Centennial Speaker Series: Gillian Tett on Anthro-Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life

A co-sponsored event, presented by CFA Society New York, the Gabelli Center for Global Security Analysis, and the Museum of American Finance.

Amid severe digital disruption, economic upheaval, and political flux, how can we make sense of the world? Leaders today typically look for answers in economic models, big data, or artificial intelligence platforms. Gillian Tett points to anthropology—the study of human culture.

Anthropologists learn to get inside the minds of other people, helping them not only understand other cultures but also appraise their own environment with a fresh perspective as an insider-outsider, gaining lateral vision. Today, anthropologists are more likely to study Amazon warehouses than remote Amazon tribes. They have done research into institutions and companies, such as General Motors, Nestlé, Intel, and more, shedding light on such practical questions as how Internet users define themselves, why corporate projects fail, why bank traders miscalculate losses, how companies sell certain products, and why pandemic policies succeed (or not). Anthropology makes the familiar seem unfamiliar and vice versa, giving a 3D perspective in a world where many executives are plagued by tunnel vision, especially in fields like finance and technology.

Copies of Anthro-Vision will be raffled off to attendees.