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Sean Campbell

CEO of Cascade Insights - Act with Clarity™

As the CEO and Founder of Cascade Insights, I have over 18 years of experience in providing strategic insights to the B2B technology industry. I lead a team of exceptional professionals who specialize in market research, competitive analysis, sales enablement, and marketing strategy for tech giants and startups alike.

At Cascade Insights, we focus on 12 key principles. These principles guide our everyday interactions with each other and our clients.

Principles for Cascadians

  1. We help our clients Act with Clarity™. We do this by making the truth visible.

  2. All our work benefits from getting multiple perspectives from peers, managers, and clients.

  3. When we share feedback with teammates or clients, we do it to educate and with a great deal of empathy, not in an attempt to pontificate.

  4. The limelight isn't a spotlight. It's something we can share as a team.

  5. We own up to our failures without being nudged or pushed to do so.

  6. While we aren't a democracy and decisions aren't open to a vote, leaders recognize that listening is a crucial skill.

  7. When given a task, a project, or an opportunity to grow, we own it, and we don't deflect our work onto others.

  8. We respect the flexibility and freedom that we enjoy with remote work, all the while holding ourselves accountable to do our job and stay communicative with our team and clients.

  9. We believe in staying "constantly curious," educating ourselves on industry best practices and new technologies, and growing our understanding of our clients' challenges, problems, and opportunities.

  10. Growth comes from asking great questions, whether these questions are directed at managers, teammates, or clients. This is true regardless of how long you have been at Cascade.

  11. We focus on more than just the job at hand. Instead, we always strive to see how our work complements that of teammates and the company's overall direction.

  12. We are always evaluating our processes and toolbox, and we are happy to make changes that can benefit peers, clients, or the company's overall performance.

Lastly, I am passionate about mentoring and educating business professionals, whether they are my clients, my colleagues, or my students. I have taught industry analysis and competitive intelligence courses at Willamette University and I'm also currently an adjunct instructor at George Fox University teaching courses focused on sales and the application of GenAI to various business scenarios.

I've co-authored several books focused on technology topics and on competitive research over the last 25 years.

Highlights

Aug 29 · linkedin

Just shared this with my team earlier today.

Principles for Cascadians

  1. We help our clients Act with Clarity™. We do this by making the truth visible.

  2. All our work benefits from getting multiple perspectives from peers, managers, and clients.

  3. When we share feedback with teammates or clients, we do it to educate and with a great deal of empathy, not in an attempt to pontificate.

  4. The limelight isn't a spotlight. It's something we can share as a team.

  5. We own up to our failures without being nudged or pushed to do so.

  6. While we aren't a democracy and decisions aren't open to a vote, leaders recognize that listening is a crucial skill.

  7. When given a task, a project, or an opportunity to grow, we own it, and we don't deflect our work onto others.

  8. We respect the flexibility and freedom that we enjoy with remote work, all the while holding ourselves accountable to do our job and stay communicative with our team and clients.

  9. We believe in staying "constantly curious," educating ourselves on industry best practices and new technologies, and growing our understanding of our clients' challenges, problems, and opportunities.

  10. Growth comes from asking great questions, whether these questions are directed at managers, teammates, or clients. This is true regardless of how long you have been at Cascade.

  11. We focus on more than just the job at hand. Instead, we always strive to see how our work complements that of teammates and the company's overall direction.

  12. We are always evaluating our processes and toolbox, and we are happy to make changes that can benefit peers, clients, or the company's overall performance.

#principles #entrepreneurship #business #culture

Aug 12 · linkedin

This past Saturday, I reached a milestone of sorts: 25 years as a business owner. As I've mentioned to folks for years, I had no plans to become a business owner when I was in college, but that's a story for another time. Clearly, I've enjoyed the experience since I made the decision to invest in my first business back on August 10th, 1999. Ultimately, you don't typically stay in a "job" for 25 years unless you like more than a few things about it.

While there are several reasons I've remained a business owner for this long, I think the biggest one is that I'm somewhat incapable of learning something and not wanting to teach and share what I've learned with others. Owning a business gives you the opportunity, every year, month, week, day, and even hour by hour, to learn new things about people, running a business, clients, and even life in general. So ultimately, my love of learning and teaching has been what's kept me in this role for 25 years, alongside the other benefits that come with business ownership - a bit more freedom in the day-to-day, the satisfaction you get from growing a team and meeting a market need, and all the great people you get to work with as the years and decades roll along.

In sum, I feel blessed to have been in this position for so long. Not just for what I've learned and what I've yet to learn, but for all the folks I've been able to help along the way.

I also want to give a special thank you and shout out to my wife. She's been helping out in the business since 1999, and her help, support, and love have been amazing. I couldn't have done this without you, Kim.

Looking forward, I'm excited about the years ahead. To everyone on the team, I'm excited to see what we're going to build together. I'm deeply thankful for all your hard work, creativity, and skill - now and always. This journey of 25 years has been rewarding in ways I never expected when I first started, and I'm grateful for every lesson, challenge, and opportunity it has brought my way.

Finally, I’ve decided to start a newsletter focused on the last 25 years and the years to come. It’s going to be called One Cast at a Time and it will be launching soon on LinkedIn. I’ll be sharing some stories from the last 25 years, some of the highs and even a few of the lows that come with entrepreneurship. You'll get insights into what it takes to work remotely for a quarter-century (long before it was cool ;)), along with tips, tools, and techniques that everyone should be focusing on now that AI is reshaping our world.

While I'm excited about sharing on these topics in the near future, today I'm simply filled with gratitude. I'm thankful, in so many ways, for my wife, our two boys, my team, and the incredible journey of the last 25 years.

Kimberly Campbell Colleen Clancy Laura Johnson Nora Canright Raeann B. Tricia Lindsey Alexis Ford Lara B. Elizabeth Sullivan-Hasson Brianna Repke

#25years #entrepreneurship #b2b #remotework #thankful #b2b #marketresearch

Related Questions

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Sean Campbell
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Experience

CEO & Founder - Cascade Insights - B2B Market Research & Marketing Services for Tech at Cascade Insights LLC
Adjunct Instructor at George Fox University

Education

M.A., Communication, Purdue University
B.A., Communication, Loyola University Chicago

Location

United States