You don’t have all the answers. (And that’s ok.)

At Right On, we preach the gospel of customer interviews all the time. But last summer, I met a climate entrepreneur who preached that gospel right back to me. And maybe even out-preached me.

Dr. Reed Omary doesn’t have a background in marketing, but he is a student of design thinking, and a sustainability leader, and an artist, and a poet … in addition to being a celebrated professor of radiology and biomedical engineering at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the founder of Greenwell Project, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing patient voices into sustainable medicine.

Learning about the creation of Dr. Omary’s nonprofit, I was floored to discover just how much deep listening he’d put into the process. He didn’t just interview a few folks. He interviewed hundreds.

I had to know more. So we recently sat down to discuss the power of customer interviews—why they’re essential to understanding an audience’s needs, fears, hopes, and dreams, and how that understanding can translate into wildly successful businesses and marketing campaigns. Here are just a few of the gems he shared.

Observe, ask, and learn.
“Be curious. Approach your interviews like an ethnographer.”

Interview like a beginner.
“You have to go in assuming you don’t have the answers.”

Use words that work.
“Simplify the language so it has the fewest number of syllables.”

Get out of your echo chamber.

You’re great. The folks in your organization are great. And together, ya’ll have tons of good ideas. But to get to the real breakthroughs that can move your initiatives and business forward, start your next project by talking to the actual folks you hope to serve, influence, and inspire. Walk in their shoes, peek into their lives, find out what sparks them. The insights you’ll gain will be well worth the effort and time it takes.