Quantifying the gut with Will Leach
September 29, 2026
For the longest time, market research has been focused on understanding why people behave the way they do. But what happens after the insight is delivered? In this episode of The Curiosity Current, Stephanie and Molly sit down with Will Leach, founder and CEO of Mindstate Group, to explore why researchers need to move beyond insights and recommendations and become behavioral designers who can help brands turn research into action.
Will breaks down the say-do gap, explains why behavioral science and data analytics need to work together, and introduces the Mind State Activation Blueprint, a framework designed to translate behavioral research into practical creative and marketing guidance. He also shares how AI uncovered a cultural pattern across 19 different studies that he would have missed by looking at research one project at a time.
In this episode of The Curiosity Current, Stephanie and Molly sit down with Will Leach, founder and CEO of Mindstate Group, to explore how market researchers can move from producing insights to influencing behavioral change.
With more than 25 years of experience studying human decision-making and 15 years working inside major client organizations, Will shares what changed when he moved from the client side into consulting. He realized that research reports and recommendations were rarely the final thing clients needed. They wanted to know how behavioral science could help them make better decisions, change their marketing, and ultimately influence customer behavior.
The conversation explores the persistent say-do gap in market research and why brands still rely on asking consumers what they think about advertising despite knowing that stated preferences do not always predict real-world behavior. Will explains how the combination of behavioral science, data analytics, and AI is changing what researchers can measure and how accountable they are for business outcomes.
Will also introduces the idea of behavioral design and his Mind State Activation Blueprint, which translates behavioral insights into practical guidelines for messaging, visuals, brand positioning, personality, customer experience, and creative strategy.
Ultimately, Will argues that researchers need to move the finish line from owning insights to owning behavioral change, while building their own point of view on how human behavior works.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why research reports and recommendations are no longer enough for many organizations
- How the say-do gap continues to affect market research and advertising decisions
- Why behavioral science and data analytics need to work together
- How researchers are becoming more accountable for business and marketing outcomes
- What it means to become a behavioral designer
- How the Mind State Activation Blueprint turns behavioral research into actionable creative guidelines
- What psychological mind states and emotional processing can reveal about consumer behavior
- How behavioral science can give creatives more confidence in their instincts
- How to challenge founder intuition while respecting the experience behind it
- How AI can identify cultural patterns across multiple research studies
- Why empowerment emerged as a recurring motivation across 19 different studies
- Why researchers should build their own behavioral model and point of view
- How market researchers can future-proof their careers in an AI-driven industry
About the Guest:
Will Leach is the founder and CEO of Mindstate Group, a behavioral research and design consultancy. He has more than 25 years of experience studying human decision-making, including 15 years working inside major organizations such as PepsiCo.
Will specializes in behavioral science, consumer psychology, behavioral design, and translating research insights into actionable marketing and creative strategies. His work focuses on helping organizations understand the psychological drivers behind consumer behavior and use those insights to influence real-world decisions.
He developed the Mind State Activation Blueprint, a framework designed to connect behavioral research with creative execution across areas such as messaging, positioning, brand personality, customer experience, and campaign strategy.
Episode Resources:
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