Christian Madsbjerg founded ReD Associates - a strategic innovation consultancy - with a group of likeminded people in 2007. He is the author of books on social theory and discourse analysis. Christian studied philosophy and political science in Copenhagen and London. The book 'The Moment of Clarity - Using the Human Sciences to Solve Your Hardest Business Problems' will be published on Harvard Business Review Press February 2014. He lives in New York City.

www.redassociates.com

_____________________________________________________

Harvard Business Review blog: Big data's dilemma

http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/08/advertisings-big-data-dilemma/

To address a more complex problem frame, you need a more complex piece of technology. In these situations, an algorithmic business model based on Big Data analytics -- if this, then that -- is not going to provide you with the greater insight or perspective.

Businessweek: Big Data Gets the Algorithms Right but the People Wrong

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-16/big-data-gets-the-algorithms-right-but-the-people-wrong

Without critical thinking skills, Big Data will never reveal patterns that have strategic value. Businesses need to cultivate the interpretive skills of their management teams. By Christian Madsbjerg and Mikkel B. Rasmussen

Bloomberg TV: Where is the money going to in education

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/where-is-the-money-going-to-in-education-_7EzDSJaRPioJ~UuL74V~g.html

Former Bain Capital partner Ed Conard and Red Associates Partner Christian Madsbjerg discuss the allocation of government money to education with Trish Regan on Bloomberg Television's "Street Smart."

Washington post: We need more humanities majors

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/wp/2013/07/30/we-need-more-humanities-majors/

The humanities are not in crisis. We need humanities majors more now than before to strengthen competitiveness and improve products and services. We have a veritable goldmine on our hands. But, in order for that to happen, we need the two cultures of business and the humanities to meet. The best place to start is collaboration between companies and universities on a research level -- something that ought to be at the top of the minds of both research institutions and R&D departments in the coming decade. By Christian Madsbjerg and Mikkel B. Rasmussen

Fortune magazine: Why the humanities need to be saved

http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/06/20/humanities/

Who needs the humanities? The answer: We all do, including every American business leader who has even a shred of ambition. By Christian Madsbjerg and Mikkel B. Rasmussen

The Atlantic: Anthropology inc.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/03/anthropology-inc/309218/

"The corporate anthropology that ReD and a few others are pioneering is the most intense form of market research yet devised, a set of techniques that make surveys and dinnertime robo-calls ("This will take only 10 minutes of your time") seem superficial by comparison. ReD is one of just a handful of consultancies that treat everyday life--and everyday consumerism--as a subject worthy of the scrutiny normally reserved for academic social science. In many cases, the consultants in question have trained at the graduate level in anthropology but have forsaken academia--and some of its ethical strictures--for work that frees them to do field research more or less full-time, with huge budgets and agendas driven by corporate masters."