Non-Obvious

Everyone in business wants to stay a step ahead of everyone else. We all want to be the first to figure out the next big thing. We want to predict trends before our rivals do.

Yet when people attempt to predict the future, their ideas are often uninspired or even a bit lazy. In the 1960s and ‘70s, hundreds of people thought we'd be all driving flying cars in the next few decades. This was the time of growing rocket power, air travel and car ownership. It seemed only natural that the technologies would all come together to produce elevated personal transport.

But predicting trends based on what seems obvious at the moment is futile. The present is constantly changing: The world isn't nearly as obsessed with space exploration as it was sixty years ago, and we're not nearly as motivated to go to the moon.

If you want to get a better idea of what people will be doing in the future, look for non-obvious trends.

Non-obvious trends aren't right there in front of us. They're buried under lots of other information, and if you want to spot them, you need to become a trend curator.

Think of what a museum curator does. First, they collect things, like works of art or other artifacts. It's important to build this collection, but the collection alone does not a museum make. Curators also have to bring out the meaning in the objects they present.

A trend curator is similar. They gather lots of information about what people are doing, and what's happening in technology, fashion or whatever other field they're interested in.

For example, a keen trend curator might notice that social media, increasingly advanced technology and personalized adverts are pushing us towards a future in which people will have a stronger desire to be the center of attention.