AI may automate research execution, but the bigger opportunity is refocusing insights on its core job: shaping better business decisions through deeper consumer and market understanding. In this episode, Nick Graham, Founder, Vertemis, speaks with Mary Beth Jowers, VP, Consumer & Market Insights, Americas, The HEINEKEN Company, about how insights teams can “bring their own chair” by aligning work to how leaders make decisions, tailoring outputs to stakeholder needs, and learning from why insights don’t get used. They discuss partnering beyond marketing with finance and other functions, translating insights into decision-ready and financially relevant deliverables, and stepping into process, organizational, and technology stewardship roles. Mary Beth also outlines practical steps like auditing work products, mapping use cases, and building feasibility and viability fluency alongside desirability.
00:00 Bring Your Own Chair
00:42 AI And Insights Purpose
01:39 Meet Mary Beth Jowers
04:04 Right Business New Focus
06:21 Earning The Seat
10:38 Why Insights Get Ignored
13:08 Cheat Sheets And Influence
14:40 Friends With Finance
18:18 Insights As Change Agents
21:18 Tech Stewardship And Governance
23:37 Redrawing Boundaries
28:26 Accountability For Outcomes
30:15 Skills To Build Tomorrow
33:51 Closing Thanks And Subscribe
Insights & Innovators Podcast from MRII | Hosted by The Greenbook Podcast Network
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