[2] He attended Crow Island School, where his first grade teacher noticed his reading and speaking abilities did not match, leading to him being diagnosed with dyslexia.

Following graduate school, he returned to the company as chief strategist for BrandAsset Valuator, a database of brand and consumer behavior.

[3][7] Johnson and Gerzema were recruited by The Harris Poll's parent company, Stagwell Group.

Johnson worked to migrate clients from one-time research to ongoing consulting contracts, and reworked the company's surveys to focus on smartphone users.

[4] Johnson has been described as an optimist about the polling industry, noting that he believes pollsters need to improve their methodology and rebuild public trust.