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Virginia State Exposes What It Costs to Be in the Michelin Guide

Price of Michelin

The upcoming Michelin Southern Restaurant Guide will be missing locations from one state this year: Virginia. Rather than paying the $360,000 “partnership fee,” the state’s tourism department took the unusual step of not only refusing to pay but also publicly revealing exactly what it costs to be included. Since the admission, it has been revealed that … Read more

The Non-Obvious Book of the Week: The Algorithm by Hilke Schellmann

NOBW_Algorithm

Imagine a future where an algorithm reads everything from your facial expressions during an interview to everything you have ever shared on social media in order to determine whether you get hired or fired. Actually, maybe you don’t need to imagine that future … because it’s already here. This is a book about the reality … Read more

The Dangerous Stupidity of “Doing Your Own Research”

Froot Loops

In a recent interview, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested that parents of newborn babies should do their own research before vaccinating their babies. Here’s the full quote: “I would say that we live in a democracy, and part of the responsibility of being a parent is to do your own research. You research the baby … Read more

Why the Nike Backlash May Be Just the Beginning

Nike backlash

When Jennifer and I wrote Beyond Diversity, one of the first things we talked about was blind spots. We knew that there would be things we could not see or cultural references we might not know. It was the reason we engaged six contributors and another eight sensitivity readers to help us uncover those deficits in … Read more

UAE Becomes First Region to Experiment with Using AI to Write New Laws

UAE uses AI to write lesgislation

Here’s a fascinating statistic about the recent state of AI regulation: “at least 69 countries have proposed over 1,000 AI-related policy initiatives globally, but these primarily focus on how to control AI rather than empower it.” What could empowered AI do for the future of government? The United Arab Emirates is the first nation to … Read more

Should You Be Polite to Chatbots? Research Says Yes. Sam Altman Says It Costs Millions in “Wasted” Computing Power

polite to AI

How polite are you when you ask ChatGPT a query? According to Sam Altman, the human propensity to be nice when asking technology for solutions is “wasting millions of dollars of computing power.” Some experts aren’t so sure. One suggested that being kind “helps generate respectful, collaborative outputs,” while another noted that “when it clocks … Read more

Inside the Marketing Savvy of the World’s Lightest Whiskey Bottle

Johnny Walker lightest bottle

Claiming that a product is the world’s most ___________ is the most common marketing gateway to empty hyperbole that is sure to inspire plenty of eyerolling. There’s something a bit unusual, though, about Johnnie Walker’s latest announcement. For one thing, they offer these magic three words: “what we believe” in front of their claim. They … Read more

Earth Day, Environmental Hostility and The Blue Marble 50 Years Later

Blue marble

This past week was Earth Day and one of the efforts to commemorate the day was NASA recognizing the 50th anniversary of their iconic “blue marble” photo of the Earth by releasing a similar image taken fifty years later. How did they compare? “In the 50 years that separates these two snapshots in time, one … Read more

The Complex Reality of “Girlbosses” In Space

Katy Perry Space X

This week the first all-female crew for a “manned” spaceflight headed to space—for ten minutes—on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. One of the passengers was pop singer Katy Perry who reportedly broke into song while on the flight (What a Wonderful World) and promptly kissed the ground when she landed safely back to Earth. Again, … Read more

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#1 WSJ & USA Today Bestselling Author

In addition to Non-Obvious Thinking, Rohit is the author of 10 books on trends, the future of business, building a more human brand with storytelling and how to create a more diverse and inclusive world.

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