EUROPE – June 2025 – Aeton Lim, MSID, SID-AD, Strategic Analytics & Insights, Certified Foresight Practitioner and Greenbook Future List 2025 honoree, spoke at IIEX Europe 2025 conference in Amsterdam. The conference is a leading event for insights professionals across Europe. Aeton Lim shared his expertise around insights and innovation, with governance, foresight and strategy in mind.
Aeton Lim outlined a critical need for insights professionals to adopt the language of the boardroom to ensure their research is not only heard but acted upon. This perspective addresses the common pitfall of valuable research being ignored due to a failure to connect with leadership priorities. He mentioned that the state of the industry has many good practices, but insights often see a disconnect in alignment with leadership. To gain stronger buy-in from executives, we have to go beyond our traditional market research and insights roles. We must learn the language of the boardroom and then speak it.
Aeton Lim identifies the core responsibilities of boards and executives as conformance, performance, and transformation. While insight teams are also the "brains behind innovations," their work are often voiced by the country and/or business unit leaders, whom speaks out in a different language that compels boards and executives to act or invest on. Insights have to "speak in that language as we articulate what it means to them - Financial Performance, Investor Relations (Future ROI), Corporate Value Chain." These leaders are also conducting risk management, intertwining the risk universe with growth opportunities. This is where insights can play a role within.
Citing an 8-month retail advisory project with some senior teammates, Aeton Lim illustrated how to shift the conversation from retrospective data to a forward-looking, holistic assessment of strategic options. "The leaders of the retail didn’t want a report of what worked in the past, but a holistic assessment of options such as digitally & then physically breaking into Australia, Japan, US."
In these conversations, insights must be translated into financials, strategic execution, and risk. Insights tells leaders which combination of product and activations can land the intended positioning and effect at each milestone, but it must be contextualized and connected, in a calculated manner.
"It’s not just about which products can bring in the most sales in Australia now," Aeton Lim alluded. Which products can bring in the most sales, is fit for consistent bulk shipment and storage for online deliveries, and for attracting consumers around its subsequent key retail locations. Which products are more resilient to market turbulence? The business is "carefully positioned for longer-term distinctiveness, part of a bigger play."
Another core message touches on the proactive management of uncertainty. Aeton Lim points out that market research is valuable in being a torchlight in these (uncertain) areas, yet this advantage is often underutilized. "If we want to be a trusted advisor, we not only have to get a holistic understanding of the terrain but also a foresight of what may happen." By anticipating plausible scenarios—from tariffs and AI disruption to the rise of sustainable supply chains — smart organizations could have been preparing.
Aeton Lim shares on his perspective on the future of insight: "Insights will inform Foresight. Foresight will shape Strategy. and Strategy, in its execution, will ask for Insights again."
Aeton Lim concludes on how to make sure your research never gets ignored, "with an early anticipation that’s connected to leadership language, not just for us (insights), but executives to think over, it naturally creates an important agenda for our (insights) research in the boardroom."
About IIEX Europe
IIEX Europe is the premier insights event in Europe, bringing together researchers, marketers, and strategists to discuss the latest trends and innovations in the industry. The conference is produced by Greenbook, a leading voice in the insights community. Attendees can expect to gain valuable knowledge, network with peers, and discover the latest technologies and methodologies shaping the future of insights.
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