Success in the marketing research industry today isn’t about methodology. It’s about people. And today’s emerging leaders are tech savvy, forward-thinking and looking for opportunities to carve out their own niche. AskingCanadians Vice President Raj Manocha shares his perspective on the impact of ttoday's emerging leaders in "Why Someone You Manage will Eventually Be Your Boss" in the April issue of Vue magazine.

1. 10 vue | APRIL 2014
Success in the marketing research industry
today isn’t about methodology. It’s about
people. And today’s emerging leaders are
tech savvy, forward-thinking and looking for
opportunities to carve out their own niche.
But today’s emerging leaders won’t be lying
in wait forever. Look around you: someone
you manage right now could become your boss
someday. And soon.
One constant in the world of marketing
research is the fact that the industry is loaded
with talented individuals, particularly at the
intermediate level. I define this group as
emerging leaders: those who have been in
the industry for five to ten years, in their late
twenties or early thirties, and with enough
experience to know what works and what
doesn’t.
This group is significant in that they do
a lot of the “heavy lifting” for the medium
and large shops in the industry. Consider that
these individuals are controlling the day-to-
day on client relationships, executing the
actual research/data collection initiatives and
are becoming part of more and more strategic
business objectives.
What’s different today, versus 10 to 20 years
ago, is that these emerging leaders have more
opportunities to disrupt the industry and carve
out their own niches.
While the industry used to be separated
into two classic disciplines — qualitative and
quantitative — marketing research has become
inundated with a new category: technologies
and products.
Communities, dashboards, crowdsourcing
modules and social listening are all examples
of products that have been produced to take
advantage of the ability to listen to people in
very new and innovative ways.
What’s more, these technologies and
products are not necessarily built around a
sound methodology, but are used to understand
people in the places and ways that make sense
for them.
So how does this relate to emerging leaders?
This group is more prone to take a chance on
these types of technologies. They are the ones
Why Someone You Manage
Will Eventually be
Your Boss
Raj Manocha

2. vue | APRIL 2014 11
living and breathing technology on a day-to-day basis and
they’re the ones who can figure out how to fit a methodology
into one of these tools instead of trying to fit the tool into the
methodology.
They don’t want to be pigeonholed by a certain discipline
or methodology. And, more importantly, they are the ones who
can sell the idea to clients and get buy-in. Don’t fool yourselves
– clients want these tools.
More and more brands today are allocating an innovation
agenda for their research practice. They want to test and try.
They want to work with research companies that are willing to
experiment. If you aren’t selling these ideas to them, someone
else will. And there’s a good chance it will be someone from the
emerging leaders category.
The other real opportunity for emerging leaders is the ability
to move around or start up a new company. More than ever,
there is choice. The ability to move from one shop to another is
at an all-time high. In the crowded marketing research industry,
talented individuals are coveted.
Loyalty to one company may last for three to five years, if
you’re lucky, and that’s if you’re a great employer. The great
companies are investing in these individuals and giving them
much greater responsibility, while the merely good companies
are letting these individuals do the same things over and over
again.
Let’s be honest, the success of a great company isn’t about
the methodology, the process or the technology, it’s really about
the people and the talent. Nothing you produce can be great
without great talent.
Many companies don’t even know the type of talent they
have in house. Emerging leaders are often boxed into one job.
But their generation is full of people who have a “jack-of-all-
trades” skill set.
Do you even know if some of your staff are social media
junkies who could pick up social listening really quickly?
Or maybe they are part of a brand community and really
understand the ins and outs of how they work. You’d be
surprised what emerging leaders are capable of if you took
the time to invest, nurture and grow this group in your
organization. If not, you run the risk that they’ll leave for
another company or start their own shop.
Creating a start-up or launching a product has never been
easier and the barriers to entry have never been smaller. The
idea of research has changed. Methodology and rigour don’t
necessarily dictate why a company chooses to use your services.
Companies are looking for products and services that speak to
respondents in ways they never could before.
Research and marketing initiatives like crowdsourcing and
communities have altered the mindset of clients. Creating these
types of tools and products allows start-ups to create a niche
that many of the larger shops just want to enter without seeing
success. It allows emerging leaders to try and be first to market
while the larger shops employ a wait-see-acquire approach.
In addition to the advent of new marketing research shops,
our industry continues to see the acquisition of companies as
a major play in gaining a larger market share, especially in the
innovation space.
I’ve personally seen two examples of employees who left
large shops only to be brought back, through acquisition, and
then end up managing colleagues who were previously their
managers. As the market continues to mature in the innovation
realm, it stands to reason that more of these scenarios could
occur.
Would these two examples have turned out differently if
the companies had invested more heavily in those individuals?
Maybe. Maybe the employees could have shared their
innovative ideas and created a core competency in-house,
instead of moving on and triggering an expensive endeavour
for their employers. It’s a much more cost-effective exercise
to invest in your staff and retain them, instead of replacing
them and potentially having to add/replace a core competency
through acquisition.
The Marketing Research and Intelligence Association
believes this group of emerging leaders has a great deal of
untapped value and has created a special task force to look into
engaging them on a greater level.
The Emerging Leaders Task Force (ELTF) was created to
stimulate participation by next generation market researchers
in the MRIA and develop programming that will be specifically
aligned with their needs. While emerging leaders seem to be
very involved in the day-to-day of the industry, it was becoming
more apparent that the MRIA needs more participation from
next-generation market researchers, especially since these
individuals will be the future leaders of many organizations.
Simply attend an MRIA event and chances are you’ll see many
of the same faces who have been involved in the MRIA for
years.
Initially, the task force will liaise between the Research
Agency Council and the Conference Committee to recommend
programming and events for the 2014 National Conference in
Saskatoon that will encourage more next-generation marketing
researchers to attend the conference.
As well, the task force will work towards a more holistic
plan to engage next-generation marketing researchers via
other channels with the hope of increasing interest and overall
membership in the MRIA, as the future of the association lies
with emerging leaders.
So, keeping an open mind, and thinking about where the
world is and where it’s going, open up your mind to the fact
that one of your emerging leaders could be managing you some
day.
I hope you’re getting up out of your seat right now and
making your way over to ask them what direction they think
the company should be going in.
Raj Manocha is vice-president of AskingCanadians, an online
marketing research community with access to 600,000 Canadians.
He is the current chair of the MRIA’s Emerging Leaders Task
Force and is an advocate for giving next generation of marketing
researchers a voice within the industry. He can be reached at
rmanocha@askingcanadians.com.
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