Most insight careers not linear, & why that’s a strength
Unexpected Routes: What the 2025 Global 30 Under 30 reveal about the power of unconventional career paths
If there’s one myth the 2025 Global 30 Under 30 cohort dispels immediately, it’s the idea that insight professionals follow a predictable or carefully mapped career path. In fact, the overwhelming message from this year’s honourees is the opposite: most of them didn’t plan to work in insights at all. Some thought they would pursue psychology, public health, medicine, engineering, design, or marketing. Others expected to stay in analytics, operations, or even sales. A few openly describe “falling into” insights almost by accident. But rather than seeing their non-linear journeys as detours, they now see them as the very thing that makes them better researchers, analysts, and strategists. Their stories offer an important reminder for anyone entering, or shaping, this industry: non-linear careers aren’t the exception; they’re often the advantage.
A Generation of Career Switchers
What stands out across the cohort is how many started out on a completely different path before discovering insights. Examples of common switches include STEM → behavioural science or data-led insight roles, where technical training meets human curiosity; healthcare or public health → social or consumer research, driven by an interest in real-world impact; business, consulting, or sales → customer insight, where commercial understanding becomes an asset; creative or design fields → qualitative research, where storytelling instincts flourish; and policy, sociology, or anthropology → cultural or social insight, turning academic perspectives into practical intelligence. These shifts weren’t planned, they evolved as each individual realised what they were naturally drawn to: understanding people, identifying patterns, and making sense of complexity.
Curiosity as the Turning Point
The moment that redirects someone into insights is rarely a structured decision. Instead, it’s often an instinctive pull. Many honourees describe a specific project that revealed the power of research; the first time data felt meaningful rather than abstract; a realisation that they cared more about why people behaved a certain way than about their original field of study; or discovering that insights was one of the few careers where both analytical and creative instincts could coexist. These moments didn’t just change careers, they clarified identity. They helped emerging professionals understand the type of work that energised them.
Why Unconventional Paths Create Stronger Insight Leaders
One of the most compelling findings from this year’s cohort is how their varied backgrounds strengthen the industry. Non-linear careers bring with them broader empathy, coming from healthcare, education, customer-facing roles, or social sciences builds a deeper understanding of people and context. They offer transferable analytical tools, engineers, data scientists, and economists bring rigour, modelling skills, and a systems mindset. They add commercial awareness, those from sales, marketing, or consulting easily connect insight to business outcomes. They contribute cultural awareness and sensitivity, researchers from diverse academic and cultural backgrounds bring richer interpretation and more inclusive thinking. And they demonstrate agility and adaptability, switching careers requires resilience, learning agility, and confidence, qualities that define future leaders. Far from being a weakness, an unconventional path is often the secret ingredient that enables honourees to connect dots others don’t see.
Lessons for Aspiring Insight Professionals
The stories shared by the cohort offer reassurance and inspiration for anyone unsure about their own path. You don’t need to have it figured out, most insight leaders didn’t choose this career; they found it. Your previous experience is an asset, everything you’ve done before, even unrelated jobs, shapes your perspective and enriches your insight work. Curiosity is more important than direction, if you’re interested in people and problems, you’re already halfway to being a great researcher. And let your path evolve, don’t cling to a predetermined plan; follow the work that energises you.
Closing: The Power of the Non-Linear Path
If there is one message the 2025 Global 30 Under 30 make clear, it is this: insight careers are not meant to be linear. They are shaped by curiosity, serendipity, learning, and the courage to pivot when something feels right. This industry thrives because it welcomes, and relies on, people with diverse experiences and unconventional perspectives. For future leaders, the lesson is clear: don’t fear the unexpected route. It might just be the one that takes you exactly where you’re meant to be.