A few years ago, Maria, a woman on my research team, burst into my office with an air of utter exasperation and bewilderment.

“We don’t ever get any credit!” she cried. “We tell them and tell them, and they never believe us, until blam, suddenly it’s their idea, and then it’s like ‘why didn’t the research ever tell us this!’”

Maddening, I agree, but I have learned over the years, that if we are doing our job right, then this is exactly how adoption of new insights plays out.

By definition, a valuable insight presents a new piece of knowledge that changes our previous ingrained understandings. This type of change faces strong opposition from previous knowledge, personal anecdotes, and the desired narrative. For example, the recent insight that people upgrade a cell phone largely for the better camera may be met with distain driven by different initial beliefs.

1. People buy a new cell phones for the better cellular capabilities. This may have been the case in the past, but when current research suggests that upgrades are driven by the new camera capabilities, the cellular functionality may be outdated previous knowledge, and any data that suggests otherwise may be dismissed.
   
2. I buy every new release because I just like to have the latest and best technology, so that must be why people upgrade. Applying my personal experience to all other people represents a personal anecdote bias which may cause me to dismiss any data to the contrary.
   
3. People really want built in AI functionality. Perhaps they do, or perhaps you can convince them that they do, but just wanting this to be true does not quite make it so, and this represents a desired narrative, where data in opposition to this desire will be dismissed.

As I am sure you have experienced, getting someone to change their beliefs, even when they are simply objective business beliefs and not the more entrenched identity based beliefs, creates a monumental challenge. In fact, due to the complexity of this task, a tremendous amount of research exists on the subject.

The current understandings suggest changing a belief system involves a multi-faceted approach that includes challenging the belief with evidence, replacing it with a new, more valuable belief, and constantly reinforcing the new belief through action and communication.

So to reduce the feeling of “not getting credit”, Marina first needs to address her own belief that a new insight will be instantly adopted and put into action. The communication and dissemination of this insight will most likely not be instant and immediately met with a hearty “Thank you, I get it, let’s act on this.”

As such, instead of entering a presentation with the goal of winning over the audience with a new belief, one must align more with the French moralist Joseph Joubert who said…

The aim of argument,
or of discussion,
should not be victory,
but progress.

-Joseph Joubert
(1754–1824)

As the goal of customer intelligence is to drive growth and mitigate risk through a better understanding of consumer behaviors and desires, how one arrives at that goal does not matter as much as the speed at which one arrives, and speed is a function of adoption of the insight throughout the organization.

To expedite this belief change, a good research team has to encourage others to take on the insight as if it were their own discovery. This excellent, while effect, all but solidifies the downstream ability to receive credit.

As my father would often quote from Dale Carnegie (although I think the original quote is attributed to Robert Frost or Daniele Vare)…

Sales is the art
of letting the other person have your way.

-Dale Carnegie?
(1936)

In essence, you have to Incept them with the idea such that it becomes their own.

While Dale Carnegie may not have been responsible for that quote, in his 1936 book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” he did describe the key principles to accomplish inception. From his 30 key principles, these three have been my North Star for driving insight adoption:

• Principle 1: Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain.
• Principle 3: Arouse in the other person an eager want. 
• Principle 8: Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.

That is to say that you must enter the discussion willing to accept the current beliefs, as there is certainly truth behind each of them. Acknowledge that truth, and then paint a picture of something that the other person craves for success in their business. When the others know you are an ally, and that you have their interests in mind, then you can offer a fitting story that highlights the new insight. Regardless of the outcome of that conversation, the seed has now been planted, and with reinforced communication of the idea wherever possible, the idea will grow until the discovery of that insight is perceived as their own.

You may not receive credit, but you should see results in the business impact, which should produce more monetary, security, and psychic rewards than any hollow credit can offer.

Of course, as I did with Maria, I would encourage you to also document the findings and the sharing of the insights such that you can point to value of your amazing work if the need arises.