It may sound like a leap to go from aerospace and operational physiology to overseeing user experience research for a major financial services company, but Jeff Scott explains just how much these worlds have in common.

Jeff shares his unique and fascinating journey from the US Air Force to Director of User Experience Research at Charles Schwab. He shows how each step along the way built upon the previous to make him perfectly suited for his role.

Along the way, Jeff discusses what call center work shares in common with flying a fighter jet, the military lessons he applies every day at Schwab and how good vs. bad data can literally save lives. He also throws me for a loop with his desert island music choices!

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“I live alone in a forest of likes,” a telling Instagram quote about the media context for brands in Emmanuel Probst’s best-selling book, “Brand Hacks: How to Build Brands by Fulfilling the Consumer Quest for Meaning.”

Emmanuel is like a physician for brands. I couldn’t get enough of his ideas in our talk and we continued our conversation long after the podcast ended. 

Emmanuel began his research career humbly and has become one of the most trusted advisors for growing brands. Today he is Global Lead: Brand Thought Leadership for Brand Tracking at Ipsos. He is also a contributor to Forbes and Media Post, a reviewer for the Journal of Advertising Research and adjunct faculty at UCLA Extension.

We dive deep into why and how brands must create meaning with consumers. We also discuss the power of nostalgia in branding and the appeal of Pink Floyd and Brittany Spears as a student learning English.

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As a professor of Cognitive Psychology, Leib Litman was a pioneer in using the Internet for academic research. He met and tackled data quality challenges and has since become a trusted leader in ensuring online data quality at the firm he co-founded, Cloud Research.

Leib takes us on a journey into the world of survey participants, both genuine and bogus, identifying the scope and nature of the problems and how a blend of technology and cognitive psychology can help ensure high quality survey data.

Leib also shares the records (highly approved by the host!) that he would want to keep him company on a desert island.

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Dyna Boen has spent most of her career helping lead start-ups to success, including her own. She has seen it all, done it all and inspired many along the way.

Yet, she has always made time to help others. Seven years ago, she and Heidi Dickert had an idea to create an offsite for executive women in research to share experiences and learn from each other. They saw it through and it became the WIRexec Leadership Summit which she has continued to help lead.

Dyna discusses the early days of ResTech with MarketTools, her journey in research and what she has learned and applied along the way.

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As a huge hip-hop fan, how does an internship with legendary Def Jam Records lead you out of music and into advertising? Michael Schonfeld has a fascinating story about that!

Since joining the ad agency world, Michael has worked with meaningful brands like Mars, Sandy Hook Promise and Reebok. Today, he is Senior Strategist on Michelob Ultra in NYC at the iconic FCB, winners of the 2019 Cannes Lion North American Creative Agency of the Year, the 2020 Adweek Global Agency of the Year and countless other awards over the past 148 years.

In this podcast, Michael shares his journey, his take on the relationship of brands with consumers and how brands can better understand the people they serve.

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Today Jennie Finerty has a very successful career in insights as VP, Qualitative Research for Magid’s Global Media & Entertainment practice.

But before her career in research, Jennie spent much of her life as a successful competitive athlete. She spent countless hours over many years with her twin sister in the pool training as an Artistic Swimmer (then known as Synchronized Swimming), where she excelled and eventually went on to make the US National Team and the US Training Squad for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Jennie shares her journey on today’s podcast, including how she got started, what she has learned from her experience in athletics, how qualitative research has changed and the “inspirational pressure” of representing her country in international competition.

For more really cool insights from Magid, go here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeuJSsivrUGht8ZimN7rLxA

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Alfonso de la Nuez traces his fascinating journey from a childhood dream of playing point guard in the NBA to helping lead the revolution of user experience research as founder and CEO of UserZoom. 

He shares the lessons he applied from basketball to the business world and how Google and others in the early days pushed his consulting business to do user experience research at scale. What started as a services business evolved into a SaaS business that became UserZoom.

Along the way, he discusses what’s next for the evolution of user experience research, the influence of people like Ricky Rubio and Pau Gasol on Spanish basketball and the music that means the most to him.

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“Making Research Inspirational” is what Nikki Lavoie’s company, MindSpark, does on a professional level every day. Like me, many are personally inspired by Nikki, and grateful for the leadership, expertise and energy she contributes to the insights industry through organizations like ESOMAR, The AQR and more.

What I *really* wanted to know is the backstory of how she came to launch and lead a global qualitative research agency based in France after starting her career in the US. 

Nikki shares this story and more, including the importance of respecting research participants, why she’s still a Belieber and why she suspects you are, too.

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My good friend and Chief Architect at a major financial firm, Mike Boyer, had the idea to put the host on the hot seat  in his aptly named "Turntable Episode."

Mike gets me to share how I got into the field of market research, a self-deprecating jog through my  humbling side gigs in music and a way-too-long list of records I'd want on a desert island.

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Jessica Gomez is one-of-a-kind in all the best ways. She is someone who takes initiative and makes the most of her opportunities. She turned an entry level position at a TV station in San Antonio into digital sales management positions in Dallas, New York City and now Houston at Audacy, Inc., the second largest radio company in the US.

But . . . she also mighta, coulda, shoulda, woulda been a Flamenco dancer (she is a great dancer, I can attest!). Jessica shares that story along with insights about digital marketing during the pandemic, the role of data in the marketing mix and the music that means the most to her.

Try the Magic Mind mental performance shot! You have a limited offer you can use now, that gets you up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off one time purchases with code RNRLT at checkout You can claim it at: https://www.magicmind.com/RNRLT