Sam Knowles
MA, MSc, PhD
SXE, UKSam Knowles is the Founder & MD of data storytelling consultancy, Insight Agents. He combines long and varied consultancy experience with a planner's facility for turning relevant data into narratives that resonate and campaigns that deliver. For a one-time PR man, he has unusually rich analytics experience and expertise.
Through Insight Agents, Sam helps all sorts of organisations – businesses and charities, universities and Governments – to identify and craft the most compelling, data-driven stories in their sector. He divides his time between consultancy, writing, and training.
Sam is the author of the best-selling book "Narrative by Numbers: How to Tell Powerful & Purposeful Stories with Data", published by Routledge in April 2018. This was followed by a critically-acclaimed sequel – "How To Be Insightful: Unlocking the Superpower that Drives Innovation" – in May 2020.
Sam holds a doctorate in psychology, one source of his understanding of human motivation and behaviour and his love of telling stories with data. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and chairs the Data Storytelling Council of I-COM, a global association helping companies achieve competitive advantage through smart data marketing. Sam is a member of the Market Research Society (MRS), the Professional Speaking Association, the Media Research Group (MRG), Account Planning Group (APG), and the Public Relations & Communications Association (PRCA).
An experienced and sought-after conference speaker, he has given recent keynotes for the MRS, MRG, APG, PRCA, the International Communications Consultancies Organisation, and at the Festival of Marketing. He has also spoken at Big Data, big pharma, food technology, sensory science, academic, and procurement sector events.
A prolific blogger and an accomplished speaker, Sam is a regular commentator and guest on podcasts. He is the co-founder and co-host of the Small Data Forum (www.smalldataforum.com), a podcast examining the uses and abuses of data big and small in business, politics, and public life.
Sam Knowles is the Founder & MD of data storytelling consultancy, Insight Agents. He combines long and varied consultancy experience with a planner's facility for turning relevant data into narratives that resonate and campaigns that deliver. For a one-time PR man, he has unusually rich analytics experience and expertise.
Through Insight Agents, Sam helps all sorts of organisations – businesses and charities, universities and Governments – to identify and craft the most compelling, data-driven stories in their sector. He divides his time between consultancy, writing, and training.
Sam is the author of the best-selling book "Narrative by Numbers: How to Tell Powerful & Purposeful Stories with Data", published by Routledge in April 2018. This was followed by a critically-acclaimed sequel – "How To Be Insightful: Unlocking the Superpower that Drives Innovation" – in May 2020.
Sam holds a doctorate in psychology, one source of his understanding of human motivation and behaviour and his love of telling stories with data. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and chairs the Data Storytelling Council of I-COM, a global association helping companies achieve competitive advantage through smart data marketing. Sam is a member of the Market Research Society (MRS), the Professional Speaking Association, the Media Research Group (MRG), Account Planning Group (APG), and the Public Relations & Communications Association (PRCA).
An experienced and sought-after conference speaker, he has given recent keynotes for the MRS, MRG, APG, PRCA, the International Communications Consultancies Organisation, and at the Festival of Marketing. He has also spoken at Big Data, big pharma, food technology, sensory science, academic, and procurement sector events.
A prolific blogger and an accomplished speaker, Sam is a regular commentator and guest on podcasts. He is the co-founder and co-host of the Small Data Forum (www.smalldataforum.com), a podcast examining the uses and abuses of data big and small in business, politics, and public life.
How to tell powerful and purposeful stories with data
Innovation in the wake of coronavirus
Evolution is typically a slow process, with successive generations building on traits, characteristics, and capabilities that served previous generations well. This is as true in society as it is in the natural world. Innovation - in business, governance, and education - typically works at an evolutionary pace. Corporate risk aversion, coupled with a fear of investing time and resources in dead-end projects, often slows down or stymies promising innovations before they get...
The history, psychology, and neuroscience of insight
How do we advance? As individuals, families, and businesses? As societies, nations, and a species? In a world where it's said there is nothing new under the sun, we humans are remarkably resourceful at creating new things. The key to innovation is understanding, but that doesn't mean parading an array of facts, data, and casual observations. Progress demands profound and useful understanding of a person or a thing, a situation or an issue. And profound and useful understanding that truly...
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