INSIGHT on INSIGHT: Three degrees of insight: The primary, the secondary, and the tertiary

Insight exists all around us.  And insights are created all the time.

However, insight only exists if someone, somewhere spent the time to find and record the insight.

To this end, most insight is the result of some kind of formal research.  And research is typically classified into two big buckets:  Primary and secondary. 

I also include a third bucket that fewer people recognize:  Tertiary.

THREE DEGREES OF INSIGHT

These three tiers of research can be compared to co-centric circles of friendship. 

Primary research is like our personal circle of friends (one degree of separation).  Both the depth of our knowledge and trust in them is significant.  There should be little risk when relying on them.

Secondary research is like the friends of our friends (two degrees of separation).  There is less knowledge and less trust here, but a friend of a friend is still a friend of mine.  However, there is clearly more risk when relying on this group.

Tertiary research is like the friend of a friend of a friend (three degrees of separation).  While these could be great people, limited knowledge of them means you’d be smart to limit your trust until proof has been provided.  There is significant risk that you could be let down, but there could also be a new best friend to discover here.

Follow the link for each type to read a detailed definition including the pros and cons of each.

SOMETHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING

Regardless of how much or what kind of research you currently rely on, having something is almost always better than having nothing.  Research is critical to shifting the environment from subjective opinion-based arguments to objective data-based discussions.

Hopefully your organization already has the discipline of finding and using data to guide big decisions.

Otherwise, the one who can talk the loudest, demonstrate the most passion or claim more seniority will win more decisions.  And there is little guarantee that their position is the best position.