Margaret was born in Texas, raised in Holland and educated at Cambridge University. She began her career at BBC Radio, where for five years, she wrote, directed, produced and commissioned documentaries and dramas.
As a television producer, Margaret produced drama and documentary films; she was one of the producers of Out of the Doll’s House, the prize-winning documentary series about the history of women in the twentieth century. She designed and executive produced BBC2’s series on The French Revolution and also produced music videos with Virgin Records.
Leaving the BBC, Margaret ran the trade association IPPA, which represented the interests of film and television producers and was once described by the Financial Times as “the most formidable lobbying organization in England.”
In 1994, Margaret sold her business and moved to Boston where she built up two businesses – one that serviced public affair campaigns in Massachusetts, the other servicing software companies trying to break into multimedia. Working with such luminaries as Peter Lynch and Tom Peters, she produced interactive software products for the consumer market.
She was then asked to join CMGI to create one of their new businesses. Subsequently, she ran, bought and sold companies, including ZineZone Corporation and iCAST Corporation. She was named one of the “Internet’s Top 100” by Silicon Alley Reporter in 1999, one of the “Top 25” by Streaming Media magazine and one of the “Top 100 Media Executives” by The Hollywood Reporter in 2000.
Her “Tear Down the Wall” campaign against AOL won the 2001 Silver SABRE award for public relations. Margaret is very excited after being made Visiting Professor of entrepreneurship at the Simons College School of Management in Boston. Margaret writes a regular column for Fast Company and Real Business magazines and comments for NPR’s “Marketplace.” She sits on the board of several companies and continues to advise both established and start up businesses.
Her book, The Naked Truth: A Modern Woman’s Manifesto about Working and What Really Matters is published in October by Jossey-Bass. Her second book, 'How She Does It' about the rise and rise of female business owners, was published by Penguin in January 2007.
Widowed in 1985, Margaret remarried in 1991 and has two children.
Extract One From Chapter 1:
Start Smart
I remember sitting in a room full of brilliant women in a leading investment bank. Together, they probably had more degrees than the government and more intelligence than their board of directors. What was their problem? They didn't know how good they were. Anxious, demoralized and demotivated by a toxic environment that measured them only by how successfully they imitated men, they found it hard to take themselves seriously as women with unique talents, skills and opportunities. That experience has been repeated the world over, in every industry I can think of. It's way past time for women to take ourselves seriously, know how good we are, be comfortable with our own energy, skills and talents - and make sure we put ourselves in positions where those are used, admired, respected and compensated appropriately.
Karen Price - I am 35, graduated summa cum laude with a BS in civil engineering, I have an MBA, and this past January I left my six figure management job and a promising career because I couldn't stand it anymore. I felt like a failure for quitting, but I had reached the end of my rope. I wasn't entirely sure what was wrong, I just knew that I felt like part of me was dying. What I thought was success instead had became a death trap.
Karen didn't make mistakes. She got qualified, she was smart, she worked hard. In the eyes of others, she was very successful. Why isn't this a happy ending - yet?
Karen's experience is not unusual. All over the world, girls are going into business. They are smart, enthusiastic, optimistic, work hard and are immensely dedicated. And we succeed. For the first few years, we get accolades, encouragement and promotions. But as we get more and more power, weird things start to happen. The style and tactics that seemed so successful suddenly stop getting results. We encounter resistance and hostility. Our lives get harder to manage. We enter an Alice in Wonderland place where friends become enemies, values become liabilities, success makes us vulnerable and choices feel like strait jackets. We feel that we must have done something wrong somehow and, in our confusion and humiliation, we withdraw, lose confidence - and so find success even more elusive. The problem, we think, must be me. What have I done wrong?
Nothing. Being smart and working hard are entry-level requirements. But they won't protect you from the weird experience of being a business woman in a world that remains dominated by men and their values. The companies we see today were built by men for men. Reluctantly, grudgingly women were granted access - at first just to lowly positions but, when self-interest was served, to more powerful positions. We called this progress. But everything comes at a price. The price was -- we had to behave in ways that men could be comfortable with: we mustn't frighten them, threaten them, usurp them or in any way disturb their universe. In other words - we we've been allowed in as long as we don't change anything. We became gatecrashers.
Because we didn't build the business environment we move in, it doesn't derive from, or express our style or thinking habits. So sooner or later, every woman is faced by this choice. We can either assimilate - keep working hard to blend in, avoid attention or offence, in order to be accepted. Or we can leave the party altogether and go, or build, somewhere different and more congenial. That choice is unavoidable, decisive and utterly personal. Every woman makes it, consciously or unconsciously. Our decision derives from who we are and will define who we become.
As a television producer, Margaret produced drama and documentary films; she was one of the producers of Out of the Doll’s House, the prize-winning documentary series about the history of women in the twentieth century. She designed and executive produced BBC2’s series on The French Revolution and also produced music videos with Virgin Records.
Leaving the BBC, Margaret ran the trade association IPPA, which represented the interests of film and television producers and was once described by the Financial Times as “the most formidable lobbying organization in England.”
In 1994, Margaret sold her business and moved to Boston where she built up two businesses – one that serviced public affair campaigns in Massachusetts, the other servicing software companies trying to break into multimedia. Working with such luminaries as Peter Lynch and Tom Peters, she produced interactive software products for the consumer market.
She was then asked to join CMGI to create one of their new businesses. Subsequently, she ran, bought and sold companies, including ZineZone Corporation and iCAST Corporation. She was named one of the “Internet’s Top 100” by Silicon Alley Reporter in 1999, one of the “Top 25” by Streaming Media magazine and one of the “Top 100 Media Executives” by The Hollywood Reporter in 2000.
Her “Tear Down the Wall” campaign against AOL won the 2001 Silver SABRE award for public relations. Margaret is very excited after being made Visiting Professor of entrepreneurship at the Simons College School of Management in Boston. Margaret writes a regular column for Fast Company and Real Business magazines and comments for NPR’s “Marketplace.” She sits on the board of several companies and continues to advise both established and start up businesses.
Her book, The Naked Truth: A Modern Woman’s Manifesto about Working and What Really Matters is published in October by Jossey-Bass. Her second book, 'How She Does It' about the rise and rise of female business owners, was published by Penguin in January 2007.
Widowed in 1985, Margaret remarried in 1991 and has two children.
Extract One From Chapter 1:
Start Smart
I remember sitting in a room full of brilliant women in a leading investment bank. Together, they probably had more degrees than the government and more intelligence than their board of directors. What was their problem? They didn't know how good they were. Anxious, demoralized and demotivated by a toxic environment that measured them only by how successfully they imitated men, they found it hard to take themselves seriously as women with unique talents, skills and opportunities. That experience has been repeated the world over, in every industry I can think of. It's way past time for women to take ourselves seriously, know how good we are, be comfortable with our own energy, skills and talents - and make sure we put ourselves in positions where those are used, admired, respected and compensated appropriately.
Karen Price - I am 35, graduated summa cum laude with a BS in civil engineering, I have an MBA, and this past January I left my six figure management job and a promising career because I couldn't stand it anymore. I felt like a failure for quitting, but I had reached the end of my rope. I wasn't entirely sure what was wrong, I just knew that I felt like part of me was dying. What I thought was success instead had became a death trap.
Karen didn't make mistakes. She got qualified, she was smart, she worked hard. In the eyes of others, she was very successful. Why isn't this a happy ending - yet?
Karen's experience is not unusual. All over the world, girls are going into business. They are smart, enthusiastic, optimistic, work hard and are immensely dedicated. And we succeed. For the first few years, we get accolades, encouragement and promotions. But as we get more and more power, weird things start to happen. The style and tactics that seemed so successful suddenly stop getting results. We encounter resistance and hostility. Our lives get harder to manage. We enter an Alice in Wonderland place where friends become enemies, values become liabilities, success makes us vulnerable and choices feel like strait jackets. We feel that we must have done something wrong somehow and, in our confusion and humiliation, we withdraw, lose confidence - and so find success even more elusive. The problem, we think, must be me. What have I done wrong?
Nothing. Being smart and working hard are entry-level requirements. But they won't protect you from the weird experience of being a business woman in a world that remains dominated by men and their values. The companies we see today were built by men for men. Reluctantly, grudgingly women were granted access - at first just to lowly positions but, when self-interest was served, to more powerful positions. We called this progress. But everything comes at a price. The price was -- we had to behave in ways that men could be comfortable with: we mustn't frighten them, threaten them, usurp them or in any way disturb their universe. In other words - we we've been allowed in as long as we don't change anything. We became gatecrashers.
Because we didn't build the business environment we move in, it doesn't derive from, or express our style or thinking habits. So sooner or later, every woman is faced by this choice. We can either assimilate - keep working hard to blend in, avoid attention or offence, in order to be accepted. Or we can leave the party altogether and go, or build, somewhere different and more congenial. That choice is unavoidable, decisive and utterly personal. Every woman makes it, consciously or unconsciously. Our decision derives from who we are and will define who we become.
A member of the boards of several companies and author of “The Naked Truth” Margaret is an outstanding speaker and a staunch supporter of women in business. She is an expert advisor to businesses on how to build sustainable cultures.
The New Work (For corporations) The work population is changing. Executives (both male and female) raised by working mothers have different expectations of life and work. High achievers want a thriving career and a rich home life. What new opportunities does this present for business and for business models? How does it change traditional career paths? What opportunities does it present to companies and to individuals to stand out from the crowd? What new business models, patterns and processes will enable winning companies to keep their executives creative, competitive and effective? CEO Margaret Heffernan has hired, fired and managed hundreds of dynamic, ambitious employees. She has interviewed even more for her forthcoming book. As work becomes one of many priorities, how can companies and organizations change to remain responsible, responsive and competitive?
In this presentation, you will learn
• What is changing the role of work in the hearts and minds of executives
• What it means for managers and leaders
• How business can respond to these changes to keep their best talent
• What mental models most inspire high achievers
• Which rewards count for everyone
• How to avert the "what's in it for me?" mindset
Power in a Networked World (For corporations) It used to be that power derived from the top of the pyramid and the closer you were to the top, the more power you had. But now power derives from a myriad of sources - some from the bottom, some from well outside your own organization. What does this mean for organizations that want to build power across and throughout their work force? What does it mean for executives pursuing ambitious careers? How can companies leverage the personal power that the networked business world now makes available to the brightest talents? How does it change the way you think about business strategy and career strategy?
In this presentation, you will learn:
• Unexpected sources of power
• The power of leading from behind
• The difference between alliances and friendships
• The value of being smart over the value of being big
The Undiscovered Natural Resource (For corporations seeking to attract/retain women executives) A growing body of research points to the tremendous management strengths that women bring to organizations - yet corporations continue to lose their smart women at an alarming rate. Contrary to popular mythology, most of them aren't leaving to have babies - but because they find traditional organizations uninspiring and unrewarding. What can companies do to make their businesses attractive to women? How do businesses retain the best women, and attract more? How can companies leverage the great women they have to build larger, more sustainable profits? Heffernan has worked in large organizations and run her own businesses and knows that keeping women is not just a matter of a parental leave and a little flex time. And she argues that when you make a company great for women - you make it better for everyone. So where do you start?
In this presentation, you will learn:
• The advantages for both men and women in attracting and retaining women
• What women dislike most about traditional businesses - and how to change this
• The economic value of attracting and retaining women
• Why these issues matter to every business discipline - not just HR
Small is Big (For minority groups and women) As women and minorities achieve senior positions within major businesses, they seek to craft their own authentic forms of leadership that feel organic, natural and comfortable. So where are the new sources of power and influence? What new forms of leadership release original thinking to drive a business forward? Where are the big wins in new management styles? CEO Margaret Heffernan has run businesses in the US and UK and has watched new and old management styles merge into powerful ways of working.
In this presentation, you will learn:
What the nature of power is in the modern business world
How to think about power in a way that inspire those around you
How to exercise power with authenticity
The essential differences between personal power and job power
How High Can You Go? (For women executives) Women are assailed by stories about opt-out women who abandon the office and desert the corporate world. The implication is that they are returning to the kitchen to bake cookies and sew costumes for the school play. The reality, of course, is completely different: most women now work and many are the main breadwinner in the household. So how should women think about and plan for their business lives, what holds them back and what helps them surge ahead? CEO Margaret Heffernan looks at the tactics women have devised to succeed on their own terms in a business world which they now shape more and more in their own image. She argues that how far you go depends on where you start, how you plan - and what you want.
In this presentation, you will learn
• How to think about career planning
• How to negotiate for better salaries, projects and positions
• How to deal with opposition, chauvinism and discrimination
• How to keep a whole life going while pursuing a dynamic career
Where Does Power Come From? (For women executives) Women everything they need to make it to the top except, perhaps, a positive concept of power. So what kinds of power make women successful? What strategies are most comfortable for women and feel most authentic? How can high achieving women develop their professional power and still feel entirely comfortable in their own skin? CEO Margaret Heffernan has run several companies and learned, through her own and her employees' experience, what works for women.
In this presentation, you will learn
• How to build your own old girls' network
• How to identify choices when it feels like you don't have any
• Why money really does matter
• How to develop ways of working that make you happy
The Whole Life (For executives) The old divisions - wife at home, husband at work - don't work any more because they're not economically viable and because they are unfair. How to balance personal commitments with work commitments remains the primary chronic problem that employed people struggle with. CEO and parent, board member and writer, Margaret Heffernan looks at the strategies that companies and executives have devised to ensure that they can have careers and a life.
In this presentation, you will learn
• How being a parent can help your career
• How to think about family and career planning
• How to stay sane when your time is overbooked 100%
Think Big: (For women business owners) As women leave traditional corporations in search of more rewarding work, many set up in businesses on their own. How hard is the entrepreneurial road - and what do women need to know before getting started? Margaret Heffernan shares her checklist of the ingredients they need to succeed, and her observations of what they already have that gives them a significant head start. Heffernan has advised and assisted many new businesses and feels passionately that women most often underestimate their abilities and their chances of success. No better time to think big! She will share many examples of women who have hatched an idea at the kitchen table, and grown business that really do change the world.
In this presentation, you will learn
• The common mistakes of women business owners - and how not to make them
• How to approach investors
• How to think about new business opportunities
• What it takes to be a successful female business owner
Start Smart (For students) Leaving university is exciting - and daunting. At the moment you know least, you have to make some of the biggest decisions of your life. Do you want money - or power - or fame - or just to pay off your student loan? Change the world or just change cities? Margaret Heffernan made most of the mistakes a career can offer and ended up as a CEO - so she knows how smart people can do dumb things. She argues that doing things the hard way doesn't stop you being successful -but there are far better ways to lead your life and have a great career.
In this presentation, you will learn
• The biggest mistakes graduates regularly make
• The smartest steps you can take
• A series of questions that will help you define goals and routes
• A career strategy for the rest of your working life
In this presentation, you will learn
• What is changing the role of work in the hearts and minds of executives
• What it means for managers and leaders
• How business can respond to these changes to keep their best talent
• What mental models most inspire high achievers
• Which rewards count for everyone
• How to avert the "what's in it for me?" mindset
Power in a Networked World (For corporations) It used to be that power derived from the top of the pyramid and the closer you were to the top, the more power you had. But now power derives from a myriad of sources - some from the bottom, some from well outside your own organization. What does this mean for organizations that want to build power across and throughout their work force? What does it mean for executives pursuing ambitious careers? How can companies leverage the personal power that the networked business world now makes available to the brightest talents? How does it change the way you think about business strategy and career strategy?
In this presentation, you will learn:
• Unexpected sources of power
• The power of leading from behind
• The difference between alliances and friendships
• The value of being smart over the value of being big
The Undiscovered Natural Resource (For corporations seeking to attract/retain women executives) A growing body of research points to the tremendous management strengths that women bring to organizations - yet corporations continue to lose their smart women at an alarming rate. Contrary to popular mythology, most of them aren't leaving to have babies - but because they find traditional organizations uninspiring and unrewarding. What can companies do to make their businesses attractive to women? How do businesses retain the best women, and attract more? How can companies leverage the great women they have to build larger, more sustainable profits? Heffernan has worked in large organizations and run her own businesses and knows that keeping women is not just a matter of a parental leave and a little flex time. And she argues that when you make a company great for women - you make it better for everyone. So where do you start?
In this presentation, you will learn:
• The advantages for both men and women in attracting and retaining women
• What women dislike most about traditional businesses - and how to change this
• The economic value of attracting and retaining women
• Why these issues matter to every business discipline - not just HR
Small is Big (For minority groups and women) As women and minorities achieve senior positions within major businesses, they seek to craft their own authentic forms of leadership that feel organic, natural and comfortable. So where are the new sources of power and influence? What new forms of leadership release original thinking to drive a business forward? Where are the big wins in new management styles? CEO Margaret Heffernan has run businesses in the US and UK and has watched new and old management styles merge into powerful ways of working.
In this presentation, you will learn:
What the nature of power is in the modern business world
How to think about power in a way that inspire those around you
How to exercise power with authenticity
The essential differences between personal power and job power
How High Can You Go? (For women executives) Women are assailed by stories about opt-out women who abandon the office and desert the corporate world. The implication is that they are returning to the kitchen to bake cookies and sew costumes for the school play. The reality, of course, is completely different: most women now work and many are the main breadwinner in the household. So how should women think about and plan for their business lives, what holds them back and what helps them surge ahead? CEO Margaret Heffernan looks at the tactics women have devised to succeed on their own terms in a business world which they now shape more and more in their own image. She argues that how far you go depends on where you start, how you plan - and what you want.
In this presentation, you will learn
• How to think about career planning
• How to negotiate for better salaries, projects and positions
• How to deal with opposition, chauvinism and discrimination
• How to keep a whole life going while pursuing a dynamic career
Where Does Power Come From? (For women executives) Women everything they need to make it to the top except, perhaps, a positive concept of power. So what kinds of power make women successful? What strategies are most comfortable for women and feel most authentic? How can high achieving women develop their professional power and still feel entirely comfortable in their own skin? CEO Margaret Heffernan has run several companies and learned, through her own and her employees' experience, what works for women.
In this presentation, you will learn
• How to build your own old girls' network
• How to identify choices when it feels like you don't have any
• Why money really does matter
• How to develop ways of working that make you happy
The Whole Life (For executives) The old divisions - wife at home, husband at work - don't work any more because they're not economically viable and because they are unfair. How to balance personal commitments with work commitments remains the primary chronic problem that employed people struggle with. CEO and parent, board member and writer, Margaret Heffernan looks at the strategies that companies and executives have devised to ensure that they can have careers and a life.
In this presentation, you will learn
• How being a parent can help your career
• How to think about family and career planning
• How to stay sane when your time is overbooked 100%
Think Big: (For women business owners) As women leave traditional corporations in search of more rewarding work, many set up in businesses on their own. How hard is the entrepreneurial road - and what do women need to know before getting started? Margaret Heffernan shares her checklist of the ingredients they need to succeed, and her observations of what they already have that gives them a significant head start. Heffernan has advised and assisted many new businesses and feels passionately that women most often underestimate their abilities and their chances of success. No better time to think big! She will share many examples of women who have hatched an idea at the kitchen table, and grown business that really do change the world.
In this presentation, you will learn
• The common mistakes of women business owners - and how not to make them
• How to approach investors
• How to think about new business opportunities
• What it takes to be a successful female business owner
Start Smart (For students) Leaving university is exciting - and daunting. At the moment you know least, you have to make some of the biggest decisions of your life. Do you want money - or power - or fame - or just to pay off your student loan? Change the world or just change cities? Margaret Heffernan made most of the mistakes a career can offer and ended up as a CEO - so she knows how smart people can do dumb things. She argues that doing things the hard way doesn't stop you being successful -but there are far better ways to lead your life and have a great career.
In this presentation, you will learn
• The biggest mistakes graduates regularly make
• The smartest steps you can take
• A series of questions that will help you define goals and routes
• A career strategy for the rest of your working life
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