Margaret Heffernan
Encyclopedia
Margaret Heffernan is an international businesswoman and writer
. She is the author of three books: The Naked Truth: A Working Woman’s Manifesto about Business and What Really Matters, How She Does It (published in paperback
as Women on Top) and Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at our Peril (ISBN: 978-0802719980). Heffernan’s articles on business
leadership
, entrepreneurship
and innovation
have appeared in Fast Company
, Huffington Post, BNet, Real Business
, Reader’s Digest and London Business School
’s Strategy Review. Heffernan speaks to corporations, associations
, universities, and education conferences about such topics as managing high-achieving talent, continuous innovation and the role of leaders in serving the talent they hire. While Heffernan’s first two books focused on these issues as they impact women in the workplace, her overarching theme has been the need to recognize and release the talent that often lies buried inside organizations, under-valued and under-rewarded because it is unconventional. Heffernan’s voice is primarily one of critical challenge, taking little at face value and regularly questioning received wisdom.
Heffernan writes from direct experience
. In the United States, she worked, bought, sold and ran businesses for CMGI
, serving as Chief Executive of iCast
Corporation, ZineZone Corporation and Information Corporation
. In the UK, she ran IPPA and Marlin Gas Trading Ltd. Before running her own businesses, she worked for thirteen years for the British Broadcasting Corporation where she produced a wide range of radio
and television
programming. Her perspective as a writer is deeply informed by her experience of running businesses that operated in markets that were highly competitive for creative talent. While her work has garnered respect and praise from academics, she has also secured serious attention from leading executives who value academic insight only insofar as it is tested by real world leadership.
to women’s advancement and collected experiences and advice from successful business women who had overcome them. In particular, the book examined women’s attitudes to power and how they define and use power differently from men. The book argued that whereas men see power as expressed through personal or organizational dominance, women see power as derived from orchestration
. Men express ambition as defined by getting to the top, whereas women see ambition as the ability to live and work as they please. The book concludes by arguing that what women bring to the workplace is distinctive and highly suited to the non-linear complexities of modern business.
to The Naked Truth insofar as it looks at women who have decided to eschew the struggle to succeed within traditional, male-dominated organizations in favor of running their own companies. The book examines the statistics underlying the growth and outsize success of women-owned businesses to ask: how is it that women achieve so much more when they get so much less in the way of institutional support and funding? This leads to an examination of women’s motivation, their neurological and social advantages, choice of markets, leadership styles, use of networks and advisors and their different approaches to mergers, acquisitions and exits. In effect, the book argues that women’s different motivations, thinking and leading styles specifically position them for entrepreneurial success. But much of what makes them succeed are approaches and strategies which men could also emulate if they understood how successful they are. The book concludes by arguing that women set a particularly high standard for business success which might provide a powerful antidote
to some of the failed business cultures of the past.
and traces its imprint
in our private and working lives, and within governments and organizations, and asks: What makes us prefer ignorance? What are we so afraid of? Why do some people see more than others? And how can we change?
Examining examples of willful blindness in the Catholic Church, the SEC, Nazi Germany
, Bernard Madoff
’s investors, BP
’s safety record, the military in Afghanistan
and the dog-eat-dog world of subprime mortgage
lenders, the book demonstrates how failing to see—or admit to ourselves or our colleagues—the issues and problems in plain sight can ruin private lives and bring down corporations. The book explores how willful blindness develops and then goes on to outline some of the mechanisms, structures and strategies that institutions and individuals can use to combat it. In its wide use of psychological research and examples from history
, the book has been compared to work by Malcolm Gladwell
and Nicholas Taleb.
about Enron
commissioned and broadcast by the BBC
. The first play
dramatized the scandal of fixing energy prices in California
, while the second play postulated that the death of Ken Lay, after being found guilty but before being sentenced, was caused by his recognition that he had been willfully blind to the corruption at the heart of Enron.
, in which successful entrepreneurs go ‘under cover’ to identify and support community heroes. In her episode, Heffernan asked how any individual could choose which people, causes and organizations to support when so many are so needy. Ultimately, she gave money to the Bright Waters Laundry and a carnival troupe, both based in Nottingham
.
Secret Millionaire - Lessons learned from the TV show
, grew up in the Netherlands
, and received an MA
from Cambridge University. She was also awarded an Honorary Degree from the University of Bath
in 2011.
’s website. She now writes for BNET
.
How to Be Productive: Stop Working (BNet)
How to Write Job Descriptions that Actually Mean Something (BNet)
Is It Okay for Women to Breastfeed at Work? (BNet)
Dog Eat Dog (Fast Company)
In Good Company (More Magazine)
Recreating Milgram: the French ‘game of death’ (Huffington Post)
Margaret Heffernan on Hybrid Mom
Margaret Heffernan on Secret Millionaire
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
. She is the author of three books: The Naked Truth: A Working Woman’s Manifesto about Business and What Really Matters, How She Does It (published in paperback
Paperback
Paperback, softback or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or paperboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples...
as Women on Top) and Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at our Peril (ISBN: 978-0802719980). Heffernan’s articles on business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
leadership
Leadership
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...
, entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is the act of being an entrepreneur, which can be defined as "one who undertakes innovations, finance and business acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods". This may result in new organizations or may be part of revitalizing mature organizations in response...
and innovation
Innovation
Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...
have appeared in Fast Company
Fast Company (magazine)
Fast Company is a full-color business magazine that releases 10 issues per year and reports on topics including innovation, digital media, technology, change management, leadership, design, and social responsibility...
, Huffington Post, BNet, Real Business
Real Business
Real Business is a monthly business-to-business magazine, serving the United Kingdom small and medium enterprises market.The magazine was launched in 1997, and is published by Caspian Publishing and its circulation is 41,136 . The magazine is edited by Kate Pritchard....
, Reader’s Digest and London Business School
London Business School
London Business School is an international business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London, located in central London, beside Regent's Park...
’s Strategy Review. Heffernan speaks to corporations, associations
Voluntary association
A voluntary association or union is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement as volunteers to form a body to accomplish a purpose.Strictly speaking, in many jurisdictions no formalities are necessary to start an association...
, universities, and education conferences about such topics as managing high-achieving talent, continuous innovation and the role of leaders in serving the talent they hire. While Heffernan’s first two books focused on these issues as they impact women in the workplace, her overarching theme has been the need to recognize and release the talent that often lies buried inside organizations, under-valued and under-rewarded because it is unconventional. Heffernan’s voice is primarily one of critical challenge, taking little at face value and regularly questioning received wisdom.
Heffernan writes from direct experience
Experience
Experience as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event....
. In the United States, she worked, bought, sold and ran businesses for CMGI
CMGI
ModusLink Global Solutions, formerly CMGI Inc., is an American technology and venture capital company, headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. The company supplies a range of internet and communications services, mostly to computer companies, its biggest customer being Hewlett-Packard Company...
, serving as Chief Executive of iCast
ICast
The CBS News iCast was a daily news audio podcast, created and first hosted by CBS News' New York-based Correspondent and Anchor Chris Mavridis. According the CBS Corporation, the iCast was the world's first daily network news podcast. It was available at CBSnews.com and aggregated to hundreds of...
Corporation, ZineZone Corporation and Information Corporation
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
. In the UK, she ran IPPA and Marlin Gas Trading Ltd. Before running her own businesses, she worked for thirteen years for the British Broadcasting Corporation where she produced a wide range of radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
programming. Her perspective as a writer is deeply informed by her experience of running businesses that operated in markets that were highly competitive for creative talent. While her work has garnered respect and praise from academics, she has also secured serious attention from leading executives who value academic insight only insofar as it is tested by real world leadership.
The Naked Truth
The Naked Truth: A Working Woman’s Manifesto about Business and What Really Matters was published in 2004, just as issues surrounding women at work started to return to the fore. The book looked at the classic barriersBarriers
Barriers is a British children's television series, created and written by William Corlett, and made by Tyne Tees Television for ITV between 1981 and 1982....
to women’s advancement and collected experiences and advice from successful business women who had overcome them. In particular, the book examined women’s attitudes to power and how they define and use power differently from men. The book argued that whereas men see power as expressed through personal or organizational dominance, women see power as derived from orchestration
Orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
. Men express ambition as defined by getting to the top, whereas women see ambition as the ability to live and work as they please. The book concludes by arguing that what women bring to the workplace is distinctive and highly suited to the non-linear complexities of modern business.
Women On Top
How She Does It (republished in paperback as Women On Top) can be seen as the sequelSequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to The Naked Truth insofar as it looks at women who have decided to eschew the struggle to succeed within traditional, male-dominated organizations in favor of running their own companies. The book examines the statistics underlying the growth and outsize success of women-owned businesses to ask: how is it that women achieve so much more when they get so much less in the way of institutional support and funding? This leads to an examination of women’s motivation, their neurological and social advantages, choice of markets, leadership styles, use of networks and advisors and their different approaches to mergers, acquisitions and exits. In effect, the book argues that women’s different motivations, thinking and leading styles specifically position them for entrepreneurial success. But much of what makes them succeed are approaches and strategies which men could also emulate if they understood how successful they are. The book concludes by arguing that women set a particularly high standard for business success which might provide a powerful antidote
Antidote
An antidote is a substance which can counteract a form of poisoning. The term ultimately derives from the Greek αντιδιδοναι antididonai, "given against"....
to some of the failed business cultures of the past.
Willful Blindness
Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at our Peril will be published in 2011. In her latest book, Heffernan argues that the biggest threats and dangers we face are the ones we don’t see – not because they’re secret or invisible, but because we’re willfully blind. She examines the phenomenonPhenomenon
A phenomenon , plural phenomena, is any observable occurrence. Phenomena are often, but not always, understood as 'appearances' or 'experiences'...
and traces its imprint
Imprint
In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...
in our private and working lives, and within governments and organizations, and asks: What makes us prefer ignorance? What are we so afraid of? Why do some people see more than others? And how can we change?
Examining examples of willful blindness in the Catholic Church, the SEC, Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, Bernard Madoff
Bernard Madoff
Bernard Lawrence "Bernie" Madoff is a former American businessman, stockbroker, investment advisor, and financier. He is the former non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, and the admitted operator of a Ponzi scheme that is considered to be the largest financial fraud in U.S...
’s investors, BP
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
’s safety record, the military in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and the dog-eat-dog world of subprime mortgage
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
lenders, the book demonstrates how failing to see—or admit to ourselves or our colleagues—the issues and problems in plain sight can ruin private lives and bring down corporations. The book explores how willful blindness develops and then goes on to outline some of the mechanisms, structures and strategies that institutions and individuals can use to combat it. In its wide use of psychological research and examples from history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, the book has been compared to work by Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell, CM is a Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. He is currently based in New York City and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996...
and Nicholas Taleb.
Power Play
Power Play was a 2-part dramaDrama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
about Enron
Enron
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. Before its bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, Enron employed approximately 22,000 staff and was one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, communications, and pulp and paper companies, with...
commissioned and broadcast by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. The first play
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
dramatized the scandal of fixing energy prices in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, while the second play postulated that the death of Ken Lay, after being found guilty but before being sentenced, was caused by his recognition that he had been willfully blind to the corruption at the heart of Enron.
Secret Millionaire
In 2008, Heffernan appeared in the British Channel 4’s series Secret MillionaireSecret Millionaire
The Secret Millionaire is a reality television show which originated in the UK, in which millionaires go incognito into impoverished communities and agree to give away tens of thousands of pounds . Members of the community are told the cameras are present to film a documentary...
, in which successful entrepreneurs go ‘under cover’ to identify and support community heroes. In her episode, Heffernan asked how any individual could choose which people, causes and organizations to support when so many are so needy. Ultimately, she gave money to the Bright Waters Laundry and a carnival troupe, both based in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
.
Secret Millionaire - Lessons learned from the TV show
Background and Education
Heffernan was born in TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, grew up in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, and received an MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
from Cambridge University. She was also awarded an Honorary Degree from the University of Bath
University of Bath
The University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, United Kingdom. It received its Royal Charter in 1966....
in 2011.
Articles
For two years, Heffernan wrote a blog for Fast CompanyFast Company (magazine)
Fast Company is a full-color business magazine that releases 10 issues per year and reports on topics including innovation, digital media, technology, change management, leadership, design, and social responsibility...
’s website. She now writes for BNET
BNET
BNET was an online magazine dedicated to issues of business management.It was owned by CBS Interactive and was a part of its business portfolio alongside ZDNet, TechRepublic, SmartPlanet before it was folded into CBS MoneyWatch, a sister personal finance site that was launched on April 6, 2009.BNET...
.
How to Be Productive: Stop Working (BNet)
How to Write Job Descriptions that Actually Mean Something (BNet)
Is It Okay for Women to Breastfeed at Work? (BNet)
Dog Eat Dog (Fast Company)
In Good Company (More Magazine)
Recreating Milgram: the French ‘game of death’ (Huffington Post)
Interviews
Margaret Heffernan on the New NormalMargaret Heffernan on Hybrid Mom
Margaret Heffernan on Secret Millionaire