This is not the first time I have written about insight. But it is the first time I have consciously sought to collect thoughts on the topic of insight because I want to write, properly study and write, about insight.
Why am I bothered about insight?
It comes down to this. I was taught that insight is a craft. It’s a skill.
Charlie Robertson wrote me a recommendation on LinkedIn and he said that I ‘craft insights with ease.’ The recommendation is not there anymore because he is dead and his profile has gone. But that’s tattooed on my brain because I know I’m supposed to be good at that but if ever there was a source for my imposter syndrome, it’s insight. And without my mentor on insight, without the expert who believed in me, I sometimes feel lost.
Writing about insight is a personal quest because I don’t find it easy to craft insight. I don’t find it easy to describe them. It is instinctive for me to find them and when it works – when I can tell the insightful stories – it’s good for The Project.
In the summer I was sitting outside with colleagues and we were joking about interviews. I told my colleagues my favourite question to ask potential colleagues is ‘what is an insight?’ It’s a very good way to find out who thinks, and who just goes through the process. My thoughtful colleagues all had different definitions and they all roared that it was a difficult question.
Nowadays interviews are all run by a very fair STAR framework or similar so my question ‘what is an insight?’ doesn’t quite fit. But ‘please tell me about a time you discovered an insight which helped you form a creative idea’ does fit and it is just as revealing. I now also use this question with agencies I want to work with and it’s a great way to sift the wheat from the chaff.
I have moved from advertising – where insights are almost ‘fetishized‘ – to digital – where ‘insights’ are as abundant as data points (read: confused with data) – to design – where insight can feel built in to other aspects of research, empathy, synthesis, observations, mapping, to the point of it not feeling that important, or anyway, just as important as anything else.
In all cases, it would seem you don’t need to spend forever crafting insight if you just happen to have a good idea that is commercially successful, or changes lives, or is entertaining. Some creatives have that good fortune.
So why does it matter? I suppose basically, if you’re stuck for ideas or something new and relevant you have to go mining for insight. Many creatives do that without researchers or planners to do it for them. They know they have to go through that insight making process.
And then – what is that process? What is the best process of mining for and crafting insights? What would be universally straightforward to understand, to communicate and teach? Could we end the debate? Is there an answer that works best in any practice? I want to explore this topic and find out.
Think bubbles 