Panel: Excellence in Impact
Summary
Key Insights
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Building relationships and trust within the organization is as vital as executing good research to gain influence.
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Research advocacy and storytelling are inseparable from the research process itself.
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A skilled researcher can have zero impact, while less-skilled researchers might achieve great influence through networks and culture.
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Early stakeholder engagement and co-creation improve buy-in and help research outputs be adopted.
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Organizational learning and influence often happen gradually over years, not instantly.
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Impact should be measured in changed perspectives and conversations, not just concrete product changes.
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Soft skills like persuasion, visual storytelling, and coalition building are critical for researchers' influence.
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In some sectors, especially public, aligning research with the social mission is necessary for true impact.
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Researchers have unique opportunities to influence by helping organizations diagnose real problems deeply and clearly.
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Trusted advisor relationships built on credibility, reliability, and intimacy empower lasting researcher impact.
Notable Quotes
"I think you can't be good at research unless you're also good at getting that research across."
"You can be an amazing researcher and have zero impact, or a bad researcher and have amazing impact."
"Building those relationships, building trust, it will always pay off."
"It's not a match-winning pass if no one catches it."
"Sometimes it's just not even related to the research skills, sometimes relationships really matter."
"We don’t just stop the research project when we collect data; analyzing, extracting insights, and shaping the narrative is part of it."
"Impact can be about changing the way people talk about the problem and see the customer."
"Fall in love with the problem, not the solution."
"Good research can be the best thing for the diagnosis of the problem in a strategy."
"The greatest impact is when people call me directly or give a brief to me directly; it's about relationships."
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