Iceland
What a difference a year makes: notes from Iceland
On a family trip to Iceland in April 2024, AJ Keirans looked back on the year since he was laid off, and shared some thoughts on what quality really means in market research.
April 15, 2024:
What a difference a year makes. Last April I was laid off (thanks to Marketing/PR folks for the spin on 'I got fired') and during that low period I allowed others to define my worth and my perception of success. I have since realized what a mistake that was and know what is possible as a healthy, positive and supportive leader. Titles and spin give false perceptions of what is quality (teaser for future posts) and how one should run their business while having a huge impact on growth and success.
When I felt down and out, a kind gesture from Dana Stanley & Greenbook changed my trajectory and had me excited to be a 'Free Agent'. He did this with no fanfare or public boasting, but it is something that has meant the world to me. Attending IIEX was a first for me and showed me I am just getting started on my adventure. Fun fact: when you create info for your badge, I put the company name as Good Human Partners. It was a nice opportunity to test drive it - before that moment I had no intentions of starting my own thing. Special thanks to James Whaley for encouraging me - to have someone who has built such a success be so welcoming and positive was amazing. He may have believed in me before I did myself.
I share this because I vowed to support GB/IIEX as they supported me when I had no business, no ability to sponsor and maybe my attendee ROI was unknown. I reached out to my network and connected Bill Shufelt & Karen Lynch (great podcast episode) with hopes of a potential Keynote as a sign of my gratitude. I am missing it this year to enjoy time with family and celebrate Good Human Partners (pictures from our first day of the trip) during April Break, but hope you can make it. Support those who support you. In a time when we are becoming super saturated with many conferences, it's important to make deliberate choices with your spend. IIEX is truly unique and Austin is a great city too.
"I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."
April 25, 2024:
As we focus more on QUALITY - I wanted to share some thoughts on the topic more than just a valid complete, quality checks and how to best identify.
Note: the below are all not finite statements, but food for thought and hopefully will spark some discussions.
If someone takes many surveys and does so to profit from it, that is a red flag or a concern with QUALITY. We assume that they are not being truthful and doing it for nefarious reasons.
If speakers at conferences are pay to play - either as a 'benefit' of being a sponsor or directly paying to share their stories, should that be known? Is their information or perspective less important just because they are paying to share it? Is the inference that by being on stage you are a thought leader or sharing QUALITY content?
If we have all of these new pieces of technology to prevent fraud and promote QUALITY, shouldn't the number of bad actors in the space be going down month over month? It feels like we are just removing the problem from the single survey or instance, but letting them go next door to your neighbors' surveys.
I see all of these as being intertwined and another level to how I think about the current space - QUALITY to me is more than ones and zeroes. Would love to know what your thoughts are on any of these points?
For partial click-bait and to share part 2 of the amazing trip in Iceland here are some more trip photos. I'd love to attend an immersive MRX Conference in Iceland.
