Taking risks in 2025: Q&A with Jonathan Dore, 2024 Courageous Leader award winner 

Editor’s note: Jonathan Dore is the winner of the 2024 Courageous Leader award, a category in the Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards. The award winners were announced during a virtual celebration on November 19, 2024. To learn more about the awards, visit https://www.quirksawards.com/. 

Many people strive to be good leaders.  

Jonathan Dore, executive VP and founding partner at Reach3 Insights, is a proven leader both within his company and beyond. He mentors not only his team but also students thinking about or beginning their careers in the marketing research and insight industry.  

Dore presents at Michigan State University’s MSMR program as part of a partnership between the university and Reach3 Insights. Dore might become a professor of marketing research and insight at some point in life.  

Quirk’s sat down with Dore to hear what he thinks makes a good leader and Dore’s challenge researchers!

What makes a good leader? 

There are three standout traits: self-awareness, strong decision-making and clear communication of your vision.  

Self-awareness, for me, means knowing what you need to be doing to drive your team’s success. Then actually spending most of your time doing those things – no excuses. 

This goes beyond having enough self-awareness to know what you’re good and bad at. A good leader needs to be able to delineate between what they are good at but can be done by others and what they are good at that others can’t do – then prioritize the latter, even if, that is comprised of tasks you don’t enjoy as much as the former. 

Leaders must be able to make good decisions quickly. This might not be a natural skill for most researchers – we like to do our research before deciding, right? 

But as a leader, time doesn’t always afford this, and what’s more, dwelling on the decision probably won’t inspire confidence. So, trust your gut, decide quickly and confidently and move on – you have plenty of other things to do.  

A good leader needs to be able to create a vision for their team and communicate it consistently and continuously. What do you want your team to stand for that’s unique?  

This doesn’t need to fly in the face of the things your broader organization stands for – in fact, it should be aligned – but within your company’s values and mission. What is your team uniquely bringing to the table?  

I’ve found that defining this and preaching this can become something your team rallies around, especially when times are tough.

What prompted you to begin partnering with universities? 

I was following the lead of my boss, Matt Kleinschmit, CEO and founder of Reach3 Insights.  

Matt has an ongoing relationship with a professor at Loyola University in Chicago and occasionally speaks to students about the MR industry. Shortly after we launched Reach3, he brokered a relationship between Michigan State University’s MSMR program and Reach3. He and I collaborated to deliver our first presentation in East Lansing.  

From there, I was hooked. I really enjoy presenting to students and getting a glimpse into the future talent of our industry.  

I also enjoy the opportunity to be able to give back to our industry, as there aren’t a ton of formal opportunities to do that.  I’ve been really impressed with the number and quality of students who have proactively reached out to me after a session to connect or network.  

Honestly, when I close this chapter of my career, don’t be surprised to see me become a professor of MR or insights, that might be my next calling!

Do you have any advice for someone entering the insights industry? 

Yes – lean into it!  

I’ve heard some people refer to marketing research and insights as the “smallest biggest industry in the world” and I’ve found this to be true. You’ll often run into people from your past at conferences and there is a lot of cyclical behavior in people’s careers. 

Approach your career being mindful of the fact that many of the folks you engage with will keep reappearing over the course of your career. Don’t burn any bridges! And be willing to be a bit more innovative and take risks.  

We need to evolve our discipline to stay relevant – especially now – but there aren’t enough change-makers leading this evolution. It seems like we all think someone else will do the work.  

So, my challenge to everyone, not just those entering the insights industry, is to take more risks in 2025.  

If you’re not using AI at all in your day-to-day, try to incorporate it into one task. If you’re planning to work with all the same vendors, give one project to a new vendor that you find to be interesting and innovative.  

If you’ve never been to a conference, go to one. If you’ve never given a presentation at a conference, submit an abstract! I recommend Quirk’s.  

Any change is better than none and starting small is better than not starting at all. Who’s with me?!