In this solo video, Bob London reviews Rohit Bhargava’s Non‑Obvious (2017). He argues the book offers far more than a list of future trends, providing a concrete, step‑by‑step “Real Life Advice” section that teaches readers how to spot trends that matter to their business and life. London highlights the three observability techniques from that section – (1) explain the world to children, (2) watch processes in action, and (3) avoid being observationally lazy by not viewing life through a smartphone. He then walks through several 2017 trend titles (e.g., “Fierce Femininity,” “Desperate Detox,” “Side Quirks,” “Authentic Fame Seekers”), noting how the evocative names spark curiosity. London also praises the back‑of‑book archive that compiles annual trend reports from 2011 onward, allowing readers to track how ideas evolve. Throughout, he connects the material to his own role as a Chief Listening Officer and his experience writing a book, emphasizing the value of listening, observing, and curiosity. He ends with a disclaimer that he is not a paid endorser and encourages viewers to read the book.
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Hey everybody, I'm out on a 2-day self-imposed writer's retreat. I took one thing with me to read and it was this book that I heard about, Non-Obvious by Rohit Bhargava, who I happened to meet recently. And I'll tell you that, I mean, I don't know if I've ever done a video book review before, but I'm quite compelled. So there, on a couple levels, first of all, like this is— there's an incredible amount of value here. You might say, "Well, predicting trends in the future, right." I mean, there's a lot of trends and listicles out there and it doesn't seem like— it seems like they all have kind of a perspective that's driven by some commercial interest. That's fine. We get that. That's the game that— that's the life we live, the game that we're playing in. So, but as I looked at it, it struck me that there's an incredible amount of value in this book besides just the trends that he's forecasting just in and of themselves. So what do I mean by that? He actually has a giant section of the book of how you can spot trends that are important to your business and your life, and sort of step by step how to do that. And even, and I have to say, like the themes of listening, obviously something important to me as a Chief Listening Officer, Observing what's around you and curiosity, those 3 things. He's got this section here, it's called "Real Life Advice." 3 ways to be more observant. Explain the world to children, number 1. Number 2, watch processes in action. True. You can't just listen, you have to watch how people do things because sometimes the way they describe it to you doesn't fully give you the whole picture. Don't be observationally lazy. I love that. Don't look at life through the smartphone. That's fantastic. Then we have the actual 2017 trends themselves. I would just say that there's no way to look at this page and the little images and the titles of these trends without wanting to read about the trends. Fierce femininity, desperate detox, side quirks, authentic fame seekers. They hint at what's behind them, but not really. And it makes you want to read more. And then, I guess the ultimate value of the book to me, or, you know, one of the other surprises, it's kind of the Ian Altman school of give people more than they expect, was I was thinking, man, this is cool. I've never, and it's 2017, I know he's been doing this for a while. It really makes me want to go to his website or whatever and look up some of the other trends from other years. And of course, I don't have to do that, because in the back of the book, or towards the back, he's got, starting in 2011, his annual non-obvious trend report overview. And so it's all right here. I can't wait to look through those and see how things have changed over the years. And I guess I would just add, as someone who has been working on a book, wink wink, for quite some time myself, that this was just an interesting and fun read. And that's something I aspire to, is to not sound like every other business book out there. Again, non-obvious, the 2017 edition, How to Think Differently: Curate Ideas, Predict the Future by Rohit Bhargava. I am not a paid endorser whatsoever. Enjoy the read.
