The Most Useful Degree I Never Meant to Use
- Anna Wilson
- Feb 18
- 2 min read
An unconventional career journey from Anthropology to business and brands.
When I chose to study Anthropology and Sociology, I didn’t have a master plan, it just sounded interesting and different. There was no clear job title waiting at the end of it, no obvious ladder to climb. In fact, I spent years slightly apologising for it, explaining what the degree was, and more often, what it wasn’t.
And yet, with the gift of hindsight, it has turned out to be the most useful degree I never meant to use.
Anthropology and Sociology doesn’t train you for a single role. They train you to see. To observe humans in context. To notice how people behave differently depending on culture, power, environment, resources, stories and systems. You learn to zoom out, to ask better questions while looking for patterns rather than answers.
At the time, I didn’t realise that what I was really studying was how systems shape behaviour and how people adapt within them. That lens has quietly informed every piece of work I’ve done since.
I don’t approach projects by asking, “What’s the product?” or “What’s the output?” Instead, I ask:
Who is this for, really?
What pressures are they operating under?
What stories are already shaping their decisions?
Where is energy leaking, or complexity compounding?
And what must hold true for this to last?
This is anthropology in practice, even if it doesn’t come with the label.
In business, it shows up as pattern recognition. I can walk into a brand, a team or a half formed idea and sense where things are misaligned, overworked or trying to be something they’re not. In design, it’s an instinct for coherence, of how language, form, values and behaviour must align if something is going to feel grounded and credible. In strategy, it’s the ability to see the terrain, not just the next step.
My career hasn’t been linear, because anthropology doesn’t teach linear thinking. It teaches relational thinking (and god forbid rational, there's little magic to be found there!). One thing connects to another. Context matters. Meaning matters. People matter.
That way of seeing has become more valuable, not less, in a world crowded with shortcuts, templates and dare I say it AI (I'm sure another discussion on that soon!).
What I offer now through The Hill Fort Club is not a rigid methodology or a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s a way of working that starts with understanding the human and cultural landscape first. Then designing something strong enough to function intentionally and stand out.
A hill fort, after all, is not built quickly. It’s shaped carefully, in response to the land and it's people.
If this way of thinking interests you, you may be interested in the ways I work with founders, creatives and organisations through The Hill Fort Club, from strategic clarity and brand direction to carefully structured packages designed to support sustainable growth.
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