 24, 2009, was a tipping point for media and marketing. That’s the day consumers officially overtook brands and businesses as the dominant media creators. Since then, an infinite and uncontrollable stream of noise -- tweets, Facebook updates, texts, blog posts, Amazon reviews -- has been the foundation of the new media environment. It has inspired new consumer behaviors and forced marketers to play by new rules. Matt joins the podcast to talk about his new book, Context Marketing Revolution: How to Motivate Buyers in the Age of Infinite Media, and why brands can no longer simply force messaging into the marketplace and expect that will be enough to persuade people to buy. Instead, brands must now market with context in mind and co-create with the very people who create and consume.

Listen to this podcast episode to learn:

• What is contextual marketing and how does it differ from what has worked in the past?

• How brands have shifted to a new business model of “market, sell, build, market”

• Mercedes vs. Tesla: two starkly different approaches to marketing

• How high-performing brands like Oreo have co-created with the marketplace to establish demand for new products before they launch

• How LEGO designed around the context of people’s holiday shopping pains in order to boost online sales

• The downside of A/B testing

• How companies like Room and Board use AI to create “headless commerce”

• What’s next in marketing as AI, video, and voice take center stage

For more information: mathewsweezey.com

In luxury, “cookie cutter” doesn’t cut it. And for a luxury hotel brand, it has to strike a delicate balance between delivering a guest experience that’s both consistent and one-of-a-kind. Bill Walshe, CEO at Viceroy Hotel Group, says that consistency shouldn’t stifle the things that guests remember: spontaneity, authenticity, individuality, and creativity. He calls his philosophy “consistent individuality.” Viceroy Hotel Group maintains 15 properties around the world, from St. Lucia to Los Cabos to Beverly Hills and beyond, with another 8 soon to enter the brand’s portfolio. Each maintains its own distinct sense of location and destination while also sharing Viceroy’s brand essence. Walshe joins the podcast to give his take on what luxury means in the service industry today, and how Viceroy designs its experience around changing guest preferences, new technologies, brand partnerships, and shared values.

Listen to this podcast episode to learn:

• Why hotels aren’t just service providers; they’re content providers with Instagrammable moments in mind

• From celebrity chefs to spin studios, how the right brand partnerships and alliances add value to the guest experience and future-proof the business

• Why guests want to stay at hotels where they feel they're making a positive impact on the world through a “contribution without compromise”

• Why Viceroy decided to open the first-ever hotel designed around celebrating female achievement and empowerment (Hotel Zena in Washington, DC)

• Is luxury’s assumed exclusivity a “historically passé” notion?

When Google embarked on an extensive study to understand what makes for a high-performing team, it was Amy Edmondson’s research on “psychological safety” that became the foundation of the company’s findings. Edmondson, a Harvard Business School professor and organizational behavior expert, joins the podcast to talk about her latest book, The Fearless Organization. She says that “psychological safety describes a climate at work where one believes that you can freely speak up with any idea, concern, question, even mistakes.” It’s “a sense of permission for candor.” She explains the benefits of creating psychological safety in the workplace and why it’s essential for learning, innovation, and growth in the knowledge economy.

Listen to this podcast episode to learn:

• Do better teams make fewer mistakes, or are they more willing to talk about them?

• Why “problems are gems” and how leaders can use mistakes to improve performance

• Why customer truths don’t always tend to make it up the corporate hierarchy

• Differences between the “comfort zone” and the “anxiety zone” at work, and why the latter is more dangerous

• Misconceptions about what psychological safety is (and what it isn’t)

• Actions we can all take to create greater psychological safety at work and in our personal lives

In 2013, Steve Blank, adjunct professor at Stanford University, and one of three co-founders of the Lean Startup Movement, wrote a front-cover article for Harvard Business Review entitled, “Why the Lean Start-Up Changes Everything.” It was a call to action for large companies to embrace the lean startup methodology of innovation. But after spending the past seven years working with large companies, Blank now believes his initial thesis was wrong. Large companies are not bigger versions of startups anymore so than startups are smaller versions of large companies. Applying lean startup methods in large companies creates “innovation theater” and not real innovation. Blank joins the podcast to talk about his next big idea for business: the Innovation Doctrine. He describes the fundamental changes large organizations need to make to their thinking, leadership, and structure to innovate faster than competitors and the perpetual disruption happening around them.

Listen to this podcast episode to learn:

• The core differences between startups and big companies

• The origins of the Customer Development Method and a brief overview of the Lean Startup Movement

• The key aspects of the Innovation Doctrine and how it aligns with current business methodologies

• Why companies need rule books to draw innovation from the “frozen middle”

• Why a dysfunctional upbringing can be an asset for entrepreneurs or anyone operating in a chaotic environment

• Life and work lessons Steve learned from serving in the Vietnam War

The demand for sports betting has existed for decades in the United States, but it has traditionally been confined to the black market and Nevada, the only state where sports betting is legal. That all changed on May 14, 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), effectively legalizing sports betting in the United States – as long as a state government allows for it. The removal of regulations have opened up a new market (and created a huge opportunity) for online gaming companies like DraftKings. Jason Robins, CEO of DraftKings, joins the podcast to talk about the evolution of his company and why a deep understanding of customers is the key to leading in the new era of legalized sports betting.

Listen to this podcast episode to learn:

• How DraftKings is managing its transformation from a daily fantasy sports provider to a sports betting and online gaming company

• How the culture, regulations, and attitudes around sports betting have changed in the United States

• Why the most impactful insights emerge from a combination of listening to customers and data analysis

• How legalizing a market that was once in the shadows helps create more transparency and responsible practices

• The business value of “not being fully prepared,” and why entrepreneurs should expect to waste their first marketing dollars

• What lies ahead for DraftKings and the industry

Our cultural obsession with flying cars has been well-documented: the 1927 film Metropolis, the 1960s cartoon The Jetsons, the 1980s Back to the Future movies. But flying cars have always been a sci-fi fantasy, not a reality. That may be changing sooner than we realize. At CES 2020, Uber and Hyundai announced the first air taxi, the all-electric S-A1. According to Eric Allison, Head of Uber Elevate, this is just the beginning. He joins the podcast to talk about the vision of Uber Elevate, how Uber is integrating air travel into our end-to-end mobility experience, and using partners, data, and people to make flying taxis a reality.

Listen to this podcast episode to learn:

• How Uber is working to build the “operating system for cities” through partnership-driven strategy and a deep understanding of urban mobility

• How both human insight and data analysis are informing the design, operation, and “inside out” passenger experience

• Why local community engagement is so important to understanding and addressing the concerns of those affected (e.g., citizens, policy makers, and governments)

• How Uber Copter and VR simulations have served as a rich testing ground for passenger feedback

• The environmental, safety, and consumer cost challenges -- and how is Uber addressing them

• When will we really be able to hop in an air taxi?

Leadership is not a role. It’s a process. A process of exercising influence in order to bring about a desired outcome. So says Bernie Banks. He’s the Associate Dean for Leadership Development and a Clinical Professor of Management at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He served as a U.S. Army Officer for more than 30 years, retiring from the Army as a Brigadier General in 2016 after having successfully led West Point’s Department of Behavioral Sciences & Leadership. Banks joins the podcast to explain his eight core leadership principles and draws parallels between effective leadership in the military and in business.

Listen to this podcast episode to learn:

• Why leaders can’t default to exerting formal authority and a “do it because I said so” approach

• Why leadership is about establishing credibility, building empathy, earning trust, and aligning interests

• The West Point Honor Code and what business could gain from following it

• Charisma doesn’t guarantee great leadership (though, it can help)

• Reasons why we distrust our leaders the decline in trust in institutions and our growing distrust in leadership

• Why companies should accept that different leaders may be required at different phases of an organization’s growth

• Why disciplined execution is perhaps the most important leadership principle of all

The Cluetrain Manifesto, published at the turn of 21st century, was one of the most prophetic and important books written about the internet. It was a call to arms -- and a warning for businesses -- that the internet is a place where human beings want to connect with one another, not be marketed to. One of the co-authors of the Manifesto, David Weinberger, is now a senior researcher at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. His most recent book is Everyday Chaos. He joins the podcast to talk about machine learning and how it helps us make better predictions and why it reveals how profoundly complex and chaotic our world is.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• What the Cluetrain Manifesto got right -- and wrong -- about the internet, 20 years on

• What machine learning is and how it’s a radically new way of thinking about how the world works and our place in it

• The danger of algorithmic bias when left unchecked

• Why making decisions without knowing “why” is actually a good thing

• The benefits of following a “Minimum Viable Strategy” and using “unanticipation” to navigate and capitalize on uncertainty

• Why Milton Friedman gave cover to the worst impulses of business (and the hope that the Business Roundtable will give cover to the far better ones)

For more information: www.everydaychaosbook.com