From Certainty to Seeking Exploration - with Margaret Heffernan

In this episode of Ambition. Unleashed. Sara Moore and Guest host Justin Temblett-Wood look into how leaders can take an approach of seeking exploration over the need for certainty. A willingness to believe in planning, but not plans, will free leaders from self-imposed prisons that restrict their ability to act and react in uncertain times. It requires bravery to step away from apparent certainty, and insight to understand that certainty is built on context and interpretation rather than reality. If leaders can throw off these shackles and embrace exploration and experimentation, then they will be well-equipped to prepare for, and benefit from, the unexpected and thrive rather than just survive in volatile times.About the guestToday’s guest, Dr Margaret Heffernan produced programmes for the BBC for 13 years. She then moved to the US where she spearheaded multimedia productions for Intuit, The Learning Company and StandardPoors. She was Chief Executive of InfoMation Corporation, ZineZone Corporation and then iCast Corporation, and was named one of the Top 25 by Streaming Media magazine and one of the Top 100 Media Executives by The Hollywood Reporter.The author of six books, Margaret’s third book, Wilful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril was named one of the most important business books of the decade by the Financial Times. In 2015, she was awarded the Transmission Prize for A Bigger Prize: Why Competition Isn’t Everything and How We Do Better, described as meticulously researched, engagingly written, universally relevant and hard to fault.Her TED talks have been seen by over fifteen million people and in 2015 TED published Beyond Measure: The Big Impact of Small Changes. Her most recent book, Uncharted: How to Map the Future was published in 2020. It quickly became a bestseller and was nominated for the Financial Times Best Business Book award, was one of Bloomberg’s Best Books of 2021 and was chosen as the Medium Best of the Best Business Book.She is a Professor of Practice at the University of Bath, Lead Faculty for the Forward Institutes Responsible Leadership Programme and, through Merryck Co., mentors CEOs and senior executives of major global organizations.She also chairs the board of DACS and has advised the Casey Review into the culture and standards of the Metropolitan Police and the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse led by Alexis Jay. In 2023 Margaret was inducted into the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame.She is a frequent broadcaster on BBC Radio 4 and the author of many broadcast plays and programmes.Further readingMargaret's Book: Wilful Blindness : Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril Margaret's Book: A Bigger Prize: Why Competition Isn't Everything and How We Do BetterMargaret's Ted Talks: TED Talks Margaret's Book: Beyond Measure: The Big Impact of Small ChangesMargaret's Book: Uncharted: How to map the futureBlog: Don’t hesitate to declare a sustainability breakthrough (achievebreakthrough.com)Blog: Why you might not succeed at sustainability: Enrolment vs. engagement(achievebreakthrough.com)Blog: Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable (achievebreakthrough.com)Blog: The Power of the Open-Ended Answer (achievebreakthrough.com)Website: Achieve Breakthrough