Investigating for the hidden truth, putting the puzzle pieces together, building a strong case, leading with objectivity … you might be thinking of the responsibility of business leaders. But today, we’re exploring these same familiar elements from the perspective of a field where this holds greater weight. We’re speaking about investigations & interrogations with private investigator and retired LAPD detective, Greg Kading.

After 25 years working homicide in Los Angeles, Greg hasn’t taken off his detective hat, even after retiring. Instead turning to the PI world and storytelling, speaking about and writing of the cases he’s worked (and solved).

Today we’re taking a no BS look at the world of customer insights, leadership and business visioning with the President of software company Zappi, the ever-passionate and transparent leader, Ryan Barry.

Having led Zappi for over four years, Ryan shares his no holds barred take on company leadership and people leadership, and it’s all anchored on authenticity.

Marketing is often thought of as a creative field, in part because it leans into the art of negotiation to sell a product, but it must be done with rigor. In this episode, we explore that rigorous side of marketing, and the research that should shape its decisions, with Marketing Science research professor and Director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, Byron Sharp.

Marketing science is at its core punk, or anti-establishment, and because of this Byron challenges any purist academic to ‘get out of the lab’ and the marketing bubble, and into the real world. There you must put aside your assumptions about what works based on isolated cases, or personal passions, and any snobbery you may hold about unglamourous categories, and seek out the patterns that form evidence. “Look and you will see,” Byron says, because most people don't bother to really look.

In Episode 12 of Looking Outside we explore the influence of Music with music lover and the ever-insightful, Adam Conley, Director of Insights for North America at Mars Wrigley.

While music plays subtly in the background of our lives, it defines our cultures, shapes our psychology, and even influences our physiology. Adam helps us examine music’s impact over time, at a universal human level and a personal one.

To broaden our perspective, in Episode 11 we bring the Curiosity mountain to us direct from the source, with the original Chief Curiosity Officer, former VP of Consumer & Market Insights and Foresight at L'Oréal Groupe, and now Chief Data Officer at Pierre Fabre, Sarah DaVanzo.

Sarah shares her vast experience in “strategic curiosity science”; unpacking what curiosity is beyond intellectualism, stressing the worrying results in quantifying and tracking curiosity over time, and highlighting the importance of immersion when applying curious behavior.

In Episode 9 of Looking Outside we discuss the evolving expectations of Market Research with MRX guru, Jamin Brazil, co-founder and CEO at HubUX.

Jamin shares techniques he’s developed over 20 years in obtaining deeper market knowledge by evaluating new technologies, embracing social platforms and understanding cultural communities.

In Episode 8 of Looking Outside we explore the power held by Words with wordsmith, curious human and Senior Insights Leader at Mars Inc, Jessica Southard.

Jess and Jo explore how words can be magical, can empower and motivate, but also how they can be destructive and divisive. To do that, Jess shares her personal experience of communication in her Army intelligence days leading soldiers, the transition to the complex world of business, and how she treats words with responsibility raising her three children.

For Episode 6 of Looking Outside we invite thought leader, Maneesh Kaushik on the show, Insights and Trend lead at PepsiCo. Today we’re looking outside Insights.

Maneesh outlines how he breaks apart conventional thinking used in business to understand humans of today and showcases how his team pushes to the human of tomorrow.

In Episode 4 of Looking Outside we’re joined by down-to-earth insights & marketing rockstar, Michelle Gansle, Vice President of Global Strategic Insights at McDonalds.

Together Jo and Michelle discuss what it means to truly be human-led inside and outside of work, both by humanizing the people we work with and ourselves. And how understanding yourself as a human being more deeply can help pull you out of your comfort zone and into curious new spaces.