Think Bigger & Act Bolder
All Things Insights: We are here on the final and last day of TMRE 2025, and we’re here with Antoinette Staples, Senior Director of Customer Insights and Success at McKesson. You also happen to be one of the co-chairs of the event. Thank you so much for coming. Just what are some key takeaways that you have from the show in general? And that could be from the 20,000-foot view or a specific session that you’ve seen or anything in between.
Antoinette Staples: It’s been a phenomenal three days. Well, I keep saying I want to bring forward the sentiment of carrying the main stage into my work and to the work of the colleagues that I support and serve. And essentially, what I mean by that is we had such dynamic keynote speakers over the past three days that really challenged us to think bigger, act bolder, and embrace the new era of insights. And so my thought is, how can we carry those main stage moments into our work every single day? And that’s what I’m carrying forward from the conference.
Women Making an Insights Impact
All Things Insights: That dose of inspiration for the market research industry was a very welcoming and inspiring signal at this show. I thought the keynotes were phenomenal as well. You also co chaired the Women in Insights luncheon. And we worked together a little bit on some women in insights stories before the show, about women being influential in the field, taking leadership roles, having empathy for the consumer. I was struck by the common themes of leadership, communication, and collaboration. The empathy part was very interesting as well. A lot of women in the community talked about their empathy. How do you feel that it plays a role in their impact?
Antoinette Staples: First, I want to thank Material, who sponsored the event for the second time in a year, in the last two years. But I will say we had three major topics at the Women in Insights luncheon. Collaboration and innovation was topic one. The second was around change leadership, and the final about paying it forward.
It is amazing how that really translated into how do we get rooted and grounded in empathy so that sentiment continued to bubble up all throughout the luncheon. But we also talked about how to carry forward our power and lean into advocacy for ourselves and other insights professionals, and also, quite honestly, our other functional team members that we have to work with. It was really about bringing the human aspect to our work, and remembering that we are humans working with humans, trying to serve humans.
Finding the Hidden Talent
All Things Insights: In addition to empathy, you mentioned mentorship. For everyone in the industry, and in particular, the younger associates out there, but even if you’re well ahead in your career, what advice would you give them after three days here at TMRE, as far as their career is concerned?
Antoinette Staples: I would often say find the individual in the room who is willing to correct you and challenge you. These are the people that will help you go to your next level. So while it is great to have people that tell you how amazing you are, we often need the individuals that say, I could see opportunity here or lean into this area a little bit more.
We talked in the luncheon about finding the hidden talent. Many of us said we have arrived in our positions because someone saw something in us that we could not see in ourselves. And so I would challenge leaders to look for the hidden talent, but then also identify the magic within themselves. And then finally, what we talked about is just recognition and acknowledgement when someone else does a good job. Peer to peer, colleague to colleague and leader to leader, we can often find ways to just celebrate that person for what they’ve done, even here at TMRE right now.
All Things Insights: I love that community aspect that you allude to. That’s just what TMRE inspires, it’s all about the market research community. Antoinette, thank you so much for coming on and talking with us today.
Editor’s Note: All Things Insights also recently caught up with show co-chair Antoinette Staples to discuss her perspective as a leader in the insights community, the unique accomplishments and voices of women in market research, best practices, career advice and more. Click here for the story.
Editor’s Note: The next TMRE will take place on October 5-7, 2026, and will be co-located with Content Marketing World at the Colorado Convention Center, Denver, CO.
