Name: Blending the power of empathy with data science
Uploaded: 2022-06-13T14:26:37.350Z
Duration: 437.8
Description: Nick Graham, VP Insights and Analytics at PepsiCo, discusses how the company have embedded a culture of empathy and consumer-centricity across their organisation. He argues that the traditional business problem-solving process can be short-sighted and inward-looking.

Alfie Butler - Alfie - EMPATHY - V4.mp4

Blending the power of empathy with data science.vtt

English

{{00:00:02}}
By blending the power of empathy,
storytelling, and human science

{{00:00:29}}
with algorithms, big data and data
science, we can really unlock much

{{00:00:33}}
more powerful and actionable insights.

{{00:00:36}}
Well, that seemed like a prescient
conversation for us to have back then,

{{00:00:40}}
because if there's anything that 2020
has taught us, right, it's the critical

{{00:00:43}}
importance, the need for empathy,
which is stronger than ever before.

{{00:00:49}}
Whether we're talking about Corona
virus and the economic impact,

{{00:00:52}}
particularly on communities of colour,
whether we're talking about Black Lives

{{00:00:56}}
Matter, the social justice movement, or
the horrific wildfires that we've seen

{{00:01:00}}
in the US and abroad, it's clear that
the need for empathy has never been

{{00:01:05}}
stronger than it has been this year.

{{00:01:08}}
And we've seen that ourselves in
our own research, a survey we did

{{00:01:11}}
back in February, March, just as
Corona virus was starting to hit

{{00:01:15}}
in the US, showed that consumers
had increasing expectations of

{{00:01:19}}
more empathy from society at large,
but then also, particularly from

{{00:01:24}}
brands and organisations like ours.

{{00:01:25}}
So, we need to step up and
build a greater culture of

{{00:01:30}}
empathy in our organisations.

{{00:01:33}}
But the biggest question that I
get as an insights professional,

{{00:01:37}}
particularly in the light of the TMRE
presentation we did last year, it all

{{00:01:41}}
sounds great,  there's no doubt that
empathy is a critically important

{{00:01:44}}
skill, but how do you actually go
about embedding this culture of

{{00:01:48}}
empathy within an organisation?

{{00:01:52}}
So there is no silver
bullets I'm afraid.

{{00:01:54}}
It's a journey.

{{00:01:55}}
It's a process that
we're going through.

{{00:01:57}}
But I think one of the unlocks that
we found over the last few months

{{00:02:00}}
has been really thinking about how
we frame and ask the questions that

{{00:02:05}}
we're putting into the business.

{{00:02:07}}
So as, the author, Edward Hodnett said,
and I'm sure you've seen variations

{{00:02:12}}
of this close every time, he was,
by the way, the author of The Art of

{{00:02:16}}
Problem-Solving, if you want some extra
reading credits, he said, look, if

{{00:02:21}}
you don't ask the right the question,
you don't get the right answers.

{{00:02:24}}
We've seen a version of this.

{{00:02:26}}
It's the garbage in, garbage out.

{{00:02:28}}
If we start with the wrong question,
doesn't matter how much amazing

{{00:02:31}}
insights and work we do, or how
much incredible data we have, the

{{00:02:35}}
answer isn't going to be truly
actionable and truly powerful as

{{00:02:39}}
if we actually just start with the
right question in the first place.

{{00:02:42}}
So with that in mind, as we think
about the way that most businesses

{{00:02:46}}
approach problem-solving, it looks
a little bit like this, right?

{{00:02:49}}
You start with a business challenge
that could be, hey, we need to

{{00:02:52}}
grow share, we need to increase the
buyer rates of our heavy buyers.

{{00:02:56}}
We go out and we do incredibly
rich consumer insight work, big

{{00:03:00}}
data, social listening to really
understand the consumer and the

{{00:03:04}}
sharper, and understand what are
the opportunities in order to make

{{00:03:10}}
the shift that we're looking for.

{{00:03:12}}
And then we internally go to develop
potential solutions, whether that's

{{00:03:15}}
creative work, innovation, programming,
display, point of sale, whatever

{{00:03:20}}
it might be in order to deliver
against that business challenge.

{{00:03:25}}
And let me say just that at this
stage, there's nothing fundamentally

{{00:03:28}}
wrong with this process, right?

{{00:03:29}}
I think that ultimately we're going
to have a business challenge, we're

{{00:03:32}}
always going to need solutions.

{{00:03:33}}
And of course, it's incredibly
important that through this process,

{{00:03:36}}
we go and gather consumer shopper
insight and data as part of this.

{{00:03:41}}
The problem I think we find
is that fundamentally it's a

{{00:03:44}}
very inward looking process.

{{00:03:46}}
It's an us problem that
we're trying to solve.

{{00:03:49}}
And so we don't really give
much thought to what's going

{{00:03:52}}
on in the category, with our
competition, with the consumer.

{{00:03:55}}
It's somewhat sort of
myopic and short-sighted.

{{00:03:59}}
It's sort of just assumes that
this is the way that we're

{{00:04:02}}
going to frame a problem.

{{00:04:04}}
It doesn't really allow for the fact
that maybe that's not really the issue

{{00:04:07}}
here, or maybe there's a more specific
problem that we're trying to solve for.

{{00:04:12}}
So what we've tried to do is
we've embedded more of a culture

{{00:04:15}}
of consumer centricity and
empathy across the organisation.

{{00:04:18}}
We've tried to identify a
couple of intervention points

{{00:04:21}}
when that can be most powerful.

{{00:04:24}}
So the first is between once
you've sort of defined the

{{00:04:27}}
business question is how do you
turn that into a people question?

{{00:04:32}}
And we'll talk about that in a second.

{{00:04:33}}
But how do you really convert that
business question, if something that

{{00:04:37}}
is more specific and more human.

{{00:04:40}}
And then second is once you've
gone and gathered all of that

{{00:04:42}}
incredible consumer insight is
how do you find the human tension?

{{00:04:47}}
So where's really the
human problem to solve?

{{00:04:50}}
So if you know what the people
question is, then what actually

{{00:04:53}}
is the real human barrier or
trigger to changing that behavior?

{{00:04:58}}
And then use that to be the guide
of your potential solutions and

{{00:05:01}}
potentially then the solutions that
you've come up with will be much more

{{00:05:04}}
expansive than if you just thought
about it in a very sort of traditional

{{00:05:08}}
and inward-looking way of things.

{{00:05:11}}
To me, what a people question
is it's fundamentally there's

{{00:05:15}}
a target in there, there's a
person, or set of people, whose

{{00:05:18}}
behavior we're trying to influence.

{{00:05:20}}
And we have a bit more specificity
about what exactly is the issue, right?

{{00:05:24}}
So if we look at how do you reignite
relevance and drive growth of the

{{00:05:27}}
category, an example might be, is how
do we reassure category users that

{{00:05:32}}
this product is still good for them?

{{00:05:33}}
So at least there's a hypothesis
about what do you mean by rather

{{00:05:37}}
than so you mean, oh, it's about
reassuring on health and nutrition.

{{00:05:42}}
For example, even with heavy
buyers, getting heavy buyers to

{{00:05:45}}
buy more, how do you motivate Paige
and John to switch to occasions?

{{00:05:48}}
Okay, so at least now I know more
specifically it's not necessarily

{{00:05:52}}
about them getting to add more
to their basket I'm trying to

{{00:05:54}}
steal occasions from a specific
competitor for a specific person.

{{00:05:59}}
Trying to turn it into a people
question makes it much more

{{00:06:02}}
specific and you understand, at
least even at this stage, some more

{{00:06:06}}
about what the human behavior is
that you're trying to influence.

{{00:06:10}}
So for me, the principles of a
good people question, and we'll

{{00:06:13}}
see some more examples in a second,
is it has to be specific, right?

{{00:06:16}}
So that has to be specific
to a to a target  group.

{{00:06:20}}
And you need to identify the
particular behavior or behaviors

{{00:06:25}}
that you want to change.

{{00:06:26}}
It should have some, at least
hypotheses about the drivers

{{00:06:30}}
or like current behavior today
and what those triggers and

{{00:06:32}}
barriers to change might be.

{{00:06:35}}
You obviously have to
have an open mind, right?

{{00:06:36}}
So this can't be necessarily fixed
question, it may evolve over time.

{{00:06:41}}
You may need to reframe it again,
as you learn more about consumer

{{00:06:44}}
or shopper, but at least you start
with a much more specific question

{{00:06:48}}
that you're trying to understand.

{{00:06:50}}
You may learn, for example, that
healthiness and nutrition isn't the

{{00:06:54}}
reason that the category that we
talked about on the previous page is

{{00:06:58}}
not perceived as relevant anymore, but
at least you'd go in with a greater

{{00:07:00}}
hypothesis, a greater specificity
about what the human problem is

{{00:07:04}}
that you're trying to understand.

{{00:07:05}}
So you're better built to understand
when you get to the human tension,

{{00:07:08}}
what actually is the issue
that we're trying to solve for.

By blending the power of empathy,
storytelling, and human science

with algorithms, big data and data
science, we can really unlock much

Well, that seemed like a prescient
conversation for us to have back then,

because if there's anything that 2020
has taught us, right, it's the critical

importance, the need for empathy,
which is stronger than ever before.

Whether we're talking about Corona
virus and the economic impact,

particularly on communities of colour,
whether we're talking about Black Lives

Matter, the social justice movement, or
the horrific wildfires that we've seen

in the US and abroad, it's clear that
the need for empathy has never been

And we've seen that ourselves in
our own research, a survey we did

back in February, March, just as
Corona virus was starting to hit

in the US, showed that consumers
had increasing expectations of

more empathy from society at large,
but then also, particularly from

So, we need to step up and
build a greater culture of

But the biggest question that I
get as an insights professional,

particularly in the light of the TMRE
presentation we did last year, it all

sounds great,  there's no doubt that
empathy is a critically important

skill, but how do you actually go
about embedding this culture of

So there is no silver
bullets I'm afraid.

But I think one of the unlocks that
we found over the last few months

has been really thinking about how
we frame and ask the questions that

So as, the author, Edward Hodnett said,
and I'm sure you've seen variations

of this close every time, he was,
by the way, the author of The Art of

Problem-Solving, if you want some extra
reading credits, he said, look, if

you don't ask the right the question,
you don't get the right answers.

If we start with the wrong question,
doesn't matter how much amazing

insights and work we do, or how
much incredible data we have, the

answer isn't going to be truly
actionable and truly powerful as

if we actually just start with the
right question in the first place.

So with that in mind, as we think
about the way that most businesses

approach problem-solving, it looks
a little bit like this, right?

You start with a business challenge
that could be, hey, we need to

grow share, we need to increase the
buyer rates of our heavy buyers.

We go out and we do incredibly
rich consumer insight work, big

data, social listening to really
understand the consumer and the

sharper, and understand what are
the opportunities in order to make

And then we internally go to develop
potential solutions, whether that's

creative work, innovation, programming,
display, point of sale, whatever

it might be in order to deliver
against that business challenge.

And let me say just that at this
stage, there's nothing fundamentally

I think that ultimately we're going
to have a business challenge, we're

And of course, it's incredibly
important that through this process,

we go and gather consumer shopper
insight and data as part of this.

The problem I think we find
is that fundamentally it's a

It's an us problem that
we're trying to solve.

And so we don't really give
much thought to what's going

on in the category, with our
competition, with the consumer.

It's somewhat sort of
myopic and short-sighted.

It's sort of just assumes that
this is the way that we're

It doesn't really allow for the fact
that maybe that's not really the issue

here, or maybe there's a more specific
problem that we're trying to solve for.

So what we've tried to do is
we've embedded more of a culture

of consumer centricity and
empathy across the organisation.

We've tried to identify a
couple of intervention points

So the first is between once
you've sort of defined the

business question is how do you
turn that into a people question?

But how do you really convert that
business question, if something that

And then second is once you've
gone and gathered all of that

incredible consumer insight is
how do you find the human tension?

So where's really the
human problem to solve?

So if you know what the people
question is, then what actually

is the real human barrier or
trigger to changing that behavior?

And then use that to be the guide
of your potential solutions and

potentially then the solutions that
you've come up with will be much more

expansive than if you just thought
about it in a very sort of traditional

To me, what a people question
is it's fundamentally there's

a target in there, there's a
person, or set of people, whose

And we have a bit more specificity
about what exactly is the issue, right?

So if we look at how do you reignite
relevance and drive growth of the

category, an example might be, is how
do we reassure category users that

So at least there's a hypothesis
about what do you mean by rather

than so you mean, oh, it's about
reassuring on health and nutrition.

For example, even with heavy
buyers, getting heavy buyers to

buy more, how do you motivate Paige
and John to switch to occasions?

Okay, so at least now I know more
specifically it's not necessarily

about them getting to add more
to their basket I'm trying to

steal occasions from a specific
competitor for a specific person.

Trying to turn it into a people
question makes it much more

specific and you understand, at
least even at this stage, some more

Case Study

Nick Graham, VP Insights and Analytics at PepsiCo, discusses how the company have embedded a culture of empathy and consumer-centricity across their organisation. He argues that the traditional business problem-solving process can be short-sighted and inward-looking. 

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Nick Graham

VP Insights & Analytics

Graham discusses how companies frame business questions and the importance of asking the right questions in order to receive the right answers. 

How to embed a culture of empathy within your organisation

How to turn your business questions into people questions.

PepsiCo's intervention points

Targeting your question to a specific audience and identifying the behaviours that you wish to influence are two principles that help turn a business question into a people question.