Rohit Bhargava's Blog, page 57

Non-Obvious Insights Show – Episode #217

There is a little bit of everything in this week’s email, from robotic dogs enforcing social distancing to jazz hands replacing handshakes. Last week I also started a video show to share my thoughts on these stories as well as giving you an inside look at some of the stories that didn’t make it into the email.

Here are the stories covered this week with links for further reading:

Coronavirus: Robot dog enforces social distancing in Singapore park – https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technolog…

Your N...

The Non-Obvious Insights Show – Episode #216

After writing my weekly email newsletter for just over four years, one of the questions Im most often asked about is the stories that didnt make it into my newsletter. I spend hours every week reading and compiling the most fascinating stories to include but I usually only share around six stories. What about the rest? Last week I decided to start live streaming a video show where I would talk not only about the stories of the week, but also talk about some of the stories that were left on...

What I Learned From Doing 15 Virtual Keynotes In 21 Days

Six weeks ago every event got cancelled, postponed or moved to virtual. Like many professional speakers, I started delivering my talks virtually. But taking a 45 minute talk and doing it over Zoom doesnt work. Its too long, tech gets in the way and it just feels boring.

I knew I had to get better at this.

So I started researching. At first it was YouTube videos. I watched a 34 minute overview on selecting the right cardioid microphone. I took notes from a masterclass from a Hollywood lighting...

10 Futuristic Ideas Becoming Reality Faster Because Of COVID-19

For the past ten years Ive been a collector of innovative ideas. When I write about them and interview the people behind them, I know they are far ahead of their industry. Over the past month as our entire culture has been upended by the arrival of the COVID-19 virus, one of positive side effects I have been watching is a rapid normalizing of ideas and technology that might have seemed too dangerous or risky to try.

Here are ten of the biggest ideas gaining momentum, along with some...

5 Reasons Virtual Meetings Suck (And 5 Ways To Fix Them)

With the concerns about a global health pandemic, the necessity of shifting more events and meetings to be virtual is on everyone’s mind. There’s only one problem: most of us have spent too much time in virtual meetings that are a waste of time.

I should know, I’ve probably spoken or participated in well over a hundred over the past years – both as a virtual keynote speaker and a remote workshop leader.

Some of them have sucked.

But I don’t believe that virtual meetings or presentations...

What You Can Learn From 50 Top Futurists About The World To Come

Exactly fifty years ago, noted futurist Alvin Toffler wrote one of the most widely read books about the future calledFuture Shock. It was a legendary work, and the inspiration for the team at the Abundant Future Institute to seek out 50 top futurists to each contribute a chapter to a book celebrating Toffler’s vision and offering new thoughts for a new era. I was honored to be among those who added their insights to the curated selection.

The book is nowavailable on Amazonand my contributed...

The Best & Worst Of 2020 Super Bowl Marketing Strategy

Can a Super Bowl ad that costs nearly $6 million be worth it?

That’s a question worth debating if you’re in marketing, so let’s take a look at some of the Super Bowl marketing strategies behind the ads from this year’s big game and see which ones were the biggest winners and losers. For longtime readers, you know I’ve done this before but in past years when I was working at a large agency, I would tread carefully when doing my Super Bowl recaps to make sure I didn’t accidentally mention a...

Ten Stories About Non-Obvious Megatrends You Should Read

Earlier this week I sent the 200th edition of my weekly Non-Obvious Insights email and my bookNon-Obvious Megatrendsjust launched on Tuesday so there is lots happening this week!

Thank you to everyone who has already bought the book and shared their review. Last night I found out with hit #1 in about fifteen categories on Amazon, #2 overall in the Business category (behind the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) and the Top 25 of ALL books on Amazon.

In honor of launch this week, I thought...

2020 Will Be The Year Of Bullsh*t. Here’s How To Survive …

This past weekend the Sunday Review from theNew York Timesdeclared the past ten years as the “Decade of Mistrust” and suggested that “Americans learned that they shouldn’t believe anyone or anything.” This rise in mistrust seems connected to the rise of bullshit too – and so it felt like a fitting theme for my first post of the new year.

But this doesn’t have to be a negative thing.Non-Obvious thinkers aren’t afraid of bullshit.We see it all the time and have learned to be strategically...

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 environment. Over the past decade, my team and I have identified and written about well over 100 trends covering everything from the rise of the #metoo movement (a trend we calledFierce Femininityback in 2017) to the growing ability for immersive technology to help us better connect with one another (which we described asVirtual Empathy).

On January...