…being able to touch wealthy companies and having them make changes …to think much more holistically, will have an impact on people all around the world

 EXCLUSIVE  We like showcasing excellence. So why, you ask, does Anne Kirah deserve this accolade? Because she keeps things simple, she keeps it real. And while that may sound like a cliche, it’s what few clientside researchers do. Yet Anne has managed it at Microsoft. She and her team have got engineers thinking about the people who use their products. One team has even named part of their office Howard’s Corner as a legacy to an octogenarian man who forced them to design products and services for everyday folks and not just the tech savvy. Listen on, it’s inspirational and, as Vinny Jones would say, it’s emotional

 STARRING 

• Anne Kirah, Acting Dean, 180 Academy, formerly Lead Design Anthropologist, Microsoft

Recorded live at the Euro MR Event 2006

TIMELINE [18m38s]
00m00s Intro.
01m18s 180 academy - the genesis of a school that teaches radical innovation.
02m35s Reasons for leaving Microsoft.
03m17s Spreading innovation by communicating in the same ‘language’.
05m32s The importance of design in changing lives.

Microsoft
06m38s Products should be meaningful, relevant, desirable, useful - do Microsoft products pass this test?
07m26s Howard’s Corner - using everyday, ordinary people to create really useful products.
09m40s It’s all about people, not users.
10m33s Shifting Microsoft from tech to people focus.
11m35s The true art of anthropology and ethnography.
13m34s How Anne and her team drove change at Microsoft.
14m43s Should companies employ board-level consumer champions?
15m51s Does Ray Ozzie’s arrival as Chief Software Architect herald a new era of humanity at Microsoft?
16m28s Anne’s legacy at Microsoft: just think people, remember Howard’s Corner.

Other
16m49s Being picky with her new clients.

Notable Mentions
Anthropology.
Bang & Olufsen.
Bill Gates.
Denmark.
Design.
Ethnography.
Innovation.
Lego.
Microsoft.
MSN.
Nokia.
Novo Nordisk.
Ray Ozzie.

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:MarketingTalk
Series:EMRE06 Series:Events