From Iliad to Odyssey: the Odyssey of Our Profession

C. Frederic John

The market research profession has been consciously trying to evolve from a provider of data to a generator of insights and a consultant to management.

From Iliad to Odyssey: the Odyssey of Our Profession

C. Frederic John

INTRODUCTION AND INITIAL METAPHOR

I must start with a plea for forgiveness – this talk is based on analogies and metaphors, and they are often mixed.

Julian Jaynes, in his controversial 1971 book, The Origin and Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, asserts that human consciousness began relatively recently, and at different times in different cultures. In the Western mind, consciousness emerged between the writing of the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Before that, there were really two “minds” located in...

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