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I have often resisted describing myself as a futurist. To me, a futurist was someone who offered an ambitious prediction of the far future — usually focusing on things like energy produced by bio luminescent bacteria or 3D printed houses. Instead, I have spent close to the past decade predicting the near future. Every year, … Read more
For years one of my favorite tools for writing is a website called Coffitivity which simulates the background noise of a coffee shop. I find this little tool a perfect backdrop for writing and use it almost every day. In this article, author David Burkus shares some research behind why having this type of “white noise” in … Read more
When Oxfam learned that Trump’s childhood home in Queens, NY was available to book on Airbnb, they sent refugees to stay there and share their personal stories. The move was a brilliant piece of calculated PR that helped put a human face on the plight of refugees to reach legislators. While the home has since … Read more
We expect libraries to maintain an archive of humanity’s best thinking, but what if a library decided to put so-called “pulp fiction” on the shelves? The term refers to a category of cheaply printed books from the early 1900s about lust, sex, theft, betrayal and degradation that were so lowly regarded that most were “pulped” (destroyed) … Read more
When you ask Millennials to describe the doorbell, a surprising number use phrases like “panic-inducing,” “hateful” and “terrifying.” Sound overblown? It turns out many millennials see the doorbell as an unwanted intrusion much like a phone call during dinner from an 800 number. Friends or family don’t show up unannounced and ring the doorbell. They … Read more
On August 24th the Canadian government approved a provisional measure to allow individuals who identify as neither male nor female to select a gender neutral “intersex” option on official documents. While the US government continues to head in the opposite direction by reducing gender inclusiveness, in Canada this measure will already take effect as of August … Read more
While it may seem nostalgic, a growing number of schools are going back to teaching cursive to children thanks to growing evidence that writing by hand improves unaided memory, retention and may even help improve IQ. As one researcher noted, “we found that children until about grade six were writing more words, writing faster, and … Read more
The team at WGSN produces some great trend insights primarily in for the fashion sector and recently launched their “Anatomy of a Trend” white paper which is worth a download. One element that was particularly interesting was their distinction between macro and micro trends and how they think about trends in general. As a fellow … Read more
This week IKEA will release its new 2018 catalog, and this timely piece looks at how a small internal army of hundreds of photographers, art directors, copywriters, proofreaders, prop masters, carpenters, photo retouchers, programmers and CGI specialists make the catalog globally relevant. From zooming in on kitchen photos (because Chinese kitchens are smaller than American … Read more
The bored husband at a shopping mall is one of the most common stereotypes of suburbia and now a Chinese gaming company has a solution that is rapidly going viral. The so-called “husband pod” features seat massages, retro video games and virtual reality experiences. While there are no plans to expand this outside of China … Read more
Non-Obvious Thinking is my latest book about the 4 secrets of becoming a non-obvious thinker - relesaed 10/01/2024.
Rohit Bhargava is a trend curator, founder of the Non-Obvious Company and the 3-time Wall Street Journal bestselling author of ten books.
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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.
