Founder: Michael Thomas
BACKGROUND
My work sits at the intersection of cognition, design, and strategy. I bring over two decades of experience helping organizations and teams make sense of complex systems, where culture, technology, and human judgment meet.
As a cognitive anthropologist and design strategist, I translate human insight into organizational clarity. I lead and grow high-performing, interdisciplinary teams that connect philosophical depth with empirical rigor, integrating qualitative research, semiotics, data analytics, and design methods to clarify what is real, what is true, and what works.
Extensive global experience, most notably in China (Nanjing) where I lived for three years working with Ford and Baidu to deliver intelligent connected systems (V2X, digital voice assistance, AI integration, connected services) based on cultural and user insight from discovery through to prototype testing and launch. My dissertation compared cross-cultural US and Chinese technics as they get translated into design and engineering decisions. Additional global fieldwork and cross-cultural analysis across APAC, EMEA, and NA.
DEEP GLOBAL EXPERIENCE
Executive Board Member of Society for Anthropological Sciences and part-time professor of Design, Anthropology, and Semiotics at Lawrence Technical University and Wayne State, I’m constantly teaching, training, and coaching people to put behavioral, cognitive, and cultural insights to work. Operationalizing abstract concepts, making complex ideas accessible, and driving design.
BEHAVIOR, COGNITION, & MEANING
Contact me:
Reach out anytime to inquire about a project, training, or just thinking through a problem.