Knowledge at Wharton

A Pew study last year confirmed that U.S. political partisanship has risen sharply. In the face of that trend is it possible for Democrats and Republicans to get along? Wharton professor Philip Tetlock recently spoke with Jonathan Haidt author of The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion to explore this question. Haidt breaks down why it is so hard for liberals and c...

In Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work bestselling authors Chip Heath and Dan Heath argue that humans don’t have a particularly strong track record of making good choices -- whether it is about our careers business matters or our personal lives. Knowledge at Wharton recently had an opportunity to talk with Chip about how widening your options reality-testing your assumptions atta...

According to Barbara Kahn director of the Jay H. Baker Retailing Center at Wharton the increasing popularity of social media has two implications for marketers: First customers now control the message and second companies must make sure that key elements of their brand can translate throughout the world. In a recent interview with Wharton MBA candidate Alexandra Idol Kahn discusses her new book Gl...

In their ebook The Social Entrepreneur’s Playbook Ian C. MacMillan a Wharton management professor and James Thompson director of the Wharton Social Enterprise Program offer specific suggestions to strengthen the effectiveness of social enterprises. In the second of a two-part interview the authors discuss how two African social enterprises -- one in the chicken feeds business and the other in the...

LEGO has built a global empire and become a household name thanks to the interlocking bricks that its founders developed half a century ago. But the company almost went belly up in the early 2000s due to an innovation binge that took it too far away from what LEGO did best. In a new book Wharton practice professor David Robertson details how thinking too far ”outside the box” almost bankrupted LEG...

Studies put the failure rate of organizational change at 70% or higher. Yet managers face increasing pressure to implement change to meet short- and long-term goals. Gregory P. Shea and Cassie A. Solomon share their approach to dealing with this challenge in Leading Successful Change: 8 Keys to Making Change Work. Jeff Klein director of the Wharton Graduate Leadership Program recently spoke with t...

In the past few years the United States government has issued fewer regulations and worked to eliminate or improve existing ones. Cass R. Sunstein led many of these changes as administrator for the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. In his new book Simpler: The Future of Government Sunstein talks about how a more streamlined government can improve health lengthen lives and s...

Social entrepreneurs -- those who try to tackle major social problems such as poverty and disease while generating revenues -- are often well-meaning people. But in their desire to make a difference to society they sometimes fail to subject their ideas to rigorous tests. Ian MacMillan a professor of management at Wharton and James Thompson who leads the Wharton Social Enterprise Program have just...

Global organizations operating in the contemporary business landscape need to tightly link financial rigor and strategic insight. Increasingly senior financial executives are playing influential roles in strategy development and implementation working closely with the CEO and the board to creatively assess and design growth opportunities. The question is: Are CFOs prepared to move beyond the numbe...

Donna Noce entered college with the intent to major in veterinary medicine. But when a part-time job at a local retail store led to the chance to try her hand as a fashion buyer she became hooked on the retail industry. For the past six years Noce has been president of White House Black Market a retail chain that sells designs focused around the classic color combination. In this interview with Kn...

Many people in the Western world used to anticipate retiring in their 50s or 60s. Now they are embarking on new ”encore” careers at the very time when they might have previously been expected to begin a life of leisure. Marci Alboher author of The Encore Career Handbook: How to Make a Living and a Difference in the Second Half of Life spoke to Wharton professor Stewart Friedman about second -- and...

Brad Feld sold his Boston startup and moved to Boulder Colo. in 1995. The city already had a bustling entrepreneurial community and Feld was soon in the thick of things. He co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and earlier Intensity Ventures a company that helped launch software companies. More recently he co-founded two early-stage venture capital firms -- the Foundry Group and TechStars -- which pro...

READ Global an international non-profit that uses community libraries as a platform for creating social change in rural villages throughout India Bhutan and Nepal is the winner of the second annual Barry & Marie Lipman Family Prize awarded to an organization that is creating social impact through leadership and innovation. Wharton administers the prize on behalf of the University of Pennsylvan...

Online real estate marketplace Zillow has brought to home buying and selling what a previous generation of travel websites provided to shoppers wanting to compare the prices of hotels rental cars and airline flights -- transparency. But finding data that is reliable across the board can be difficult according to Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff. And the key is not just simply to offer the information Ra...

A colleague asks you for feedback on a report. A LinkedIn connection requests an introduction to one of your key contacts. A recent graduate would like an informational interview. New research from Wharton management professor Adam Grant reveals that how you respond to these requests may be a decisive indicator of where you’ll end up on the ladder of professional success. Grant recently spoke with...

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In a world focused on increased productivity and instant gratification it’s hard to imagine that businesspeople have much time for meditation. But huge corporations -- including Google Monsanto Hearst and National Grid --have discovered the benefits of meditation at work  including improved teamwork more effective decision-making and lower levels of employee stress. In this interview with Knowledg...

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- better known as Obamacare -- was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010. Since then it has generated enormous amounts of debate controversy and uncertainty. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Bruce Broussard president and CEO of Humana the fourth-largest health care insurance group offers his take on Obamacare and the challenges -...

If you have watched and shared PSY’s ”Gangnam Style” video or gone into an unknown restaurant simply because it was full of people and appeared to be popular you have the basis for understanding what makes things go viral. Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger’s new book Contagious: Why Things Catch On distills six principles that cause people to talk about and share an idea or product. (Video...

To report on food sourcing and access in the United States author Tracie McMillan went undercover picking garlic in the fields in California and working at a Walmart in Michigan and an Applebee’s in New York. She published a book about what she learned from these experiences called The American Way of Eating. Knowledge at Wharton recently spoke with McMillan about how income level affects food con...

Named one of The Wall Street Journal’s top 10 nonfiction books of 2012 Steven Ujifusa’s A Man and His Ship: America’s Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the SS United States brings William Francis Gibbs’ story to life. Wharton legal studies and business ethics professor G. Richard Shell recently sat down with Ujifusa to learn more about what inspired the author to tell Gibbs’ story wh...

How do we know which of our successes and failures can be attributed to either skill or luck? That is the question that investment strategist Michael J. Mauboussin explores in his book The Success Equation: Untangling Skill and Luck in Business Sports and Investing. Wharton management professor Adam M. Grant recently sat down with Mauboussin to talk about the paradox of skill the conditions for lu...

Whether you are an educator an art director or a project manager you are in sales. So argues bestselling author Daniel Pink in his new book To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth about Moving Others. Pink recently visited the University of Pennsylvania as a guest lecturer in the Authors@Wharton series. Wharton management professor Adam M. Grant interviewed Pink while he was there to learn more abo...

Though stock market volatility continues to rattle investors’ nerves the future looks bright for equities in the U.S. and many emerging markets according to Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Siegel says that investors should think about reducing their bond holdings buying more stocks and keeping just enough cash for a rainy day and other liquidity n...

With the spotlight on U.S. budget cuts a timely book looks at the unique nature of the country’s debt and the options available to avoid hitting the debt ceiling. Is U.S. Government Debt Different? -- a collection of 15 articles published by the Wharton Financial Institutions Center -- is co-edited by Wharton finance professor Franklin Allen who shares insights from the book with Knowledge at Whar...