Jess (00:07)
Welcome to Dig Inspiration, a quick recap where we dig deeper into the story behind the story. In each bite-sized episode, I'll revisit key moments from our incredible guests, highlighting the most inspiring parts of the stories they share. And today, drop in a quick reflection on some of the most memorable parts of my talk with Elizabeth Oates, previously VP of Consumer Insights and Guest Services at Ulta Beauty and the author of More Than Just Interesting, How to Build an Insights Function for Impact.

And I did read this book. It was a super quick and engaging read. I highly recommend it.

something that really stuck with me about Elizabeth's process for writing the book is this concept of one paragraph at a time. And I was really struck by the determination and the persistence that it takes to write a book in general, but one paragraph at a time. And the visualization of doing this during her daughter's ballet classes,

or during family road trips. I just love this example of a busy professional who has family obligations and a day job finding time to devote to what I really heard from her was a labor of love. And it reminded me of what's possible and really that I have no excuse not to pursue my dreams one paragraph at a time.

So second point in the book, Elizabeth mentioned nine core skills for the insights professional.

She talked about two in our conversation. She talked about the development of partnerships and proactive planning. And I also commented on another one of the skills, which is understanding the business and the context. So those three we've kind of talked through.

Two additional skills she talks about in the book are about written communication and verbal communication. And I think she gave such a great tidbit in the book related to verbal communication. I wanted to highlight it here.

It's something I've already recommended to some of my mentees because it's just a really great tip. So yes, verbal communication is important in one-on-one conversations, group meetings, auditorium presentations, et cetera. But I really loved how she highlighted the importance of being prepared for those hallway conversations, particularly where executives can sort of catch you off guard. And one tip she had was to have a 30 second elevator pitch of your key initiatives ready.

So she gave an example in the book and these three components that she mentioned is one stat on why the project was needed, a main takeaway, and then a recommended action. And it was such a great illustration that coming prepared with this elevator pitch,

really created a positive, trusting impression, which then was an enabler of the organization taking action on insights. And I thought this really practical recommendation for how to up your verbal communication was super tangible and helpful.

And finally, one of my favorite parts of these interviews is to hear our guests' hot takes. And here I asked Elizabeth's take on the insights industry. And she talked about the importance of harnessing the power of AI

She talked about how in an increasingly competitive market that understanding your consumer will be even more important and the need to be forward-looking and look at those market and consumer signals that will inform the future reality. And that really just made me think of the importance of the trends and innovation work we do here at DIG where we're helping clients shape the future of their categories, building opportunities and business cases that will help them realize their vision.

I really share Elizabeth's optimism about the role of insights and it continues to keep me jazzed about my job every day and thrilled to be talking to these leaders.

Well, that's our Dig inspiration recap for the week. Please do check out Elizabeth's book, More Than Just Interesting, How to Build an Insights Function for Impact.

of the episode, would love to hear your takeaways and thoughts on the conversation. So please visit the link in the description and leave us a comment.