Thinking Outside of the Box and Breaking the Wheel with Jay Acunzo
b'\\u201cAs marketers we retreat to the mean \\u2014 to trendy best practices.\\u201d What\\u2019s required is out-of-the-box thinking. As the founder of Unthinkable Media and author of the new book\\xa0Break the Wheel, Jay Acunzo knows a thing or two about pushing beyond the everyday and inspiring others to create and share exceptional stories. We discussed all of this and more on this week\\u2019s episode of the On Brand podcast.\\nAbout Jay Acunzo\\nJay Acunzo\\xa0is the author of the book\\xa0Break the Wheel: Question Best Practices, Hone Your Intuition, and Do Your Best Work.\\xa0He\\u2019s a critically acclaimed show host and executive producer, as well as the founder of Unthinkable Media, which creates documentary shows with brand clients.\\nAs a digital media strategist at Google, Jay was responsible for pushing marketing executives and practitioners into the digital age. He then held multiple leadership positions at high-growth tech startups, including HubSpot, and served as Vice President of Brand at the venture capital firm NextView.\\nJay\\u2019s work has been cited in courses at Harvard Business School and by writers at the New York Times, the Washington Post, FastCompany, Fortune, Forbes, and more. He\\u2019s been called a \\u201ccreative savant\\u201d by Salesforce and was named to the city of Boston\\u2019s \\u201c50 on Fire\\u201d list.\\nIn a world where \\u201cstoryteller\\u201d has become a buzzword, Jay has earned a living by understanding how to tell actual stories \\u2014 emotional tales of people and teams doing their best work that help inspire others to push past conventional thinking in theirs.\\nEpisode Highlights\\nThe trouble with story.\\xa0As Jay\\u2019s bio notes, he makes his living helping organizations tell better stories. Storytelling is everywhere today but that\\u2019s not always a good thing. \\u201cIt\\u2019s good because it\\u2019s ubiquitous. It\\u2019s everywhere.\\u201d It\\u2019s a challenge as everyone has their own formulas and definitions.\\nThe most overlooked aspect of story.\\xa0\\u201cConflict. Conflict is critical as it creates stakes and tension. This raises the narrative and helps move the story toward resolution.\\u201d\\nHow you can Break the Wheel.\\xa0Since\\xa0Jay was last on the On Brand podcast, he\\u2019s released his new book\\xa0Break the Wheel, which is all about moving beyond big ideas and exploring how the work gets done in a meaningful way.\\nThink like an investigator not an expert.\\xa0\\u201cYou have to find what works best for you. That means we have to stop acting like experts and act like investigators instead.\\u201d For example, it\\u2019s not enough to say that the best practices work. You have to know\\xa0why\\xa0they work. What can you\\xa0do\\xa0with that?\\nDueling quotes.\\xa0Jay\\u2019s investigative thinking reminded me of a favorite quote of mine from James Thurber, \\u201cIt is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.\\u201d Jay went on to share a favorite of his, \\u201cIt is better to be vaguely right than exactly wrong.\\u201d\\nWhat brand has made Jay smile recently?\\xa0Jay smiles at refreshing brands. \\u201cThat means they\\u2019re different but welcome.\\u201d He went on to share a story from Wistia\\u2019s creative video production campaign \\u2014 1-10-100, chronicling their work as they created the same video for $1,000, $10,000, and $100,000. Talk about redefining the story!\\nTo learn more,\\xa0go to\\xa0jayacunzo.com/books. You can also check out\\xa0Jay\\u2019s recent podcast episode with Patreon founder Jack Conte, which we discussed during the show.\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'