Dare to Be Naive: How to Find Your True Self in a Noisy World

Evergreen Winner, Living Now Book Awards 2025 (Leadership)

Winner, Next Generation Indie Awards 2024 (Career)

Winner, International Book Awards 2024 (Business – Motivational)

Silver Medal Winner, Independent Publisher Awards 2024 (Best First Book – Non-Fiction)

Bronze Medal Winner, Foreword Indie Awards 2023 (Career)

Distinguished Favorite, Independent Press Awards 2024 (Leadership)

Finalist, National Indie Excellence Awards 2024 (Leadership)

Has anyone called you naive for suggesting that businesses can do more good and make a positive impact on not just profits, but also on employees, consumers, and the world?

…If so, you’re in good company.

Increasingly more employees, customers, and business leaders agree that how and why money is made is equally as important as the amount of money made. Yet business leaders often fear being labeled as naive if they pursue social good while pursuing profit. That fear can be paralyzing, ultimately keeping them from sharing – and acting on – their biggest and best ideas.

When we screen ourselves to present only what’s accepted as realistic within the mainstream, we eliminate the option for positive transformation. So how do you take informed, impactful action and lead your business to be a force for good, considering the rapidly changing workforce and evolving consumer expectations?

You dare to be naive.

While most people think being naive is a bad thing (especially in business), an intentional, chosen naivete leads to better business and a more fulfilled life. Through reading Dare to Be Naive, you’ll learn how to generate two types of ROI – a positive Return on Investment AND profound Ripples of Impact – as well as:

• The reason we fear being seen as naive and how to question that fear and harness the positive attributes of chosen naivete: curiosity, trust, authenticity, and optimism.
• Why doing good in business is actually good for business via real-world examples of evolving, tremendously successful business practices that some might call naive.
• How to dismantle and evolve your limiting beliefs to achieve less stress, more success, and greater ripples of impact in your work and personal life.
• A simple framework that enhances your critical thinking, promotes a growth mindset, facilitates deep reflection, and fosters intentional leadership.
• Practical exercises to help you put your new ideas and beliefs into action with a renewed passion and excitement for seeing the good in people and business.
• And much, much more.

Equipped with this knowledge, you’ll have everything you need to use your influence for good to cultivate a better world.

Joshua Berry is the author of Dare to Be Naive: How to Find Your True Self in a Noisy World. He is also the Co-founder and Managing Director of Econic, an innovation, transformation, and strategy consulting company and Certified B Corporation. Along with his team, Joshua has partnered with US Bank, John Deere, Procter & Gamble, Nelnet, Ameritas, Omaha Public Power District, Farm Credit Services of America, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska, among others. 

Prior to starting Econic, Joshua worked in global talent management consulting for clients like The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, H&R Block, Stanford Medical Center, University of Notre Dame and The Cheesecake Factory. Moreover, he mentored and led workshops for early stage startups at seed-stage accelerators on topics like Lean Startup, Design Thinking, Change Management, Innovation Accounting and Business Model innovation.

As the challenges we face in business become increasingly more complex, the transformative power of doing good in business creates a flywheel effect that impacts both Return on Investment (ROI) and Ripples of Impact (ROI). Joshua challenges business leaders to think bigger and more intentionally to discover the expansive value of using business for good.

Joshua lives in Nebraska with his partner, Trisha, and four children. He enjoys running, travel, an eclectic mix of music, reading, and all types of games.