Jim Detjen

Jim Detjen founded Think First, is the author of Distorted, and hosts Think First with Jim Detjen. He also founded Human Threshold, serves as Chief Steward of The M Institute, and is Managing Partner of Katapult. His work asks how individuals and institutions can strengthen human discernment when information is plentiful, trust is unstable, and technology increasingly mediates perception.

Through Think First, he pursues that question through public inquiry, publishing, research, and practical methods that slow reaction and bring evidence, assumptions, incentives, and uncertainty back into view. Think First does not prescribe conclusions; it strengthens the habits by which people decide what merits belief.

Jim’s professional life began in the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment—The Old Guard—where his service supported presidential ceremonies and national memorial observances at the White House, Arlington National Cemetery, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. He later served in the Utah Army National Guard and, after September 11, supported security operations connected to the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. He subsequently attended the University of Utah.

Since joining Katapult in 2002, Jim has worked where strategy, identity, narrative, partnerships, organizational design, and execution meet. His work has crossed global brands, educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, sport, publishing, and new ventures. Those experiences sharpened his interest in the interval before a decision: how people interpret change, determine whom to trust, and construct the perceived realities on which organizations act.

Jim and his wife have spent nearly three decades raising three children amid rapid technological and cultural change. Their family’s path spans Harvard University and the United States Air Force Academy, carrying forward a shared commitment to scholarship, service, leadership, and disciplined inquiry.