Non Obvious Megatrends: How to See What Others Miss and Predict the Future (Non-Obvious Trends Series)

Aggregating is the process of grouping ideas together to uncover bigger themes.

Great trends reflect a moment in time, but that moment is never fleeting, and the basic idea is more elevated. Good trends always focus on the shift in an underlying human behavior or belief. They don’t describe a single interesting story or a hot new product or industry.

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FOCUS ON VARIETY. One of the biggest mistakes I have seen people make when curating trends is focusing on stories or examples in a single industry. If a trend is going to describe how business is done or how consumers behave, it should be supported by examples or cases in many industries. WATCH YOUR BIASES. Nothing will cloud your judgment more tha

START WITH HUMAN NEEDS. Sometimes focusing on the underlying human emotion in a story or idea can help you see why it matters and how it connects with others. For example, the basic human need for belonging fuels many activities that people engage in online, from sharing their images on social media to joining online communities. RECOGNIZE THE OBVI

Gathering is the disciplined act of collecting stories and ideas while taking notes of why they are interesting.

MASHUP WORDS. Mashups take two words or concepts and combine them in a meaningful way. Likeonomics is a mashup of likeability and economics. This technique can make a trend name memorable and uniquely yours, but it can feel forced and artificial if not done artfully. There is a reason I didn’t call my book Trustonomics. The best mashups are easy to

social media offers more accountability

What interests me most about this group of ideas? What implications of the stories might I have missed earlier? What is the broader theme that these stories have in common? How can I link stories from multiple industries into a single idea?