Companies don't have ideas. Only people do. And what motivates people are the bonds of loyalty and trust they develop around each other.
Margaret HeffernanBritish innovation in design, in the creative arts, in engineering and manufacturing is world class.
Margaret HeffernanAs long as it (an issue) remains invisible, it is guaranteed to remain insoluble.
Margaret HeffernanOnce you have power, you are inevitably surrounded by people who have their own agendas and will tell you whatever advances them.
Margaret HeffernanI regularly take my entrepreneurship students out walking because I want to get them in the habit of noticing and thinking about what they notice. They have to leave their phones behind to learn the basic lesson: Be where you are.
Margaret HeffernanWhen we confront facts and fears, we achieve real power and unleash our capacity for change.
Margaret HeffernanThe biggest catastrophes that we've witnessed rarely come from information that is secret or hidden. It comes from information that is freely available and out there, but that we are willfully blind to.
Margaret HeffernanInstead, we have found ourselves gasping for air in a sea of corruption, dysfunction, environmental degradation, waste, disenchantment and inequality—and the harder we compete, the more unequal we become.
Margaret HeffernanThe cell phone has become the adult's transitional object, replacing the toddler's teddy bear for comfort and a sense of belonging.
Margaret HeffernanThe best remote companies I've seen do almost everything online, via email and telephone. But they also get together face to face on a regular basis.
Margaret HeffernanHuge open source organizations like Red Hat and Mozilla manage the collaboration of hundreds of people who don't know one another and have spent no time hanging around the water cooler.
Margaret HeffernanMaking a company fit to sell may be the only way to ensure you never need a buyer.
Margaret HeffernanThose in powerless positions aren't about to complain about bullying bosses, abusive supervisors or corrupt co-workers. There is no safe way to do so and no process that promises redress.
Margaret HeffernanMost people have their best ideas when they take their minds away from problems they're trying to solve.
Margaret HeffernanEveryone I know feels harassed by email which has invaded their waking and sleeping hours.
Margaret HeffernanAs long as they are well-intentioned, mistakes are not a matter for shame but for learning
Margaret HeffernanFor good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument, debate.
Margaret HeffernanAll businesses and jobs depend on a vast number of people, often unnoticed and unthanked, without which nothing really gets done. They are all human and deserve respect and gratitude.
Margaret HeffernanOne of the sad truths about leadership is that, the higher up the ladder you travel, the less you know.
Margaret HeffernanIf you have never failed at anything, then you haven't been trying hard enough, aren't very imaginative, or have had such extraordinarily good luck that you have come to believe you are invincible.
Margaret HeffernanA thinking partner who isn't an echo chamber... How many of us dare to have such collaborators?
Margaret HeffernanEvery organization has issues and concerns which are known about by many people who choose to remain silent.
Margaret HeffernanI don't think a true company - one that builds sustainable value - can ever only exist online or remotely.
Margaret HeffernanMost executives I know are so action-oriented, or action-addicted, that time for reflection is the first casualty of their success.
Margaret HeffernanMany CEOs and leaders think that silence is indeed golden, that consensus is bliss. It is - sometimes. But more often what it signifies is that there are no respected processes for surfacing concerns and dissent.
Margaret Heffernanmoney appears to motivate only our interest in ourselves, making us selfish and self-centered...Money makes people feel self-sufficient, which also means they don't need or care about others; it's each man for himself
Margaret HeffernanBosses and leaders everywhere should cherish the people who bring them bad news, disappointing data or hard problems.
Margaret HeffernanIn our house, mother’s day is every day. Father’s day, too. In our house, parents count. They do important work and that work matters. One day just doesn’t cut for us.
Margaret HeffernanWe know - intellectually - that confronting an issue is the only way to resolve it. But any resolution will disrupt the status quo. Given the choice between conflict and change on the one hand, and inertia on the other, the ostrich position can seem very attractive.
Margaret HeffernanWhen we care about people, we care less about money, and when we care about money, we care less about people.
Margaret Heffernan