Presidential Point of View--With Peggy O'Connor

September 28, 2007

As President of your organization what does an average day look like?

An average day is like lying on a beautiful tropical beach with barb wire and a hand grenade.

What was the best business decision you ever made?

My best decision was to keep up with the technological changes in our industry and expand into new related areas of business

As a business leader how do you measure success?

The obvious one is monetarily but of equal weight is the development and retention of your key employees.

Are there certain qualities that you look for in people you are hiring?

The qualities I look for when I hire are fairly straight forward. Work ethic, excellent diction, minimal accent, enthusiastic manner, honesty, reliability and the able to speak their mind regardless of the circumstances.

Who do you admire the most in the research community?

I most admire the interviewers who can do this work with confidence and quality.

How would you describe your leadership style?

My leadership style is fair and compassionate.

Please list 3 words that describe yourself

Strong, caring, committed.

What inspired you to get into the market research industry?

Years ago there were only two research companies and I applied through an ad in the paper and was put in charge of my own filing cabinet to work on the first million dollar study ever done for Life Magazine . I still have some of the incentives that were given to participating respondents. I think they are now called collectibles.

How do you motivate your employees?

Motivation of employees is a very complicated subject. First, they must have inner motivation that we can build on. We do extensive on going training to give them confidence. We lay out their job description so they understand their space within the company and finally we play games and competitions to keep the excitement and buzz in the room.

What do you do for fun when you aren't working?

Cook, eat out, entertain, read and play tennis and play with my animals (4 cats, 2 dogs and 1 husband)

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