Last month I was lucky enough to spend the day with the Qualtrics team in Provo, Utah, videotaping a Master Session on optimizing brand experience.

After leaving a recent major industry event, I had multiple conversations with attendees who marveled at the number of vendors and foot traffic in the exhibit hall but then confided that, off the floor and away from the bustle, they really couldn’t differentiate them. One attendee summarized it well, “Even after listening to the pitches, I walked away unable to really tell what they could do and unable to tell how they were different from the five other vendors that seemed like them.”

At ESOMAR Congress in September we hosted a main stage panel discussion with industry leaders driving M&A activity in the marketing insights and technology vertical on “Key Drivers of Investment and M&A Activity in Market Research.”

I’m often asked how to create more diverse sales teams and frequently hear from hiring managers lamenting the lack of female sales talent applying for their positions. Although sales has traditionally been perceived as a male-dominated profession, in truth, there are MANY female sales leaders— your job posting just likely isn’t appealing to them.

A few weeks ago, a Twitter connection of mine posted that she’d been at a Venture Capital event and one of the VC’s on a panel discussion openly stated that he didn’t invest in founders over the age of 40 because they “don’t have the stamina.” As you can imagine, that set the “twittersphere” on fire.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of co-presenting with Steve Mast, the Chief Innovation Officer of Methodify, on the subject of ResearchTech and how it fits into the MarTech stack. If you're looking for ways to future proof (and recession proof!) your business, this is a can't miss. Why?

So it’s been said that marketing is like sex… everyone thinks they’re good at it. I can assure you, at least when it comes to marketing, everyone is not.

Looking for some tips and tricks you can use to increase your professional impact? Check out this podcast with my MR industry pals Dave McCaughan and Kevin Gray as we talk about the evolution of the market research industry and the new skills you need to drive real business impact.

So... you feel like you have a new business idea, product or service you want to pursue. Now what? You need a framework so you’re not going at a reinvention or pivot willy-nilly.

Somewhere along the way, you may have become convinced that stasis is safer than movement. Consistency feels comfortable; volatility is frightening. But, in this ever-changing world, we are constantly forced to reinvent ourselves and, in some cases, our businesses. And this reinvention process by very nature requires an entrepreneurial mindset. Constant reinvention requires the ability to drive a long-term vision, create opportunities for growth and foster new ecosystems. But how to actually DO it?