What does social intelligence mean to you?
When I started my career around 15 years ago, social media was about to revolutionize and digitize a large part of human social relationships and communication. Popular Social networks such as Twitter or Facebook had been founded only a few years earlier and were beginning to take the world by storm. The increasing shift of human communication into the digital space opened up a completely new field of activity for me as a young and ambitious market researcher. This communication became measurable, objectifiable and undeniably contained an immense treasure trove of valuable insights. In addition, the discipline that we call “social intelligence” today was still new and it offered me the space to develop, implement and establish new methods and approaches. SI therefore became the core of my creativity and work, the accelerator of my personal career and my passion.
Today, 15 years later, SI has developed into an important part of modern market and communication research, but it is still far from being established everywhere it should. In my work with companies and organizations, SI allows me to initiate change, further “democratize” access to knowledge and to make decision-making processes more fact-based and due, more effective.
What motivates you in your work? What makes you want to keep working in social intelligence?
Among others, these are three main motivators for me:
- A more fact-based decision-making process thanks to Social Data requires new processes, roles and foremost – a cultural shift. Supporting our clients to drive that shift, fighting against skepticism, experiencing large organizations transforming and seeing people experiencing the benefits in the end is very rewarding.
- Using my background in “classical” market research to professionalize the discipline even further allows me to be a true pioneer in the field. Creating new methods & approaches with this knowledge is also very motivating.
- Tapping into my experience and passion for Social Intelligence to empower young professionals and give them a good start into their work life.
What do you think makes you successful in your work?
I think there are many factors, but I would like to emphasize the importance of good interactions with colleagues and personal networks.
Although SI is a very technical discipline, my work primarily takes place in interaction with other people. I always try to share my experiences and knowledge with others and to explain decisions as transparently as possible. Processes are very complex today and require specialist knowledge from many disciplines. Collaboration is therefore essential and lone wolves will have little success in the long run.
What are the key skills that have contributed to your success?
Apart from the obvious, of being analytical, fact-driven, and open-minded for the new, it was “creativity” that contributed a lot to my success. For example, despite seeing AI advancing a lot in the last years, decisions are ultimately made by humans. Creativity allows me to embed data in exciting stories, thereby captivating people and convincing them more effectively.
What makes social data special compared to other data sources?
Social Data is on one hand unstructured, chaotic, and massive but on the other hand it is also extremely rich, insightful, less biased, and straight from the “heart” of a consumer. While for example classical surveys are made to give answers to questions you already have, Social Data can unveil the unexpected leading to totally new perspectives.
What does being a social intelligence pioneer mean in the context of your work?
For me, being a pioneer means above all being able to pave the way for future generations of social intelligence experts. It allows me to innovate and leave a lasting impression. Being among this year’s top 50 is an acknowledgment of my work and I hope to get even more into the professional exchange with like-minded experts, to gain new insights and perspectives and thus to continuously improve my work further.
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