Step into the boardroom with Greenbook’s Lenny Murphy as he sits down with the trailblazing CEOs shaping the future of market research and insights. In each episode, you'll get rare access to unfiltered conversations about bold strategies, real-world challenges, and the innovations driving change across the industry. Whether you're an aspiring leader or a seasoned pro, this series delivers sharp takeaways, visionary thinking, and behind-the-scenes stories you won’t hear anywhere else.
Making Behavioral Science Actionable with Melina Palmer of The Brainy Business
What does it take to turn behavioral science into something businesses can actually use? Karen Lynch sits down with Melina Palmer, CEO of The Brainy Business, to explore her journey from marketing and entrepreneurship to becoming a leading voice in applied behavioral economics. Melina shares how The Brainy Business Podcast helped build her business, why storytelling works best when brands understand their role in the customer’s story, and how insights teams can embed behavioral science into everyday research rather than treat it as a last-minute tool. She also offers lessons for founders and leaders on knowing when to say yes—and when to say no. Looking ahead, Melina makes the case for keeping humans at the center as AI and technology reshape the insights industry.
Key Discussion Points
Turning behavioral science into action: How Melina translates academic research into practical approaches businesses and insights teams can use.
Building a business through podcasting: How The Brainy Business Podcast grew into a platform for teaching, consulting, speaking, and writing.
Rethinking storytelling: Why customers should be the hero—and how brands can determine whether their role is the mentor, sidekick, or “sword” in the story.
Moving beyond behavioral science as a tool: Why concepts like social proof, framing, and anchoring should inform research and strategy from the beginning rather than being added at the end.
Leadership, focus, and entrepreneurship: Why new founders can benefit from a “year of yes,” while established leaders need to get comfortable saying no, prioritizing, and avoiding productive procrastination.
Resources & Links
The Brainy Business (https://thebrainybusiness.com/)
What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You (https://thebrainybusiness.com/what-your-customer-wants/) by Melina Palmer (https://thebrainybusiness.com/what-your-customer-wants/)
What Your Employees Need and Can’t Tell You (https://thebrainybusiness.com/what-your-employees-need/) by Melina Palmer (https://thebrainybusiness.com/what-your-employees-need/)
The Truth About Pricing (https://thebrainybusiness.com/the-truth-about-pricing/) by Melina Palmer (https://thebrainybusiness.com/the-truth-about-pricing/)
Melina Palmer’s TEDx Talk, (https://youtu.be/obTWdNnk-RU?si=OIwaIC6M3PW63gCB)There’s Nothing Magical About Monday (https://youtu.be/obTWdNnk-RU?si=OIwaIC6M3PW63gCB)
The Brainy Business Podcast (https://thebrainybusiness.com/podcast/)
You can reach out to Melina Palmer on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/melinapalmer/).
Many thanks to Melina Palmer for being our guest. Thanks also to our production team and our editor at Big Bad Audio.
24 Sept 2026
Angelique Taylor of AddMaple on Asking Better Questions
What happens when a founder treats her own business idea like a research question? In this episode of the CEO Series, Karen Lynch speaks with Angelique Taylor, founder and CEO of AddMaple, about building a research technology company by testing assumptions, gathering evidence, and letting the product prove itself. That approach has paid off: AddMaple won both the 2026 Expert’s Choice and Audience Favorite Awards at IIEX North America. Angelique shares how her background in product ownership shaped AddMaple, why asking better questions can be as valuable as finding answers, and how she bootstrapped the platform before attracting major enterprise clients. They also discuss managing risk through small experiments, representation for female founders, and why empathy remains central to Angelique’s approach to product development and leadership.
Key Discussion Points:
Building AddMaple from a simple “what if?” — How Angelique’s frustration with slow, manual data analysis led to the idea of making complex research data immediately explorable.
Replacing assumptions with questions — Why organizations can make better decisions when employees are empowered to interrogate data rather than simply accept static findings.
Using experimentation to reduce founder risk — Angelique explains how small, manageable tests helped her validate demand before investing heavily in growth.
Bootstrapping and finding product-market validation — From early free users to unsolicited enterprise interest and AddMaple’s 2026 Insight Innovation Competition win.
Leading with empathy — Why Angelique approaches customers as people with goals and frustrations rather than prospects, and how that philosophy shapes AddMaple’s product development.
Resources & Links
AddMaple (https://addmaple.com/)
Greenbook Insight Innovation Competition (https://www.greenbook.org/insight-innovation-competition)
You can reach out to Angelique Taylor on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/angemaple/).
Many thanks to Angelique Taylor for being our guest. Thanks also to our production team and our editor at Big Bad Audio.
10 Sept 2026
Human Insight in the Age of AI with Cristina de Balanzo of Accenture Song
Cristina de Balanzo of Accenture Song discusses with Lenny Murphy how human insight remains crucial in the AI-driven insights industry, emphasizing emotion and judgment for deeper understanding.
Who has been a guest on CEO Series
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Cristina de Balanzo
Rob Key
Sascha Eder
Aksel Bedikyan
Kristi Zuhlke
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Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Questions about CEO Series
Who hosts CEO Series?
Lenny Murphy host the show. Published by The Greenbook Podcast Network.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes daily, based on its RSS feed.
Does CEO Series take guests?
Yes. Guests have been identified in episode analyses.
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