Transforming Insight Podcast

Paul's central argument is one that will resonate deeply with Insight professionals at every level: the days of the Insight team as data producer are numbered. What organisations need now is something closer to a growth consultant, someone who can synthesise information from multiple sources, collaborate across internal and external boundaries, and give stakeholders the decision confidence to act. It's a higher bar, but also a more rewarding one.

The conversation explores how AI is reshaping the infrastructure of insight, automating the processable, while making the human capacity for interpretation and judgement more valuable than ever. Paul also offers a fascinating transatlantic perspective, observing that US organisations tend to lean into risk and innovation more readily than their UK counterparts, and considers what that might mean for how the agency landscape consolidates or fragments in the years ahead.

There's a moment near the end of the conversation that's worth the listen alone. Paul's advice to Insight professionals looking to increase their influence? Focus less on being the smartest person in the room, and more on how you make others feel. It's a small shift in perspective and a quietly powerful one.

For anyone navigating the future of Insight, this is a conversation that cuts through the noise.

Please listen to find out more!

Topics Discussed

·        Current Vibe in the Insight Sector  (2.05)

·        The Challenge of Data Overload (09.17)

·        Sector-Specific Dynamics in Insight (15.54)

·        Expectations of Speed in Decision-Making (20.52)

·        The Octopus Organisation Model (28.06)

This is episode 95 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, and the 9Ps of The Insight Leader’s Playbook, 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

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 60 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.

At the Quirk’s events in Chicago, London and New York, I’ve been asking corporate Insight professionals that question. And the answers have been largely split between those who say they are “tentatively hopeful” and those who admit to having “mixed feelings”.

Exploring this topic further at the IMA’s Insight forums and team development workshops, I think there are some clear patterns we see relating to how visible and valued an Insight team feels, and how optimistic it is for the future.

Those that are engaged early on strategic projects, whose opinion is respected, and whose work is valued are being a given a licence to experiment with new tools and have a confidence about shaping the future.

Those who feel trapped on the corporate hamster wheel feel so much pressure to just produce analysis and research they say they can’t prioritise Insight communication or stakeholder influence. Not surprisingly they are worried that AI adoption be a threat to their jobs.

So the big question for me, at this pivotal moment in the evolution of Insight teams, is whether we are going to wait for change to happen to us, or step forward and shape the definition, development and decisions of Insight-driven organisations.

If you have the ambition to be a change-maker rather than a change-taker, please listen to Episode 94 of the Transforming Insight podcast to find out more!

Topics Discussed

·        The first episode of Season 14 of the podcast (0.44)

·        Are you feeling visible and valued, with a licence to explore? (5.50)

·        Are you constantly under pressure, responding to requests (9.22)

·        Are we going to wait and accept change, or step forward and lead it? (12.12)

·        An Insight-driven organisation needs a blueprint (16.18)

·        Changing our self-perception from Insight producers to Insight activists (19.57)

·        Insight leaders’ responsibility to write their own playbook (27.23)

This is episode 94 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, and the 9Ps of The Insight Leader’s Playbook, 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

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 60 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.

Elizabeth brings over two decades of experience in the Insights sector, with a reputation that spans both sides of the Atlantic. Her book is part memoir, part manifesto, drawing on hard-won lessons from a career spent helping organisations turn research into action. She's refreshingly candid about her own missteps along the way, including a telling example of research that yielded plenty of findings but precious few answers, simply because the right questions weren't asked at the outset.

The conversation gets into the practical mechanics of actionable Insight: how to identify the knowledge gaps that are genuinely blocking decisions, how to work backwards from the actions stakeholders could take, and how to close the gap between what Insight teams think success looks like and what senior decision-makers actually need.

Elizabeth also introduces a memorable framework: “no longer true, still true, now true” - for navigating an industry in flux. Because while AI, budget pressures, and shifting methodologies are reshaping the landscape, her core conviction holds firm: the job of Insight is to surface human truths and drive business action. Everything else is context.

More Than Just Interesting is warmly recommended for any Insight professional looking to deepen their impact.

Please listen to find out more!

Topics Discussed

This is episode 93 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, and the 9Ps of The Insight Leader’s Playbook, 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

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 60 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.

In Episode 92 of the Transforming Insight podcast, James is joined by IMA Head of Content, Emma Jones, and IMA Senior Adviser, Roy Hammond, who have been leading the discussion about AI adoption at the Insight forums this month.

Emma shares the results of a recent survey of IMA members, which shows that the proportion of Insight teams “regularly adopting” or “rapidly embracing” AI has moved from 10% in 2024 to 56% this year. But adoption alone isn’t the whole story: we need to explore quality standards, skills gaps, trust issues, governance challenges, and the cultural variations in organisations that go a long way to explaining the context in which this transformation is happening.

Roy offers a framework to help make sense of that journey: a 5-step model of AI adoption running from discovery and experimentation through to optimisation, standardisation, and ultimately transformation. Most Insight teams are somewhere in the middle of that arc. Roy's practical advice for teams at each stage will give listeners something genuinely useful to take back to their own organisations.

But throughout the conversation we keep coming back to the parallel ways in which we can think about AI: is it the technology behind a set of tools forced upon us to enable our organisations to cut costs, or a treasure trove of opportunities which, handled carefully, could enable your Insight team to provide faster, better and cheaper insights and simultaneously enable you to move upstream and add more value? 

There’s much to be said for exploring what lots of new technology can do for us, but we should also remember that we must see new opportunities and threats in the context of the evolution of Insight in our organisations. As James reminds us at the end, it’s an Insight leader’s role to shape the definition, development and decisions of an Insight-driven organisation; how can AI help you to do that?

Please listen to find out more!

Topics Discussed

This is episode 92 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, and the 9Ps of The Insight Leader’s Playbook, 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

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 60 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.

One year on, Ruth returns to take stock of where things stand through the “Working Well Together Charter” - a practical framework built around six core principles designed to make client-agency relationships more intentional, more respectful, and ultimately more productive. Those principles cover everything from respecting agency time and the right to disconnect, to committing to open communication and treating agency partners as genuine members of the team.

As Ruth is quick to acknowledge, none of this is rocket science. The challenge has never been knowing what good looks like; it's consistently living up to it under the pressures of real working life. That honest tension is what makes this conversation so valuable.

We dig into findings from recent research with Aura members and agency partners that paint an encouraging picture. When the principles are genuinely applied, the results are tangible: more innovative proposals, deeper insights, better value, and stronger working relationships on both sides.

There's a broader theme here, too, one that will resonate with any Insight professional looking to raise their team's profile. The most impactful Insight teams aren't just managing projects; they're building the kind of trusted partnership that makes better thinking possible. That’s one of the 9P’s in James Wycherley’s Insight Leader’s Playbook and an important aspect for any Insight professional who is working to become an Insight activist in their organisation.

If you run a client-side Insight team or a market research agency, please visit the Aura website here to explore the Working Well Together Charter and think about how its principles might apply to your client-agency relationships.

Please listen to find out more!

Topics Discussed

This is episode 91 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, and the 9Ps of The Insight Leader’s Playbook, 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

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 60 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.

With over 15 years of experience spanning Insight, research, market intelligence, and voice of the customer, Jo arrives at Admiral fresh from a significant tenure at TalkTalk, where she helped build something that every Insight leader will recognise as the holy grail: a value log that quantified the real monetary impact of Insight on the business. It's the kind of initiative that doesn't just demonstrate worth; it changes the conversation entirely.

Jo talks candidly about what she's learned from that experience and how it's shaped the Insight Leaders Playbook she's brought with her to Admiral, a practical framework for setting vision, building momentum, and embedding Insight where it matters most. Her approach is deliberate and structured, but what comes through just as strongly is her belief in the power of relationships. Stakeholder trust, she argues, isn't a nice-to-have; it's the foundation on which everything else is built.

This is an episode full of honest, grounded advice for anyone stepping into a new Insight leadership role or looking to reposition an existing team. Jo's energy and clarity of purpose are infectious, and her journey at Admiral is only just beginning.

Please listen to find out more!

Topics Discussed

This is episode 90 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, and the 9Ps of The Insight Leader’s Playbook, 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.

Laura shares the core principles that have guided her approach throughout her career: 

These might sound like fundamentals, but as Laura makes clear, they're the principles most easily lost under the pressure of deadlines and data.

We also talk about AI, where Laura has a balanced view: she believes it opens up exciting possibilities for speed and efficiency, but she's clear-eyed about the risk of leaning too heavily on technology at the expense of the distinctly human skills – the sense-making, strategic thinking and storytelling that defines truly impactful Insight work.

There's also a thread running through this episode about agility: what large organisations can learn from the entrepreneurial mindset, and why adaptability may be the most underrated skill in the Insight professional's toolkit.

Please listen to find out more!

Topics Discussed

This is episode 89 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, and the 9Ps of The Insight Leader’s Playbook, 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.

Together, they explore the barriers that prevent Insight professionals from sharing their opinions; barriers that emerge regularly at the IMA's Insight forums. Lack of confidence, misaligned stakeholder expectations, gaps in training, and a preference for staying in a purely technical role all play a part. And left unaddressed, they quietly limit the impact Insight teams can have.

But this episode isn't just a diagnosis - it's a call to action. Jane shares practical frameworks, including the SQUAB and HERO processes, designed to help professionals develop well-grounded opinions rooted in evidence and business understanding. The conversation also tackles how Insight leaders can set the tone, creating environments where opinion formation is not just permitted but expected and celebrated.

This is an episode about stepping into a bigger role, moving from researcher to consultant, from analyst to activist. Because the organisations that benefit most from Insight aren't the ones that simply receive data. They're the ones where Insight professionals feel empowered to say: here's what I think, and here's why it matters.

Please listen to find out more!

Topics Discussed

This is episode 88 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, and the 9Ps of The Insight Leader’s Playbook, 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.

Thomas walks us through the vision that has guided his team's development — anchored in three powerful questions: Where do we play? How do we win? And how do we keep winning? It's a deceptively simple framework that has proven robust enough to carry the team through seismic shifts, from the pandemic to the age of AI.

What stands out about Thomas is the clarity and ambition of his thinking. Rather than waiting for the business to come to him with questions, he champions a proactive approach — one where Insight shapes strategy, not just supports it. It's a mindset that will feel both challenging and galvanising for Insight professionals at any stage of their career.

We also dig into eBay's relationship with AI, including a fascinating 30-day AI challenge that brought the whole team on the journey together. For Thomas, AI isn't simply a tool for doing things faster — it's a creative partner that can unlock new ways of thinking and working.

This is a rich, forward-looking conversation full of practical wisdom for anyone who wants to build Insight functions that genuinely drive competitive advantage.

Please listen to find out more!

Topics Discussed

This is episode 87 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, and the 9Ps of The Insight Leader’s Playbook, 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.

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.

Eddie takes us through how his team at Sage has shifted from traditional research cycles to a more agile, consultative model, one that keeps pace with rapid technological, political, and economic change. It's a mindset shift that will resonate with any Insight leader feeling the pressure to do more, faster, and with greater impact.

We explore how AI and digital tools are transforming the Insight function in practice, with Eddie sharing real use cases from Sage, including knowledge management, conversational Insight agents, and synthetic data. He makes a compelling case for why synthetic data, when used alongside traditional methods, deserves a seat at the table and why a willingness to experiment is now a core professional competency.

The conversation also looks ahead to the skills Insight teams will need to thrive: engineering, facilitation, and the ability to guide stakeholders through complexity rather than simply delivering findings. Yet for all the change on the horizon, Eddie reminds us that the fundamentals — curiosity, communication, and making sense of the complex — remain as valuable as ever.

Whether you're an Insight leader navigating transformation or a researcher looking to grow your impact, this is an episode full of practical inspiration.

Please listen to find out more!

Topics Discussed

This is episode 86 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, and the 9Ps of The Insight Leader’s Playbook, 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.

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.