Christian Madsbjerg is a professor at the New School for Social Research in New York City, where he teaches German and French philosophy from the 20th century. He has also founded a company called Red Associates. Red Associates is a Social Science-based or anthropology-based company to advise on human behaviour and how humans make sense of the world, and what is meaningful and important to them from the level of experience.

In this conversation, we explore perspectives on the role of social science in business. Here are some of the things that stood out for me.

Design systems, products and services for humans?

This might sound obvious or, as Christian described, banal. Yet, much of the thinking around organization has come from management science. In many ways, management science attempted to bring the rigour of science to the business world. As a result, the field has been influenced by disciplines like economics, engineering and Mathematics. Social Science has much to contribute to the study of human arrangements. The proposal is simple. Reduce risk by using social sciences to produce new products and services in the business world.

Do not pass judgement too quickly.

Understanding people is about waiting, careful observation and not passing judgement too quickly. To find insight, we have to observe humans slowly, intentionally, and patiently. We need to be open to the first judgement not being true. Building your capacity to suspend judgement is the core to finding good insight.

Seeing things work.

When you see things work, it can be transformative. Using slow observation, you can find frugal, novel or simple insights that can be transformative.

Disappointment is a better source of innovation than wonder.

Where do people find inspiration in their search for innovation? It is an interesting provocation to ask the question, what disappoints you? What are you disappointed in, and how can you change it? Think for a second about where you find your inspiration.

Where are the philosophers?

The technologies of tomorrow will transform our future in ways we cannot imagine. What if we had philosophers at the decision-making tables? For example, what if there were philosophers in the room when we first launched Facebook? What questions might they have asked to help curtail some of the unintended consequences of technologies like social media?

Insights can spread like wildfire.

When an organization can find beneficial insight, it can spread throughout the organization. Insights can be fuel for transformation.

Who is too comfortable in their power?

Christian gave the example of what happens when Finance and Technology are too comfortable in their power. When one of these becomes too comfortable, it does not end well. This might be true of any domain. When people are too comfortable, especially too comfortable in their power, it can increase their blind spots. How do you notice when you are too comfortable in your power?

Be interested in humans.

We often find comfort in abstractions, models, or systems when we need to be focused on humans. When need to be interested in the things humans do, feel and say every day. We live in a world that has placed enormous trust in abstractions that don’t often get us as far as we thought.

You are probably wrong.

Christian tells a beautiful story about working with Samsung. At the time, he thought it was a terrible idea to put a camera on the phone. What he learned is that it is better to go with observation and analysis than intuition.

Tap into talent as it is globally.

It cannot be that the best people in the world all come from the same country as you. It does not work that you tap into talent globally. Learn to tap into global talent.

Questions can change your world.

Christian shared a story about working with Adidas. They asked the question, “Is Yoga a sport?” That question took the company on a journey to explore sports that are not about winning. Today, 60% of their revenue comes from sports that are about winning.

What is like to be?

The central message from Christian is to observe. His favourite quote is, look, don’t think. As I understand it, he is on a quest to understand why people do what they do? When we observe the everyday activities of real people, we gain real insight. We need to start with observing everyday human interactions. Questions bring perspective. They often can lead to insight or something new.

To learn more about Christian Madsbjerg, visit:

https://www.redassociates.com/