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SEPTEMBER 1, 2025


What If Your Big Break Is Somewhere You Least Expect?


What if Rainn Wilson was never Dwight? When the casting call went out for the American version of the British hit show The Office, actor Rainn Wilson originally auditioned for the role of Michael Scott. Instead, the casting team suggested he might be better as Dwight instead and that choice gave us all one of the most iconic TV comedy characters of all time. So what’s the non-obvious takeaway here? Sometimes the best role for us isn't the one that we think we want. And success requires not on

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How It All Started

A Short Backstory Of This Blog

This is a blog about non-obvious ideas. Originally launched on the Typepad platform in 2005 as the Influential Marketing blog, the stories at first focused mainly on digital marketing while Rohit worked at Ogilvy Advertising. In 2015 Rohit officially rebranded to the Non-Obvious Insights Blog and published his WSJ bestseller Non-Obvious. For the past twenty one years, this blog has coined new terms, introduced future marketing practices and inspired the next generation of non-obvious thinkers and marketers.

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