cover image Unthink: Rediscover Your Creative Genius

Unthink: Rediscover Your Creative Genius

Erik Wahl. Crown Business, $23 (224p) ISBN 978-0-7704-3400-7

In his thought-provoking first book, graffiti artist, entrepreneur, and corporate lecturer Wahl challenges assumptions about business life and posits creativity and a child-like spirit as the key to career and life success. When the author lost his desk job after the dot-com bubble burst, he assumed life as he had planned it was over. But far from it: the experience forced him to realize that creativity is the key to success in any endeavor, and indeed the only source of groundbreaking ideas. In a revolutionary strategy for a business book, Wahl actually encourages “goofing off”—that is, experiencing unstructured time in order to allow curiosity and spontaneous thinking to develop. In explaining his convictions, Wahl advises readers to be provocative, intuitive, and original in their quest to achieve success in business and in life, sprinkling in examples from companies such as Zappos and the NFL. This strong work offers an uncommon way to realize one’s true calling. Agent: Erin Niumata, Folio Literary. (June)