Margaret Heffernan
This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject, preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral. Please help improve it by replacing them with more appropriate citations to reliable, independent, third-party sources. (November 2014) This article's introduction may be too long for the overall article length. Please help by moving some material from it into the body of the article. For more information please read the layout guide and Wikipedia's lead section guidelines. (November 2014) Margaret Heffernan (born 1955) is an international businesswoman and writer. She was born in Texas, raised in the Netherlands, educated at Cambridge University and settled in the UK near the city of Bath. She is the author of four 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), Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at our Peril and A Bigger Prize: Why Competition isn't Everything and How We Do Better. Heffernan’s articles on business leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation have appeared in Fast Company, Huffington Post, BNet, Real Business, Reader’s Digest, London Business School’s Strategy Review and on Inc.com. 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. [third-party source needed] Heffernan writes from direct experience. She began writing about business because 'nothing she read captured the reality of running companies.' 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 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. She is the Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Bath's School of Management and a Visiting Professor at Simmons College School of Management.[citation needed]