Insights

Insights grounded in how people actually decide.

Research-informed perspective on trust, differentiation, and growth.

For expert-led businesses, insight isn’t about being louder. It’s about being clearer.

This is where we share perspectives drawn from our original research, real conversations, and patterns we see across agencies, consultancies, and professional services firms. The goal isn’t volume or cadence. It’s usefulness — insight that helps leaders see what they’re missing and think more clearly about what to do next.

What you’ll find here

The insights we publish are grounded in research and refined through real-world application.

Topics often include:
  • How trust forms before a sales conversation begins
  • Why differentiation often breaks down, even for firms with a strong difference
  • What research reveals about audience expectations and assumptions
  • How expertise is evaluated, misunderstood, or discounted
  • Where thought leadership helps, and where it gets in its own way

We publish when there’s something worth sharing.

Types of insight you’ll see here

Resources

Short guides to building pipeline, differentiation, reputation, and trust.

Articles & essays

Short-form writing that explores patterns we see in research, client work, and industry conversations.

Research briefs

Accessible interpretations of original research, focused on implications rather than data volume.

Conversations & appearances

Selected podcast interviews, talks, and discussions where research-informed perspective is explored in dialogue with others.

Notes from the field

Occasional observations from working with expert-led teams — moments where assumptions surface or clarity shifts.

How to read this page

You don’t need to read everything here.

If a headline sparks recognition, start there. If something challenges an assumption you’ve been carrying, pause. These insights are meant to support better judgment — not quick answers or shortcuts.

If you’re evaluating whether our approach fits how you think, this page will give you a clear sense of that.

Where these insights come from

Everything we share here is informed by original research into how audiences evaluate expertise and form trust. Sometimes it’s research we’ve conducted. Sometimes it’s research conducted by others that deepens our understanding of the work.

Explore Our Research

If something here resonates

If an insight here reflects a challenge you’re navigating — or names something you haven’t quite been able to articulate — we’d be happy to explore whether research could help bring clarity.

How We Help Start a Conversation

Insights in Your Inbox.

Our perspective is grounded in research, shaped by real conversations, and designed to be Relentlessly Helpful.®️

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Are You Insulting Your Customers?

I am amazed at how many companies have fallen into the habit of regularly insulting their customers. If I pointed them out, I GUARANTEE that each and every one of them would strenuously object to this accusation, claiming (and, in all likelihood, truly believing) that each and every customer they have is of the utmost…
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Obama’s Audience Segmentation

USA TODAY has a fascinating article today about a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll looking at the President’s approval rating and how he’s faring in public opinion. AMAZING!  It’s attitudinal audience segmentation for the President of the United States! I’ve conducted audience segmentation for big companies, small companies, business-to-business, business-to-consumer, government and even a faith-based university….
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The Great Debate

I had an interesting experience last week when a client pulled me aside to make me aware that the company’s CRM guru was loudly expressing his concern that this “warm and fuzzy” attitudinal approach to audience segmentation couldn’t hold a candle to good, old-fashioned database analytics. This isn’t the first time it’s happened.  I often…
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There’s No Crying In Research

I am currently finishing up an audience segmentation project for a large multi-channel retailer.  As usual, we’re trying to identify the key motivations for their various customer groups. I was surprised to hear from my client contact that, when pursuing such a project was discussed in a team meeting, one of the team members was…
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