Unsafe Thinking by Jonah Sachs

(Da Capo Lifelong Books, April 2018)

How to take bold yet intelligent risks in a volatile world where everyone instinctively craves safety and stability

“Safe thinking” is everywhere, and there are concrete reasons why. The reliance on well-known patterns, carefully constructed plans, and the expertise we’ve developed in facing prior challenges has a magnetic pull on our psyches. Overcoming this bias is an urgent problem that nearly everyone in business must now confront. In Unsafe Thinking, Jonah Sachs probes deeply into the pitfalls of safe thinking through the experiences of successful trailblazers in a wide range of fields from business, health, education, and more. For example, take the story of Helena Foulkes, a vice-president at CVS who asked: Why would a company committed to health and wellness sell cigarettes? “Because it’s a $2 billion part of our business and removing cigarettes won’t make a dent in reducing smoking,” shareholders replied. Yet Foulkes convinced her colleague; cutting cigarettes has opened many other profitable avenues, and smoking has actually decreased in communities where many people used to buy their cigarettes at CVS.

Sachs also delves into the scientific literature of many leading researchers in the areas of cognition and creativity. What emerges is a fascinating set of stories of individuals who, despite the fears and resistance we all face, have deeply changed themselves, their companies, and the fields in which they work. Sachs calls these people “unsafe thinkers.” But they are not simply mavericks and radicals who break all the rules. It turns out that there are clear principles and habits of mind these people exhibit that account for their success. Sachs lays out ample evidence that anyone, armed with the will and basic understanding of how to do it, can become an unsafe thinker.

Jonah Sachs is the founder and a partner of Free Range Studios, a brand and innovation company that transforms companies through unsafe thinking. For his work he has been awarded “best of” honors three times at the South by Southwest interactive festival, earned a Webby award, and been featured at the Sundance Film Festival.

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Winning the Story Wars by Jonah Sachs

Does your brand tell a story?

In Winning the Story Wars, globally recognized storyteller, designer and entrepreneur Jonah Sachs argues that only those brands that tell values-driven stories through the right channels will revolutionize marketing. Above that, they may become humanity’s greatest hope for the future.

It’s no surprise that most of today’s marketing messages are swallowed up in a flood of noise the minute they hit the market, with thousands of ads and emails hitting each recipient on a weekly basis. And those recipients, empowered by social media tools and on-demand viewing, will ignore you in favor of something they’d prefer to seek out themselves. Sachs cites a quote from the former advertising chief at Macy’s and Citigroup to emphasize this point: “The irony is that while there have never been more ways to reach consumers, it’s never been harder to connect with consumers.”

For those of us who not only want to be heard, but need to be heard to create a better future—the time has come to cross the chasm with the only strategic approach that has ever really worked: telling great stories.

In Winning the Story Wars, Sachs systematically breaks down how communicators can go beyond the sell by creating stories that inspire people not just to listen, but to proselytize. The President and co-founder of Free Range Studios, Sachs has been a David among Goliaths helping hundreds of for-profit and non-profit organizations rise above the din with campaigns built around the internal structures of ancient myth. Even with a modest budget, his first two viral media efforts—The Meatrix and Store Wars—alone yielded forty million viewers. Drawing on the wisdom of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell, Sachs will guide readers to harness myth-making powers of their very own. Weaving prescriptive tools throughout the book, Sachs will help communicators:

  • Identify and learn the best myth structures at work today
  • Find a tight-knit audience of evangelists to spread the word
  • Foster the image of their audience as potential heroes
  • Watch the message take on a life of its own

This book will speak to the message-makers in any type of company or organization. The Story Wars have long been underway, now it’s time for heroic communicators to turn the tides away from simple selling, and towards real inspiration.

Jonah Sachs is an internationally recognized storyteller, author, designer and entrepreneur. As the co-founder and creative director of Free Range Studios, Jonah has helped hundreds of social brands and causes rise above the media din with breakthrough campaigns. Jonah’s work and opinions have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, FOX News, Sundance Film Festival, NPR and in Fast Company magazine, which named him one of the 50 most influential social innovators.

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