Episode 73: Prioritisation to drive growth

Transforming Insight Podcast

This has a particular bearing on how we approach the prioritisation of our work. In episode 72 we explored the twin importance of Insight leaders assigning time to identify the biggest business issues they could research in more detail, and the benefits of developing more agency over which topics would then be their teams’ main focus. If we overlay a commercial mindset, we can make sure that we’re looking at prioritisation through a lens our CEO will understand, and the perceived value of our Insight teams will rise.

This week James is joined by Nick Rich, former Insight leader at Carlsberg and InterContinental Hotels Group, and now the founder of a new business called Growth Constructors that seeks to provide organisations with tools that enable them to find sustainable growth through Insight.

Together, they discuss how Insight teams can move from being reactive service providers to proactive strategic voices, gaining more agency in their roles by making essential choices about how to allocate time and resources.

Nick has also played the lead co-ordinating a joint IMA, MRS and AURA initiative in the UK, the Client Sight 2025 survey. Launched this week, it looks at corporate Insight professionals’ views of Insight, of their careers, their future in the sector, and how we all need to develop our skills and capabilities. It reveals a gap between the value that Insight teams seek to add, and the value they feel is placed on Insight by their organisations, and an understandable desire to gain more attention from senior people and a greater voice in strategic decisions.

Finally, we address the critical role of embedding commercial prioritisation within Insight teams to drive organisational success. Nick and James both believe in linking insights to commercial objectives, in providing new team members with an immersion in commercial factors as part of their induction, and, conversely, in an Insight team helping the rest of its organisation to be more commercial in its thinking.

Please listen to find out more!

Topics Discussed

• Insight prioritisation and value contribution (06:01)
• Closing the gap for Insight (10:50)
• Insight teams and revenue generation (19:07)
• Budget allocation for business growth (25:06)
• Unlocking commercial success with brand trackers (29:42)

Highlights

• “One of my biggest frustrations that I had, particularly on the client side, was really linking insights to the growth of a business, and I think there's definitely a gap there in how do we make insights more commercial, but how does Insights really lead the way in identifying growth opportunities for a business and then leading the business to that growth?.” (04:44)
• “So you know, to quote, essentially, gaining respect from the C-suite and senior business leadership, getting Insight analytics teams more important within my organisation and having the organisation invest more heavily in Insights analytics.” (11.17)
• “First thing you do, just work out exactly all the myriad ways this business can make money, because that opens up your understanding about who your real stakeholders are, who the channels are that you've got to be involved with, the relationships you've got to form.” (18.09)
• “We talked about finding your purpose and understanding how the business makes money, how it makes decisions. I think the first thing for an Insight leader is to take a look at your current agenda, take a look at your team and work out whether you are truly connected to those commercials.” (28.51)

This is episode 73 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 secrets of successful corporate Insight teams and their leaders, as outlined in James Wycherley’s books, Transforming Insight and 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.

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