Willful Blindness

Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril

By: Margaret Heffernan

Narrated by: Margaret Heffernan

Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Margaret Heffernan argues that the biggest threats and dangers we face are the ones we don't see - not because they're secret or invisible, but because we're willfully blind. A distinguished businesswoman and writer, she examines the phenomenon and traces its imprint in our private and working lives, and within governments and organizations, and asks: What makes us prefer ignorance? What are we so afraid of? Why do some people see more than others? And how can we change?

Covering everything from our choice of mates to the SEC, Bernard Madoff's investors, the embers of BP's refinery, the military in Afghanistan, and the dog-eat-dog world of subprime mortgage lenders, this provocative book demonstrates how failing to see - or to admit to ourselves or our colleagues - the issues and problems in plain sight can ruin private lives and bring down corporations.

Heffernan explains how willful blindness develops before exploring ways that institutions and individuals can combat it. In the tradition of Malcolm Gladwell and Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Margaret Heffernan's Willful Blindness is a tour de force on human behavior that will open your eyes.

©2011 Margaret Heffernan (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"[Heffernan] gives us an insightful look into the psychology of denial and makes an ethical and pragmatic argument for engagement rather than deflection. Heffernan's cogent, riveting look at how we behave at our worst encourages us to strive for our best." ( Publishers Weekly)

It took me some willingness to finish listening

This is an important book that everyone should read, but, after I bought it, it took me several months before I finally got around to listen to it because the title, "Willful Blindness", (I thought) also hinted at my own problem of this nature operating in my own life. But the book is not so much about psychological analysis at personal levels but more about how the societal structure (e.g., division of labor) lead to major catastrophes due to willful blindness of those who were suppose to be in charge (yes, I know, I could be causing a catastrophe) . The author goes through many examples of this problem (e.g., Hurricane Katrina, the 2008 financial crisis, etc.).

Yes, yes, I get it - the author's analyses and observations are convincing, and we need to do something about this type of problem, but it is unlikely that corporate executives or federal officials would read this kind of book. So, we need structural changes (regulations) in society. It is not just those who are at the top - the whole town could be going along with it, in some cases. Thus, the purpose of the book is to raise awareness on this issue.

I am generally against authors narrating their own books, and this is another example that reinforces my opinion on this. The upside is that you get to hear her frustrations with the nature of the willful blindness in these examples. The downside, to me, was that, of many examples she went through, she was often quoting those whom she researched or interviewed, and sometime I got confused if "I" in the segments was the author or the person whom she was quoting. A professional narrator could have clarified the distinction by using different tones.

Turn Your Camera On Yourself!!

Margaret Heffernan is a very insightful woman with a great deal of real experience to back the observations in her book, Willful Blindness, that should be an essential read for everyone in Government, Business and even as just plain citizens. She helps us to see that nothing in our economic history, so far,should have been a surprise, the coming colder climate should come as no surprise and neither should the ramifications of encouragement of illegal entry by the current national government...whoever they are..and opposition to legal visas,ETC..
This book was written in 2011. I would love to hear her observations on the handling of the"pandemic".
She apparently has a lot of TED talks which i will look at, later.
One of the greatest examples she gave of WB was that of BP corporation headquartered in posh London and hardly aware of people dying in the Texas City refinery and offshore platforms. She makes it clear that the managerial flow chart was so complex and unreasonable that there was certainly no way to blame anyone for anything that resulted from negligence or especially the overworked and blurry eyed staff. More diversification will save the company?? She didn't mention Sears, a corporation too big to fail with all of its subsidiaries. It is true that the demise is almost final and, like a once beautiful mansion in total disrepair, other iconic brick and mortars and even some of the Amazon-like creations...will fail. How we survive the coming economic crisis will depend on our own ingenuity, the help of God and what we deem important.
Perhaps, Margeret has presented a clear case for turning the camera on ourselves. We stood,inert and helpless, while the "Government Knows Best" mantra was blasted! It is finally being questioned. We can emerge from a longterm stupor caused by dependence on misinformation/disinformation!

Mesmerizing introduction, but from there...

After the best introduction to a book I have heard in a long time...one that kept me enthralled and wanting to write down every word she said...I was stunned to find the book changed tone and became studied, boring and more like PhD dissertation than the exciting book she started out writing.

Willful political blindness - by author

Good concept but examples lean left. A more balanced view would add credibility for this author.

Insightful. Must Read.

Where does Willful Blindness rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

For the fan of neuroscience and psychology or simply one desiring to understand how people operate and how to lead them, this is a must-read book.

Have you listened to any of Margaret Heffernan’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but I personally found the pitch of her voice a bit uncomfortable for the volume I wish to hear her at. In the end, it was still worth the listen though.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

It's extremely important to recognize our proneness to not really think and if we are truly thinking it's extremely important to be the one speaking out lest everyone's silence encourage worse things to happen. There are many examples of people slowly turning a blind eye like a frog in a pot.

Insightful and interesting

The author wanders a bit from the main topic but somehow in a relevant way. Theres a lot of overlap in reality so the areas they cover all seem cohesive and make sense contextually

Why things don't change

Made me understand why people don't see the obvious truths around them. This book should be required reading in high school.

Great Book

This book is so fantastic. This book helped me better understand things that have happened in my life (I am a Cassandra) and at the same time made me more forgiving of those around me of their lack of action. I think of this book as a call to action to continue in my nature to think critically , to challenge myself to look for my own areas of blindness and to help others to do the same.

There's a kernel of a good book in here

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

It did have some valuable insight into contemporary failures at a grand level. Like Enron and the mortgage crisis.

Who was your favorite character and why?

No characters in here really.

What didn’t you like about Margaret Heffernan’s performance?

Unfortunately, her reading sounded just as smug as some of the passages in the book. The book probably would have been better with someone who was objective.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No.

Any additional comments?

It should have been called "If they had only asked me."

Unfortunately, the author presents a rather confusing story of failures and their causes. She wallows in the usual stereotypes of evil corporate directors and their helpless victims while glossing over root cause analysis of these issues. It is easy and gratifying to impugn the characters no one loves while sanctifying the "victims" but life is much more complicated than that. What about all the "Cassandras" (as she calls them) who were wrong? I'm sure there were many more who were wrong than right. But in the author's world, the cure for blindness is 20/20 hindsight. Not very helpful.

She describes all kinds of issues with biases. And then presumes to believe that she has none. And that the obvious disasters she describes are proof of her theories, despite knowing that the same general processes she faults have also resulted in major advances.

The answer is, of course, that we need a more compelling mix of oversight (hierarchy) while at the same time encouraging local (non-hierarchical) control. Not sure how she reconciles these two incompatible modes in her world. The listener won't learn here either.

Good start, slow finish

The book got of to a good start, but the second gave was dull and redundant. The book should have ended about half way. Plus, I felt that some of the authors opinions were "willfully blind" thus making her analysis hypocritical.