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Have An Accent? It Might Help You Get Your Next Job

AI voice-assistants have long had difficulty understanding foreign accents, but now Amazon may be taking steps to address this frequent issue. In Australia, the brand is hiring “a linguist with Australian background” to join their team. The same may be happening in other places around the world as these linguists can listen to the language … Read more

Trend Watch – The Rise Of Media Escapism

Is it ever ok to take a break from your outrage and the 24-hour news cycle? We all should hope so. Yet taking this kind of break is leading to a widespread side effect: guilt. That time you spend watching The Bachelor or staying home from the latest angry protest march is time where you’re … Read more

Food Transparency and When Storytelling Can Backfire

Storytelling can shape consumer perception, but it may also have an underappreciated downside. When journalist Amy Wu was invited by Iowa Select Farms to tour their pork production operations, she noted that taking a consumer into a farm to show “food transparency” is a good idea in principle, but it doesn’t change the fact that … Read more

How “The Backscratchers” Are Reinventing The Agency Model

Back when I worked in the agency world, I remember the angst every time an unreasonable demand came in from a client without a “proper” brief. Rather than try to change this sad reality of last minute requests (or complain about it behind the client’s back), “The Backscratchers” agency have created a model that embraces … Read more

What VCs Look For In Robotics Startups (And What It Can Teach You)

As investing in robotics takes off, this story about what VCs and investors look for has a valuable insight as shared by investor Josh Wolfe of Lux Capital: “what I recommend in two words is: make magic … when we feel that we’ve seen something that nobody else has seen, that we’ve seen something that … Read more

Google Studies 180 Teams And Shares 5 Traits The Best All Share

After two years of studying 180 teams with the intent of finding why some achieve game changing success while others fail, Google recently shared some of their findings. The key, it turns out, comes down to five qualities: Dependability, Structure and Clarity, Meaning, Impact, and Psychological Safety. The last point is perhaps the most interesting, … Read more

Why Chief Marketing Officers Don’t Last

The tenure of most Chief Marketing Officers is woefully short, but this fact is often dismissed as a symptom of changing leadership or sometimes ineffective results. New research points to the fact that CMOs often suffer from vaguely defined job responsibilities and confusion between whether more strategic thinking or focus on commercialization (or a hybrid) … Read more

How Monte Carlo Is Embracing The Future Of Luxury

In a world where luxury consumer demand is changing, how can one f the world’s most iconic luxury destinations stay on top? It turns out Monte Carlo has a fairly sophisticated strategy which hinges on being about more than just gambling and opulence. The city is launching music and art festivals, charity galas and even … Read more

Tinder’s Redesign Prioritizes Your Looks and Profile Photos

Judging whether you want to get to know someone romantically solely based on their photos has become such a commonplace behavior that “swiping left” has its own meaning. That is about to get even more prevalent as Tinder’s latest redesign prioritizes the images you upload. While it may seem shallow, this is not really that … Read more

22,000 People Who Would Clean Toilets For WiFi Access

Do you actually read the terms and conditions for Wifi access before accepting it? If not, apparently you’re not alone in your lazy behavior. Wifi provider Purple hilariously added a clause into their terms for WiFi as a social experiment, and over 22,000 people blindly agreed to do everything from cleaning toilets to “manually relieving … 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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