The former CEO of five businesses, Margaret Heffernan explores the all-too-human thought patterns — like conflict avoidance and selective blindness — that lead organizations and managers astray.
Heffernan began her career in television production, building a track record at the BBC before going on to run the film and television producer trade association IPPA. In the US, Heffernan became a serial entrepreneur and CEO in the wild early days of web business. She now blogs for the Huffington Post and BNET.com. Her latest book, Beyond Measure, a TED Books original, explores the small steps companies can make that lead to big changes in their culture.
Most people instinctively avoid conflict, but as Margaret Heffernan shows us, good disagreement is central to progress. She illustrates (sometimes counterintuitively) how the best partners aren’t echo chambers -- and how great research teams, relationships and businesses allow people to deeply disagree.
Pairwork
1. Can you name any famous people with a reputation for saying unexpected things?
2. Have you been in a situation where afterwards you regretted saying something or saying nothing?
3. Many people find it difficult to express their disagreement. Why do you think this is?
Vocabulary
epidemiology, affluent, whistle-blower, crank, stand up to
Why are the words in the following sentence underlined?
In Oxford in the 1950s there was a fantastic doctor who was very unusual, named Alice Steward.
Does this dish look like Easter to you? Well, it is in some place in the globe!
Let's go on a "dish hunt" to find out more about traditional Easter dishes in this article
Relative Clauses
The overall goal is something which tells us what the organisation wants to achieve
The slogan, which is phrase or a sentence, should be short and memorable
So I just want to tell you my story. I spend a lot of time teaching adults how to use visual language and doodling in the workplace. And naturally, I encounter a lot of resistance, because it's considered to be anti-intellectual and counter to serious learning. But I have a problem with that belief, because I know that doodling has a profound impact on the way that we can process information and the way that we can solve problems.
Do you use visual aids in your presentations? How do you organise them?
Take a look at Sunni Brown's. What do you think are good practices?
Relative Clauses
The overall goal is something which tells us what the organisation wants to achieve
The slogan, which is phrase or a sentence, should be short and memorable
We keep improving our pronounciation in English. Today we work with short and long vowels.
-How far do you agree with the words of Seneca JK. Rowling shares in the end?
"So today, I wish you nothing better than similar friendships. And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom:
As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.
What do you think are some habits that will obstruct or discourage conversation?
What would the world be like if we were creating sound consciously, consuming sounds consciously
and design our environments consciously for sound. That would be a world where understanding would be the norm.
Are you a supporter or adversary of facial recognition technology?
What areas can facial recognition technology be used in?
This video raises some hair-rising concerns...
TEAM A: What are some concerns?
TEAM B: What if the developments led to this?
or identifying this
Discuss in your team. Collect arguments and vocabulary to use in a DEBATE.
GAME
Read the article and write a proposal for a fundraiser in your company to support the Naxos Syndrome project.
Find an example of a proposal here
