Advice to a young consultant

This will be Section 5 of the blog compendium How to be an anthropologist (for hire).

There was a time I had  traveled so much I had 1.5 million frequent flyer miles with Air Canada.  I was the first generation of anthropologist to make my way in the world, to serve as a consultant moving constantly from project to project.  Naturally, I made many bone-headed mistakes.  From time to time, I have posted on the perils of being a young consultant.  I collect these little essays here. 

1. How to be a self-funding anthropologist

This is my advice to a young man in Mumbai who wrote to ask me if I had any advice on how to do ethnography for a living.  (See the post here.)

2. How to win with culture

This is an interview I did with Scott Berkun who asked me why culture matters to managers.  As a young consultant, you will be called upon to explain and to justify what you do many times.  I hope you will steal anything that's useful to you from this essay.  (See the post here.) 

3. Advice to a young consultant

It's easy to spot the young consultant.  He or she often gets some of the practical matters wrong.  Consider this essay a source of useful advice.  (See the post here.)   

4. The Perfect Black Bag

I had to learn lots of things the hard way as an anthropologist for hire-on my own.  One of the things I learned was that it is necessary to have the right kit.  In this case, you need a perfect black bag.  (See the post here.)

5.  Why I just bought a night light.

If you spend enough days in enough cities and hotels, you wake up sometimes with no idea where the bathroom is.  Now, of course you can turn on the lights.  But this flash of light is sure to reset the body clock you just spent a week trying to get right.  Hence the need for a night light.  (See the post here.)

6. Learning to notice

Enough practical details.  The first order of the anthropological profession is noticing well.  Here's a little essay on say.  (See the post here.) 

7.  Working groups

The good ethnographer improves the value of what he or she accomplishes by learning to play well with others.  (See the post here.) 

Comments

[Clay Parker Jones]

Grant -

Would love to meet up next week when you're in Chicago. Have a minute?

- Clay