Maggie M. Jackson
Title: Author
Literary
Education: Yale University - London School of Economics, International Politics degree with highest honors
New York, NY, USA
Biography
Maggie Jackson is an award-winning author and journalist known for her pioneering writings on social trends, particularly technology’s impact on humanity. Her acclaimed book, Distracted, sparked a global conversation on the steep costs of fragmenting our attention and revealed the science of how to reclaim our powers of focus. Hailed as “influential” by the New Yorker, Distracted won the 2020 Dorothy Lee Award. Jackson’s latest book, Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure (Nov. 7, 2023), explores why we should paradoxically seek not-knowing in times of flux and angst. Uncertain has been nominated for a National Book Award and is an Amazon Top New Release. Early praise calls the book "incisive and timely-triumphant" (Dan Pink), "beautiful, inspirational, compelling, and urgently needed" (Sherry Turkle), "beautiful" (Bill McKibben), "both surprising and practical" (Gretchen Rubin), and "outstanding" (Douglas Peterson, chief executive of S&P Global).
A former contributing columnist for the Boston Globe, Jackson has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, New Philosopher, and many other publications worldwide. Her writings have been translated into multiple languages, won many awards, and appeared in anthologies including Living with Robots and The State of the American Mind. She has spoken at Google, Chautauqua, a CNN Town Hall, and venues around the world and her work has been featured extensively in the global press. A graduate of Yale University and the London School of Economics with highest honors, she lives in New York and Rhode Island.
Passion
My great passions are wrestling with life's biggest questions - such as humanity's unresolved relationship with technology and the unexpected wisdom of being unsure in a time of angst - and then sharing my findings and thoughts with audiences worldwide through both my writings and the spoken word. I love to connect with audiences and learn what questions are on their minds!
Best Story
I've reported from robotics laboratories, activist campaigns, operating rooms, tear gas-infused overseas pro-democracy demonstrations, Hell's Angel hang-outs, the White House, and even from the summit of Japan's Mount Fuji. I offer audiences compelling stories for every occasion backed by vivid reporting and deep research in the sciences and the arts.
Origin Story
I've always been curious, always asked questions, and always questioned what's given. This hunger to learn led me to report on the front lines of major stories erupting in hot spots from Tokyo and Paris to the North Korean border and the back streets of London. I became one of the first journalists in the country to cover work-life issues as a columnist most recently for the Boston Globe. I was one of the first US journalists to question the impact of digital devices on our lives, minds, and relationships. My book, Distracted, explored the steep costs of fragmenting our attention in a digital age and has been compared to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring for its prescience. And my new book Uncertain breaks ground by showing why we paradoxically should seek uncertainty in a volatile age. With experience, I realize that keeping an open mind and an ability to question is more critical than ever today.
Example talks
The New Wisdom: Why We Should Seek Uncertainty in an Age of Flux at Work and Home
In an era of terrifying unpredictability, the swift, sure answer seems just right. We race to address precarity and complexity with neat algorithms, crisp bullet points, or hurried tweets. Who has time to dally in the wilderness of being unsure? How could we find the clarity and vision so urgently needed today by not-knowing? Maggie Jackson's Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure (Nov. 7, 2023) is about the unsung triumph of doing just that.
A scientific adventure tale based on deep research and wide reporting from Paris to LA, Uncertain explores a mindset now revealed to be essential to curiosity, creativity, adaptability, superior teamwork, and resilience - the very skills we most need in volatile times. Far from miring us in inertia, uncertainty is a gadfly of the mind, jolting us from intellectual complacency into spaces for exploring new, unseen meaning. Uncertainty unsettles us - and that is its gift.
Join popular global speaker and award-winning writer Maggie Jackson to learn:
- why embracing the "good stress" of uncertainty mindset is a marker of curious, engaged workers who seek challenges and voice dissent and why executives who are ambivalent in a crisis are more resourceful and inclusive in a crisis than the ultra-decisive leaders we mistakenly admire.
- why the true fuel of good collaboration is not relentlessly being on the same page. Instead, respectful dissent ushers a group onto uncommon ground, where discussion deepens and new perspectives surface. Most importantly, these team performance boosts occur even if a dissenting voice is wrong. It is the collective uncertainty sparked by conflict that fuels fresh, creative thinking in a group.
I am willing to travel
More than 100 miles
When it comes to payments
I generally get paid for speaking but make exceptions
Topics
Best Story
I've reported from robotics laboratories, activist campaigns, operating rooms, tear gas-infused overseas pro-democracy demonstrations, Hell's Angel hang-outs, the White House, and even from the summit of Japan's Mount Fuji. I offer audiences compelling stories for every occasion backed by vivid reporting and deep research in the sciences and the arts.
Origin Story
I've always been curious, always asked questions, and always questioned what's given. This hunger to learn led me to report on the front lines of major stories erupting in hot spots from Tokyo and Paris to the North Korean border and the back streets of London. I became one of the first journalists in the country to cover work-life issues as a columnist most recently for the Boston Globe. I was one of the first US journalists to question the impact of digital devices on our lives, minds, and relationships. My book, Distracted, explored the steep costs of fragmenting our attention in a digital age and has been compared to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring for its prescience. And my new book Uncertain breaks ground by showing why we paradoxically should seek uncertainty in a volatile age. With experience, I realize that keeping an open mind and an ability to question is more critical than ever today.
Example talks
The New Wisdom: Why We Should Seek Uncertainty in an Age of Flux at Work and Home
In an era of terrifying unpredictability, the swift, sure answer seems just right. We race to address precarity and complexity with neat algorithms, crisp bullet points, or hurried tweets. Who has time to dally in the wilderness of being unsure? How could we find the clarity and vision so urgently needed today by not-knowing? Maggie Jackson's Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure (Nov. 7, 2023) is about the unsung triumph of doing just that.
A scientific adventure tale based on deep research and wide reporting from Paris to LA, Uncertain explores a mindset now revealed to be essential to curiosity, creativity, adaptability, superior teamwork, and resilience - the very skills we most need in volatile times. Far from miring us in inertia, uncertainty is a gadfly of the mind, jolting us from intellectual complacency into spaces for exploring new, unseen meaning. Uncertainty unsettles us - and that is its gift.
Join popular global speaker and award-winning writer Maggie Jackson to learn:
- why embracing the "good stress" of uncertainty mindset is a marker of curious, engaged workers who seek challenges and voice dissent and why executives who are ambivalent in a crisis are more resourceful and inclusive in a crisis than the ultra-decisive leaders we mistakenly admire.
- why the true fuel of good collaboration is not relentlessly being on the same page. Instead, respectful dissent ushers a group onto uncommon ground, where discussion deepens and new perspectives surface. Most importantly, these team performance boosts occur even if a dissenting voice is wrong. It is the collective uncertainty sparked by conflict that fuels fresh, creative thinking in a group.