Years ago Google hired on its first of many ethnographers to ferret out the meaning of mobile. Intel, too, has an in-house cultural anthropologist, and Microsoft is reportedly the second-largest employer of anthropologists in the world. Today on ‘Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg’ Dr. Andi Simon, corporate anthropologist and author of On the Brink, explained why both giant corporations and small business owners are seeking cultural expertise.
DR. ANDI SIMON“The number of businesses going through rapid change are angry at their customers wrongly.”
The brain sees, then decides. We buy with emotion.”
“The way forward is all around you. It’s time to see it.”
“You don’t have to hire an anthropologist, you have to act like one.”
“There’s a place in Scotland where kids were getting obese so they put in a mile long run before school. If you walk your creativity goes up 60%.”
“We weren’t made to be sedentary.”
“You don’t know what things mean until you put them out there.”
“Most people think of anthropology as studying native sciences. But we apply our methods to conflict societies are cultures.”
“If you step out and look as an observer you see what you’ve been ignoring.”
“I’m amazed at the processes and policies that people don’t notice.”
“I was in college when I discovered anthropology. It’s a passion not a job.”
“I took my daughters to Greece when they were 4 and 5 to study Greek women.”
“Studying it versus doing it is a mind opener to understand what you’re really doing.”
“Favorite quote: Henry Ford – If I asked people how to improve transportation they would’ve told me to make horses faster.”
“Don’t outsource. Bring it inside.”
“Undercover Boss is some of my best advertising.”
“Our biggest frustration is people hire us then don’t listen to us.”
“Respect what observation is providing.”
“We get hired to help companies grow.”
“If the way forward is all around you it’s coming right at you.”
“Women in these companies are ripe with innovative ideas.”
“Women prefer a clan, collaborative teamwork culture. Once you understand that you need communication and creativity.”
“Women have to change their voice so people listen and isn’t a mimic of a man’s voice.”
“Change is a journey.
“People thrive because of company culture. Coming to work and knowing what to do.”
“When we council a CEO we try to build in spending a day in the life as a customer or hanging out in the cafeteria and listened to your employees.”
“Have the CEO spend time being a customer. Get them to take a look at emails you delete. Look at keywords on the website.”
“The more ideas you have, the more likely you’ll have good ones.”
“The timeframe for being is good has shrunk.”
“Amazon isn’t a thing, it’s many things experimenting to do many, many more things.”
“You need to be on top of possibilities and build it into innovation.”
“Never say you ‘tried that once.’ You need to try things many times.”
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Imagine that you can find that ever-allusive work / life balance while, at the same time, become more physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually healthy. Imagine you could create a more fun—yet meaningful and profitable—company. Imagine you could just be more AWESOME—who doesn’t want that, right? At the Awesome Institute entrepreneurs are coached to become happier, more balanced, and more prepared for the next level. And to tell you how it’s done is Andrea Garfield, CEO and coach at the Awesome Institute which helps entrepreneurs enjoy satisfying lives while finding the ideal work / life balance.
ANDREA GARFIELD“Awesome Institute came from my own experiences. I suffered a lot. I made mistakes and got burned out.”
“I’ve worked with thousands of entrepreneurs everywhere and saw a lot of suffering. I turned my attention to helping others.”
“We look at long and short term goals. Physically, mentally, and emotionally.”
“We help entrepreneurs learn to handle problems themselves.”
“We look at Self, Family, Business and Community.”
“Before every session we have clients rank themselves. It’s a great exercise to see how you’re changing over the weeks.”
“We create development programs to see what you need to do in terms of self care so there’s meaning not guilt.”
“We pull in long term issues to what you’re doing on the day to day.”
“I see a lot of patterns across companies. Taking care of ourselves suffers.
“Being an entrepreneur requires a lot of development. You aren’t the same person 10 years later.”
“Getting healthy is personal for everyone. What fits into their lives and what won’t they dread everyday. It’s not about losing weight.”
“Athletes see great doctors and get massages aside from being physically in shape. The same thing applies to entrepreneurs.”
“We have a lot of female clients. I see more guilt from women being separated from their families.”
“Women are great at relationships and building inclusive cultures.”
“We teach a class on saying ‘no’. When you say no to something you say yes to something else.”
“Spend your time in alignment with your priorities.”
“Reading books on your own is great but having a coach reflect back to you what they see is very helpful.”
“When people are more self aware it helps them change organically on their own time.”
“We work on creating areas of improvement in 6 months increments. It’s not like therapy where you’re supposed to go forever.”
“Be comfortable with the unknown.”
“Being curious never made leadership—or parenting—worse.”
“I don’t work a lot on the weekends or early in the morning because I try to walk the walk that I preach at Awesome.”
“Learning how to take care of yourself and have support are the two best pieces of advice I can give.”
“Entrepreneurship is not something you do alone—contrary to what the media may say.”
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