05 2022 June
My Non-Obvious Graduation Advice For Recent Grads
I’m just a few days away from my oldest son graduating from high school, and so I’ve been thinking a lot about graduation advice. A...
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06 2021 October
Don’t Blame Facebook, Blame the Marketers
Facebook is intentionally profiting off our anger. This week a whistleblower confirmed what many of us have suspected for years. The resulting backlash has been widely covered...
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26 2019 December
5 Non-Obvious Megatrends Changing Our World In 2020
For the past ten years I have gone through an annual ritual of publishing a book about trends that describe our shifting culture and business...
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06 2019 September
Scientists Regrow Teeth, Americans Need Chaos and Why Your Next Flight Might Be Delayed On Purpose | Non-Obvious Insights #181
This week the dual themes of selfishness and unselfishness emerged in the stories I’m sharing below. On the selfish side – Instagrammers sharing tone deaf...
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12 2019 July
6 Marketing Lessons From Ed Sheeran
There is a moment during a show at the Austin City Limits where Ed Sheeran finally starts to perform his biggest hit at the time:...
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06 2019 July
Is Social Media Making It Impossible To Grow Up?
It should be a basic human right to remember the past with fondness as being better than it actually was. Unfortunately, for today’s generation of...
Read Now18 2019 February
The Real Reason Influencers Make So Much Money
Everyone wants to be an online influencer, because it seems to pay well, but who is really benefiting? This article from the USA Today actually takes the...
Read Now14 2019 February
Jose Cuervo’s Tequila Train, Kim Kardashian’s Selfie Strategy and Barbie Focusing On Inclusion | Non-Obvious Insights 02.14.19
Why Jose Cuervo Wins With Its All-You-Can-Drink Tequila Train The temptation to create a “Strategic Spectacle” is popular for brands desperately chasing experiential marketing. Usually it leads to...
Read Now24 2019 January
Selfie Dysmorphia, Celebrities Abandoning Social Media and the World’s Biggest Universal Income Experiment | Non-Obvious Insights 01.24.19
Why Every Ski Map Looks The Same This past weekend was a big one for skiing and so this article was interesting and timely –...
Read Now13 2018 December
The 2018 Non-Obvious Book Awards – Top 50 Business Books Of The Year
Every year my team and I read and review hundreds of books in the process of curating ideas to incorporate in our annual list of...
Read Now01 2018 November
How To Cure Your Social Media Addiction
This was a week filled with more social media stupidity than usual. In a single day I read two disturbing stories that got me thinking...
Read Now17 2018 October
Amy Winehouse And How Dead Artists Might Come Back On Tour As Holograms
This week the father of Amy Winehouse announced a world tour in 2019 featuring a “hologram” of his daughter on stage. A digital avatar of Winehouse,...
Read Now14 2018 August
Why Does The Internet Make Stupidity So Viral?
Earlier this week the US government had to officially ask people to stop jumping out of moving cars to dance in the streets in response...
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