27 Non-Obvious Stories That Offer A "Year In Review" Recap of 2021 | Non-Obvious Insights #300

Dear Newsletterest,

Welcome to Issue #300 of this newsletter! It's hard to believe that it has already been six years since I started, but I do it because of your support and choice to keep coming back and reading every week, so a BIG thank you to all my subscribers.

For this last edition of 2021 (I'll be taking the rest of the month off from writing) I thought a fitting theme would be a "Year In Review" - so I have curated a diverse assortment of stories that offer a big picture look at the past year as well as some perspectives on what to expect in 2022. Enjoy the stories, and I hope you can also manage to find some time away from work over the next few weeks.

I'll be back with another edition of the Non-Obvious Insights Newsletter on January 6th. Have a great new year - I look forward to sharing many more stories with you in 2022!

2021 Year In Review: Books

Books, books, books. We have been absolutely buried in them for the past few weeks and yesterday I did our live announcement show where I shared the winners of the Non-Obvious Book Awards. Beyond our own book awards, though, there were plenty of other great lists of books worth reading. Here's a few that we liked - for your reading pleasure:

2021 Year In Review: Marketing

I love a good marketing roundup and this year there were plenty of reviews of ads, campaigns and ideas from the marketing industry that I came across. Here are some of the best:

2021 Year In Review: News Media

Like books, taking a look back at the past year through the eyes of the journalists who covered it can offer some interesting insights about the stories that resonated. Particularly interesting in the list below are that several of the curated lists were gathered by journalists themselves:

2021 Year In Review: By The Numbers

Our world is filled with organizations who collect data about it. Once a year at this time, some of them offer a rare glimpse inside their walled garden of numbers through reports that take a look back at the year in review. Here are a few explorations of numbers from 2021 that caught my eye:

2021 Year In Review: Culture

The annual recaps I read this year were not just limited to business topics either. There were plenty of stories about film, TV and our culture overall. Here are a few:

Even More Non-Obvious Stories ... 

Every week I always curate more stories than I'm able to explore in detail and this week there were a few stories that didn't fit the year in review theme so I thought I would include them here. In case you're looking for some more reading this week, here are a few other stories that captured my attention:
How are these stories curated?
Every week I spend hours going through hundreds of stories in order to curate this email. Want to discuss how I could bring this thinking to your next event as a keynote speaker in person or virtual? Watch my new 2021 speaking reel on YouTube >>
Beyond Diversity Is A Bestseller!
My latest book is now available and explores what it takes to create a more diverse and inclusive world. The book features the voices of more than 200 amazing people and is co-authored by inclusion expert Jennifer Brown. Get your copy of the book today!

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