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Director of Global Market Insights

Liz O'Hara

I was sitting with a senior leader and walking him through my research, trying to help him understand what to do about a business question he had. He said, ‘Nobody cares about your research, Liz. Tell me what to do.’ What he wanted was for me to tell him what to do, not hide behind my research, not bring him a 60-page PowerPoint deck.

Why research is only part of the job

Director of Global Market Insights

5 years

Sr. Manager, Innovation Pillar Lead

3 years

Manager, Convenience Store

2 years

Sr. Manager, Cheerios

2 years

Sr. Manager, New Product Assessment

2 years

Manager, Virtual Store Testing and DCM

2 years

Business Analyst

2 years

School of Business MBA, Marketing

5 years

Human Resource Management

Successfully transitioned to med tech, bringing customer empathy, strategic leadership and an eye for experimentation IMPACT: Brought the customer to life in Abbot’s first journey and jobs mapping; established the analytics and data science function, allowing first-party data insights to guide growth

Led the highly successful In-context Experimentation Team IMPACT: Found ways to bring new products to life and in store in weeks instead of in months or years; then trained non-competitive companies a methodology and way of working

First time working in shopper insights and learning how to share our stories on a larger stage IMPACT: Became trained by PA to author articles, present publicly and in front of customers

First time leading a brand with advertising and new product pipeline IMPACT: Learned how to dig deeper into the underlying motivations of and empathy for our customers and ensure they “saw themselves” in our communications

First job managing a large team and diving deep into new product assessment; also went bold and suggested major overhauls to my own job and our team IMPACT: Learned that to be valued strategically, you need to say the tough part out loud

First chance to really experiment with new methodologies IMPACT: Brought virtual store testing into the company and cut my teeth in experimental design studies

First foray into Insights was by accident; this is where I fell in love with Insights IMPACT: Allowed me to learn about secondary analytics and new product innovation in our Pillsbury business

Wanted to move from sales to strategy; the part-time MBA helped me find new career paths

I was the first person in my family to earn a college degree, one of the only times I saw my dad cry

Hover + to reveal details on role and impact

Liz’s Path

How this leader discovered a career where the job is to keep learning and asking why.

From accidental researcher to strategic business advisor

Director of Global Market Insights

Liz O'Hara

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