Carol Fitzgerald Tells Us What’s Next

In honor of Women’s History Month, GreenBook is talking with female leaders from across the insights industry to celebrate their achievements and inspire the next wave of professionals. Join us each week for the CEO Series as we sit down with top female leaders for a conversation on industry trends, overcoming challenges, and developing leadership skills.

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I have had the privilege to know and work with Carol Fitzgerald, CEO of Buzzback, for many years and what has always impressed me is her visionary ability to see the curve and building the business to take advantage of it. She has led the development of one of the leading innovator companies in the industry. From the business model, to the organizational culture, and of course the tools they bring to the industry Carol and her team pretty much define what being an innovation leader is.

In honor of Women’s History Month, I caught up with Carol and discuss her journey as a CEO and as an innovator, and of course all through the lens of being a successful female leader. If you’re looking for a lesson on how to chart a course for your career that leads to massive success on all levels, then Carol is your teacher. Enjoy!

 

This text has been edited for clarity.

Lenny Murphy: Hello, everybody. It’s Lenny Murphy here. Another in our really exciting CEO series for the month of March. And today, I’m joined by Carol Fitzgerald, CEO BuzzBack. Hi, Carol.

 

Carol Fitzgerald: Hi, Lenny. Nice to see you.

 

Lenny Murphy: Good to see you as well. So for the audience to see, for disclosure, Carol and I met each other a very long time. She is a client, a friend, just all around great fantastic person. So there is her core here that you may pick up. We were not strangers to one another. So it’s always good to see you, Carol.

 

Carol Fitzgerald: Same here. Hope I live up to that.

 

Lenny Murphy: You never disappoint. I think in all of our years, I can never think of a time that you have ever disappointed me. If you notice, guys, she didn’t say the same about me, so that may be something we need to talk about. [LAUGHS] Anyway, so Carol, why don’t you tell again your story of, what led you to the creation of BuzzBack. And just give us that background and tell us about you.

 

Carol Fitzgerald: Sounds good. My twins who are now in their 20s, gen Z’ers, were 2 and 1/2. And I started to go into this venture really with a love of the internet. I’m a huge internet person. And importantly, to use the internet to harness insights in research, particularly at the time. It was interesting, it was the year 2000 and most companies were focused on reach and doing things in a fast and cheap way, whereas we were very much focused on the user experience and making it interactive and intuitive, and developing technology to actually do that.

And today, of course, that’s what we do. We use these things all day to communicate with imagery. Imagery is a really important theme for us at BuzzBack because it lets us be consumer centric. So we have these techniques that are image based that help us get to emotion, surface, subconscious, feelings, insights, et cetera. And importantly, to tell the story with imagery.

But I will never forget, when I started the company, a couple of our first clients Unilever and [INAUDIBLE], of course, are still early adopters of technology. I didn’t even have internet access at their desks. When they wanted information, we had to send it to their Yahoo accounts at the time or whatever it was, because the internet was evolving and it wasn’t adopted by many of the big companies that were out there.

 

Lenny Murphy: Yeah. I didn’t realize that our careers paralleled quite at that level from around 2000 in the same thing. But I think the first time that we spoke– gosh, 10 years ago something like that?

 

Carol Fitzgerald: Probably.

 

Lenny Murphy: Probably. And you were building a community platform if I recall correctly, right? And I think I pissed you off, actually on that call. [LAUGHS] Because I didn’t quite see that thesis that you guys were so well-known for already, but that useability and that specific use case, right? And then I saw you start to build the mosaic type of solution and, of course, the last few years that the swipe, right? The swiping solution mobile.

What I’m trying to get to is I’ve been impressed by that ethos that you have done around the user experience with the user also being the client, because you’re deliverables. You’re some of the best I’ve ever seen in the entire industry.

 

Carol Fitzgerald: Thank you.

 

Lenny Murphy: You’re welcome. The incredibly visually engaging, not gimmicky, not all infographics, but really– but clear and elegant in explaining the key insights. So I think you’ve helped pioneer that, which is really amazing also knowing that you’re raising twins at the same time. So how did you juggle that? How did you juggle that building this disruptive business during a disruptive time in the industry, while also being a mom to twins?

 

Carol Fitzgerald: Yeah. Thanks. Lots to unpack there. But first, let me just say, you don’t piss people off, you challenge them, which we love. We love big challenge. That’s how I like to think of it.

 

Lenny Murphy: Of course, we do.

 

Carol Fitzgerald: [INAUDIBLE] my clients by our own team, et cetera. It’s about growing and improving and that’s how you do it. But to come back to your question, we were very focused on the visual from the onset. Although, I do remember when I started the company, it took us about five years to actually prove ourselves and gain credibility, right? Who is that BuzzBack that just started out? We were custom and we were fast, and we were probably the third pillar chief, but I don’t like to think about it that way.

And we introduced collage in 2004. I mean, think about that. It’s an interactive collaging technique, which now you can do on your phone where we use images as I describe to help people articulate what they’re going through, et cetera. But in any case, the first adopter was [? Nestle. ?] She’s actually a client now at another client. And it took a little while, but now that’s been kind of the fuel behind our growth.

So even during COVID, we continue to grow at a 15% to 20% rate because all these things that we had right as the vision of our company have now become, not cost of entry, but really well adapted. And there is a lot of enthusiasm and appetite for using technology and using technology and insights, right?

But two themes, that I think are important there. First of all, when you’re capturing insights and you’re using technology, a lot of times, you can’t get to emotions. We have ways of doing that, and that’s really important, whether it’s via quant or qual, because it’s my friend Christine describes a qualitative tack is hot, especially because people couldn’t do traditional qualitative. And so it can actually for the past year or so. But the other piece of it is what you’re describing is the visuals, and that is so important to us. Visual activation, because now more than ever we don’t have time.

We have some clients who will say to us, they don’t want more than 20 page reports because they don’t have time to digest 80 pages of a PowerPoint. So to have an interactive dashboard that tells a story, we have some of them on our website right now that are visual, that are engaging. And I heard one client also describe it as market research is not just market research, it’s about marketing the research, which is essentially sharing internally. And sharing internally is challenging right now. And we try to help facilitate that in what we do.

 

Lenny Murphy: Yeah. I think that you were definitely an example of the right solution at the right time by that ethos. So no surprise that you had that type of growth last year. I think there were a lot of companies that I want to say lucky. There’s a little bit of luck, but there’s also a boatload of years of dedication. This is the vision. We think this is right and passion to get there.

So I want to be conscious of time. So let’s listen about that, OK, you arrived, right? I mean, you’re a fairly significantly sized company at this point, right? You’ve got a lot of employees. You win accolades all the time for being a great place to work. You had a digital billboard in Times Square recently, right? So very cool. So you have a lot of leaders being where you are as a companies like, wow, OK, this is great. And now you’re thinking of what’s next. So what’s next?

You’ve proven that you were right in your vision, right? You’ve proven the business model. What comes next for you?

 

Carol Fitzgerald: Right. So what comes next in my mind is an acceleration of the tech. Tech already is encroaching on our space in both a very exciting way. So things like AI and automation. I joke and people talk about what I call the three A’s. So artificial intelligence, automation, and agility. But those are used really differently depending on who you talk to, and some clients think they’re agile and they’re not really agile, right? [LAUGHS]

That goes in all areas. And those are things that we have been adopting and will be adopting. We’ve been agile since the beginning, and I’ll come back to that as a team as a company. But we are continuing to adopt technology. And technology is a double edged sword because, while it’s exciting and it brings us to new space, especially when it comes to insights. It’s also daunting.

I mean, clients are dazzled by the technologies that’s out there. They’re confused. In many cases, they need someone to hold their hand, that servicing part and that consultative part is a key part of what makes us different in the innovation space. And it is so important to getting to the next step when it comes to learning just in general. So those are all things that are happening.

I will touch on the Billboard for a second only because we celebrated our 20th last year, which was a big milestone. We’re actually coming up on 21. And I was joking because it was April and we had this big company cap bash planned. We got that billboard in Times Square thinking we go celebrate it everyone. It would be a huge.

 

Lenny Murphy: Right.

 

Carol Fitzgerald: They’re already in my living room by myself in the middle of COVID, but, so be it. It’s an exciting time, and one thing that’s been important for me. And I know it’s Women’s History Month. A lot of female leaders are focused on this right now. But when we got to that place where we had client adoption, it would about our team. So how do we empower our team? Sure you can do that with employees. But it needs to be engagement and it needs to be answered.

So yes, we want best places to work in New York on Crain’s Top 100 years in a row. Awards are actually part of our KPIs as a company. In the fall, recently we were nominated as best supplier collaboration with our work with Verizon. That was huge procedures and works. And we continue to invest in our employees that way. And I will just tell a quick story, when I started BuzzBack right before actually, we were a beta site for Microsoft now. So I’m really dating myself here.

People were like, oh, my gosh no faxes. Meanwhile, it was liberating for me. It was, I’m going to start a company where you could work anywhere, any time, right? And I think about that, in the year 2000 that’s unheard of. Flexibility for our employees, and I don’t only think about women leaders. I think about families who are balancing work life. I know you have several children, and it’s challenging.

And now it’s even more challenging because the day never ends and we’re bombarded. So having flexibility is key. It’s also a cost of entry. And for us, it’s about empowering and engaging employees because they become your best asset. And our growth while technology is important, it’s all about our team. And having an awesome team and growing that and being smart about it. You’re above 50 now globally, but that’s what it is. And that’s what I think this month is celebrating to some extent, but it will always be a challenge.

 

Lenny Murphy: Yeah. And for our listeners, I’ve had in ethos for a long time. I only want to do things that I like with people that I like.

 

Carol Fitzgerald: In all of that.

 

Lenny Murphy: [INAUDIBLE] people for, of course, there’s always work out that way. [INAUDIBLE] have to do things we don’t want when people we don’t want, but for the most part. And it’s that ethos, that vision that is certainly always been I think why we have– I have enjoyed our collaboration over the years. And that future looking– future forward thinking, of course, it’s unexpected pandemic to force the rest of the world to our way of thinking, right?

Yeah. But here we are and that philosophy was competitive advantage, right? You were able to adapt far more readily to that scenario because it’s already how you run your own business.

 

Carol Fitzgerald: Exactly.

 

Lenny Murphy: And now makes this, OK, now we flip here. And I think that idea of agility, I think that’s the other dimension of that. That’s important as we move forward everybody. Agility is not just we can do these cheap and fast. It’s being agile in our structures, in our processes, and how we think about our business organization. And being able to do this. I mean, I really must be able to give you a hug, Carol, like I look forward to it and do that again.

But still having flexibility for us to do what we’re doing right now is still a powerful thing, right? In each other’s homes worth’s and all, right? My wall of happiness.

 

Carol Fitzgerald: Right. Exactly.

 

Lenny Murphy: And you’ve built your organization to do that, and that’s my long winded way of trying to get to that point. And I think that’s fantastic, so no wonder you’ve won those awards because you earned them.

So again, I want to be conscious of time. Is you think about the year ahead. We’re still February, right? So we can talk about the year for the most part. What is your personal KPI? What are you going to look at and say, this was a great year and this is why because I accomplished this year.

 

Carol Fitzgerald: So for people who know me really well like you, Lenny, you never let up, right? You keep going. We keep revisiting. You keep trying to improve. And a key thing for me and a personal KPI is to make sure that I can continue to improve our team, which becomes challenging as you grow, especially globally even though we’re connecting better now these human teams and everything else.

But how do we invest and inspire people to keep going and to raise the bar? So that big flexibility is one of our core values. And it was the hallmark of when I started the company. But as I said, it’s cost of entry now. So what’s next? How do we find the next thing to continue to be such a great place to work? Because what I have found is not only do we have that enthusiasm and passion, it’s contagious among our team. But it extends to the clients.

And they experience it. And the emails that I get are unsolicited. I loved working with this person, and wish I could. And the VP– all of that stems from having a really terrific team. So my personal KPI is to continue to do that and to build that and to professionally develop, and personally develop.

 

Lenny Murphy: That sounds like a damn good KPI to me. So that’s great. Carol, it is always a joy to chat. I appreciate you taking the time today. Right back at you. We’ve been talking to try and do this for a long time and never did. Now that we finally did, let’s make sure we do it again. And in the meantime, congratulations on all the success.

 

Carol Fitzgerald: Thank you.

 

Lenny Murphy: Best of luck with all the future success.

 

Carol Fitzgerald: Thanks. Back to you soon.

 

Lenny Murphy: Thanks, Carol. Bye-bye.

 

Carol Fitzgerald: Bye.