1. Ethnography Ethnography Consideration Sets
“Empathy is even better than talking in the same language.” ~Rumi
Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018

2. Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018
You See But You Don’t Observe
Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018

3. Identify a Problem: Ethnography
What do you see?
Saudi Arabia launches girls' council, without the girls
Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018

4. Identify a Problem: Ethnography
What do you see?
All-male White House health bill discussing women’s health (2017)
The first two pictures bias the third one
What do you see?
17 US generals and admirals in Chisinau (2016)
Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018

5. Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018
Identifying a Problem: Ethnography
Another gender distraction (AACN conference)
Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018

6. Identify a Problem: Ethnography
This is directly from their pre-assignment
Electricity everywhere
Traffic is really difficult
Not much light
No clear direction for customers
Car in front of store blocking access
Electric wires everywhere
Traffic is really difficult
Not much light
No clear direction for cars
No clear direction for customers
Car parked in front of store blocking access
What do you see?
Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018

7. Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018
Identify a Problem: Ethnography
No men
All Caucasian
Lot of space
Most individuals are looking away
Most hair seems styled
Individuals seem healthy
Using furniture as a prop
Ask them to observe. After 7 seconds, the picture starts fading slowly (takes 10 minutes). So, they get about 15 seconds of observation time.
What do you see?
Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018

8. Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018
Identify a Problem: Ethnography
Interesting
Most individuals are looking away
Using furniture as a prop
Lots of space
Most hair seems styled
Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018

9. Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018
Identify a Problem: Ethnography
Interesting
Most individuals are looking away
Using furniture as a prop
Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018

10. Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018
Ethnography
The scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures
A systematic written record of what a researcher observes and learns while participating in the daily rounds of the lives of others
Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018

11. Consideration Sets
Spend 1 minute coming up with problems that need solving
Spend 2 minutes coming up with more problems that need solving with regards to the education system (broadly defined).
What mental processes did you go through?
Do you appreciate of how their brain went through the search process?
Q1 Ask them what mental processes they went through. Really push on the self-reflection of how their brain went through the search process.
Q2 This is actually easier than the first question. Even though it’s a subset, it actually helps the creative process.
Note we’re also going to revisit this question.
Was this easier than the previous question?
We will revisit this question
Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018

12. Identify a Problem – Consideration Sets
A group of targeted information channels that can be explicitly selected & searched based on prior knowledge
Common blind spot of failed entrepreneurs
An entrepreneur’s consideration set will be unique based on idiosyncratic prior knowledge, and ongoing feedback from previously selected channels.
You look in the direction you know. That’s why
why it’s so important to get more life experiences
comforting that WHATEVER they know will have opportunities for innovation.
Perhaps more importantly, ETHNOGRAPHY GIVES YOU THIS PRIOR KNOWLEDGE!
Note this doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t try to be entrepreneurs. They just need to recognize why so many people fail. Also, this process isn’t really specific to startups.
Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018

13. Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018
Consideration Sets & Prior Knowledge 40
The average age of successful start-up founders in high-growth industries
2x likely 55+ than 20-34
High-growth start-ups
According to research by Vivek Wadhwa, an academic and tech entrepreneur and the Kauffman Foundation,
According to research by Vivek Wadhwa, an academic and tech entrepreneur, and the Kauffman Foundation
Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018

14. Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018
Consideration Sets Exercise
A group of targeted information channels that can be explicitly selected and searched based on prior knowledge.
An entrepreneur’s consideration set will be unique based on idiosyncratic prior knowledge, and ongoing feedback from previously selected channels.
Identify potential consideration sets with regards to the education system. The more strongly the consideration sets are based on your personal knowledge, the more potential they will have.
Discuss your consideration sets with your group members.
Select 3 consideration sets to explore more deeply.
Through the lens of each consideration set, come up with as many problems as you can that need to be solved. No problem should be considered too big or too small.
Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018

15. Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018
Ethnography: Recap
Ethnography
The scientific description of the customs
A systematic written record while participating in the daily lives of others
Consideration Sets
A group of targeted information channels that can be explicitly selected & searched based on prior knowledge
Salman Azhar & Friends in 2018