Energizing Insights, Leading with Empathy, and Turning Understanding into Action: A Conversation with Nitesh Priyadarshi

Q&A with Nitesh Priyadarshi, Chief Strategic Insights and Analytics Officer, Danone

On MRII’s Insights & Innovators podcast, host Stan Sthanunathan spoke with Nitesh Priyadarshi about his global career in insights, his leadership philosophy, and what it really takes to elevate the role of insights inside large organizations. What follows is a lightly edited Q&A drawn from that conversation.

How did you find your way into a career in insights?

My journey into insights was much more of a happy accident than a planned path. I was born into a family of medical practitioners, so for a long time I assumed I would become a doctor. That didn’t happen, and instead I ended up studying anthropology at Delhi University. At the time, all I knew was that anthropology was the study of human beings, which felt like the closest thing to medicine for me.

That decision completely changed my life. I fell in love with anthropology, both physical and cultural, and it reshaped how I think about people. It eventually led me into marketing at a time when companies were shifting from simply producing and selling products to truly understanding consumer needs. I went on to earn an MBA, started my career as a qualitative researcher, and worked across agencies before joining Unilever, where I spent 18 years in roles across India, Brazil, Singapore, Europe, and the UK. Last year, I joined Danone to lead the global insights function from Paris.

You’ve worked across cultures and markets. What do you think the insights industry needs to do to earn greater influence at the C-suite level?

Every company talks about being consumer centric. No marketer or business leader will say otherwise. The real question is whether that belief shows up in how we actually work.

There is often a gap between saying we are consumer centric and truly living it. Speaking to five or ten consumers won’t give you market trends, and you still need scale, data, and analytics. But when you spend time with real people, you feel their pain, their passion, and their emotions. That changes how you approach your work. Projects stop feeling mechanical and start feeling human.

The second issue is that insights teams sometimes stop too early. We uncover a strong insight, present it, and feel the job is done. But an insight that does not lead to action or impact is no insight at all. Our role has to extend beyond discovery to connecting insights to growth opportunities and helping the business act on them. That means telling better stories and learning how to influence, not just inform.

Can you share an example of how you’ve helped teams move from talking about consumer centricity to actually practicing it?

One challenge is that we often work in categories we personally consume. That can be dangerous because we start projecting our own preferences onto the market. In reality, when you work at a global company, you often represent the top two to five percent of the population, not the other 90 percent you serve.

Years ago, during a debate about ice cream innovation, I asked everyone at headquarters which flavor they couldn’t live without. Then I asked the same question to consumers in the market. The results were completely different. The office favored exotic flavors, while consumers overwhelmingly chose basics like chocolate and strawberry.

Simple exercises like that make the gap visible. I also believe strongly in getting senior leaders to spend time with consumers directly. At Danone, our leadership team regularly speaks with consumers across markets, sometimes virtually. When leaders do this, you can see the shift immediately. They come back energized, more empathetic, and more connected to the work.

How would you describe your leadership style?

Empathy sits at the center of how I lead. Whether you’re working with business partners, agencies, or consumers, you need to understand where people are coming from and what pressures they face. Without that, you cannot influence effectively.

That empathy also shows up in how insights teams present results. When something doesn’t work, it’s not “your ad failed” or “your product failed.” We co-created it, so we own the outcome together. That mindset builds trust and stronger partnerships.

The second element is being part of the solution, not just the diagnosis. Insights professionals are very good at putting the problem on the table. The real impact comes when we also help answer the question of what to do next and how to move forward together.

Finally, influence requires speaking the language of the business. Every business leader wants growth. When insights are framed clearly around how they unlock growth, the conversation changes from discussion to action.

What opportunities do you see for the insights industry, especially as technology continues to evolve?

One of the biggest opportunities is visibility. As a function, we haven’t always done a great job of making our impact visible inside organizations. Insights teams need to be unapologetic about the value they create. Visibility also comes with responsibility. If the work is visible, it must be high quality.

Technology plays a critical role here. We need time to tell stories, influence decisions, and drive action. Technology can take on much of the heavy lifting involved in managing and synthesizing data, freeing researchers to focus on interpretation and storytelling.

Technology also helps us bring the outside world in. Trends move quickly across markets, and no individual can track everything manually. Tools that scan social data, search behavior, reviews, and foresight sources help insights teams spot emerging patterns faster and act before competitors do.

Do you see any major threats facing the insights profession?

I wouldn’t call them threats so much as shifts. The role of the researcher is continuing to evolve. Insights professionals are becoming more like internal consultants, focused on solving business problems rather than just delivering data.

A concept I care deeply about is humanizing insights. This is about understanding people in the context of their lives and finding where brands and products fit naturally, not forcing solutions. Technology and AI will continue to redefine tasks, but the core responsibility of driving action and impact will remain very human.

Closing Thoughts

Priyadarshi’s perspective highlights a consistent theme: insights create value only when they are lived, shared, and acted upon. From empathy-led leadership to making consumer centricity tangible and using technology to elevate human understanding, his approach offers a practical roadmap for insights teams seeking greater relevance and influence.

Listen to the full episode of MRII’s Insights & Innovators podcast featuring Nitesh Priyadarshi.