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Dig In is your go to source for insights innovation. It's for anyone with a genuine interest in fostering brand and product growth, exploring groundbreaking innovations, and embracing the dynamic world of expanding businesses and brands.
Jess Gaedeke (00:00)
Hi everybody, welcome to the Dig In Podcast. I am super energized today because I have been wanting to talk to this guest for months and months and she finally said yes. I'm so stoked to have her here. Today I'm joined by Kendra Speed. She is founder and principal of Clarion Group, which we'll hear more about.
Most recently was director of consumer market insights and marketing strategy at LinkedIn, among many other brands from her background. So Kendra, thank you so much for joining today. I mean it. I've been looking forward to this for long time.
Kendra Speed (00:27)
Thank you, Jess. I'm glad that we were able to make it happen. So thanks for inviting me on. I'm looking forward to our discussion.
Jess Gaedeke (00:33)
Absolutely. So I'm going to start with an impromptu question. You haven't seen this one coming.
What is your go-to karaoke song?
Kendra Speed (00:40)
⁓ So, I very much enjoy singing. I've done this one quite a few times, I would say, like, stand by me, like, old school throwback, stand by me, because it's pretty easy to sing, and then I'm, like, very expressive, so I can also bring it to life. And I just believe in the lyrics of the song, where it's kind of like, stand by me, talking about teamwork.
Jess Gaedeke (00:51)
Yeah.
Kendra Speed (01:08)
how we walk together. I like the message and it's pretty easy for me to say.
Jess Gaedeke (01:13)
I love that. You know, that is the only song I can play on the guitar. And by play, is a very like, you'll see the word play. And also my friend sent me this, but there was a meme that said, if a Capricorn sends you a song, you better read those lyrics. And I'm a Capricorn and I totally agree. That song has some very deep meaning. a good one.
Kendra Speed (01:32)
So we should do
some kind of outtake that has you pick up the guitar and then we just do that.
Jess Gaedeke (01:38)
Or not.
Kendra Speed (01:40)
or not.
Jess Gaedeke (01:42)
tell us a little bit about your background and what you're doing now.
Kendra Speed (01:46)
Okay, a little bit
about my background. So one thing I have done a lot in like interviews and discussions is I will tell, tell me your career story, you know, and it doesn't have to be sequential. I'll tell you my story. I'll give it a title, try not to be sequential about it. I will say probably the story of my career has been the twists and turns. And so, really...
classify myself as a classically trained market researcher having started my career at P &G. And so I spent five years there, but since then have done so many different things, worked on so many different brands. And that's one of things I enjoy most about life is saying, there's no like direct path, like there's this direct path I've kind of like lived the twists and turns of life. I've done...
Things like forecasted tires for Michelin North America. I've stood a research organization for a real estate developer, done two forays in tech at Dropbox and LinkedIn. I took three years to work out on my own and just do consulting projects for clients that I like, people that I worked with previously. So I would just say it's about following the twists and turns. I did five years with my dad at the family business.
So it's just been a bit of like a fun roller coaster in leaning into some of the uncertainties along the way and with in the spirit of saying like, okay, I'm gonna learn, gonna grow, I'm gonna stretch. And that's how I would classify kind of this latest pivot that I've done, which is now finds me in full-time lecturing and academia, partnered with, you know, starting my own firm.
and leaning into things like speaking and coaching and working with partners I've worked with in the past, but on things that really deal with effectiveness, our insights teams of the future. And all of things that I'm excited about. I have a firm belief that these different experiences in life, the things that we choose to say yes to,
are the things that allow us to grow, to stretch, and to evolve.
Jess Gaedeke (04:01)
I love that. And I'm so glad you said yes to this. It actually really means a lot when you put it in that context. So thank you for So let's dig in. I would love for you to tell me one of the stories from your many past experiences because what our listeners crave, Kendra, is really getting inspiration from other leaders. And I think one of the best ways to inspire is to tell a story.
And during your time at LinkedIn, you were really part of revitalizing their approach to brand tracking, which I imagine was no small feat. So I would love to dig into this. Take us back to the beginning. What was the context at the time that you really decided this reinvention happened?
Kendra Speed (04:36)
so I joined LinkedIn three and a half years ago, definitely had a brand tracking program set up along with creative pre testing and all of these pieces. So the first part was just kind of like getting it done, right? Getting it executed across the business and in many ways was somewhat disjointed. So fast forward to call it summer of.
a cross-functional team, we were talking a lot about like, how do we get more out of our brand tracking? How do we transform it into more than just numbers that we're putting into some kind of scorecard on a regular frequency and into something that can really help guide the business? So the first thing that we did was say like, let's just take a step back and assess like,
what the requirements are across the organization and what is the vision for how we really understand our brand and what we should be able to do with brand tracking information. Is it just something to understand like how we're performing? Is it something to help steer us strategically and really getting an alignment on that vision? And then from there, like we were just really curious about, you know,
What existed out there in the ecosystem? What was the latest and greatest in brand tracking? How could we look at really evolving the capability sets? And so we just did like this broad sweeping request for information from a broad network of vendors just to be able to understand. then took the pause points to really spend time listening, learning.
from these different partners. will say like that was a great, you know, exercise in the fall of 2024. We then paused as there were organizational changes. We had a new CMO coming in. We're like, wait, let's orient. Let's just figure out what we're doing from a marketing standpoint. And like that kind of sat for a good six to nine months.
it was very well captured, but we weren't really like making any moves or actions until fast forward to the summer of we're like, was time to take some action. that looked like was really spending time with the new marketing leadership to understand the strategy, the vision for the brand, taking a step to really say what was working, what wasn't working.
are the expectations about how quickly we are reporting? What are the expectations about the types of actions that teams are able to make based upon the understanding? how do we think about report outs all the way from our senior executives to our working teams that needed to act based upon the insights? And so that took a lot of work in just mapping out what we wanted the program to do. And so that was in close partnership with my boss at the time.
Takako Close partnership with the chief brand officer and really just charting all of that out. And then leveraging that to go out with like a really nice request for proposal and taking it through a whole decision schema to be able to land in a good place.
Jess Gaedeke (07:58)
I would love to ask a little bit about that process because I imagine when you do the request for information, you go through that phase of the process. You also are inspired and probably learn a lot about the different approaches that makes that actual RFP when you were ready that much richer. that right? I'm on the other side of this. I'm on the agency side. So I'm the one giving and responding to RFPs.
Kendra Speed (08:17)
Yes.
Jess Gaedeke (08:20)
but I don't get to shape them that often. So just tell me more about what does that look like and what are some of the ways that you incorporate what you're learning into what you ultimately go to market with.
Kendra Speed (08:29)
There were a couple things that happened via that RFI. One is the obvious about just gaining a greater awareness for things that had changed in the ecosystem, how vendors were bringing AI into their approaches, which was great. think the other thing that happened was as we looked at the similarities and differences, we were even clearer on where we wanted to land this. So clarity, what looked like.
hey, we just really want a stable program we can compare across the business, where we can get speed to insight quicker, and we can get the type of insights that allow us to steer the brand. Really helped drive the clarity. So it was great to see all of the new and different things and to think about what that next evolution might look like. But then it also just kind of like further cemented
what were the table stakes as we thought about the evolution of the program.
Jess Gaedeke (09:27)
Yeah, definitely. Well, and I'm sure this next question you will answer in part as you get into some of the specifics, but you know, in my experience, one of the biggest pain points with barren health tracking is actionability, that it does become, and a lot of organizations, simply a scorecard that's reported out and that no meaningful action is really driven from it. That's often what we hear our clients that are wanting up level their So,
Continue with the story and tell me a little bit about how you approached it, especially now that you have the input from those stakeholders and what they want to see. How did you go about optimal solution?
Kendra Speed (09:59)
So I'm gonna try to be extremely transparent and give just a little bit of insight into the vision and then the really real. So the really real of this is as we got into real decision-making process was this happened to coincide with this program had been ran by a series of talented contractors.
not really a lot of FTE support of this. And so were also at a lull of where the contractor who had probably done most of the architecting of where the program stood, went out on a mandatory kind of like rest period, three months So we were at this point of where they were talented, hands on deck, and all of a sudden I found myself getting my hands.
dirty as we were trying to, we were committed to not just going out and doing a new RFP and figuring out the supplier piece, but to make the changes preemptive of even moving to a new supplier. So what that looked like was an acceleration of reporting, reporting differently, and also leveraging the existing network.
to be able to get that speed done. so what I found myself doing was like in the, you know, in the spirit of like, we got to get this done was rolling up my sleeves, finding myself in that revealed even how messy it truly was. And also revealed how much work had been done by this contractor network just to make sense of what we had.
And so for me that getting dirty and getting entrenched into what it actually was, was extremely helpful. Cause it was like, okay, now I have a greater understanding and appreciation the level of effort we've been putting against us. And that allowed, even as we thought about who to select to work with, as it related to like service level agreements and how we wanted.
to see the deliverable structured, it provided so much more insight. It wasn't me just sitting on theory and kind of coming up with great slides and documents. It was about, no, I felt the pain here. Let's figure out how we alleviate ⁓ some of that pain. So that was a lot of the really, really, the other piece was because like, it sounds like a really long process. You're like, Kendra, you started this in, you know.
summer 2024. And just to know like kind of where it is now. ⁓ When I left a couple weeks ago, was at the point of going out to field with this new tracking program. So it hasn't yet gotten back all the data and all of that. So that's still to be seen. And I look forward from the sidelines of hearing how successful that is. what that looked like was a lot of alignment.
across the organization. It was alignment within the function of just saying peers who owned, led on the consumer side, peers that led on the enterprise side, getting them aligned to the approach and the expectations coming out of that, getting their integrated marketing leads aligned across the business, getting the chief brand officer aligned to the vision all the way up to the CMO.
So there was just a lot of alignment and also these pieces of like, we're doing the sprints. Like this week, we're getting very clear on the objectives. Next week, we're locking the attributes. The week after that, we are locking the survey outline. The week after that, we are working on the audience personas for which we will test the links for the survey. The week after that, we are testing the survey and then we're going to field.
So it looked very much about like this iterative building as well as the communication pieces that came along with it.
Jess Gaedeke (13:53)
Well, and imagine that that process allowed you to build some conviction overall outcome of the program as well. I think people probably saw like, okay, I can see where this is getting pretty dialed in. So it's a good example how you can build that conviction through your action and your activity.
Kendra Speed (14:08)
And Jess, like, let's be very clear. there was a lot to negotiate along the way as well. you know, we talk about like all of this new innovation in the space. was very intentional to say, I do think that's important. I don't think that's the most important thing now. Stability is the most important piece. And also agreeing on the pieces that we were saying, is going to be an initial piece of what we do.
Jess Gaedeke (14:27)
Yeah, of stability.
Kendra Speed (14:35)
We will come back and revisit it within this timing. Here are the things that we will not be changing in short order. Here are the things that are on the table that as we learn, as we go out there and do the initial wave that we can continue to adapt and iterate. What I didn't want to end up in is that we're just circling, circling, circling, taking it through like where we must have consensus on everything. The other important piece was to be very clear. the decision being made here?
Who is the decision making authority on different aspects of the work and then working, getting all of the inputs to be able to come up with a recommendation, but being very clear about where the decision was being made and having the team willing to say, okay, and we'll hold hands and know that we'll move on to that next step.
Jess Gaedeke (15:22)
Yeah, absolutely. Well, what was one of your biggest learnings from that? What was sort of your biggest takeaway?
Kendra Speed (15:28)
think one of my biggest takeaways is...
I mean, it's not a big, like, the sky opened up, but I think it's like, change, it takes time. I mean, because there was, like, when we started this work, I mean, transparently what we came out of the RFI with, it did get further crystallized, but I wouldn't say it dramatically changed. But what was important was to allow space and time for the organization to settle, as such.
so that we were going to go in with the alignment of the leaders in place who would be guiding us moving forward. It couldn't be oriented on a backward view. It had to be oriented and entrenched in the vision of our leadership for the organization. And so there was quite a bit of patience there. There had to be some humility there too, right? Because I would get in conversations and they'd be like, well, didn't you do this last year? Or like,
What's changed since last year? And so, you know, I wanted to say things like, not much has changed. Like we wanted, we had a recommendation, but nobody was willing to move on it at the time. It had to be like, let's step back. Let's remain curious. Let's remain leaning in. Let's remain in this posture of marching toward this end goal without being discouraged, without being jaded about the path that it took to get there.
Jess Gaedeke (16:28)
We'll
Yeah. Well, and that remaining curious is one of your many mantras.
We're gonna pivot now to one of your more passionate points of view, which is just gonna be on display when we talk about your career pivot. I there's got to be so much of your ethos built into how you approach this time in your career and your So tell us what you're up to now and how you decided to do it.
Kendra Speed (17:09)
Thanks, Jess. like sitting with this, right? Like, and it still feels super fresh. So first, let's just start with Kendra, what sits at the core of me and the types of things that I'm energized by. So what is now probably four years ago, I had the opportunity to go through this program when I was working at Smucker.
It was like called purpose-fused leadership. And the focus of that was to get very clear on where you get energy, very clear on your purpose. And so in that time, I was able to put language to what my purpose is. And it's something like to be able to work with specifically women about how do you harness past experiences toward future success.
And so one thing that became clear for me, like I had a whole action plan. I was going to be speaking, supposed to be writing a book that hadn't happened yet, but it could happen, you know, might see it later this year. I was getting very clear about what that looked like to honor that purpose every day. So it first started with like, this is really important to me. I want to ensure that people understand that where they've been.
actually helps to shape where they're going and it's not something to be rooted in shame, know, put whatever word you attach to that. And it's more so about the development, the clarity that you get along the way to be able to propel you to where you're going. And so getting clear on that, that was something I was able to bring into how I operated.
every day. And for me, it hasn't been like, you know, January 12th got here. And so there was a big unveiling. Yes, I had a LinkedIn live and I talked about it. what the real message there was like, this has been something in the making as you know, at eight years old, I was like, I knew I wanted to be on stage, I probably wanted to be an actress, but I wanted to be a speaker a long time. And related to that purpose.
in 2023, well, I think it was 2024 timing, I said, I no longer want to be a speaker. I am a speaker. so I just went out and I, that year, I mean, it was pretty intense where I just said, I'm investing in going to these different conferences. Generally, if you asked me to speak, I was saying yes. And just doing the proof of concept for my family of what would it look like for me to be traveling, to be on podcast every single month.
in addition to doing my regular job. And for me was kind of the start of the transition. The other piece was I had the opportunity a former colleague, Yogesh, Yogesh was like, okay, this opportunity at USC, would you like to try lecturing? I'm like, oh, that sounds curious. I am definitely interested in coaching others, them develop. And so I just leaned in.
with curiosity and saying, like, what might it look like to teach a project-based course, one course a semester, in addition to working? And that began to feel like really good because I was working with individuals, I am working with individuals who are earlier on in their career who are still learning and developing, they're open to new ways of trying things.
to me that feels very fresh. It feels like something that I can take a very distinctive skill set and apply and help generations that come alongside and then after me. And so that's the other piece of it. What this new stage of life really means is, because someone said like, you're retiring. I'm not retiring. I think about this as a definite career pivot. I have my primary of lecturing and
It affords me the opportunity to explore, to lean in, to do more. What does paid speaking look like ongoing where I'm not having to worry about the conflict of interest of the company that I work with? What does it look like to partner with insights organizations, both on a vendor side as well as client side in thinking about what the future of insights organizations looks like? And that didn't just start on January 12th.
It was something where like, you know, this time last year, starting up the Girl and Stretch series and saying, great, my team needs to develop. They need to stretch. How do I create in space of psychological safety where we can get together every week, where we can learn new capabilities, where we can be very real about what's working, what's not in the space of uncertainty as leadership figured out what they wanted our function to do, but not just sit still.
And my thing is that's the type of energy that I'm trying to bring into the world of saying, we don't need to be stalled in fear. What are the things that we can do incrementally every day that bring us closer to who we're supposed to be in this So what all of this is about.
Jess Gaedeke (22:17)
one of the things you said really resonate with where I am in this moment is that idea of when you're in a time of uncertainty, which can happen a lot at the turn of a year, right? We don't yet have our new goals published or we don't have alignment on certain strategic directions or that, you know.
Frontline employee might not see it that way. So in those times, how can we make sure that we're still spending our energy towards things that we know that will matter? And that's where I spent a lot of time with my team saying, listen, there's a lot stuff that still needs to be settled. But if you ask yourself, is the activity that I'm doing right now, do I know that's gonna drive a meaningful impact or performance for the company? Is it the right thing to be doing right now? And if it is, then don't worry about who's gonna get credit for it, or if it's gonna be a formally goal.
just do it because it's the right thing to be doing and you know that that it's gonna contribute. And if you have questions, is this really gonna be the right thing, you know, come a couple months time, then raise your hand and say like, hey, can we relook at this? So I think what you just said, and I've seen you talk about your Grow and Stretch program, the things that you've done. I mean, it's so inspiring what you've been able to do. And what I really reflect on Kendra is how many human beings...
your leadership has impacted. It's just incredible. I mean, I've been in the audience of your talks and I know how many people, including me, are being really moved and the people that you've been able to actually be in the room with. It's just really, it's really incredible.
Kendra Speed (23:37)
appreciate you saying that. So there's a couple things in what you shared. So first I'll start with thank you for talking about the impact. Cause that was one of the important pieces I put together that action plan in 2022, it was like, think what it said on the paper was to be able to influence impact a thousand women globally by I'm sure it was something like 2025, like in three years, which at the time felt
near impossible. as I sat down, like I had the opportunity in the fall of 2024 to do this big keynote for a council of like executive women in Texas government. It was a room of 700 women. So I was like, oh, this, this day alone helps bring me over the line. I for I share that this is not like, you know, a braggadocious moment or anything like that.
Jess Gaedeke (24:19)
Wow.
You're getting your quota.
Kendra Speed (24:32)
It is about how do you set audacious goals for yourself that seem totally unattainable or like, I don't know how I'm gonna get there. And then how do you also celebrate in the moment when that vision becomes a reality? Because it's one more proof point that says, okay, there's something here. There's something being, it's almost like a reward for the choices and the commitment that I've made to honor
what are my value set and what is my purpose. The other thing Jess that I wanted to talk about was me, it is challenging. I've had conversation after conversation over time where I would talk with cross-functional junior team members. Like, you know, I might talk to someone in product marketing and I would say, understand we're partnering on this project. I understand that you want to be the one to go off and socialize this.
Can we think about what looks like in this? it's kind of like shared credit, but it's also like, what does coordinated activity look like when you're doing what what you are tasked to do? And I'm not saying tasked, like go do this, but I'm like, is in your that you deliver for the business in partnership with someone else who is delivering?
Jess Gaedeke (25:46)
Mm-hmm.
Kendra Speed (25:50)
value, possibly on the same project, and how do we show up where it's like we're all rising. This is not about like you rushing to go get the report out or like to copy the report from over here to maybe take it through like some AI support to really get a nice clear narrative so that you can put your name on the top of the Google Docs and when people go there they are clear that you did it. There's a couple things in it for me. It's like there's an integrity
to committing to do things that you believe will bring value for the business. There is an integrity to, for me, shared ownership and allowing space for others to be a part of the success. How powerful is it, not only for you to be the one that's pressing send on this, but for your work to travel so far that it shows up somewhere else?
And regardless of whether your name shows up on the paper, having the feeling of knowing that I helped shape that And is to me like a big opportunity because there's a really real too, like, well, how do leaders show up? Like when you say this, like we value this type of behavior. Are we actually demonstrating a valuation of that behavior when it comes to performance review time? Is that conversation about
the collective effort and the role that this individual had, regardless of whether their name showed in that final post of that marketing collateral. And so that's also something I'm pretty passionate about because it's kind of unresolved for me in the workspace.
Jess Gaedeke (27:29)
well hopefully in your current capacity to consulting with companies, you can bring that passionate point of view forward and coach people to do it the right way because it sounds like you a lot of experience making that type of impact.
Kendra Speed (27:41)
Yeah, well, that's my hope. mean, later today with like a vendor partner on a capability session includes things like talking about setting, speaking thinking and decision making. And for me, a big word that comes up is the agency that each of us have. And that's really, I mean, that's
That's really wrapped up into this whole piece about leaning into the fear, leaning into the uncertainty, and the degree of agency that each one of us have over making, over life choices. Like, this is not us sitting back and life is happening to us, or the organization is happening to us. It's about the leaning in and taking agency of the things that we are in control of. We are not in control of so many different things, but what I am in...
control of is the way that I react is the way that I the posture at which I come at challenges and how I go into that. that's that's another part of my like message. Right.
Jess Gaedeke (28:43)
you be my life coach Kendra?
Kendra Speed (28:45)
We can talk about that so you know we can set time up afterward. Yeah, definitely. ⁓
Jess Gaedeke (28:46)
Honestly,
you're so inspiring. Every time we talk, I get new thinking and renewed energy. So I'd love to get your hot take on the future of the insights industry, which I really is. It's a very big question, but I would love to hear your thought on that.
Kendra Speed (29:04)
So first types of things that insights organizations have traditionally done will continue to adapt and pretty clear that things that we might have distinguished ourselves on at points in our career that are rooted in methodologies, in approaches, in quantitative techniques
The parts that will remain important about them is our understanding of the concepts that drive them. What will be less important is our own against delivering those pieces. It will become increasingly ⁓ easy to be able to trust algorithms, technology to do this work for us. Where insights
organizations will still bring value is in questions that we ask, our willingness to ask those questions of ourselves, the organizations of the consumers and the customers that we serve. Also in our ability to extract true insight. Let me be real. So last week, I had a guest lecturer in my class. So it's an advanced marketing research course of MBAs.
And so did this thing where she had someone act as moderator in the class of like a focus group and some other people were the note takers and they recorded it. The note takers and recorders were asked to produce a top line summary in like 15 or 20 minutes. The prompt was using your own thematic pieces, you know, and you can then go back and check with AI create this presentation.
When I saw the presentation, there was so much tension within me. So one, there was tension because of how good, cosmetically, it looked. It was made with gamma. So cosmetically, it looked great. It looked like a polished deliverable. And as the team went through it, 20 minutes, insights were the texture wasn't quite.
There was a slide that said it had verbatims on it. And I was like, there's no way. I heard them say that. They did not use those words to say that. So those are not verbatims at all. I'm pretty clear on that. then the other thing was, as I went in and probed the team of like, you gave the insight that quality is ever increasingly important to consumers and the way they make decisions. Tell me more. And then they gave the textured examples.
They gave the why. They said what happened in the body language when people were asked about it. And I'm like, that? That's what I want to see in this deliverable. The deliverable looks great. On the surface, it gives nice surface level insights. But it does not delve into the whys or the texture that helps with the confidence of decision making. And that is what insights professionals
should increasingly bring to the table is that human aspect, that curiosity, as well as the ability to land in the context of the conversation. Often we are so used to the months that it takes to deliver a research, which is no longer acceptable. so we show up in the room like, great, we finally got the study back and we're talking about things.
that leadership has moved on from months ago and we're landing in the wrong space in the conversation. So it's understanding how context has shifted. It's being able to come in and show up. A lot of times we take pride in the objectivity that we bring to the work that we do, which I think is important. And it is important that we increasingly develop a point of view that we can reflect so we show up
as a consultant that not only understands what we learned from a static study, how that connects to other things that we've learned and how it orients within the space of strategy. I mean, that's what that future of insights looks like for me.
Jess Gaedeke (33:03)
I'm so glad I asked. Honestly, that was such a good synopsis. my gosh, Kendra. just, I can see the sound bites coming out. I love it so Okay. We're going to do the final lightning round. This is the final dig. So this is all about you. I don't think you have a work self and a personal self. I think you're just Kendra, but feel free to take off your work hat for a minute. What's the last product or service you bought on impulse?
Kendra Speed (33:16)
Okay.
Feel like with this shift, I'm not doing as much impulsive buying.
was going into Lululemon and buying a bunch of clothes for my daughter, because she's very conscious and these things. And so I was just downtown and I'm like, let's go in and let's go get some stuff. So that was probably it, which was fun her, know, for me to do for her.
That's probably what lot of my buying is centered on, is child-based.
Jess Gaedeke (33:54)
Yeah,
keeping someone else happy. Hey, I'm no stranger to that girl. I get that for sure. So perhaps relatedly, what's a product or a brand that you could really rationalize any price point for? You just have to have it in your life.
Kendra Speed (34:09)
Okay, so it's not, I I guess it would be a product. It's not a, it's like a category. I mean, for me, I think it's about experiences. So I'm all about experiences. I'm about, yes, we're going to CES. Yes, we're gonna be a can. Yes, we're going to the BET Awards. Like, I'm all about that. So I'm all about like new to me experiences and how we make those happen. And so as I think about...
over the course of life, those have been things that I've invested in. Like, okay, I'm going to Sundance. Like, we're gonna do it. Like, I'm my volunteer at Sundance. This time I don't wanna volunteer. I just wanna go and do it. Like, for me, it is about premium experiences that I can immerse myself in and have a really good time. really enjoy things like, know, on a whim, I'll go get my makeup done, because that's just something I really like to do.
Jess Gaedeke (35:02)
And I bet those are things you never regret because they were this one is one of my favorites. So we all know that brands have distinct personalities. What's a brand that you would date and a brand that you would marry? And it's up to you if they're the same brand.
Kendra Speed (35:05)
Yeah.
A brand to marry. I really like Nordstrom me. I enjoy, I mean, that's what I do, a lot of my late night shopping. In the city that I live in, we only have a Nordstrom rack. We don't have a Nordstrom. So I do a lot of online shopping there. And I don't know, what they have tends to match my style and the things I like to do. So yeah, we're married.
A brand I'd like to date.
When I think of dating, I think about like new experiences, discovery.
Jess Gaedeke (35:42)
Yeah.
Kendra Speed (35:51)
of thing. I mean, it probably is something like BET, so BET Black Entertainment Television, a part of the Paramount or whatever it's called family. I mean, it's just like the experiences that it has, the type of programming. For me, it is like very datable. there's, you know, one day we could be there, you know, talking about sports news. Another day we might be in the ratchetness of, you know, talking about something ratchet. So
Those are the types of things I like I guess the degree of experience that can be experienced through that brand like both the in-person types of events like Okay, we're doing all about black legacy We're gonna be doing the NAACP image awards all the way to the hip-hop awards lie me I love like the diversity of that and the opportunity for people to get in where they fit in so That would be one
Jess Gaedeke (36:42)
Yeah, I that.
Okay, those brands make a ton of an industry leader that you'd like to hear from on this podcast?
Kendra Speed (36:48)
I do think, I'm gonna give some love to, Teresa. So that was my boss at LinkedIn. I think she has such an interesting perspective. She's someone that I look to as, she's very principled, right? Like she's-
The type of answers you won't get from her versus me, like she's very much like this, like it has to make sense. Make it make sense. She has a great vision for where insights organizations need to go. And I think like her, her interest set is just interesting. Like, hey, my goal is to go to as many new national parks as possible. know, she just came back from vacation in Japan. She has a great like kind of world view and the way she,
approaches things like navigating an organization, I think is something that the insights profession can benefit from. I, you know, I'll say, talk a code, speak to her.
Jess Gaedeke (37:44)
I that, I'd love to dig into that. That sounds Finally, I don't know how you're gonna answer this question, but what keeps you inspired at work? Because I think there's a lot that you can do there.
Kendra Speed (37:54)
give easy and hard. So the easy one is at work, like working at University of South Carolina. I mean, I really think it is in like students and the perspectives that they bring. So while I am entrusted to be able to share what I know about market research, what I know about working client projects,
I enjoy like the pauses. enjoy being challenged. I enjoy being asked, I get that, why? Like why, why are you saying that? Or why are you making that decision about this assignment? Because it causes me to stop and think about why do I feel the way I do? Why do I operate the way that I operate? And where might it make sense to make a pivot? I enjoy that. I enjoy being challenged. And of course it's done respectfully, but I enjoy being challenged. I enjoy.
being a newbie, know, like learning about how academia works after doing something for 20 plus years, just being in and seeing like these things play over again and again. I enjoy the freshness of, I don't have to know all the answers here. I can be new, I can learn. And when I think about like my day to day as an entrepreneur, I think it is in,
in the challenge and the exploration. in making time for conversations like this and seeing where others are with things that I've been grappling with.
Of course, I've talked to people over this time, but like, feel like feel in some ways that I've been somewhat alone or in some ways just like under the weight of doing and getting stuff done. excited about being able to hear from other people and where they sit with things. I'm excited about being able to hold space with others and being able to choose to give them more substantive impact. I've enjoyed the impact.
that I've been able to have thus far. But what I'm clear about is that the type of impact that sits within my purpose is broader than any one organization. And so I'm excited about the path to being able to realize that.
Jess Gaedeke (39:57)
Yeah, well you're unleashed now and thank you for holding space for me and talking with me today. This has truly been an inspiring conversation. I appreciate you and I wish you all the luck in the world and hopefully we can, I can get some life tips from you and we can stay in touch.
Kendra Speed (40:10)
Of course. Yeah,
thank you.