Greenbook Podcast

What if an insight doesn’t lead to action? Does that mean it failed? In this episode of the Greenbook Podcast, Karen Lynch speaks with Nadine van Rooyen, Senior Effectiveness Manager at WEX, about challenging one of the insights industry’s most persistent assumptions: that value is defined by actionability. Nadine explains why insights can create meaningful business impact even when recommendations aren’t implemented, and how decision quality, prioritization, and organizational trade-offs offer a more complete picture of success. They also explore the importance of understanding internal stakeholders, tailoring insights to different audiences, and using AI to strengthen communication without losing the human relationships that make insights influential. For research and insights professionals, it’s a compelling case for measuring value across the entire decision-making process.Key Discussion PointsMoving beyond actionability as the ultimate measure of success: Why a recommendation that isn’t implemented can still improve understanding, prioritization, and decision-making.Measuring insights across a value chain: Nadine explains how trust, context, prioritization, trade-offs, and decision quality all contribute to the impact of research.Why better decisions matter more than perfect outcomes: Business decisions rarely happen with complete information, making insights an essential piece of a much larger organizational puzzle.Treating internal stakeholders like distinct audiences: How tailoring insights for finance, sales, customer service, leadership, and other teams can increase relevance and influence.The future of insights in an AI-powered organization: Why AI can help researchers better understand stakeholders and communicate effectively, while human relationships remain irreplaceable.Resources & LinksWEXIIEX EventsYou can reach out to Nadine van Rooyen on LinkedIn.Many thanks to Nadine van Rooyen for being our guest. Thanks also to our production team and our editor at Big Bad Audio.

What happens when AI becomes more than a tool and starts shaping the interface itself? Josh Clark and Veronika Kindred of Big Medium, co-authors of Sentient Design: Crafting Intelligent Interfaces with AI, join Karen Lynch to explore a new approach to designing AI-powered experiences. They discuss treating AI as a design material, moving beyond chat-based interfaces, and creating products that adapt to users’ context and intent in real time. The conversation also examines one of AI design’s biggest challenges: trust. Josh and Veronika share approaches for building transparency, explainability, and healthy skepticism into intelligent systems. For UX researchers and insights professionals, they explain why user research becomes even more important as AI changes product development—and how researchers can take a more active role in shaping the products themselves.Key Discussion PointsMoving beyond chat with AI: How sentient design uses AI as a creative design material to build intelligent, adaptive interfaces rather than simply adding chatbots or AI tools to existing products.Designing experiences that adapt in real time: How interfaces can respond to user context and intent, including dynamically generated dashboards and AI agents that work alongside users within familiar environments.Building trust into AI-powered products: Why AI’s confidence can be misleading and how transparency, explainability, visible sources, and “productive humility” can help users evaluate AI-generated outputs.Balancing AI opportunity with risk: How designers can determine where AI is appropriate, identify unacceptable risks, and build safeguards into systems where failure has meaningful consequences.The evolving role of UX research and insights: Why researchers need to participate throughout design and development—and how research findings can become direct instructions that shape how AI-powered products behave.Resources/Links⁠Sentient Design: Crafting Intelligent Interfaces with AI - Use code SENTIENT-GREENBOOK for 20% off your purchase of the book at Rosenfeld Media through September 30, 2026.⁠Big MediumYou can reach out to Josh Clark and Veronika Kindred on LinkedIn.Many thanks to Josh Clark and Veronika Kindred for being our guests. Thanks also to our production team and our editor at Big Bad Audio.

How can established insights organizations innovate with AI without sacrificing the rigor and trust that made them successful? Thania Farrar, Senior Vice President of Corporate Innovation at Burke, joins Lenny Murphy to explore how the firm is evolving from traditional market research toward decision intelligence. They discuss building AI-enabled systems that connect fragmented data, deliver insight closer to the moment of decision, and preserve the value of expert judgment. Thania also explains why high-quality human data remains essential, how transparency strengthens client relationships during uncertain times, and why governance, privacy, and provenance could shape AI adoption. The conversation closes with a call for greater industry collaboration and renewed attention to qualitative research, behavioral science, and the complexities that make people—and business decisions—impossible to reduce to data alone.Key Discussion PointsHow Burke is evolving its long history of research innovation into a more intentional decision intelligence model.Why AI can accelerate insight production, but cannot replace quality data, expert judgment, and human understanding.How connected data systems can shorten the distance between a business question and a confident decision.Why trust, transparency, governance, privacy, and data provenance will be essential to responsible AI adoption.The growing importance of qualitative research, behavioral science, and industry-wide knowledge sharing.Resources and LinksBurke, Inc.You can reach out to Thania Farrar on LinkedInMany thanks to Thania Farrar for being our guest. Thanks also to our production team and our editor at Big Bad Audio.

What happens when evidence, communications, and AI converge? Crispin Beale, Worldwide CEO of IDX, joins Karen Lynch to explain why organizations must rethink how they manage their narratives in an era shaped by answer engines, synthetic audiences, and machine-led discovery. He shares how IDX is integrating data and insights across performance marketing, corporate communications, and investor relations to help clients make more rigorous decisions without slowing down creative work. Crispin also explores the promise and risks of synthetic data, arguing that transparency and clear tagging are essential to prevent contaminated “data lakes” and protect longitudinal research. The conversation also covers IDX’s Geneva data and insights hub, the value of global industry networks, and how leaders can build cultures where experimentation, collaboration, and responsible innovation thrive.Key Discussion PointsWhy communications must be designed for both human audiences and AI-powered answer engines.How IDX is embedding data and insights into creative, performance marketing, corporate communications, and investor relations.The value of testing creative concepts with real consumers and synthetic audiences before launch.Why synthetic data must be clearly tagged to maintain transparency, research integrity, and trustworthy data.How leaders can encourage innovation through cross-functional collaboration, open communication, experimentation, and permission to fail.Resources and LinksIDXThe Future Role of Communications is Taking ShapeInsight Innovation CompetitionYou can reach out to Crispin Beale on LinkedInMany thanks to Crispin Beale for being our guest. Thanks also to our production team and our editor at Big Bad Audio.

Mary Beth Jowers, VP of Americas Consumer and Market Insights at Heineken, joins Karen Lynch to explore how insights professionals can become more effective drivers of organizational change. Drawing on her leadership experience across global, regional, and developing markets, Mary Beth explains why insights teams should operate like internal businesses—prioritizing work that delivers measurable value and supports better decisions. She shares how empathy, stakeholder understanding, and behavioral insight can help teams overcome resistance and influence how organizations operate.The conversation also examines practical ways to increase research ROI, from repurposing existing studies to creating snackable content, interactive training, and action-oriented deliverables. For insights leaders seeking greater influence, Mary Beth offers a compelling framework built around partnership, persistence, persuasion, and meeting colleagues where they are.Key Discussion PointsHow Mary Beth’s unconventional career path shaped her approach to insights leadershipWhy insights and analytics teams should operate like internal businessesApplying consumer empathy and behavioral understanding to coworkers and stakeholdersTurning research into action through training, snackable insights, and engaging contentIncreasing ROI by repurposing existing research and embracing “good enough” informationResources and Links⁠The Heineken CompanyIIEX Conferences You can reach out to Mary Beth Jowers on LinkedIn.Many thanks to Mary Beth Jowers for being our guest. Thanks also to our production team and our editor at Big Bad Audio.