Before we cut the ribbon on the opening of the TMRE conference this fall, All Things Insights wanted to gauge just what makes this “Insight to Impact” conference tick. The answer: The market research community itself, and in particular the speakers set for the event. For that, we want to thank the TMRE 2026 speakers for participating in the event and in our speaker series.
From Staying Curious to Becoming a Strategic Business Consultant
What advice for building a long-lasting career in market research would you give to people just entering the profession?
“To build a long-lasting career in market research today, you must refuse to be a passive data collector and instead become a ‘Strategic Enterprise Economist.’
With generative AI commoditizing data collection, synthesis, and chart-building, entry-level professionals who rely on standard reporting skills will face rapid obsolescence. Survival and rapid promotion belong to those who can translate raw metrics into ‘High Impact’ narratives that quantify the financial cost of a company’s strategic blind spots. Your value is your ability to tell an executive exactly where their assumptions are colliding with reality and what it costs the business to ignore it.
To build this career leverage, implement a ‘Dual-Domain Mastery’ strategy early on:
Anchor in Behavior, Not Stated Intent: Traditional surveys capture what people say they do, which is notoriously inaccurate. Master behavioral economics and observational data tracking. Learn to study friction in actual user workflows and purchasing environments rather than relying on self-reported feedback.
Immerse in the P&L: Brilliant consumer insights are useless if they don’t align with enterprise unit economics. Shadow your product, finance, and sales teams. Learn how your company makes money, where the margin leaks are, and tie your research hypotheses directly to revenue velocity or churn reduction.
By combining deep psychological analysis with sharp business acumen, you elevate your role from a back-office support function to an indispensable strategic partner. You won’t just be delivering data decks; you will be actively de-risking capital allocation and driving the corporate roadmap.” —Patrick Ward, Director, Institutional Marketing, Vanguard
“Be a business-oriented person first and foremost. You can’t conduct marketing research in a vacuum. Do you understand the company finances and what the key drivers of revenue and profitability are? Related to this: Get experience in non-research areas of business. A well-rounded point of view goes a long way.
If you are not curious, find something else to do that gets your interest going. Get involved in all aspects of marketing research, including data collection. A good foundation in all aspects of the field is paramount. There is no area that is ‘beneath’ the research professional.
Empathy. Get it. Live it.
Go back in time and read articles from past trade journals. This will help you understand the field more than you can imagine. Conduct pro bono research for a charity. Learn by doing. Attend workshops, webinars, etc. The experts are handing you the keys to the car.” —Bart Borkosky, CRO, OvationMR
“Build your career around curiosity, judgment, and impact, not around one method or technology. Research tools will keep changing. Today it is generative AI and digital twins. Tomorrow it will be something else. What lasts is the ability to understand people deeply, interpret culture, ask better questions, and connect what you learn to a real business decision.
Start by building strong research fundamentals. Learn how to design good studies, listen carefully, interpret evidence and recognize when the data does not support the story people want to tell. At the same time, become comfortable with AI. Use it to explore faster, challenge your thinking and make existing knowledge more accessible, but do not outsource your judgment to it.
Also, get as close as possible to the decisions your work is meant to influence. Do not stop at presenting findings. Ask what the team should do differently, what trade-offs are involved and how the insight can lead to a better product, experience, campaign, or strategy.
Finally, protect your human spark! As AI makes average answers easier to generate, the real value of a researcher will come from seeing what others miss: a hidden motivation, an emerging cultural tension or an uncomfortable truth that changes the direction of the work.
The strongest researchers will combine human understanding, cultural fluency and technological confidence, then turn all three into action.” —Niels Neudecker, Managing Director, North America, Human8
“My advice would be to focus less on mastering today’s tools and more on developing the capabilities that won’t become automated. Learn how to ask better questions, think critically about evidence, and communicate uncertainty with confidence.
The practice of market research is changing quickly. AI will increasingly handle many of the technical tasks that once defined the profession. But organizations will always need people who can frame the right problem, distinguish signal from noise, and translate research into sound business decisions.
I’d also encourage early-career researchers to build a strong foundation in research methods and behavioral science. New technologies will continue to emerge, but rigorous thinking, curiosity, and good judgment have enduring value. Those are the skills that will make someone indispensable over the course of a career, and they’re the qualities MSI continues to emphasize as the profession evolves.” —Keith Smith, Managing Director, Marketing Science Institute
“For people just entering market research, I would give this advice: Build your career around judgment, not just tools. Methods will change. Platforms will change. AI will change the speed of the work. But the ability to ask a good question, know whether evidence is strong enough, and explain what a business should do next will remain valuable.
Learn the fundamentals early: survey design, sampling, qualitative interviewing, segmentation, measurement, experimental thinking, and basic statistics. Even if AI or automated platforms do some of the work, you need to know when the output is weak, biased, incomplete, or misleading.
Get comfortable with both qualitative and quantitative thinking. The best researchers can move between numbers and human meaning. They can read a data table, but they can also hear what a consumer is really saying.
Do not become only a ‘report producer.’ Become someone who helps people make better decisions. That means learning the business context, understanding what stakeholders are trying to decide, and being willing to say, ‘The evidence does not support that conclusion.’
Use AI aggressively, but skeptically. Let it help with synthesis, coding open ends, drafting, desk research, survey ideation, and scenario generation. But do not outsource your thinking. Your value will come from knowing what to check, what to challenge, and what not to trust.
Develop a strong ethical compass. Market research often deals with people’s attitudes, vulnerabilities, identities, and behaviors. Protect respondents. Be transparent about limitations. Do not overclaim.
Finally, become a clear writer and communicator. A brilliant analysis that no one understands has limited impact. The researchers who last are the ones who can turn messy evidence into a clear, useful, defensible point of view.” —Tracy Adams, Sr. Director, Research & Insights, The ARF (Advertising Research Foundation)
“Of all things, stay human!!! In a field increasingly mediated by technology, your most durable asset is knowing what questions matter, why, and having the ability to observe, question, and dig deeper into places and spaces that can bring new ‘aha’s’ into your space.
From a management perspective, humanizing is also key. You are not your job, and neither are your employees. If you’re just starting, you’ll see plenty of examples of leaders that follow or DON’T follow that credo. You need to figure out what works for YOU and no one else to stay grounded yet inspired, ambitious but without burnout.” —Sofia Vazquez-Barrios, Director of Consumer Insights, North America, Fine Fragrance Experience, DSM-Firmenich
“Ask for feedback, know your audience. Thinking about how people will consume your research is equally important to doing good research.” —Emily Neville, Director, CX Research, Rocket
“Start anywhere in any category with any client. Do anything. Do a study for your local school, community barbershop, friend, influencer. Get in the batter’s box and swing away. The more reps you have, the more ready you will be. These small steps will add up and in aggregate you will have months, maybe years of doing market research. These steps collectively can lead to your big break into the industry. The biggest ROI in this space is… your network. Attend events. Meet people. Connect with them on LinkedIn. Be persistent. Consistent. Show up big.” —Jacob Beniflah, Executive Director, Center for Multicultural Science
“Stay curious! Have the courage to raise your hand for opportunities, especially ones outside of your comfort zone. And be comfortable making mistakes. The greatest learning comes from our missteps, so be easy on yourself, take risks, and have fun.” —Raina Rusnak, Head of Consumer Insights, StarKist
TMRE Session Spotlight: How to Approach Leadership
Looking for more career advice? TMRE 2026 will be held in Denver on October 5-7, and will highlight the session, “Part I: Leadership From Any Seat.” The session will feature Nisreen McConkie, Director of Insights, Agentic Commerce, Platforms, and Innovation, PayPal; Emily Neville, Director of CX Research, Rocket; Elizabeth Oates, Vice President, Consumer Insights, Molson Coors; and Antoinette Staples, Senior Director, Customer Insights & Success, McKesson.
Leadership is not a title, but a practice. Some leaders build influence through deep methodological expertise, others through cross-functional advocacy, and still others through organizational design and change management. This panel brings together a distinguished group of researchers and leaders to explore what it truly means to lead in today’s insights landscape—and why the answer looks different for everyone.
Panelists will reflect candidly on how their leadership styles and goals have evolved over the course of their careers. They will share the values, philosophies, and techniques that shaped the leaders they are today, celebrating the diversity of approaches that drive impact. Attendees will leave this session with both inspiration and practical frameworks they can apply to refining their own leadership style.
Click here for more TMRE 2026 registration information and the show agenda.
Video: “The Future of Insights: How AI Is Reshaping Market Research,” courtesy of Bloomfire.
