Meet Metis.
Connecting uncommon dots to find novel insights is what we do.
Metis was conceived from the founders’ ability to connect the dots.
The work of James Surowiecki, who wrote ‘The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations’.
Surowiecki’s thesis relates to how crowd psychology, a diverse group of independent people, is likely to make certain decisions better than individuals or even experts.
The recognition that businesses in many industries were becoming commoditized, suffering from a lack of differentiation beyond price.
There seemed a need for a new type of B2B research that would motivate the fresh thinking required to raise the bar and create distinction, even for already best-of-breed companies.
The work of Harvard University’s Neuroscience Lab proved why people are motivated to reveal their thoughts and feelings, regardless of whether anyone is listening. They found that self-disclosure stimulates the pleasure centers of the brain. In other words, it feels good.
This helps to explain the surge in digital media review commentary and platforms. In fact, people opine online about everything from travel or dining experiences, retail products, movies, banks, hospitals and doctors, pharmaceuticals, and much more. These reviews, when analyzed for rare nuances, are the gateway to new competitive understandings.
The work of neuroscientist Dr. Antonio Damasio, Chair of Neuroscience USC, proved that decision-making is governed by emotion.
By studying people who had damage in the part of the brain where emotions are generated, he found that they all had something peculiar in common – they couldn’t make decisions. They could describe what they could do in logical terms, but they found it impossible to make even the simplest choice. Thus, emotions are critical to decisions.
In studying the nature of innovation we saw that sometimes it comes from rare genius (for example, Apple’s iPhone). But often it comes from simply paying attention to customers.
For instance, in the ‘60s, Mary Quant realized her customers were putting scissors to her already shortened skirts, and thus, the mini-skirt was born. Nearly 100 years ago, a Jaeger-LeCoultre innovation was inspired when fixing the watches, broken during heated matches, of their polo-playing customers. Their now iconic fashion statement Reverso, the first double-sided sports watch, was the solution. They literally flipped the script.
Examples such as these led us to understand that time-worn research methods for ‘listening to customers’ needed a refresh.
And we know you’re wondering…
Metis was named after the goddess of wisdom, good counsel, and planning. She harnesses the untapped intelligence of crowds, embraces and encourages peoples’ desire to talk about themselves, and makes analyzing emotions — the seat of decision-making — central to the work.
Born from combined decades of the founders’ customer experience expertise, plus brilliant technology, Metis aims to stir your mind.