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Rohit  Bhargava

Rohit Bhargava

Founder of the Non-Obvious Company & Best-Selling Business Author

Rohit Bhargava

Founder of the Non-Obvious Company & Best-Selling Business Author

Biography

Rohit Bhargava is on a mission to inspire more non-obvious thinking in the world. He is the 3-time Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of 10 books and is widely considered one of the most entertaining and original speakers on trends, innovation and marketing in the world. 

Rohit has been invited to deliver sold-out keynotes and workshops in 32 countries around the world to change the way teams and leaders think at the World Bank, NASA, Intel, Novartis, Coldwell Banker, MetLife, American Express, Pizza Hut, Schwab, Disney and hundreds of other well-known organizations.  He has been a Featured Speaker at 5 previous SXSW events and also did a keynote at SXSW Sydney in 2023 (the first SXSW outside of America!).

Prior to becoming an entrepreneur and founding two companies, he spent 15 years leading brand strategy at Ogilvy (Global) and Leo Burnett (Australia) where he advised global brands on human behavior, marketing, and storytelling.

Outside his speaking and consulting, Rohit has taught persuasive speaking and global marketing as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, is frequently quoted in the global media and writes a monthly column for Inc Magazine about Non-Obvious books, hosts a podcast, and has been writing his award-winning email newsletter for the past six years.  At the end of every year, he also leads a program called the Inc Non-Obvious Book Awards where he selects the most fascinating books of the year for business people.

He is a lifelong fan of anything having to do with the Olympics (he’s been to five so far), and actively hates cauliflower (yuck!). Outside of work, Rohit believes that the most entertaining and impactful job he will ever have is being a great dad and teaching his two boys to be kind when no one expects it, curious about the things others take for granted, and confident enough to change the world.

Speaker Videos

KEYNOTE Innovation Trends and Marketing

Speaking Reel

Rohit Bhargava: The 4 Elements of Non-Obvious Thinking | SXSW 2024

15 Non-Obvious Trends Shaping Our Future Normal with Rohit Bhargava | SXSW 2023

Innovation, Trends, Marketing, and Diversity

Rheem Keynote | How To Be A Non-Obvious Thinker with Rohit Bhargava

Becoming a Non-Obvious Thinker

People Who Understand People Always Win

Three Barriers to Predicting The Future

7 Non-Obvious Trends Changing the Future | SXSW 2019

Rheem Keynote | How To Be A Non-Obvious Thinker with Rohit Bhargava

Speech Topics

How To Be A Non-Obvious Thinker (And See What Others Miss)

What if you could see the things that others miss? This generous and inspiring keynote will reveal how anyone can learn to be more creative and innovative. Using his signature fast-paced "non-boring" presentation style, trend curator Rohit Bhargava will take the audience behind-the-scenes of his groundbreaking SIFT method to illustrate how anyone be more innovative using the four specific habits of non-obvious thinkers. Based on his #1 WSJ bestselling Non-Obvious Book Series that has been shared by more than 1 million readers and his latest book Non-Obvious Thinking, this keynote will share plenty of highly actionable tips that are sure to leave any audience with a clear picture of what exactly to do next in order to put the lessons from the talk into practice in their real lives.

This program will help leaders and teams:

  • Master new techniques to create more space for new ideas, find insights, focus on what really matters and define a twist that can lead to new creative breakthrough ideas.
  • Broaden their perspective outside their industry and embrace a mindset that truly allows them to take ideas from many sectors and expertly apply them to their own roles and business.

The audience will leave with:

  • Four actionable and immediately usable habits they can integrate into their daily lives to broaden their perspective, be more creative and see the world differently.
  • A better understanding of what trends are, what they aren’t, why they matter and how they can start to identify trends and patterns of behavior for themselves.

7 Non-Obvious Trends Shaping the Future Normal

What does it take to identify world changing trends that will actually last? For the past decade, Rohit Bhargava has been on the front lines of the future—going into cutting-edge labs, private testing facilities, and invite-only showcases around the world. After completing a world tour and book launch, this exclusive talk will reveal the most powerful stories and instigators that are already shaping humanity’s next decade. From biophilic skyscrapers to generative AI to haptic interfaces, this keynote will offer a clear-eyed overview of not only the technology changing our world, but also explore the deeply human questions all this advancement will raise. Rather than offering “futurist theater” with obvious forgettable examples, this talk is consistently updated with new stories (sometimes pulled from that morning’s news!), a charismatic delivery style, and interactive exercises to deliver a memorable experience for any size audience. This is not a boring academic talk. Instead, it's a pull-no-punches, always entertaining, constantly surprising, highly actionable (and deeply non-obvious!) glimpse into what the future will look like ... and how each of us can train ourselves to anticipate big shifts before they happen.

This talk will help leaders and teams:

  • Create a strategy to take their organization into the future and navigate significant change or disruption either through industry shifts, restructures, pandemic effects and/or new leadership.
  • Gain exposure to cutting edge ideas and technologies (as well as the innovators behind them) that can help inform new initiatives and products.

The audience will leave with:

  • A greater understanding of the fundamental forces of disruption that are shifting consumer behavior and beliefs across industries and what this means for them.
  • A roadmap of relevant innovations and advances that can help to shape strategic planning and current efforts around building products and services for existing and future potential customers. 

The Art and Science of Non-Obvious Marketing (In a Skeptical World)

We are living in a time when it is harder to earn trust than ever before. People skip ads, mistrust brands and demand transparency from the companies they buy from or work for. What does it take for any organization to be more believable? To win in a low-trust world, you need to be more human. This funny and insightful keynote from award-winning marketing expert Rohit Bhargava will reveal the five keys to earning attention in a world filled with distractions. Whether you are looking to shift perceptions, improve sales or simply inject more breakthrough thinking in your current efforts, this talk will help. Through a digestible collection of entertaining case studies and unusual observations, Rohit will shine a spotlight on what actually works to command attention, build loyalty and generate real results. Most importantly, the audience will leave with some real practical advice they can use immediately to put the power of non-obvious thinking to work every day.

This program will help leaders and teams:

  • Align a team across departments with a shared understanding of branding, positioning, marketing, storytelling and what part everyone plays in shaping the organization’s perception in the marketplace.
  • Articulate why storytelling matters and make the task of storytelling more approachable and realistic for everyone to engage with in their daily roles.
  • Build a culture of trust within the organization and improve employee retention by inspiring a team to have more belief in the work they do and the leaders who lead them.

The audience will leave with:

  • Understanding the key principles of storytelling and how to apply them in a business context to improve communications and be more persuasive.
  • Insights on how trust is earned and lost in the middle of our modern “believability crisis” and techniques anyone can use to be more trustworthy and believable.
  • A leadership model for establishing more authenticity and trust among teams that can be replicated at all levels of the organization. 

How To Use Non-Obvious Thinking To Thrive In An AI-Disrupted World

This is an optimistic talk about what it takes to adapt and win in a world transformed by AI.

Every leader is asking big questions about AI, but too often thinking small about how to adapt for a disrupted future. There are plenty of buzzwords right now, but not enough focus on how we must shift our perspective to win in the coming year and beyond. How do we find the right balance between going irresponsibly deep on AI and letting the future pass us by? Based on a decade of research into trends and innovation, this highly optimistic talk will reveal how each of us can survive and thrive by shifting the way we think about AI. Inspired by stories of companies and leaders getting it right, this clear-eyed talk will remind you why in times of disruption, the ability to see what others miss and think non-obvious might still be the greatest superpower.

This program will help leaders and teams:

  • Understand how the forces of AI are disrupting business practices and what can make this a good (or bad) thing depending on how those disruptions are rolled out.
  • Forecast the future of disruption in their industry driven by AI and other technologies so that they can develop a clearer picture of how to prepare for this disruption and how to leverage it

The audience will leave with:

  • Actionable methods for shifting team thinking away from traditional ideas and towards more innovative mindsets.
  • Lessons for how anyone can shift the way they work and how they show up to their daily roles in the midst of disruption from AI.
  • An optimistic vision of a future where disruption doesn’t need to be a bad thing and how it may lead to more business and career opportunities when leveraged in the right way.

Testimonials