Bestselling author and management thinker Margaret Heffernan challenges leaders to rethink uncertainty, competition and organizational culture.
5 of 5
Brilliant keynote from Margaret that hit our conference messages perfectly.
Emily Collyer
Travis Perkins plc
Margaret Heffernan is an acclaimed author, management thinker, former CEO and broadcaster whose work explores how people and organizations think, collaborate and navigate uncertainty. Across seven books, including Wilful Blindness, Uncharted and Embracing Uncertainty, she examines leadership, creativity, innovation and organizational culture. Her TED talks have been viewed more than 17 million times. Drawing on a career spanning broadcasting, technology, business and academia, Margaret challenges audiences to question assumptions, strengthen collective intelligence and prepare for an unpredictable future.
Margaret Heffernan is an author, management thinker, former CEO and broadcaster whose work explores how organizations think, collaborate and respond to uncertainty. Drawing on decades of leadership experience and research, she examines why talented people miss problems in plain sight, what makes teams creative and how leaders can prepare for a future they cannot predict.
Born in Texas, raised in Holland and educated at Cambridge University, Margaret began her career at the BBC, working across radio and television as a writer, producer, director and commissioner. Her work included documentaries and programmes for Timewatch, Arena and Newsnight, as well as a thirteen-part series on the French Revolution for the BBC and A&E.
She has also written and presented numerous Analysis programmes for BBC Radio 4 and written five plays for the BBC. Her programme on female entrepreneurship, Changing the Rules, received the Prowess Media Award in 2008.
After leaving the BBC, Margaret ran IPPA, the trade association representing independent film and television producers, which the Financial Times described as “the most formidable lobbying organization in England.”
Returning to the United States in 1994, she moved into technology and digital media, developing interactive products with Peter Lynch, Tom Peters, Standard & Poor’s and The Learning Company before joining CMGI.
At CMGI, Margaret ran, bought and sold Internet businesses and served as CEO of InfoMation Corporation, ZineZone Corporation and iCAST Corporation. Her work in Internet and media earned recognition from Silicon Alley Reporter, Streaming Media magazine and The Hollywood Reporter, while her “Tear Down the Wall” campaign against AOL won the 2001 Silver SABRE Award.
Margaret brings together the perspective of a CEO, researcher and storyteller to address some of the most pressing challenges facing leaders and organizations today. Rather than offering simple formulas or predictions, she helps audiences think differently about complexity and make better decisions when the answers are not obvious.
Her keynotes explore topics including:
Margaret combines challenging ideas with practical relevance, giving audiences new ways to think about leadership, teamwork and the choices they make every day.
Margaret has published seven books spanning leadership, careers, collaboration, creativity and the future of work.
Her acclaimed Wilful Blindness (2011) investigates why individuals and organizations fail to see problems that are right in front of them. It was a finalist for the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Best Business Book of the Year Award and was later named by the Financial Times as one of the most important business books of the decade.
In A Bigger Prize (2014) and Beyond Measure (2015), Margaret examines competition, collaboration and the everyday practices that help organizations become more creative and innovative.
Uncharted: How to Map the Future Together (2020) turns to the challenge of planning in an unpredictable world, exploring how people and organizations can prepare productively for a future they cannot know in advance. The book received several business book nominations, was selected as “Best of the Best” by Medium and featured among Bloomberg’s best books of 2021.
Her latest book, Embracing Uncertainty (2025), draws lessons from writers, musicians and artists to explore how people can work, adapt and thrive when outcomes cannot be predicted.
Her earlier books, The Naked Truth (2004) and Women on Top (2007), examine women’s careers and entrepreneurship.
Margaret’s TED talks have been viewed more than 17 million times, bringing her ideas about leadership, conflict, collaboration and organizational thinking to audiences around the world.
She has spoken for organizations including Disney, Accenture, Intel, Google, GSK, Novartis, Microsoft, Roche, Standard Chartered Bank, J.P. Morgan Chase and Procter & Gamble, as well as at Harvard Business School, London Business School and the Rotman School.
Margaret is a Professor at the School of Management at the University of Bath and Faculty Co-Lead for the Forward Institute’s Responsible Leadership Programme. Through Merryck & Co., she mentors global business leaders. She also chairs the board of DACS and has advised major reviews and inquiries into organizational culture and standards.
A frequent Financial Times contributor, Margaret is a member of the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame in recognition of her lasting impact on management thinking.
Book Margaret Heffernan for a thought-provoking keynote that equips leaders and teams to navigate complexity, challenge assumptions and make better decisions in an unpredictable world.
5 of 5
Brilliant keynote from Margaret that hit our conference messages perfectly.
Emily Collyer Travis Perkins plc
Keynote by Margaret Heffernan:
The time horizon for accurate prediction is now 150 – 400 days out. Which means that the 3-legged tool of management (forecast-pal-execute) is broken. But that need not leave us helpless. Individuals and organizations can find in uncertainty the creativity, ambition and robustness they need to stay meaningful and important in the world but only if they’re prepared to rethink core concepts like efficiency, planning and strategy. Ineradicable uncertainty may be the defining characteristic of our age and it requires a new kind of leadership, from everyone.
In this presentation, you will learn:
Keynote by Margaret Heffernan:
After years of streamlining and hunkering down to weather the crises, what companies now most need to do is pull their people together. Collaboration and innovation are vital skills in global business but where do they come from? How do leading companies get the alignment, trust and energy they need to get their people to work well together? What are the impediments to, and habits of, creative collaborative teams?
Working across cultures, time zones and technology is logistically difficult but it’s usually the human factors that make it hard for companies to achieve their aims. Everyone talks about collaboration but few know how to do it, what it feels like or what organizational structures enable, or disable it. What they all know is that if they can’t figure out how to do it will, others will.
In this presentation you will learn:
Keynote by Margaret Heffernan:
Big data, market research, social media: we can know more than ever and yet we keep missing the most important trends, information and trends. Why? What makes companies and individuals willfully blind?
Pulling together a century of psychological, industrial and economic research, Margaret Heffernan argues that willful blindness is the biggest risk most organizations face. But the good news is that those companies that confront the issue don’t just reduce their risk; they also make themselves inherently more creative and collaborative. It’s a twofer: when you see more, you can make more and risk less.
In this provocative presentation, you will learn:
Watch Margaret Heffernan in action!
Watch Margaret Heffernan in action!
Watch Margaret Heffernan in action!
