Episode 62: The Problem With Most Personas in Case Competitions

A few weeks ago, Anna Mykheieva made some great points about the use of personas, and it got me thinking about how teams use this tool in case-solving competitions. When I watch teams work through cases, I see personas used frequently.

The problem?

Most personas are not really personas. They are demographic descriptions.

“Meet Sarah. She is a 35-year-old customer who lives in an urban area and has a middle-class income.”

That might tell us who Sarah is. But it does not tell us what Sarah actually needs. It does not tell us:

• What frustrates her?
• What motivates her?
• What does she value?
• What prevents her from changing her behaviour?
• What would make her trust a company’s solution?

And those questions are often where the best recommendations are found.

A strong case solution is not just about identifying a market segment. It is about understanding the human beings who need to adopt, buy, support, or experience the recommendation.

The best teams I see use personas as a way to bring the problem to life. They create a person with:

1. Motivations — What matters to them? What are they trying to achieve?
2. Pain points — What gets in their way? Where does the current experience fail?
3. Goals — What outcome are they really trying to create?
4. Values and behaviours — How will they respond to different messages, channels, or solutions?

This changes the conversation. Instead of saying:

“We need to improve employee engagement.”

A team can ask:

“What does a high-performing employee experience today? Where do they feel stuck? What would make them believe this organisation is investing in them?”

The recommendation becomes more realistic because it starts from the perspective of the person who has to live with it.

Another common mistake I see is teams forcing themselves into a single persona. But most business problems are not experienced by one group. A customer transformation might involve:

• The customer buying the product
• The employee delivering the experience
• The manager supporting the change
• The leader approving the investment

Each of these groups may have different motivations and barriers.

A solution designed for only one persona can easily miss the bigger system. This is why I like pairing personas with journey maps.

A persona tells you who you are designing for. The journey tells you what happens to them along the way.

• Where do they discover the solution?
• Where do they hesitate?
• Where does frustration happen?
• Where do they need support?

Because implementation is where many case recommendations succeed or fail. A brilliant strategy that ignores the human experience often stays as a slide. A good strategy considers the people who must make it happen. That is the real power of personas.

Not creating fictional customers. Creating empathy. And empathy is one of the most underrated strategic skills.

The best case teams don't just ask 'what the company should do? They ask: what has to be true for people to actually make this work?

Stay curious. Stay uncomfortable.