Early on in her career, Svenja spent several years working as a consultant at “Big Four” audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). But it was moving into the people side of business – first at PwC and later at CarNext – that led Svenja to her master’s. “At the end of the day, whether you’re working in auditing, automobiles or anything else, businesses are all about people,” Svenja explains. “You can talk to people about their jobs – what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. But I realised it’s only by observing people yourself that you come to understand what’s really going on.” And it was this realisation that led Svenja to her chosen master’s programme.
Corporate anthropology
“Anthropology is all about becoming part of the group to understand why people behave in certain ways,” Svenja continues. “In my case, I wanted to look at this in the workplace. My master’s thesis was about what corporate professionals do in their daily jobs – how much of their work contributes to tangible deliverables and how much of it is just ‘pretentious work’? In other words, justifying what you’re doing to make a pay cheque, even though you think it’s bullshit! Interestingly, it turns out that the majority of people in corporate jobs do not feel like the work they do is really meaningful.”
Work that matters
Currently, Svenja is working as the global director of learning and development at Here Technologies – a company that uses location data and technology to solve global challenges relating to transport and logistics, mobility, manufacturing, retail and the public sector. “But my work is really about helping my colleagues at Here to do work that matters to them and makes a genuine impact,” she explains. The same end goal as her digital platform, The Inner Business School.
“The master’s programme in cultural and social anthropology helped me a lot here: I understood how to think critically, not to mistake assumptions for facts, and to come up with arguments that make sense and are not just adding to the blah-blah. What’s more, my team is spread across India, Europe and the Americas – there are cultural differences that can cause misunderstandings between teams. Being an anthropologist is a big benefit in those situations! I also work a lot on diversity and inclusion – another area where thinking critically about people’s intrinsic motivations and taking an analytical view of the corporate environment can be useful tools.”
Asking critical questions
For students considering a master’s in cultural and social anthropology, Svenja has a couple of pieces of advice. “Don’t be afraid of choosing a discipline that’s not business-related: people are people in all organisations, and it doesn’t matter if you don’t have business knowledge. As an anthropologist, your role is to take a different perspective and ask critical questions – a useful skill in any team,” according to Svenja.
“With that being said, try to pick a topic for your master’s thesis that’s connected with your career interest. That way, you’re already preparing for your next career move before you’ve finished your master’s degree. Keeping it relevant is key!”
