Margaret Heffernan on Creativity, Uncertainty & Why Artists Lead the Future | Story Islands

Margaret Heffernan joins Story Islands to explore creativity, uncertainty and why artists may be better prepared than corporations to shape the future.

This episode is also available as an interactive podcast in Stornaway, where you can choose which Story Island to visit in any order.
🎥 Watch the interactive Story Islands version at:
⁠⁠https://player.stornaway.io/embed/0f9...

Writer, broadcaster and former CEO Margaret Heffernan joins Story Islands for our Season Two opener — a conversation about curiosity, uncertainty, collaboration and why artists may be better equipped than executives to lead us through a volatile world.

From BBC radio to Silicon Valley boardrooms, Margaret’s career has crossed media, technology, theatre and business. In this episode she shares her five Story Islands — Home, Business, Creative, Social and Desert — as we explore how imagination, solitude and non-linear thinking shape everything from leadership to innovation.

We talk about:

-Why modern organisations are stuck in the “status quo trap”

-How walking, wandering and “deep hanging out” fuel creativity

-What artists understand about risk that businesses don’t

-Why curiosity is more important than efficiency

-How collaboration is built on trust before results

This episode is also available as an interactive experience, where you can choose which Story Island to visit first.

🎥 Watch the interactive Story Islands version
https://player.stornaway.io/embed/0f9...

About Stornaway.io
Stornaway is the way to build interactive experiences that are smart and personalised – whether you’re in marketing, learning, communications or content production. Stornaway’s modular “Story Map” flowchart editor is an interactive video builder that enables you to:
Guide your audiences down different routes with personalised content
Track engagement and insight, without tech headaches
Get up and running in minutes
Find out more and get started now at ⁠www.stornaway.io

🎵 Featured song
Nick Bicât — The Greeks (from The Greeks)
https://open.spotify.com/track/4k9zrW...

00:00 Story Islands intro
02:21 Meet Margaret Heffernan
02:59 The five Story Islands
03:31 Island 1 – Home
10:47 Island 4 – Business
21:52 Island 3 – Creative
31:00 Island 5 – Desert
36:30 Island 2 – Social
43:43 Featured song – Nick Bicât

Why this podcast is interactive
Story Islands is designed as a non-linear podcast experience. Instead of listening from start to finish, you can explore ideas as places — jumping between themes, revisiting moments, and choosing your own route through the conversation.

This episode uses interactive video to turn a long-form interview into something closer to a landscape of ideas — reflecting how creative thinking actually works: associative, exploratory and personal.

Who this episode is for
If you’re interested in:
• Creative leadership and decision-making under uncertainty
• The future of work, collaboration and trust
• How artists think differently from institutions
• New formats for podcasts, interviews and storytelling
…this episode — and its interactive version — is designed for you.

About interactive podcasts
Interactive podcasts combine video, structure and choice to let audiences explore conversations in their own way. Rather than a single linear narrative, they offer multiple entry points and paths — making complex ideas easier to navigate and revisit.

Story Islands is built using Stornaway’s interactive content tools, allowing creators to design conversations as experiences, not just recordings.

#Stornaway #MargaretHeffernan #InteractivePodcast #CreativeLeadership #NonlinearThinking