Annual conference Towards inclusive market research Our industry is too white, middle-aged and straight, said Ali Camps, deputy chairman of Quadrangle, as she opened the panel discussion on inclusion. We have a majority of women working in data and insight but the balance tips the other way in senior leadership, said Camps. Her initial challenge to the panel was: is this focus on inclusion just a fad? Dr Marie-Claude Gervais, co-founder and research director, Versiti, said: In terms of gender diversity, more people are self-identifying as LGBTQ+ so its an empirical fact that were more diverse. Melissa Gonsalves, director of strategic insight, Differentology, said: The biggest impact is technology and having a voice. Every one of us can speak up we cant be silenced anymore, good or bad. Its not a fad. But there has not been enough serious action to instigate change, argued Kenny Imafidon, managing director and co- founder, ClearView Research. Look up look at the boards and investors. Until they take it seriously, it wont change. Its seen as strategy rather than crucial to the business. If you look up its male, pale and stale. Ella Fryer-Smith, freelance research consultant, was concerned with the lack of social inclusion. Social inclusion is the last taboo subject; we talk proactively about things but not class and intersectionality of income. Its uncomfortable; not many people in the industry are from lower classes. Camps questioned if we need to think about the difference between inclusion and representation. Are we at risk of misrepresenting diverse voices because were mostly white and educated? Gonsalves said: Representation is paramount, no matter what the industry. Unless they can see, they wont aspire. Representation is important for aspiration but has to start at the ground level. Is positive discrimination needed? Gervais said: We need quotas but education around it so it doesnt backfire. And its positive action not positive discrimination. For Imafidon, how those within the industry can help others is crucial. He said having good mentors has given him the confidence to do the job and grow his team. Gervais added: The more diverse a team, the better the quality of decision making. Teams that are diverse think they make worse decisions because the process of getting to the decision is harder. The promise in the peril The market research industry should position itself at the vanguard of climate change action, according to Extinction Rebellions Paddy Loughman. He believes that market researchers are in a prime place to listen to consumers changing expectations and behaviours, forecast the trends ahead and nudge businesses into decisions that are better for them, better for consumers and better for the planet. Loughman, also a freelance strategy director and marketer researcher, said: It is 20 very important for this industry to know that climate emergency is not a story. It is a setting within which all stories take place; if were not talking about this and helping our clients understand what to do then we are sending them in the wrong direction. In a wide-ranging talk, he also touched on the conservative mainstream science that shows we are on the cusp of catastrophic climate change but that we should be optimistic about the future. Waking up was hard to do, said Loughman, pointing to factors such as status quo bias, consumer fantasy, optimism bias, hyperbolic discounting and the backfire effect. Its a choice between two kinds of change: climate and system. There is so much promise in the system change when we understand that we can do this it becomes an easy decision to make. Extinction Rebellion is here to draw attention to denial and to help overcome it, he said, comparing the group to an annoying fire alarm, for which we are grateful when the fire turns out to be real. What comes next is the fire brigade and we are all that fire brigade. It is up to us to pick up the fire extinguishers and rebuild the house so that it doesnt catch fire again. Part of the problem, and denial, comes from measuring the wrong things, he said. For instance, the UK makes much of its carbon emission targets and savings, but the country was outsourcing much of its production to China and India, while berating those same countries for increasing carbon emissions. We need to measure carbon consumption because if were not measuring all of the consumption then we make the wrong assumptions about China and India. Its all of us or none of us. For businesses, he urged them to see systematic change and sustainability as an opportunity not a sacrifice. He cited Unilevers Sustainable Living Plan, which over eight years saw topline growth and a 290% shareholder return. It takes just 20% of a sector to do something different for the whole sector to change.