Editor's note: If you’re an end-client researcher and interested in participating in a Q&A with Quirk’s, please e-mail me at emilyk@quirks.com.  

Priya Mathur

Senior Market Research Manager
Microsoft Research + Insights
 

Could you describe your background and how you landed in research and insights? 

At my core I strive to be a formidable customer advocate. I work to fiercely represent the needs and wants of customers and build deep relationships within the business to transform those needs and wants into an organizational culture of customer obsession. I have always kept customer and stakeholder empathy at the root of how I show up to work – connecting ideas and people in service of enabling organizations to give their customers what they really want.

I started this mission with a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Texas at Austin. In my near two decades in market research the common thread has always been to deliver a clear answer from customers to a clear question posed by the business. Appreciation for that balance is why I’ve been invited into some of the rooms where those critical decisions are made at organizations such as HP, Dell, Frito-Lay, Dacor, Comcast and most recently, Microsoft. At Microsoft I’ve represented the voice of Xbox Live users, IT professionals, developers, technology decision makers and now in my most recent role, Microsoft Partners. My goal is always to connect customers to the organizations that aspire to serve them well.

What advice do you have for young people wanting to embark on a career in research? 

Be intentional. I took a meandering path to where I am today taking a variety of missteps, staying too long in a bad role, working for a bad manager, taking roles that neither fed my passion nor gave me purpose. I didn’t pause early in my career to ask myself the hard questions. What do I want? In a world of tradeoffs, what am I optimizing for? What gives me joy? Where is my passion? With intention comes purpose, and with purpose comes power. The only way we crack that glass ceiling is if we enable those coming up behind us with the power to get closer to that ceiling faster than we did. 

Ignore the race and enjoy your journey. We’re all guilty of trolling through LinkedIn seeing friends and peers with fancier titles, working for bigger names and we judge ourselves for not being as driven. This is a fool’s exercise. Remember that each person’s career equations and the trade-offs they are willing to make/not make are different from your own. Rather than competing against others running different races, stay focused on your track, what is right for you and the things you are optimizing for – whether it be money, level, ownership, recognition, work/life balance, culture, etc. – to achieve your personal best. 

Finally, never burn a bridge. The world is a small place and our career networks smaller still. I can’t tell you the countless times I’ve had vendors turn into teammates, teammates turn into managers, managers turn into advocates. While burning a bridge may feel good in the moment, erring on the side of diplomacy and acting with professionalism will serve you better in the long run. 

What are some of your personal goals and aspirations for the next five or 10 years? 

I see myself empowering others. Through mentoring, coaching, managing a team, volunteering, guest lecturing, you name it. I aspire to inspire the next generation of researchers to pivot from transactional engagements to relationship-driven customer obsession. To not think of methodologies and projects but tools and business goals. This is how our discipline will evolve, integrate, persist and drive impact … and ultimately pivot from a means to an end to driving purposeful outcomes.