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Why I Finally Redesigned My Website, Super Bowl Ad Preview and the Birds Aren't Real Movement | Non-Obvious Insights #306
Dear Newsletterest,

I find websites to be a tortuous thing when I am the one responsible for them. This week I finally launched phase one of my new website. Despite my fear about what you'll tell me still needs to be fixed (yes, the 14 second survey isn't quite done!), I mentioned it so obviously the secret's out. What do you think? 

Among the stories this week, you'll find an exploration of the new "drop services" economy, the curious popularity of the "Birds Aren't Real" movement, ungendering in awards programs, a preview of Super Bowl advertising and how the Olympics is driving a debate about the difference between mental health issues and crumbling under pressure.  

Reselling Gig Work Is Now A Popular Side Hustle. Is it Wrong?
Drop shipping is a widely used practice that allows a retailer to take a sale and get a distributor or wholesaler to ship that product directly to a customer without ever actually stocking the product themselves. It's the perfect middleman business model. Now some clever entrepreneurs are trying to do the same thing with services - hiring gig workers from platforms like Fiverr, repackaging their work and selling it at a higher rate to their own clients. This so called "drop services" economy is becoming more common and raising some important questions along with it. Is it ethical to take the cheap labor of professionals (often based in other countries) and mark it up for resale (or pass it off as their own) without their knowledge? And does the fact that this involves services make it different from the widely accepted practice of drop shipping? Or are these just smart entrepreneurs filling a need for someone to take the efforts of disparate gig workers and combine them into a more valuable and complete end product?

Birds Aren't Real Founder Fights Misinformation With More Misinformation
After seeing the hatred among protesters at a large event, Peter Macadoo decided to create his own movement ... by holding up a sign that read: "Birds Aren't Real." When asked by people what he meant, he described his fabricated conspiracy theory about how 50 years ago the U.S. government committed "birdicide" by killing all the birds and replacing them all with government surveillance drones. His movement went viral, as people shared his absurdity on social media.

Some ridiculed his campaign, seeing him as merely another weird conspiracy theorist. Others celebrated him as the creator of a clever campaign to combat misinformation with more misinformation. In a rare interview, he breaks character to share an interesting insight about why conspiracy theories are so appealing for so many:

"I think that by becoming a conspiracy theorist or getting into that world, you reposition yourself in your mind from the victim to the hero."

If he's right, the saddest reality right now is just how many people want to see themselves as that hero, despite any facts or evidence that indicates their beliefs might be based on misinformation. 

Should All Awards Be Ungendered?
Several months ago the BRIT awards announced that they would remove separate male and female prizes for best solo and best international musical act - opting to replace them with ungendered award categories. This week at the awards program, singer Adele landed in a bit of trouble after winning and declaring her pride in being a woman and in the accomplishments of women artists, despite the award intentionally trying to take the spotlight away from gender. Her speech aside, might this be the start of a trend toward more ungendered awards?

And if so, the real question is which ones will make this move. Should awards for best acting or directing be gendered? What about beauty pageants? Sporting events? It's a hard question to answer because it comes down to the difference between equality versus equity.

It would be equal to have men and women race against one another in the 40 yard dash. It wouldn't, however, be equitable. Judging music created by men, women or those who identify as neither could be done in an equitable way. Biological gender provides no real advantage when it comes to musical talent. Real equity, in other words, is not about treating everyone the same. It's about creating more fairness for everyone. 

Olympics Shine a Spotlight on Mental Health Versus Crumbling Under Pressure
Superstar Olympic athletes Eileen Gu, Chloe Kim, Ireen Wust and Nathan Chen were expected to dominate in their respective sports. So far, they have. Champion skier Mikaela Shiffrin and Japanese skater Yuzuru Hanyu were expected to dominate too. So far, they haven't. The Winter Olympics are offering up the usual amount of drama, but given the high profile exit of gymnast Simone Biles just a few months ago at the Summer Olympics, the topic of mental health is coming once again front and center. Yet Biles' story included sexual abuse, mistreatment and intense personal scrutiny.

Shiffrin and others in the Winter Olympics so far have tried and failed. Athletes on the global stage all have overwhelming pressure. The ones who fail are getting accolades now for their willingness to talk honestly about their failures. At the same time, failure and disappointment is not the same as a mental health struggle. Not every athlete who underperforms in relation to expectations is struggling from mental health issues. Some are struggling with the normal pressure of expectations and emotions that come with competing on the global stage. And part of the journey of a champion is to overcome that internal doubt and perform anyway. Like Lindsey Jacobellis, perhaps the greatest Olympic story of perseverance you're likely to read from this year's games.

Spoiler Alert: A Sneak Preview of Super Bowl Advertising
If you prefer to keep the suspense to watch the ads during the big game for the first time this coming Sunday, then you should skip this list of links below. For those who do want a preview of Super Bowl ads (or for my international readers who won't get to see the ads even if they do watch the big game because they aren't broadcast internationally), here are a couple of good ad roundups:

Even More Non-Obvious Stories ...
Every week I always curate more stories than I'm able to explore in detail. Instead of skipping those stories, I started to share them in this section so you can skim the headlines and click on any that spark your interest: 
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 my best thinking to your next event as a keynote speaker or facilitator? Watch my new 2022 speaking reel on YouTube >>
Want to share? Here's the newsletter link:
https://mailchi.mp/nonobvious/306?e=f7921ac548
The Non-Obvious Insights Newsletter features this week's most underappreciated stories, curated for you. | View in browser
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