Lyndall Spooner isn’t your typical CEO. A former molecular biologist turned market research maven, she’s the founder and head of 5D, a consultancy known for digging beyond the data to uncover deeper meaning. With decades of experience in understanding consumer behaviour, designing Voice of the Customer programs, and delivering real marketing ROI, Spooner is as much a scientist as she is a strategist.
In this candid conversation with B&T’s own Sparrow, she reflects on the serendipitous start to her career, why too much data is a modern business trap, and the one thing keeping CMOs up at night — and it’s not what you think.
1. You’ve had a brilliant career starting out as a research consultant and now the founder/CEO of 5D – if you had to pick only one what would be your career highlight so far?
Spooner: Being invited to chair ESOMAR Congress later this year in Prague. I am working with an amazing committee and it’s keeping me on my toes! It is good to be challenged and to push yourself, and it is rare to get the opportunity to collaborate with people from around the world.
2. You were a molecular biologist, so why the switch to marketing/research?
Spooner: It was pure serendipity. My first real job out of uni was working for one of my maths tutors at a small consulting firm. That job introduced me to the world of market research and consumer data. I learnt a lot, I was thrown in the deep end and was given opportunities most people would have to wait years for. Plus, I was 22 years old and presenting to CEOs, then driving them in my car after picking them up from long lunches with my boss – I was freaking out, but I loved it.
3. Do we have too much data and don’t know how to interpret or find a stunning insight?
Spooner: Yes, yes and yes. Too much data that is rubbish. No well-developed hypotheses to be tested and blindly looking at data in the hope you find something interesting. And, no real understanding of what an actual insight is, believing the bleeding obvious surface-level finding will lead to a competitive advantage. We should be selective about the data we use and be looking for the deeper intersection between what people think and what they do. That’s where you derive real meaning.
4. What did you want to be when you grew up?
Spooner: A biologist, most likely a botanist. Plants are my real passion!
5. Great research is about science, so how do you apply that at 5D?
Spooner: Go back to the foundations of scientific methods. Hypotheses, observation and exploration, frameworks and deep analysis, and well-informed conclusions. Work with what the data is telling you and educate your audience on your findings, so they are empowered.
6. As an industry, what’s one thing you would change to make us all better?
Spooner: I would make us more curious and hungrier for deeper meaning. There are no real answers in dashboards and no great strategic decisions made in five minutes. Great insights and decisions last. People talk about leaving a legacy for a brand – that is built off great learnings.
7. What’s keeping your CMO clients awake at night?
Spooner: The wrong things: short term objectives and KPIs given to them by people who don’t really understand marketing, customers’ needs or the drivers of choice. When companies claim they are “customer centric” because they have boiled down that customer centricity to one number that they have added to their scorecard and then given that number to the CMO as a target, that’s when we all have a massive problem.
8. Who have been your mentors, and what’s the best career advice you have been given?
Spooner: I have learnt from so many great people. But without a doubt the best advice always came from my Nan. My grandparents ran their own business and raised a family on their own, the same as David (my husband) and I have done. Their advice focussed on the importance of looking after yourself. If you don’t prioritise your own health (physical and mental) you can’t look after others or achieve your goals. It is too easy to put your whole self into work, but that is not setting yourself up for long-term success or happiness.
9. What’s one thing that’s not on your LinkedIn profile?
Spooner: My obsession with plants. Gardening is the best way to calm a busy mind. I can’t recommend it enough.
10. Important last question, do your parents know what you do?
Spooner: Not a clue.
