An exclusive interview with Rohit Bhargava and Ben duPont

Have you ever wondered what a non-obvious thinker is? If you could see the world just a little differently or try something new, what would you change in your personal and professional life? Can non-obvious thinking be applied in the business sector?

A fascinating world opens up when discussing with Rohit Bhargava and Ben duPont. Bestselling futurist Rohit Bhargava and pioneering venture capitalist Ben duPont can be your personal advisors through their new book «Non-Obvious Thinking: How to See What Others Miss.

A pair of yellow glasses appear on the cover of the book. Just wear them and start reading. Creating space for new ideas and thinking is not easy, but with the appropriate guidance everything can be achievable (https://www.amazon.com/Non-Obvious-Thinking-What-Others-Miss/dp/1646871618).

 Q: How can we apply non – obvious thinking in business sector? 

Rohit Bhargava – Ben duPont: Let’s start with three of the most cliche terms in business: innovation, disruption and creativity. They are overused in part because of how important they are for leaders to build a winning strategy for the future.

We need to operate in a disruptive world by fostering more innovation and creativity. Non-Obvious Thinking is the method that can make that happen for anyone, no matter what role they are currently in for the business. The way we apply this thinking is by using it to see what other miss, and come up with new original products and services to win the future.

Q: Do you think that applying non-obvious thinking can create a risk? 

Rohit Bhargava – Ben duPont: The thing I think we often misunderstand about risk is that we assign it unevenly. Applying new ideas with non-obvious thinking can certainly create risks. So can doing nothing and refusing to innovate.

I think the key is to find the right ways to use non-obvious ideas to do something new while managing the potential risk of a downside. Creating risk should not be a reason to avoid action, and it doesn’t have to be if we can be thoughtful about how to keep that risk manageable.

Q: What is SIFT framework and can you provide a few examples on how CEO’s and other business leaders can apply it? 

Rohit Bhargava – Ben duPont: The SIFT method was our approach to teach non-obvious thinking that was grounded in all the research and analysis we did around the habits of truly original thinkers. It’s an acronym that stands for Space, Insights, Focus and Twist.

Space is all about finding more time and mental flexibility in your daily life to appreciate new ideas and different ways of thinking. Insights, the second phase, is all about seeking new connections between ideas and finding the deeper meanings behind the things we observe. Third in our method is Focus, a skillset that involves leaving the noise behind and learning to point your attention and thinking toward the things that really matter most.

Finally, the last step in this method is something we call the Twist, which is a word we used to describe the act of creation and coming up with something new and different. Here’s a way that leaders and organizations can apply this method: create what we call «oasis moments». These are moments in everyday work life where people can get away from the back to back meetings and constant pressure to fill every moment.

What if you required every meeting to start five minutes after the hour instead of on the hour? Or set aside a room of the office that was just for reflection or ideation? If we want our people to create the space to have new ideas and be more innovative, we need to help them find the physical or mental space to be able to do it.

Q: How much time did it take you to prepare the book? Tell us what you hope readers will get out of the book. 

Rohit Bhargava – Ben duPont: We spent a little over a year on the collaborative writing process for the book, but in many ways the two of us have been formulating the methodology that we introduce in the book for more than a decade before.

Rohit was doing this through his popular decade-long trend series of Non-Obvious books and through many workshops with large companies and through his teaching work at Georgetown University.

Ben has been doing it through fostering his community around non-obvious thinking at his annual dinner and with his VC investing work. The book was our chance to put our ideas together and really create a practical compilation of actionable advice for anyone to bring more of this sort of thinking into their daily lives.

Q: Τell us about your annual Non-Obvious Dinners 

Ben duPont: The dinners have been an annual gathering that have become a highlight for many of our regular attendees. It’s a chance for people to come together to apply their collective brainpower to sharing non-obvious ideas that can change the world … not something you usually get to do every day!

In talking about those ideas, everyone who is part of this event has a chance to envision the future from another perspective. Our method for voting and having the best ideas surfaced and presented to the room is also an intentional way to bring the entire community together and ensure that we elevate those concepts that could really create an impact and introduce them to a group of people who may have the connections and clout to make some of those ideas into reality.

Q: What does success mean for you? 

Rohit Bhargava – Ben duPont: The world needs more non-obvious thinkers. For us, this means people who are unafraid to see multiple perspectives and leaders who are open minded and able to embrace disruption.

The ultimate success for a book like this would be if it could offer a spark for anyone to see the world just a little differently and challenge themselves to try something new and different. By breaking ourselves out of the routines of our lives and making more time and space for new ideas, we can allow them to happen more regularly.

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