Unsafe Thinking: How to Be Nimble and Bold When You Need It Most

Posing the question of why so many people get stuck in conventional, old-fashioned thinking when it comes to work, journalist Sachs argues, energetically but sketchily, that the answer lies in a mixture of fear and habit. He writes that everyone has an ingrained bias to seek safety and approval, and that one needs to develop the courage to approach new challenges in a novel, unproven way. To furnish his audience with examples of people who’ve done exactly this, Sachs searched for and interviewed innovators—identified here as those who eschew safety for breakthrough work. Asking another question—is this ability inborn, or can it be learned?—Sachs finds that, luckily, it’s the latter; and by learning the emotional and intellectual skills needed to take these risks, one can develop the ability to think “unsafely” and pursue one’s creativity and passion. Sachs walks through the key components of unsafe thinking, namely courage, motivation, learning, flexibility, morality, and leadership, using his interviewees’ stories—such as that of a 15-year-old who invented a new method to detect the onset of Alzheimer’s—to illustrate his points. The writing is lively, but the information is more generically inspirational than it is concrete. Aspiring innovators may have more success looking elsewhere. (Apr.)