Anthro-Vision

Anthropology offers three principles useful in business: listen, show empathy and be aware of your blind spots.

Anthropology provides a broad awareness of culture and context in human interactions. Anthropological thinking can help economists, investors, executives, professionals and policy-makers as financial models come undone and economic predictions and voter surveys prove unreliable. An anthropological approach to analysis – “anthro-vision” – can enhance leaders’ perceptions by limiting tunnel vision while inspiring their “lateral vision.”

Anthropological thinking offers three useful tenets:

1. Extend empathetic regard to strangers and embrace diversity.
2. Learn empathy by listening to others, which helps enable accurate self-perceptions.
3. Identify habitual misperceptions – or blind spots – in the mental maps people inherit and use.

Even huge amounts of digital data have limits. Big data conveys what is happening but seldom conveys why. Anthro-vision complements big data and other approaches to analysis and problem-solving. As AI reshapes the world, humans need a complementary AI – “anthropology...