Driving Decision Making and Impact at Scale with Kalinda Mehta

[00:00:00] Kalinda Mehta: What’s important and critical to influencing and which we still all must do irrespective of technology, is speaking that business language, linking it to business priorities, being that business person that wears a consumer hat. ’cause once you start talking that business language and uh, driving that business implication, it’s easier to drive that insights to action.

[00:00:24] MRII Announcer: Welcome to MRII’s Insights and Innovators podcast, where we talk to top market research professionals to get their insights, stories about innovative. And enduring best practices. Now here’s your host for today’s episode. 

[00:00:37] Jon Last: Welcome to today’s episode of Insights and Innovators Driving Decision Making and Impact at Scale.

[00:00:43] Jon Last: I’m your host, Jon Last, former President of Marketing Research Institute International, and today we’re joined by Kalindi Mehta, Vice President of Consumer Insights at the Estee Lauder Companies. Kalindi has been at the forefront of transforming how insights, shape decisions across one of the world’s most [00:01:00] iconic beauty portfolios, and spent two decades doing the same Prior to that, at Colgate Palmolive.

[00:01:06] Jon Last: Today we’ll talk about what it takes to drive decision making and impact at scale in complex organizations across global markets, and in times that demand both agility and clarity. Klin, welcome to Insights and Innovators. It’s great to have you. 

[00:01:22] Kalinda Mehta: Excited to be doing this, Jon? 

[00:01:24] Jon Last: Yes. So much to talk about and I, I want to begin by talking about this whole concept of driving decision making and impact at scale.

[00:01:32] Jon Last: Obviously with such a large portfolio, that’s something that’s imperative in your organization and in the organizations you’ve worked at prior to this, what does it mean to you and what’s different about doing this today versus even just a few years ago? 

[00:01:47] Kalinda Mehta: Yeah, driving consumer-centric decisions means ensuring that every business decision, whether it’s campaigns, content pricing, promotions, innovation, brand positioning, it’s all anchored in [00:02:00] what consumer wants, what drives consumers, what matters to consumers, and for consumer insiders.

[00:02:06] Kalinda Mehta: It’s about not just explaining the business, but actually influencing the final decision and ultimately moving the business, getting those business results that we want. So the ability of consumer insights to actually move the business and show the results is even more important now than ever before with all the budget challenges and the need to show the value of the function.

[00:02:30] Kalinda Mehta: You know, it’s important to keep in mind that decision making itself has evolved over time. You know, with the need for speed, localization, personalization, the decisions have become more democratized ever before. It’s not, decisions are no more just made at one key senior table. They’ve made every day everywhere by hundreds of people across the organizations, markets, functions, channels.

[00:02:57] Kalinda Mehta: You know, and with the coming down, especially [00:03:00] you see this in beauty, you know, with the coming down of barriers to entry in almost every category there is more innovation, there is more content. There’s more. You know, trends and new products all happening at the speed of light. And with this, you have to keep in mind that today it’s more critical to be consumer centric than ever before because consumers will not engage with you.

[00:03:23] Kalinda Mehta: There’s so much of clutter, there’s so much going on. They will not engage with you unless you’re super relevant to them. Therefore, like we have to make these decisions democratized at speed, but we have to ensure the consumer first and consumer centric. And therefore, you know, as you think of consumer insights and how our function works, that must evolve.

[00:03:45] Kalinda Mehta: We have always pushed, since I’ve joined the function 25 years ago, we’ve pushed for insights to have a seat at the table, to have that voice, to be that consumer advocate and influence the key decisions that are being [00:04:00] made to be, you know, that advocate of what the consumer needs. Then, you know, the last 10 years we started, you know, talking about let’s create the table ourselves.

[00:04:09] Kalinda Mehta: You know, drive foresight, thought leadership, game changing capabilities, make others want to join us, and, you know, lead it, you know, proactively set the agenda for the business leadership team. For example, I remember during COVID. At Colgate, we held these monthly presentations very proactively on evolving, you know, the new normal.

[00:04:31] Kalinda Mehta: Where is the, where is the, uh, where is it gonna go? Where is the consumer gonna go? Connecting the dots between society, culture, health, and really proactively guiding the team, uh, as to what the future is gonna be. But now it’s no more enough just to do that, you know, having a seat at the table and creating the table.

[00:04:52] Kalinda Mehta: But the real shift today is we have to empower all the tables that we cannot even be at. [00:05:00] You know, as I mentioned before, decision making is now more democratized. It’s everywhere, uh, and it’s all the time, and it’s at the speed of light and with agility. However, we need to be more consumer centric. So how do we bring that consumer centric at those consumer centricity, at those hundreds of tables where decisions are being made, even if we cannot be there at every table?

[00:05:23] Kalinda Mehta: So it’s really empowering those marketeers as commercial stakeholders to be consumer centric in every decision. And so overall, right, it’s not. This or that. For consumer insights function, we need to be doing all three. We still need to be getting that seat at the table and influencing the business. We still need to be creating those new tables and driving that foresight and proactive thought leadership.

[00:05:47] Kalinda Mehta: And we need to be empowering all those tables across the organization that we are not at to still be consumer centric and lead the, uh, lead with the consumer that really is the next frontier for our function. [00:06:00] 

[00:06:00] Jon Last: So, so help me. I, I, I like where you’re going with that. This whole idea of empowering all the tables, especially those that you can’t actually be at and in, in such a large organization, that’s obviously a, a current occurrence.

[00:06:12] Jon Last: What does that really mean? What, what, what has to happen? 

[00:06:16] Kalinda Mehta: It, it, it means at a higher level as decisions are democratized, consumer centricity has to be democratized. I mean, very tangibly, what does that mean, right? Uh, it means building these decision backed systems, uh, not just expert only tools, which you need an insights person to use, but creating portals designed.

[00:06:38] Kalinda Mehta: For decision makers, not subject matter specialists integrated directly into the workflow, whether it’s managing campaigns, it’s innovation, uh, so that they can use it themselves and they don’t need a, a middle person to help them do that. And I’ll give you a very, uh, concrete example here at Estee Lauder.

[00:06:59] Kalinda Mehta: We have [00:07:00] built a trend and insight sensing portal that integrates data from various different sources. And the end consumer or the end user of this portal is really consumer experience teams in the different regions, and it’s been designed for them. So it’s not a complicated dashboard, it’s more of a, um, what do you, what do they need to make the final.

[00:07:22] Kalinda Mehta: Decision with agility, what’s the right amount of depth they need? And it’s been designed, it’s like a Pinterest portal, so super easy to use and they get exactly what they need so that they can make the decision, decision quickly, uh, with all the consumer insights and trends at their fingertips. And so that is an example of how we can build a decision back system that’ll enable, you know, all these various tables to have access to the insights.

[00:07:45] Kalinda Mehta: There are many other examples and many different ways of doing it. Another example with AI coming in is potentially building. AI agents that give all the stakeholders easy access to the insights, not just you can get the what, but you can also get the [00:08:00] so what and the now what at the exact moment of the decision.

[00:08:03] Kalinda Mehta: So it’s really insights at their fingertips, right when the decision is being made. Another way, uh, that you know, this could potentially, uh, work as you empower, uh, the various tables is translating insights into real marketing output. We have all these amazing insights from surveys, from social, from ratings, interviews, how we can convert it into actual activation ideas, product ideas, concepts, briefs, even content.

[00:08:34] Kalinda Mehta: So cons consume, so the teams that the stakeholders can actually just act on it. So you’re literally spoon feeding them the output based on the consumer, uh, you know, consumer insight. Uh, so that really helps. Drive that and influence and drive that action and decision. Um, an example of that, you know, uh, is we built something called create ai, which takes all our insights and creates [00:09:00] concepts and, you know, uh, communication briefs, which makes it super easy for the final marketeer and the consumer experience teams to act quickly.

[00:09:10] Jon Last: Is it, is it only about. I mean, is, is the technology, what’s enabling that and driving that? Or are there other impacts as well? 

[00:09:20] Kalinda Mehta: Yeah, so you know, when you think about influencing decisions at scale, right? Let’s break it up into two parts. One is influencing, the second is influencing at scale. Now influencing, let’s talk about influencing first.

[00:09:33] Kalinda Mehta: What, what’s important and critical to influencing and which we still all must do, irrespective of technology is. Speaking that business language, linking it to business priorities, being that business person that wears a consumer hat. ’cause once you start talking that business language and uh, driving that business implication, it’s easier to drive that insights to action.

[00:09:58] Kalinda Mehta: And this is not about technology, this is just [00:10:00] about insights, uh, leaders speaking that business language. Second is for our, for the insights function, we need to think about, um, what is the biggest barrier to driving action. And in most organizations is the barrier to driving action is not the insight itself.

[00:10:20] Kalinda Mehta: It’s not like, oh, how good or bad is the insight? It really is these organizational dynamics around it, the misalignment between the teams, the silos, the capability gaps, the. Competing priorities or the lack of ownership. So as an insights person, if my responsibility is to drive action, I need to figure out what is the barrier to driving that action and help address that.

[00:10:46] Kalinda Mehta: So I cannot just be the builder of the insight. I need to be the, uh, the, the driver of action. You know, I need, uh, to help facilitate that action, to help navigate the cultural nuances of [00:11:00] the company, to inspire the action, you know, to overcome all those challenges, which is stopping the insight from becoming and driving the action.

[00:11:08] Kalinda Mehta: So we have to stop thinking of ourselves as builders of insights. We don’t need, just need to be the oil. We need to be that pipeline that connects, be the matrix. Be the inspirer, and so this would mean that we need to facilitate the action. Sometimes you have an insight, help conduct working sessions so that you can drive that action.

[00:11:28] Kalinda Mehta: With the teams or help navigate the cultural challenges, right? Like, oh, there, there may be resistance here, there may be this person who might disagree. Find the right stakeholders who will partner with you and push that insight, build a strategy. How are you gonna overcome these cultural challenges? You have to think through it, uh, and navigate the system.

[00:11:50] Kalinda Mehta: So, uh, so, so, so it’s really find that strategy to drive the action, you know, not just the insight. And, you know, [00:12:00] another important point, right, as you think about it, is, um, designing every, you know, sometimes we think about driving action as at the end of the insights process. Driving action is not just about the end of the insights process.

[00:12:16] Kalinda Mehta: We need to design every insights and initiatives decision back. Think about the action, think about the decision, and design it right from the start. So those that are designed decision back will. It’ll be easier to drive action out of that. So don’t think about action only at the end. Think about the action right at the beginning of the insights process.

[00:12:38] Kalinda Mehta: This keeps the work tightly linked to action and impact, and it becomes so much easier at the end. 

[00:12:45] Jon Last: Right. It’s interesting. And then of, 

[00:12:46] Kalinda Mehta: yeah, sorry, go ahead. 

[00:12:47] Jon Last: Yeah, no, no, that, that, that was always a conclusion that, that I’ve kind of reached as well. You, you have to understand where you want to go before you figure out how you’re gonna get there.

[00:12:57] Jon Last: Correct. 

[00:12:58] Kalinda Mehta: Exactly. And spending enough [00:13:00] time to get that right because at the end then it’s gonna move faster. Uh, and then of course, you know, inspiring to drive impact, especially as you do thought leadership, as you do foresight, you know, if you have to drive impact for something that’s really. Truly game changing.

[00:13:15] Kalinda Mehta: It’s not just about, you know, sending off a report. It really is about inspiring the o uh, the organization both top down and bottoms up. So it’s not just storytelling, it’s building a business case. It’s almost, it’s almost like you’re selling your foresight or your insight. You know, you have to become persuaders and sellers of your insights.

[00:13:37] Kalinda Mehta: Uh, both at the top level, you know, C-Suite, senior management. But also at the lowest level, that’s actually gonna drive the action. So that ability to inspire, to impact is super critical. Um, and then one last point when it comes to influencing, right, um, it’s this, this concept of shared ownership. Um, and this is really, really [00:14:00] hard, um, which is, uh.

[00:14:04] Kalinda Mehta: You know, there’s a fundamental cultural challenge when you try to drive insights is that, okay, the marketers might have a not invented here syndrome, that this didn’t come from us. So if you want them to drive action, how do you build shared ownership? That this insight is not just, it’s not mine, it’s ours.

[00:14:23] Kalinda Mehta: And to do that, it’s like involving your final, you know, those who are gonna drive action, your business stakeholders right from the beginning, making them partners in the insights and you know, together driving it from end to end. And you know, you know, I think what very often companies are doing, we are doing, uh, is creating a squad approach, right?

[00:14:43] Kalinda Mehta: Creating small, closely connected group that are driving insights to action. Which is the people who are the stakeholders, business stakeholders are influencing the insights design, the insights teams are influencing the action. So it’s one closely connected squad versus siloed [00:15:00] organization. Somebody building insight, somebody building action.

[00:15:02] Kalinda Mehta: And so that closeness of insight to action and the shared ownership is really critical in today’s world to drive that action. So, no, so that’s really about influencing, right? So. Influencing is so much more than technology. Uh, but when you’re talking about influencing at scale, tech and AI are our golden ticket to drive that action at scale.

[00:15:24] Kalinda Mehta: Right? How many workshops can we do? How many squads can we be a part of? How many tables can we set and inspire? And so, you know, so I think we have to think about how AI and tech can help amplify our insights so it can, tech, technology can enable. Insights, ecosystems, not just slides. So we move away from this linear insights to action moment where a single project ends up with a presentation and an action instead, each insights lives far beyond the results meeting.

[00:15:57] Kalinda Mehta: You know, with AI powered knowledge management [00:16:00] systems, chat bots, insights from multiple projects can continuously be synthesized. Connected and democratized, you know, giving access to all those tables where decisions are being made and we are where we are not there, you know, so, uh, so really AI enables that amplification and the building of an insights ecosystem.

[00:16:21] Kalinda Mehta: The second point where AI can help is as we think about scale, it can unify these different stacks of. Data and insights. There’s the consumer insights stack of information, which has surveys and search and ratings and reviews and social and all sorts of data sources. Then there is a marketing stack of data, which has everything about the brand.

[00:16:44] Kalinda Mehta: Then there is the product and r and d stack, which has everything about the product and what the product can do and cannot do. If you bring all of these stacks of data and insights together and combine it, there’s more Connected stack allows us to [00:17:00] integrate data, insights, creativity, innovation, all into a single ecosystem.

[00:17:05] Kalinda Mehta: This unlocks this dynamic idea generation, concept creation, content development. And really when you, you’re merging what you need from insights to what you need from action into one ecosystem, and you can drive that agility and decision making at speed at scale rather. 

[00:17:23] Jon Last: So, so. Obviously so many pieces to this.

[00:17:27] Jon Last: How do you ultimately define success? When do you know that the insights are truly influencing the decisions, especially in such a large enterprise? 

[00:17:37] Kalinda Mehta: Yeah, I mean, you see it in the quality and speed of decisions when markets move with more confidence, when teams use shared frameworks. When decisions at once needed, the headquarters now happens closer to the consumer.

[00:17:50] Kalinda Mehta: That’s when you know this is working. I mean, the ultimate and the real proof in the end is business impact, right? Stronger campaigns, uh, sharper targeting, [00:18:00] better product market fit, faster activation, clearer relevance, and in the end, you’re growing your market share. I mean, there can be no better, uh, measure to evaluate success than that.

[00:18:11] Kalinda Mehta: You know, the insights have done. Haven’t done the job. When they explained the business, they succeeded when they moved the business, as I mentioned. And so driving that end sales and shares and top line is in the end, the key measure of success. 

[00:18:25] Jon Last: So within this large matrixed and global organization. You, you have that as you know, you, you’ve identified those goals.

[00:18:34] Jon Last: What are some of the tools that help ensure that the insights actually reach and shape decisions when you have so many different teams and markets that are, that are within the sphere of influence? 

[00:18:46] Kalinda Mehta: So I think one is about, uh, org structure, right? Um, so org structure, insights and marketing have to come closer together or insights and sales insights and has to be embedded in the decision [00:19:00] making.

[00:19:00] Kalinda Mehta: Business teams who are driving action, the closer they are, the more likely you are to drive action. Insight should not be an academic or an ivory tire doing its own inciting. And so. How is the organization set up is gonna be critical to driving that action? Uh. You know, we have something called like a relay model where because we have so many different brands, 25 different brands, sometimes we do insights at a category level, cross category level at the center, but we have business translators and all the brands and all the regions where you can, they help and translate all the insights into business action and work with the business team, right?

[00:19:38] Kalinda Mehta: So getting that whatever is the org structure right, is critical. And then using a squad model. Which I spoke about, where insights and marketing teams come together to towards a business, uh, objective, really helps drive that action. 

[00:19:52] Jon Last: Within the large matrixed global organization that you are in. How do you actually ensure [00:20:00] that the insights reach and shape decisions across so many different teams and markets?

[00:20:07] Kalinda Mehta: The most important thing is your insights organization structure. How. We believe that we must have insights embedded in the business teams, in the brand teams, in the regional teams, so that you’re close to the decision makers, close to the action, and you can influence the decisions and bring that con consumer advocacy at the time of decision.

[00:20:31] Kalinda Mehta: So getting that org structure right, so that you’re as close to the decision makers as possible. So the insiders as close is critical. Second is this, which we spoke about already repeating it, inspiring through storytelling. We have these foresight rooms every month, which, which, uh, you know, senior leaders attend, regions, attend, brands attend, and they really spark imagination, inspire people, and create that buzz around an insight.

[00:20:59] Kalinda Mehta: And [00:21:00] that’s a starting point of driving action. Then the third is really getting, you know, the AI and tech amplification of your insights through simple, easy to use portals for the end decision makers, custom chat bots, you know, integrating insights with marketing stacks, and just leveraging AI to amplify and reach the end decision maker.

[00:21:20] Jon Last: I have to assume that to, to get to this outcome, there needs to be a pretty strong cultural shift. Talk for a moment about what kind of culture best enables insights, uh, to drive impact at scale as we’ve been discussing. 

[00:21:38] Kalinda Mehta: The most critical thing is a top down setting of a mission. To be truly a consumer obsessed, a consumer centric company, it helps because the leaders are asking the right questions on the consumers everywhere in the organization.

[00:21:52] Kalinda Mehta: It helps to break down the silos because all the functions or the silos. I have one purpose, which is be [00:22:00] consumer centric. Be consumer obsessed, and this helps then drive action and everybody’s rallying around the same consumer truth. You know, a cons team, stop defending their function at start solving for the consumer.

[00:22:14] Kalinda Mehta: And the consumer becomes a common language, and that alignment is what dissolves a walls between various silos, functions, and really unites teams to drive that action. 

[00:22:25] Jon Last: It’s interesting to think about, there’s obviously certain circumstances where you have to still exert influence, but you don’t obviously have the formal authority.

[00:22:36] Jon Last: That was always a challenge that I. Sometimes had to be very mindful of when I was within an organization on the client side. Share with us a little bit the lessons that you’ve learned about how you do that. 

[00:22:49] Kalinda Mehta: Influencing without formal authority. You know, it just starts with listening. We start with, we talk about empathy with consumers.

[00:22:56] Kalinda Mehta: We need to build empathy with our stakeholders, with the business, [00:23:00] you know, with. The people you’re trying to influence by truly listening, understanding their problems, what are their bottlenecks, and then framing what you want to do in the context of their goals, not yours. That has always helped me. Uh uh, the second thing is, you know, uh, one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that credibility travels further than hierarchy.

[00:23:24] Kalinda Mehta: So establishing that trust, that credibility, people really follow your judgment and not your title. And so get, getting to the, getting the right talent that has that expertise, that credibility, that, uh, authenticity is, is critical to influencing without power. And, uh, it, you know, and really it comes down to meeting people in their world, not yours, translating the insights into their language, into their KPIs, into their pressures, their priorities.

[00:23:54] Kalinda Mehta: You know, when people feel like you’re solving their problem, they will lean in. And so, [00:24:00] so that’s really what I would say is the art of influence without authority 

[00:24:05] Jon Last: within the complexity of such an organization. I would surmise that aligning the teams that you build across markets is sometimes challenging to ensure that, that their work actually ladders up to strategic decisions.

[00:24:20] Jon Last: What, what’s some of the ways in which you do that? 

[00:24:24] Kalinda Mehta: It always starts with the company’s strategic priorities and aligning your teams with those priorities. For us, uh, the Este Lauda Company’s beauty Reimagine transformation strategy is the ultimate North Star. Everything we do in insights ladders back to these priorities.

[00:24:42] Kalinda Mehta: You know, from there, you know, alignment comes. Through a few things. What is ideal is, as I spoke about earlier, decision backed designs, making sure every insight ties to the real business decision, which should ladder up to your North Star or the company, you know, creating shared standards, [00:25:00] but ensuring some local ownership that so that work is consistent yet culturally relevant to that market or that region.

[00:25:08] Kalinda Mehta: Cross market learning is super critical because the biggest unlocks often come from connecting the dots across the geographies. And you know, all of this sounds very simple. It sounds clean and really is the ideal state, but it is in reality, it is very messy. And while you try to get there, what is key?

[00:25:29] Kalinda Mehta: To, you know, aligning teams is building deep trust, constant communication, high touch engagement with all the teams. That really is the secret source of alignment beyond any frameworks and beyond any shared standards. 

[00:25:48] Jon Last: I wanna shift gears for a moment and, and talk about some advice for people in different stages of, of their journey through the insights profession and beginning with leaders of, of MRDs.

[00:25:59] Jon Last: [00:26:00] What, what’s the best advice for scaling decision making impact es, especially within a large and complex organization? 

[00:26:08] Kalinda Mehta: You know, managing the complexity of ensuring, let’s seat at the table for high priorities. Creating the table and inspiring people on foresight is a must, but also what can be scaled and empowering those tables across and around the organization is critical.

[00:26:28] Kalinda Mehta: What’s important for Insights Leaders is today to reposition our function from Insights Builders. To insight action engines or insight impact teams. ’cause the blockers are rarely the quality of the insights, they’re organizational dynamics. So how do we take the leadership in building that end-to-end system, that solve for alignment, capability, ownership, and not just insights creation.

[00:26:56] Kalinda Mehta: And then at the end, rewarding impact and not [00:27:00] just insight. So I think that is critical to drive this decision making and action at scale. 

[00:27:07] Jon Last: How about for mid-career or emerging professionals? Where, where, where do you kind of recommend their focus comes from? Within a similar type of complex environment?

[00:27:17] Kalinda Mehta: Yeah. For mid-career and emerging professional, the skills you need now go way beyond classic research. This era demands a new kinds of insights leader, one who can connect, influence, activate, you know, first learning to communicate at that higher altitude. It’s not enough to crunch data. You need to lift it, turn it into inspiring narratives, be able to sell your insights, be able to be persuasive.

[00:27:44] Kalinda Mehta: That’s super critical for someone at a mid-level. The second is to master the ecosystem of action. Get out of your lane of insights building. Sit with marketing, sits with your product teams. Sit with your creative teams, with your finance teams, your tech teams. [00:28:00] Learn what really blocks activation so that you can drive that impact and not just build your insight in the end.

[00:28:08] Kalinda Mehta: For me, uh, you know, then it’s really, relationships are your superpower. You know, influence doesn’t come from. You know, organization chats. It comes from trust, credibility, knowing how to bring the people with you, empathy, you know, build your network even before you actually need it. It’s like an always on thing you need to be doing.

[00:28:32] Kalinda Mehta: Lastly, super important, getting fluent with tech and ai, which I know all the viewers recognize the importance of it. But to thrive, you must be the bridge between that human insight and technology. Learn the language of tech. Be curious about ai co-create with your data scientists and engineers. Make them your best friends.

[00:28:53] Kalinda Mehta: This is where scale really happens. 

[00:28:56] Jon Last: So let’s talk about the, the other piece of the puzzle that [00:29:00] certainly, you know, affects me in my current world, and that’s for agencies and partners that, that come into work within the organization. What, what, what do agencies need to do better to support clients like yourself to really help insights drive business decisions?

[00:29:16] Kalinda Mehta: For agencies. A real opportunity I think is uh, to really think end-to-end and be a partner in action, not just in insight. Don’t stop at the research, show the activation pathway. Help build that end-to-end ecosystem. Surface the barriers, help build that alignment. Translate the insight into business language.

[00:29:36] Kalinda Mehta: You know, bring the tools, the workshops, the examples. Or even AI capabilities that turn insight into movement. Start thinking of yourself as insights to action companies versus just insights companies. 

[00:29:51] Jon Last: So it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s almost helping to create this ecosystem both internally and externally. 

[00:29:57] Kalinda Mehta: And in add, yes, this create this [00:30:00] end-to-end ecosystem for action, but also how can you help create the end to the end-to-end system for amplification of your insights to scale for scale decision making, so democratize all, not just a project by project approach, but really building that system that helps scale insights across all the tables around the company.

[00:30:23] Jon Last: Unfortunately just about at the end of our time, but I, I want to, to really try to synthesize so much of what we’ve talked about today and to do that. If you were to kind of summarize the philosophy that we’ve talked about, what’s the single most important thing that you see it takes for one, to drive decision making and impact at scale as, as you do in your organization?

[00:30:48] Kalinda Mehta: If I had to sum up my philosophy, it’s this right start decision back. Empower everyone and turn insights into a system. Not a moment. Impact at scale [00:31:00] doesn’t happen because a few of us are at the right tables. It happens when every table across the organization can make better, faster, more consumer-centric decisions, even when we are not in the room.

[00:31:12] Kalinda Mehta: That’s really the shift, right? From delivering insights to enabling action from isolated insights projects. You know, connected ecosystems and then from expertise held, held by a few to consumer centricity democratized for all. So when it’s really, when insights, foresight, tech, and people come together to empower this decision maker, that’s when you know that’s when your business is truly going to move, which is in the end our objective, no 

[00:31:44] Jon Last: doubt.

[00:31:46] Jon Last: Fascinating. Uh, it just really has my gears turning about a lot of things that I’ve seen from so many different, you know, years in the business, and from both perspectives as an agency leader, as well as a, as an MRD leader. [00:32:00] Kalindi, thank you so much for sharing your experience and your perspective, and thanks to our listeners for tuning into this episode of MRI’s Insights and Innovators.

[00:32:08] Jon Last: You can subscribe wherever you get your podcast for more conversations with leaders shaping the future of insights. Thanks for listening. 

[00:32:15] MRII Announcer: Thank you, John. Thanks for joining the Insights and Innovators podcast for Market Research Institute International. Click subscribe to never miss an episode and visit us@mrii.org for more market research insights.