14 Margaret Heffernan TEDGlobal Quotes

Margaret Heffernan is an entrepreneur, Chief Executive and author. She was born in Texas, raised in Holland and educated at Cambridge University.

She worked in BBC Radio for five years where she wrote, directed, produced and commissioned dozens of documentaries and dramas.

Here are 14 provocative quotes from her TEDGlobal 2012 talk:

"Alice was unusual because she was a woman." 

"How do organizations think? For the most part, they don't." 

"We have to seek out people with different ways of thinking & find ways to engage with them."

"We have to be prepared to change our minds."

“Openness alone can't drive change."

“The truth won’t set us free until we develop the skill, the talent, and the moral courage to use it.

“We have to see conflict as thinking and then get really good at it."

“We need to be teaching conflict skills at every stage of development if we want a thinking society."

"Openness isn't the end; it's the beginning."

“As a CEO you mostly don’t know what's going on. Because no one will tell you. Cultivate and cherish those who do."

"It's time to build organizations that celebrate vigorous debate & truth telling."

"We have to see conflict as thinking and then get really good at it."

“A thinking partner who isn't an echo chamber… How many of us dare to have such collaborators?

“When we dare to create conflict, we enable the very best thinking."

"Organizations can't think together."