I really like the phrase you’ve coined, “insight work.” It’s self-referential, too, in that coining the term is born out of insight in to how particular words carry meaning which will shift with context and be more appropriate for certain times and places.

Your conclusion, “You always want to be ahead of the trends rather than following them. And you can’t get there without insight,” is spot on. We’ve been thinking about this quite a bit at Newfangled. Being a smaller company can be a powerful thing during times like these, as it’s easier to adopt new processes and see results quickly; being nimble can be what keeps you alive. Trends can also be deadly if you’re just following them. If you put everything (or even too much) into following a trend that ends up being short-lived, you could be sunk. These issues are what I tried to focus on most at our recent company retreat when I spoke about Three Necessary Disciplines to adopt as a company- you can check that out here: http://www.newfangled.com/3_necessary_disciplines_for_technology_companies.

Chris