ABSTRACT
As I was writing this book and sharing what I saw as the broader benefits of ethnographic thinking with friends and colleagues, many of them asked very thought-provoking questions. Some centered on the ways ethnographic thinking could be “operationalized” in different industries. Some focused more on its use within various stages of innovation and strategy processes. Others asked how it might become as “sticky” as design thinking. My responses to these questions are included in this section. However, before addressing them, it’s worth noting that this isn’t an exhaustive response. That’s because one of the most valuable attributes of ethnographic thinking is that it fundamentally changes ways of seeing and being in the world, often to the point where the ways that it’s applied are highly personal, and personalized—more on that later.
