Paco Underhill is often called the godfather of retail anthropology. As the founder of Envirosell and author of Why We Buy, The Call of the Mall and How We Eat, he reshaped how businesses design space, understand human behavior and build experiences around real people, not unrealistic, imaginary personas.

Long before our conversation, Paco’s approach to observing people was quietly influencing how I worked, even without me realizing it.