Leah Olson, Author Being accountable for growth isn’t easy. Leaders are responsible for finding opportunities, investing big against them, mobilizing teams in new directions, and executing complex, transversal plans. Sound daunting? It often is. As an innovation and growth partner, we sit at clients’ deliberation tables, witnessing and working to alleviate the pains that arise. But increasingly, we see one challenge rising above the rest.

Unlocking the Value of Learning Beyond Launches Michelle Hayward and Jake Taylor, Authors On the hunt for growth and eager to tap all the potential insights that help point toward tomorrow’s best product launches (and most profitable business models), many leaders now turn to Test & Learns. …

1.22.21 Marcy Barson, author COVID-19 drove consumer learning into virtual spaces. As growth specialists with a broad practice (and hundreds of interviews on our calendar every quarter), we embraced the possibilities and welcomed new participants. And to our surprise, we came to appreciate one group in particular: pre-teens. Talking to kids…

Wade Coffin, author Nearly every presenter will experience “detractors”: attendees who speak up, weigh in and try to redirect the discussion. They’re distracting, and they put the presentation’s objectives and planned outcomes at risk. …

Marcy Barson, author In early 2020, as COVID-19 restrictions multiplied, many consumer strategists questioned continuing their qualitative research. Reasonably, they feared that input from stressed, distracted consumers would be skewed by their virus-related tensions. But smart questions drive innovation, so we decided to ask a big one: Why try to…

Lucy Flanagan, Author In life and in business, relationships are built on trust, and never is trust more important than during times of uncertainty. We’re all accustomed to developing our business relationships through in-person engagement; after some planning calls and emails, a live meeting marks a level of mutual investment…

Author, Taylor Brown By now, workforces that could transition to working remotely in response to COVID-19 have made the shift. And their leaders are thinking about their next great challenge: innovating to advance large-scale remote collaboration. …

Never before has it been more glaringly obvious which brands have meaningful Cultural Engagement strategies and which ones don’t. In this reality-redefining Cultural Moment, as many brands are scrambling to say something, anything, that could help keep them afloat in the spinning maelstrom of social media scrolling and newsfeed binging-often…

Thanks to COVID-19, businesses of all kinds face once-in-a-generation challenges. But this is also a time of opportunity for those of us who’ve been waiting for a chance to make our mark. If the bold, the curious and the trusted raise their hands and establish value now, they can propel…