Willful Blindness
Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril
A book that will open eyes to the most serious problem of our times.
In the case of the US Government versus Enron, the presiding judge chose to employ the legal concept of willful blindness: you are responsible if you could have known, and should have known, something which instead you strove not to see. The guilty verdict sent shivers down the spine of the corporate world. In this book, Margaret Heffernan draws on psychological studies, social statistics, interviews with relevant protagonists, and her own experience to throw light on willful blindness and why whistleblowers and Cassandras are so rare. Ranging freely through history and from business to science, government to the family, this engaging and anecdotal book will explain why…
Margaret Heffernan is an entrepreneur, a popular speaker, and a panelist, who addresses corporations, industry groups, and business schools. She was born in Texas, raised in Holland, and educated at Cambridge University, and her work in interactive multimedia led to her leadership of several businesses that were part of the Web giant CMGI. A former producer for BBC Radio in the UK, she continues to develop programs for the BBC. As an entrepreneur she has built up two businesses: one advising public affair campaigns in Massachusetts and another advising start-up multimedia software companies. Heffernan's works include The Naked Truth, an exposé of the environment for working women, and Women on Top, about female CEOs. She has homes in the UK and in New…
A Bigger Prize
Margaret Heffernan
Willful Blindness
Margaret Heffernan