Recently, I had a discussion with a CEO in an engineering firm about how to re-staff his company after he downsized in response to the oil and gas crisis. He is in the seals and gasket industry but plummeting oil prices have crushed him, forcing him to reinvent his business. The challenge was how to employ the new engineering talent he needed without adding unnecessary expenses, at least until his business started to generate cash flow again — not an uncommon challenge today.

It was a similar challenge for a company trying to replace its marketing team without incurring fixed costs. Or a company in the accounting industry that reinvented his staff into interim chief financial officers and offered them to companies that needed their skills but not their full-time costs.

Freelancing, outsourcing and finding other ways to thrive in changing times is no small challenge for companies that have not had to rely on these types of solutions in the past. But now is a good time for them to learn new skills. Freelancing is not going away. In fact it has become a dominant model for many companies. But the perceived complexity is perhaps more simple to solve that it might appear.

I recently had the very great pleasure to be interviewed by Shannon LaNier on the Morning Dose for CW39 Houston. He wanted to know all about my book, "On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights," what an anthropologist does, how Simon Associates Management Consultants helps companies off the brink so they can soar, how to help an individual or an entire company change...all the things I love talking about. Truly delightful.

Here's a quick synopsis of what we discussed:

In March of this year, 2019, I made a presentation to the Society for Applied Anthropology entitled "Anthropology Applications for Business." It was a fantastic experience and gave me the opportunity to talk about my two favorite topics—anthropology and business—and share how we at SAMC apply anthropology to our corporate, business, healthcare and non-profit clients. 

I'll summarize the key points here but you can watch and listen to the presentation in its entirety by clicking on the image below.

Change creates pain in the brain

Companies come to us when they are in a crisis or see one coming. In fact, we've built our business around helping stalled organizations change. As we know from the neurosciences, our brains hate change, they fight it. That's why at SAMC, we've developed an anthropological approach which enables us to evaluate how organizations operate today (obstinate brains and all) so we can better help them change for the future. 

As many of you know, two things I love talking about are change and anthropology, so it was great fun to be interviewed by Acquisition International recently because I got to talk about both! (You can read the article here.)

The interview focused on how anthropology, when applied to business, can successfully drive change and spur growth by showing organizations how to "see, feel and think" with fresh eyes. By using the tools and methods of observational anthropology, companies are suddenly able to "see" opportunities they may have missed, the proverbial acres of diamonds that are all around them, waiting to be seized upon.

What about you? Are you missing opportunities right in front of you?

Is your company developing a new product or service? Are you planning a product launch? Do you want a better understanding of customer behavior and needs? Finally, are there major pain points which your product or service needs to solve?

Every successful entrepreneur knows that to grow your startup into a thriving business, you need to understand your customer. Easier said than done...particularly when you're about to introduce a new product or service into the market and compiling a group of statistics isn’t an option. That’s when the smartest course of action is to rely on corporate anthropology.

As an entrepreneur building a business, you can gain a crucial competitive advantage by using the methods and techniques of anthropology to help you tap into the behavioral patterns of your consumers. From a customer's first encounter with your product to the purchase stage to their return visit, anthropology enables you to get a better grip on how individuals interact with your brand.

As a result, you'll be able to successfully develop a product offer and a customer experience that meet consumers' demands and solve their challenges. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, here are a few examples of how to successfully apply anthropology to your business.

Want to read one of the best books on corporate innovation? Pick up mine!

I just got some great news that I wanted to share with you right away. Fupping.com has recently named my book "On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights" to its list of 9 Best Books To Read On Corporate Innovation. "On the Brink" comes in at #7! 

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, as it's a book all about using the tools and methods of anthropology to step out and see your organization with fresh eyes, then turning these observations into innovations. And corporation innovation is the focus of Fupping's Top 9 list. Here's how Fupping describes it:

The reason I love anthropology is because it teaches you to see, feel and think in new ways so you can successfully adapt to change. These days, it’s not the strongest or smartest who will survive—it’s the most adaptive. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the business world, where anthropology is beginning to play an enormous role. Indeed, when anthropology is applied to companies, truly amazing things happen!

This week's Top Picks:
4 ways to learn about anthropology's massive impact on business

Corporate anthropologists are finding that people know all too well the challenges of building and sustaining a business, especially in these fast-changing times. What they need is a new toolkit, an anthropologist's toolkit, because what worked in the past isn't working today. Opening your eyes to the possibilities that are all around you is at the heart of how anthropology can help revitalize a business. Check out the 4 resources below and let me know if lessons learned can help your business. Enjoy!

Recently, I spoke to the executive education program for the Instituto Tecnológico Y Estudios Superiores De Monterrey (ITESM) in Nuevo León, Mexico. It allowed me to work for two days with 50 CEOs and 250 of their managers. As a business anthropologist, this was a wonderful opportunity to share with them new ways to approach their business growth strategies.

My focus was twofold:

1. Could we help them find new market space?
2. How could they manage business change, lead change initiatives and overcome the inevitable hurdles?

The ITESM program brings together these carefully selected CEOs nine times a year for workshops and speakers such as myself. The goal is to continually bring them new ideas, train them, develop their ability to sustain growth in fast changing times, and build their leadership and change management skills.

What was so exciting was how open they were to see things with "fresh eyes.” Each one asked me, How could they find new markets? Where were nonusers or new solutions to solve unmet needs?

What?!? Anthropology in my business?

I heard that more than once over the past few weeks of "Change Matters" workshops. I started talking about how powerful corporate anthropology or business anthropology can be for driving business growth. It’s true. The link between social science and business growth is deep and powerful, and growing. As business model innovation has become essential as company's adapt to today's fast changing environment.

Understanding human behavior and how to change a company's cultures is at the heart of building business success. I know it sounds obvious, but often it is ignored. At their core, all businesses are inextricably linked to the humans who work together and whose customers they serve — even if it’s sometimes hard to see the connection of business to culture.

Corporate anthropologists are finding that people know all too well the challenges of building and sustaining a business, especially in these fast-changing times. They often need a new toolkit, an anthropologist's toolkit. What worked in the past isn't doing so well today. But change is quite literally pain, and they fight it.

Are you getting the sense that anthropologists are coming soon to a neighborhood near you? You might be right. Are you ready to be observed? 

Filming consumers in their natural habitats

According to Linda Tischler in an article in Fast Company not so long ago, “Ad agencies are hiring anthropologists and ethnographers to study and film consumers in their natural environments to see what they really eat, drink, and buy.”