Willful Blindness by Margaret Heffernan

Willful Blindness by Margaret Heffernan

"With deft prose and page after page of keen insights, Heffernan shows why we close our eyes to facts that threaten our families, our livelihood, and our self-image--and, even better, she points the way out of the darkness." --Daniel H. Pink

In the tradition of Malcolm Gladwell and Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Margaret Heffernan's Willful Blindness is a tour de force on human behavior that will open your eyes.

Why, after every major accident and blunder, do we look back and say, How could we have been so blind? Why do some people see what others don't? And how can we change? Drawing on studies by psychologists and neuroscientists, and from interviews with business leaders, whistleblowers, and white collar criminals, distinguished businesswoman and writer Margaret Heffernan examines the phenomenon of willful blindness, exploring the reasons that individuals and groups are blind to impending personal tragedies, corporate collapses, engineering failures-even crimes against humanity.

We turn a blind eye in order to feel safe, to avoid conflict, to reduce anxiety, and to protect prestige. But greater understanding leads to solutions, and Heffernan shows how-by challenging our biases, encouraging debate, discouraging conformity, and not backing away from difficult or complicated problems-we can be more mindful of what's going on around us and be proactive instead of reactive.

Margaret Heffernan is an entrepreneur, CEO, and author of Willful Blindness, a Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Best Business Book nominee. She produced award-winning programs for the BBC before returning to the United States to head multimedia technology companies. She was born in Texas, raised in Holland, and educated at Cambridge University. She consults with senior executives all over the world and contributes to Huffington Post, CBSMoneywatch, and Inc.com. Visit Margaret's website, mheffernan.com, or follow her on Twitter, @M_Heffernan.