Uniting Great Minds, Wharton’s Stat Bridge MA Program Takes Flight
Image: Hoag Levins/LDI
“Our program seeks to help students fully tap into their potential and to ensure that we continue to develop bold thinkers who will be prepared for the challenges of new sources and new statistical problems.” – Dylan Small, the Universal Furniture Professor and Chair of Statistics and Data Science
A new program in Wharton’s Department of Statistics and Data Science offers advanced coursework and research experience for students who hope to earn a PhD but need additional preparation for admission to a statistics doctoral program. The Bridge to a Doctorate Program in Statistics and Data Science is a two-year research master’s (MA) degree program which includes tuition, fees, health insurance, and stipend. The program provides strong mentorship and a learning environment dedicated to teaching methods of statistical modeling for effective decision making. Bridge Fellows work with faculty on individualized curricula based on their research interests and goals.
The first Bridge Fellows began in the Fall 2023 semester with Emma Ross, a graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and Nimo Ismail, a graduate of Tennessee’s Rhodes College.
First semester smiles from Nimo Ismail (left) and Emma Ross (right). (Image: Hoag Levins/LDI)
For those seeking a PhD, Wharton builds bridges
Ross, a native of Overland Park, Kansas, found the Stat Bridge Program when searching for predoctoral research and master’s programs to develop her research skills and help her focus on a specific content area. “When I read the description of the Stat Bridge Program, I knew it would be a perfect fit for me because of the individualized curriculum, focus on research, mentorship, and guidance on applying to doctoral programs.”
Ismail, who is from Phoenix, Arizona, began looking at graduate programs when her job search stalled. She opted not to apply to any PhD programs, feeling that she needed more coursework and research experience. “There were other bridge programs that interested me, but Wharton ensures that students like me are supported both financially and academically. I’ll gain research experience and, at the same time, build confidence in applying to PhD programs.”
Dylan Small, the Universal Furniture Professor and Chair of Statistics and Data Sciences, developed the program, knowing that there are students who have the talent, but may not have the financial resources, coursework, research, or mentorship for academic success at the doctoral level. “From my own work, I have learned the importance of strong structures for improving the field—whether it’s in research design and methodologies or in educating future statisticians,” Small says.
Pictured are Professors Zhang and Small, leaders of the program. (Image: Hoag Levins/LDI)
People who grew up in communities with a lack of resources, such as role models in statistics and related fields, may get a late start in thinking about statistics as a career path. Our program seeks to help students fully tap into their potential and to ensure that we continue to develop bold thinkers who will be prepared for the challenges of new sources and new statistical problems.”
The Bridge Program rises, one of a few of its kind
Nancy R. Zhang, the Ge Li and Ning Zhao Professor of Statistics and Data Science and Vice Dean of Wharton’s Doctoral Programs, co-directs the Bridge Program with Small. The opportunity to mentor the Bridge Fellows is especially appealing to both of them who value their roles as mentors—both at Wharton and Penn with statistics students—as well as for organizations like Math Alliance, which supports students who are seeking a mathematical or statistical PhD.
Zhang is excited to be involved with the Bridge Program, one of the few programs of its kind. “There are bridge programs in other fields at many schools, but very few in statistics and in data sciences with the explicit focus on preparing students for PhD study and a future career in research. Although this is only our first year, I am getting questions from colleagues in statistics at other institutions interested in developing their own bridge programs similar to ours,” says Zhang.
Zhang also understands that students sometimes need a little time in deciding to pursue a PhD in statistics, and to identify a research area that interests them. “After completing my master’s degree in computer science, I worked as a software engineer at a startup company. I continued to read about genomics—a new field that I had studied while still in school. That interest grew, and that propelled me to return to school for a PhD in statistics,” she reflects.
Tiny but mighty, the inaugural Stats Bridge Team chats in one of Penn’s many leafy corners. Pictured from left to right is Ismail, Zhang, Small, and Ross. (Image: Hoag Levins/LDI)
Small and Zhang were committed to creating the Stat Bridge Program, which involved many hours of work including curricular design along with administrative infrastructure such as a website, applications, and outreach to recruit students, including a Zoom meeting for potential applicants. In addition, time had to be dedicated to answering student questions, application review, decision notification, and matching mentors with the Bridge Fellows. Small and Zhang cite strong support and encouragement from Wharton’s Dean, Erika James and Deputy Dean, Nancy Rothbard in making this program possible.
The Fellows look towards the future
As for the Stat Bridge Fellows’ goals, Ismail wants to become a professor in statistics and will focus her research on quantitative criminology with her research mentor, Greg Ridgeway, Professor of Criminology and Professor of Statistics and Data Science. “Before reading about Professor Ridgeway’s work, I didn’t know about the field of quantitative criminology,” Ismail refelcts. “Now, I am looking forward to gaining research experience and building connections with others in the field. I know that I need quality support to prepare for a PhD program; and I’m excited for this opportunity.”
Like Ismail, Ross’ goal is also to become a professor in statistics. She will begin her research with Nandita Mitra, Professor of Biostatistics and Professor of Statistics and Data Science, and hopes to pursue research projects that directly help people in need, particularly those in Latin American communities. In addition, Ross also seeks to build a better future for other women interested in the data sciences.“I hope to do my part in creating a safe place for women to discover the beauty of mathematics and to debunk the myth that women aren’t good at math,” she says.
At the heart of it all: Zhang, Ross, Ismail, and Small gather on Penn’s Locust Walk in September 2023. (Image: Hoag Levins/LDI)
In the pursuit of academic excellence and breaking barriers in the field of statistics, Wharton’s Bridge to a Doctorate Program stands as a beacon of opportunity. As Ross and Ismail continue to set their sights on bright and broad horizons, they also embody the both their program and the School’s unwavering commitment to fostering excellent talent and groundbreaking research in data science writ large.
Closing the Tenure Gap for Business Faculty of Color
Image: Photos courtesy of The Tenure Project Conference at the Foster School of Business, 2022
Founded by two professors and Wharton alumni, The Tenure Project is on a mission to help more underrepresented junior business faculty receive tenure across the country.
Wharton Prof. Wendy De La Rosa, W’11, and Foster School of Business Prof. Esther Uduehi, GrW’21, first met while pursuing their PhDs. Both took part in The PhD Project, a non-profit organization that aims to diversify the business faculty pipeline.
Inspired by this approach, they’ve now created The Tenure Project to support underrepresented scholars (e.g. Black, Indigenous, and Latinx scholars) through the next big obstacle: obtaining tenure in a historically inequitable system.
Below, Profs. De La Rosa and Uduehi touch on the far-reaching issues behind the tenure gap, how they started The Tenure Project, and the success of their first conference.
What are some of the structural barriers that underrepresented faculty face, especially in junior positions?
De La Rosa: We have to be really frank about the fact that many educational institutions were built by people of color, [yet] with the explicit purpose to exclude people of color. And so you’re asking people to navigate a system that, by its very foundation and creation, was set up to be exclusionary. The data reflects this. Even though underrepresented minorities (URMs) represent over 36% of the U.S. population, they represent just 7% of the faculty of business schools, according to the AACSB.
For example, oftentimes, if you are a URM and you’re in academia, you may focus on DEI issues or may go against racist ideology. But we know that research on DEI and related topics is less likely to be published and is often viewed as less rigorous by the field. And even if you do get published, articles written by URMs or women, in general, are less likely to be cited. URMs are also less likely to be mentored and/or sponsored, which is a big deal when you’re trying to get tenure and get letter writers. But that’s just research, right?
In terms of teaching, we also know that URMs and women are systematically evaluated differently and often earn lower teaching evaluations in the classroom, holding everything else constant. And then on the service side, URMs are often overburdened with service requests.
Those are just a few examples across the three pillars of our field — research, teaching, and service — where we aren’t creating an equitable system.
How does lack of tenure harm a professor’s career and the students that they teach?
Uduehi: Not having diversity is a major loss for both students and the university. Tenure is the first step in being able to be a part of the senior leadership within a school. They are able to come to the table with a certain level of power and stature. They get to sit on different types of committees that direct the school. Maybe it’s the promotion and tenure committee, for example, and even diversity committees. They get to shape the school and its direction long-term in ways that maybe other faculty don’t get to. Schools need to invest in their junior faculty of color, because it’s not just an investment for 5–7 years or 5–10 years. It’s really an investment within the institutional structure long-term.
De La Rosa: You don’t have job security if you don’t have tenure. The default is that if you don’t get tenure, you are forced to uproot your entire family and move to a different part of the country. The whole process — understanding why you didn’t get tenure or what was the reason for that — can often be a black box, especially for students that have built a rapport or a relationship with a specific faculty member. If a faculty is untenured, there’s always a chance that they may not be back at the institution. It’s all about, “How do we create an equitable system where everybody has an equal seat at the table?” And without tenure, you may not even be at the table.
Before The Tenure Project, what kinds of resources (or lack thereof) did URM faculty rely on?
Uduehi: I think people try to find communities formally and informally; people are going to seek others to support them. But when you’re not able to create formal communities, it can lead to a very disjointed system, especially when the system is not based on supporting minorities in many ways. Being able to formalize communities like WSAWBA (The Wharton Society for the Advancement of Women in Business Academia, which I was president of), like The Tenure Project, allows for people to feel maybe just a little more comfortable being themselves in spaces that they wouldn’t have otherwise — which, long-term, allows for the greater business community to see the value and importance of many people who continue to be on the margins.
Who can change the system, and how?
Uduehi: The lack of racial minorities as tenured faculty is not a problem to be placed on faculty of color. This is an institutional problem, and it requires institutional change to solve. In The Tenure Project, we want to face this issue head-on and encourage all schools to not ask, “Why don’t minorities get tenure?” but rather, “What have institutions done to create a system where minorities don’t get tenure?”
De La Rosa: Oftentimes, I think I hear: “If we run more webinars and do more DEI training, it will fix this system.” Well, we know from behavioral scientists and marketers that, “increasing information often doesn’t change behavior. It’s the environment that changes behavior.” We can train people up and down, but if we really want to see change, we need to change the environment. We need to change the incentives. And our colleagues in Econ understand that really well, but for whatever reason, we haven’t necessarily pulled that into our own institutions.
How did The Tenure Project start?
De La Rosa: Esther and I knew each other from The PhD Project, but the idea and the kernel of what The Tenure Project is really started in the summer of 2020. Like many people, the summer of 2020 was extremely difficult for me. I lost loved ones to COVID. I was dealing with the racial awakening that was happening in our country. And I was also going into a market where very few institutions were hiring, and I was really struggling. But thankfully in that struggle, I had this amazing community; a group of PhD students and very junior faculty who have no power got together, just doing weekly check-ins to heal, to help each other, and to strategize. We really wanted to create an action plan for what we thought needed to change in academia to create a more equitable workplace.
As part of that plan, we created a list of academics in Marketing that deans, journal editors, department chairs, and colloquial organizers could easily access. We wanted to stop this narrative that there are no URM faculty out there for us to invite. (That list is now published here.)
But in the creation of that list, we noticed that there were so many amazing researchers and educators who had been out in the field for decades and were still untenured. That started the idea of The Tenure Project. We created The Tenure Project with one singular focus, which is to increase the number of URM faculty that get tenure, because tenure can be a lonely, confusing, and often, quite frankly, racist process. We wanted The Tenure Project to be that one-stop shop for junior faculty across business disciplines to at least arm themselves with the tools to navigate this uncertain process.
Uduehi: I think for many years, there has been this discussion around what structures can help build community for junior faculty as they are going through the tenure process. And the opportunity, really, was presented to me and Wendy. When I reached out to UW Foster, my institution, to see whether or not they’d be interested in sponsoring and championing this, and they said yes, it really spearheaded the formal Tenure Project.
How have you collaborated with Wharton faculty to get this off the ground?
De La Rosa: When Esther and I were thinking about this idea, we were shopping it around to a couple of senior faculty members, saying, “What would be the best way to do this?” And I’ve been very blessed to have a colleague, Dr. Barbara Kahn, who said, “You know what? This is a great idea, and we should meet with our deputy dean, Nancy Rothbard, and put real dollars behind this. Let’s institutionalize this effort.” Nancy then got the support and backing of our dean, Erika James, and it started to take shape. Once the Foster School of Business and Wharton were on board, we got the backing of The PhD Project, and we now have over 14 institutional sponsors for The Tenure Project and a roadmap to host a conference for at least the next seven years.
I would be remiss, also, if I didn’t call out Dr. Noah Gans, Dr. Itay Goldstein, who so selflessly gave up their time to serve on the Senior Planning Committee, and Dr. Americus Reed who served as mentor for some of our Tenure Project members. I think as a whole, Wharton faculty have been really supportive of this initiative, and I’m excited for us to continue on that trend as we host The Tenure Project Conference in 2023.
Uduehi: To still have a connection and the opportunity to have a connection with Wharton long-term is a treat, and I look forward to this next year of planning the conference in Philadelphia. Also, just being able to continue to be connected with Wharton faculty is invaluable, because I really enjoyed my time and my discussions throughout my PhD. The Tenure Project, to me, is a natural extension of that. It allows me to still be in ways a part of the Wharton community, so I’m excited.
The Tenure Project had its first conference in August, hosted by Foster. How was the experience?
De La Rosa: We really had no idea what to expect. We were inviting junior faculty across all disciplines to say, “Hey, come and spend three to four days with us in Seattle, doing this thing that has been untested with this organization that you’ve never heard of before.” We were so surprised at the positive feedback. The need is just so clearly there. We had over a hundred junior URM faculty attend. To put that number into context, based on data that we have from The PhD Project, I think that there are less than 150 untenured junior URM faculty across the United States at business schools. It’s sort of sad when you think about that, but the penetration rate among our community was just so strong. And I think one other thing that really came out of that conference was, one, we sort of started to lift the lid on this black box. What does a tenure packet look like? How do I ask for letters? Who should my letter writers be? How do I think about the world pre-appointment and post-reappointment?
So much of The Tenure Project conference is about giving people practical tools to help get tenure, but it’s also about recognizing that this is a very lonely process, and everybody needs an academic home. Everybody needs to feel like they’re valued and treasured. So if you’re the only URM in your business school, that’s a really lonely experience, and sadly, that’s the modal experience for most junior URM faculty.
Uduehi: Being able to be around over a hundred junior faculty for several days was something I actually have never experienced. For many of my colleagues, they said the same. We look forward to creating this space every year for us to feel like this, and that it can hopefully carry us on as we start the academic year every year. That’s what excites me moving forward, that we’re not just creating a vision that works for one or two people — we’re wanting to create a vision that is going to work for the entire community.
What’s next?
De La Rosa: Esther and I created The Tenure Project with a singular goal of helping underrepresented junior faculty in business schools get tenure. And that is our golden post. The more that we can help move that metric forward, I think the better institutions will be. I don’t want people to think about The Tenure Project as a charity organization. It’s not. There’s a real business case. And we know that when we survey our MBA students, they care about social issues and social equity, and climate change. And we also need to prepare them for today’s world. How are we really training the business leaders of tomorrow, if they’ve never had a senior faculty member in the classroom who is Black, Latinx, or Native?
We’ve gotten so many emails from institutions that are ready to support and sponsor The Tenure Project, to host future Tenure Project conferences. We are also hearing from faculty members who couldn’t attend the first conference, how much they’re looking forward to joining our community in the future. But the most important thing is that I am excited that our amazing institution here at Wharton is picking up the helm, because Foster set a really high bar for our first conference, but I know that we are more than ready to exceed that bar for the 2023 conference.
Uduehi: There are several ways that institutions can be involved. That’s through financial support. That’s through supporting their faculty to attend The Tenure Project. That’s through supporting their senior faculty in being faculty mentors for The Tenure Project and being a part of the Senior Planning Committee. And it’s also through programming that we are hoping to start having throughout the year, that goes beyond the conference. I think the goal is for us to really understand the needs of junior faculty and help improve upon what was already a really great conference into something even more faculty can feel like they’re included in.
Research Interest
Using behavioral science to improve consumers’ financial well-being
Previous Education
PhD, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University; BS, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Prof. Esther Uduehi
Foster School of Business
Position
Assistant Professor of Marketing and International Business
Research Interest
Language and stigma, diversity, stigmatized identity cues, culture
Previous Education
PhD, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; MSc, Merton College, Oxford University; BA, Indiana University
Highlights from The Tenure Project Conference
“This conference was extremely helpful in addressing my concerns as a junior URM faculty facing tenure in two years. I have created valuable connections and an action list to help me ‘right the ship’ as I pursue tenure. Thank you so much.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you Christina, Wendy, and Esther for this amazing conference. I made great contacts and feel part of a community. Having been hired in 2020, I have not felt part of the academic community at my university. Thank you for my new academic familia.”
“This conference makes me feel at home in academia. It makes me feel that I am not alone in the work I am doing through my teaching and research to improve social and economic well-being of marginalized populations.”
Leading Conversations on Diversity & Inclusion with Wharton Staff
Aman Goyal, associate director of undergraduate student life, writes about creating a more inclusive work environment through the Wharton Intergroup Dialogue & Inclusion Team (WIDIT).
Three years ago, my colleagues from the Wharton Undergraduate Division attended a conference, where they were introduced to the importance of intergroup dialogue. The concept of intergroup dialogue proposes that conversations between members of a social group should create stronger relationships and mutual understanding. They knew this would be something I was interested in as well, having expressed interest in community building around diversity and inclusion topics. Director of Research and Scholar Programs Utsav Schurmans and I were inspired by the concept and began to think — how could such a space be created at Wharton so that staff could dive deeper into topics on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI)?
After consulting with Wharton Prof. Rachel Arnett and reading more from thought leaders like Prof. Stephanie Creary on diversity in the workplace, we found partners in the Wharton Human Resources department and Dean’s Office to help create the Wharton Intergroup Dialogue & Inclusion Team (WIDIT).
We faced a few immediate challenges. How could we create a safe space for people with different comfort levels and discuss topics like microaggressions, belonging in the workplace, and racial literacy without jeopardizing the collegial atmosphere? We started by identifying our goals.
Building a Network of Support
Wharton already had resources for students and faculty, so there was one audience that needed to be served: Wharton staff.
After identifying the audience, the goals for the group were established. WIDIT is aimed at helping staff (1) learn and develop their knowledge around JEDI topics that are current and necessary to support their clients in a holistic way and (2) network with other staff and feel supported knowing that everyone is on a journey of learning together.
Once our goals and audience were identified, we brought our motivation to Wharton Human Resources, where we gained the support of senior leadership to create WIDIT as an employee resource group. Through the support of Wharton Human Resources, we also established a co-chair on WIDIT: Olivia Wilson, associate director of Wharton HR.
This is still our approach and our goals for WIDIT three years into programming — a part of every session is focused on information, and the other parts help build community through shared dialogue and reflection on the topics.
The Wharton Intergroup Dialogue and Inclusion Team (WIDIT) team in a Zoom meeting.
Creating Relevant Programs
In 2019, WIDIT held brainstorming sessions among the planning committee. We identified topics that we thought would be most valuable, or topics that someone within the network of the committee could speak on. This led to a few sessions including:
“Microaggressions in the Workplace” led by Assistant Dean for Student Services in the Graduate School of Education, Dr. Ann Tiao
“Terminology in the LGBTQ Community”led by the director of Penn’s LGBT Center, Dr. Erin Cross
“An Introduction to Racial Literacy” featuring the Constance Clayton Professor of Urban Education, Dr. Howard Stevenson
As racial inequity awareness arose and the Covid-19 pandemic surged in the summer of 2020, we felt that it was important to highlight departments around Wharton that made a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. This manifested in a new series called “Departments Doing the Work” for which we’ve had five departments present since the summer of 2020. In these sessions, various department leaders talk about a task force, program, or strategy in support of equity and inclusion at Wharton, and share information with staff across the School who might be looking for resources to get started. This series has been particularly successful in helping to showcase the work each department is doing,create connections for collaboration, and cause tangible change between departments.
In the past years, we disseminated surveys to understand staff needs and assess the efficacy of the various programs that have been offered so far. On average, 87–95% of participants agree or strongly agree that the programs held by WIDIT have helped them learn a new concept and feel more connected to Wharton as a whole.
These surveys continue to provide new ideas for programs, and assist the WIDIT committee in recruiting speakers. For example, our sessions on anti-Asian racism and disability and neurodiversity at work were drawn from these surveys.
Applying WIDIT to Your Workplace
It just takes a few passionate people andorganizational support to create a space where important topics find room to be discussed, and these spaces have power for those who choose to be involved.
It is often the case that equity and inclusion must start at the top for systemic changes to take place. However, there is something undeniably powerful about colleagues coming together to discuss how JEDI plays an important role in their work and personal lives. WIDIT creates an environment that allows for our colleagues to learn how to build inclusive environments, not just for ourselves, but for those we serve. To anyone looking to start a group at their workplace for professional development and comradery, here is our advice:
Listen for those who share your passion for these topics at various meetings. Reach out to them to chat about how they feel about the importance of these topics and how they manage diversity and inclusion efforts. This is a good starting place to understand if there is a need for this kind of group and JEDI topics within your department.
Get support from senior leadership. Get started, set up meetings, and ideate on what this could look like at your organization, but you will need to gain support. It is important to share here that in order for a group like this to be successful, you will need to gain support whether that be from a senior leader within your department or a senior leader within your organization.
Involve your HR team. They may tell you about resources that exist that you may not be aware of, or they may know of a group that has tried to do this before and other ways that group could have been successful, or others in your organization that might want to help.
Identify your key values. Is it merely to bring in experts to talk about topics? Or do you want the added layer of trying to build a dialogue and community aspect to the group?
If your organization values data, see if you can do an informal survey to see if there is interest for such a group. Luckily for us, we were able to create something and then edit it to meet the needs of our population better, as opposed to being expected to have a perfect educational workshop. It helped to have the space to fail and try again.
— Aman Goyal, Associate Director of Student Life, Undergraduate Division, The Wharton School
Wharton Intergroup Dialogue & Inclusion Team (WIDIT)
The Wharton Intergroup Dialogue & Inclusion Team aims to create an educational space where conversations around inclusion, diversity, and community can flourish, enrich our work and personal lives, and to practice and model behavior of being open-minded, curious, and solution oriented. The Wharton Intergroup Dialogue & Inclusion Team hopes to be the platform where the staff community comes together.
Aman Goyal
Aman predominantly works on junior and senior initiatives and events. He serves as advisor for the Junior-Senior Programming Advisory Board (JSAB) and Wharton GUIDE. Aman grew up in Toledo, Ohio, and went to Miami University of Ohio where he received a bachelor’s in psychology with a minor in neuroscience. He then went to graduate school at Penn where he received his master’s in higher education administration and master’s in public administration. When he’s not working, Aman can be found keeping up with current events and pop culture, planning his next adventure, or catching up with family and friends!
Wharton Stories
Research Spotlight: How Impact Investors Measure Impact
Measuring impact is tricky. Wharton Social Impact’s Head of Research Maoz (Michael) Brown and Doctoral Fellow Lauren Kaufmann discuss key findings from their forthcoming research on how investors assess impact for social and environmental change.
In Wharton Social Impact Initiative’s “Research Spotlight” series, we highlight recent research by Wharton faculty, doctoral students, and staff whose research focuses on the intersection of business and impact.
This month, we spoke with Maoz (Michael) Brown, head of research at Wharton Social Impact, and Lauren Kaufmann, WSII doctoral fellow and Wharton PhD candidate in legal studies and business ethics, about their forthcoming research on how impact investors measure impact. After many intensive interviews with impact investors, they share key findings about the current state of impact measurement and how they think impact assessment might change in the future.
Your study explores impact measurement in impact investing. What exactly is impact measurement?
Michael Brown and Lauren Kaufmann: All investors measure the financial performance of their investments. But impact investors also aim to measure the social and environmental performance of their investments. The idea of impact measurement is to gauge the benefits that investments generate for customers, society, and the planet.
Impact measurement is nowhere near as straightforward as measuring financial performance. This is a point of frustration that we heard from the impact investors we interviewed. Impact measurement is generally far more complex than calculating an investment’s financial return. We’re talking about outcomes that are hard to measure, data that are difficult to collect, and lots of questions around how much, if any, credit investors can claim for positive impact outcomes.
Why were you interested in researching this topic?
Brown and Kaufmann: Impact investors know that they are expected to measure impact, but they very rarely have the time, training, and funding to do impact evaluation in a way that provides the same kind of clarity that financial reports do. We wanted to understand how impact investors navigate this tension between the expectations they face and their technical capacity to meet those expectations.
In a nutshell, what are your most important findings?
Brown and Kaufmann: We found that a lot of impact assessment gets done in a fairly informal, or intuitive, way before an investment is actually made. Does the company “feel” like an impact investment? Does it have socially motivated leadership? Is it in a sector that seems inherently impactful, like education or healthcare?
Once they have made an investment, impact investors tend to rely on conventional financial performance metrics combined with descriptive accounts of impact-oriented operational data to judge impact. So, for example, if a company they have invested in shows increasing revenues and can document gains in, say, the number of rural beneficiaries reached or the number of women served, impact investors report gains in impact.
We found that many impact investors are very thoughtful about how they assess impact potential when they consider deals. We were impressed with how resourceful and systematic many of them are in thinking about impact and building an investment strategy around social and environmental themes, as they’re managing this tricky balancing act between taking impact seriously and not overburdening themselves, or their investees, with impossible measurement standards.
What surprised you most?
Brown and Kaufmann: In this research, we mostly interviewed impact fund managers, who act as intermediaries between asset owners (like wealthy individuals or pension funds) and the companies receiving impact capital to generate socially beneficial products and services. When impact fund managers produce impact reports, it’s generally to show those asset owners what their investments accomplished.
We were surprised to hear that asset owners rarely pressure impact fund managers to improve their impact measurement standards. According to our respondents, asset owners are generally quite content with impact reports they get from their fund managers, even when those reports consist of anecdotes and relatively simple tallies of impact metrics, such as how many patients were served or how many units of affordable housing were built. Our respondents told us that asset owners seem satisfied with current impact reporting standards, despite their being far less rigorous than commercial performance reporting.
The reason for this pattern may be that asset owners understand how difficult and costly it can be to measure impact, especially alongside the work of building and growing businesses.
What is the most important lesson or takeaway for practitioners?
Brown and Kaufmann: If you’re an investor who’s looking into starting an impact investing practice, then take comfort in the fact that no one has perfected impact measurement yet. There are lots of frameworks and case studies and guides out there for impact measurement, and they’re great for thinking seriously about articulating goals and developing impact strategies, but there is no definitive and foolproof approach. There are real opportunities to create and innovate.
How do you think impact measurement practices will change in the near future?
Brown and Kaufmann: We think that impact investors will improve their impact measurement practices as the industry grows and matures. There is increasing recognition of the critical difference between measuring commercial performance and measuring impact. Commercial performance ultimately shows through in the financial reports. When it comes to impact, impact investors often just can’t get the kind of data they need to make clear and convincing statements on how their specific investments have improved the world.
We think that investors can and, we hope, will solve this challenge by relying on professional researchers. For investors who want to claim impact with confidence, it’s going to depend on the production and availability of high-quality, rigorously designed research from scientists and professional evaluators. The best examples of impact assessment in the future will focus on screening potential investments for their alignment with those research-backed findings, rather than tracking the impact of those investments after the fact.
Michael Brown is the Head of Research at WSII, where he coordinates research on impact investing and social enterprise. His responsibilities include planning studies on the business of social impact, data collection and analysis, synthesizing and disseminating findings, and consulting on impact assessment. Michael was previously a research assistant at Chapin Hall, a policy institute focused on improving the well-being of youth and families. He also consulted for the Community Programs Accelerator at the University of Chicago, where he completed a PhD in Sociology.
Lauren Kaufmann
Lauren Kaufmann is a doctoral candidate in Legal Studies and Business Ethics at Wharton, where she conducts research on business ethics, business and society, social enterprise, and behavioral ethics. At WSII, she works with the research team on projects related to social and environmental impact performance measurement. Prior to Wharton, Lauren worked in the field of impact investing, focusing on gender lens investing and conservation finance. She received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Wharton Stories
Building a Diverse Pipeline for Business Faculty
Image: 2018 IDDEAS@Wharton Cohort
Since 2012, IDDEAS@Wharton has been a pathway for undergraduate students of all backgrounds to enter the world of business research.
In a 2017 report, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) found that about 76 percent of post-secondary faculty members in the U.S. were white, compared to 55 percent of undergraduate students. The need for faculty diversity in higher education continues today — but the hard work begins way before the hiring process.
“The premise of IDDEAS acknowledges that higher education has not been an inclusive environment for minorities and women,” said IDDEAS Co-Director Anita Henderson. “Anyone who walks into a classroom can see the issues of faculty diversity here at Wharton, at our peer institutions, and in many other institutions in business education. This is a problem that has existed for generations of minorities and women, built by a combination of resistance to their presence and a lack of access and opportunity in higher education.”
In 2012, Henderson, who was the first Black woman to earn a PhD in Linguistics at Penn, was the Senior Director for Wharton Deputy Dean Michael Gibbons. She and Gibbons, along with her coworkers at Wharton Doctoral Programs and then Vice Dean Eric Bradlow, knew the issue had to be addressed.
2013 IDDEAS Cohort (Photo by Alyssa Cwanger)
Taking the First Step
“I have always stressed the importance of diversity as an integral part of doctoral training,” Bradlow said. “To me, this meant traditional measures of diversity in gender, race, background, and culture, but also diversity of thought. IDDEAS was, at first, an aspirational goal to be able to bring diversity to doctoral education in business where it is desperately needed.”
Since launching in 2012, the program has fine-tuned a two-day agenda where participating scholars can chat with doctoral students and Wharton faculty about their experiences, learn about the research being produced at Wharton, and collaborate on a research exercise with other scholars.
While many similar pipeline programs in higher education focus on numbers, IDDEAS selects 12–15 applicants every year to provide them the individual attention they need.
Many of the visiting student speakers are IDDEAS alumni, like Tanya Paul, W’15, GrW’21. At Wharton, she’s currently studying the economics of information disclosure and how accounting information affects bank behavior.
“I remember one student shared her essay with us and explained the elements of what made for a successful application essay,” said Paul, a member of the inaugural cohort in 2013. “I took everything I learned during IDDEAS, and I think that knowledge definitely showed in my application.”
Doctoral students (clockwise) Tosen Nwadei of Goizueta Business School, Tanya Paul of Wharton, and Jeanna Kenney of Wharton joined a virtual 2021 IDDEAS@Wharton panel about “Life as a PhD Student” in April.
Enriching Doctoral Education
IDDEAS is now also hosted annually at Kellogg/Booth, Stanford, and MIT Sloan. As of 2021, there are 18 IDDEAS scholars studying in PhD programs across the country and globally. Two scholars have earned their doctorates, and one holds a faculty position.
“Those numbers may sound small, but a PhD program is incredibly personal,” said Co-Director Maggie Saia. She has been Associate Director of Wharton Doctoral Programs since 2011 and the driving force in implementing IDDEAS at peer institutions. “IDDEAS is meant to be a discovery program. We want students to get closer to answering the question, ‘Is a PhD and a career in business research and academia right for me?’”
For Nancy Zhang, current vice dean of Wharton Doctoral Programs, IDDEAS plays a central part in Wharton’s vision to further diversify doctoral education and enrich the School’s intellectual environment.
“Often, talented students who may excel in graduate school don’t ever think about going because no one told them what it is about,” she said. “IDDEAS lets them know that if they want it and work hard, it is within their reach.”
Keeping the Door Open
As a woman working in a male-dominated field herself, Zhang said, “I think it’s important for younger women to believe in themselves. This comes from seeing the successes of other women — graduate students, postdocs, faculty members — and hearing their stories.”
Zhiying (Bella) Ren, GrW’25, a Wharton PhD candidate investigating the role of interpersonal judgments in conversations, treasures her 2019 IDDEAS cohort. “While we came from completely different backgrounds, we shared the same passion for exploring our intellectual curiosities,” she said. “I also got to work with many doctoral students. These doctoral students have now become my colleagues, friends, and the upperclassmen I look up to.”
2019 IDDEAS@Wharton Cohort
“Building a close network of colleagues and mentors is critical in a PhD program, and we try to create those connections early on during IDDEAS,” Saia said. “When students know your door is open, and you’re rooting for them, it makes a difference.”
While women and Asian scholars have made comparatively more progress in higher education, it will take a much longer time to truly even the playing field.
Saia said the goal is for programs like IDDEAS to help build a rich, cultural diversity among faculty. “I’d like to think that IDDEAS, as it is currently conceived, will be obsolete one day because the representation, inclusion, and parity we support will be integral to institutions.”
“We are focused on culture rather than numbers,” Henderson added. “The numbers are not the issue. The policies, practices, and climate for minorities and women as faculty are. If the climate changes, the numbers will follow.”
Introduction to Diversity in Doctoral Education and Scholarship program, or IDDEAS@Wharton, is a two-day program that seeks to attract a diverse group of promising undergraduate students and introduce them to business research at the doctoral level. The goal of the program is to support and encourage student and faculty diversity.
Created in 2012, IDDEAS is funded by Wharton Doctoral Programs and the Office of the Dean of the Wharton School, and was also funded by the Provost’s Excellence Through Diversity Fund for three years.
Wharton Stories
WISE Fellows Use Real-World Data to Help Inform Philadelphia City Policy
PhD students Park Sinchaisri and Yun Cha met with the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Innovation and Technology to present research findings from their “Urban Analytics” WISE Fellowship project.
From the southeast corner window of the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Innovation and Technology (OIT), you see a marvelous aerial view of Philadelphia City Hall. The tallest habitable building in the world from 1894 to 1908, City Hall stands 548 ft. tall. Located in the center of Philly’s urban landscape, it symbolizes the city as it is home to all three branches of government — the Mayor’s Office, the Philadelphia City Council, and a substantial portion of the judicial branch.
The beauty of the historic building struck by warm sunlight served as an apt opening to the Wharton Social Impact Initiative (WSII) Urban Analytics team meeting with OIT last fall. “Urban Analytics” is one of several projects under the WISE Fellowship, a social impact research and consulting fellowship.
For WISE Fellows Park Sinchaisri (PhD student in Operations, Information, & Decisions at Wharton) and Yun Cha (PhD student in Sociology at Penn), this meeting realized the WISE Fellowship’s promise of an opportunity to make real impact through research and data analysis. They reflect on their experience.
(Left to right) Park Sinchaisri and Yun Cha, PhD students at Penn.
Park Sinchaisri
“Sharing my research on Philadelphia block parties to OIT was the highlight of my Fall semester! This project takes a closer look at how block parties may suggest community vibrancy or tight-knit relationships among residents within the same neighborhood. I analyzed every application for a block party in Philadelphia over the past decade to understand the evolving community vibrancy and related it to demographics, economic data, and public safety.
I pieced together insights over the past two years into a cohesive story. During the presentation, I had the chance to share not only key research insights (including how diversity and economic status affect vibrancy and crime rates), but also my thoughts on the importance of Philadelphia’s social initiatives.
It was a very interactive and engaging session, especially because almost everyone in the room (except me!) had been to or even organized neighborhood block parties. OIT staff were enthusiastic about learning more about our projects — and open to collaborating with us in the future to hopefully implement new policies based on our research. I really hope that we will get to continue working with the City of Philadelphia to not only improve our understanding of complex urban problems but also find ways to improve our city together.”
Yun Cha
“In 2011, Philadelphia zoning laws changed to give more freedom over re-zoning decisions to individual council districts. Do differences in re-zoning at borders of council districts create natural experiments in how changes in built environments might influence safety or vibrancy? We sought to answer this question in our Urban Analytics project by examining the relationship between economic development (represented by permit rates) and crime.
During my presentation, I first focused on describing the motivation and data cleaning process of the project. Next, I presented some descriptive findings, such as the divergent patterns in crime and permit rates across different district borders before and after 2011, as well as the potential future directions of these rates.
This amazing opportunity to present my work in front of OIT and receive feedback was extremely rewarding. It aligned closely with my initial interest in the WISE Urban Analytics project, which was to generate practical and actionable insights using real-world data and to refine my technical skills in R and geo-spatial analysis.
I left hoping this meeting with OIT (or with any other municipal office) becomes a recurring arrangement as I continue to explore how to create social impact through data analysis.”
WISE Fellows come from every college and corner of the University and can include undergraduate students, master’s students, and doctoral students. They work on real-world research and consulting projects to scale the social impact of their client’s business.
Park Sinchaisri
Park Sinchaisri is a PhD Candidate in Operations, Information, and Decisions at the Wharton School. His current research interests are in the design and analysis of data-driven and human-centric solutions to operational problems, from flexible workforce to human-AI interface to urban analytics. Park earned an Sc.B. in Computer Engineering and Applied Mathematics-Economics from Brown University and an S.M. in Computational Science and Engineering from MIT. Growing up in Bangkok, Park is a world traveler, avid foodie, and aspiring creative artist.
Yun Cha
Yun Cha is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. Born in South Korea, he graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2014 with a B.A. in sociology and expects to receive his Master’s Degree in Statistics from Wharton in 2020. Inspired by his research interests in social stratification, higher education, and demography, his dissertation examines the role of advanced degrees in the intergenerational reproduction of social inequality.
Wharton Stories
PhD Candidate Matthew Caulfield Became an Election Technology Expert — As an Undergrad
Matthew Caulfield, W’16, GW’20, transferred to Wharton in his sophomore year and stayed to pursue a PhD in Ethics and Legal Studies. His involvement in election tech research has made him a spokesperson at national conferences.
Although Matthew Caulfield, W’16, GW’20, spent the first year of his undergraduate education at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., he didn’t delve deeply into the study of public policy until after he transferred to Wharton in 2013. With support from the Wharton Public Policy Initiative (PPI), Matt returned to D.C. the summer after his sophomore year to work at Third Way, a centrist think tank, in their Capital Markets Initiative.
“The Initiative focuses on explaining financial instruments and concepts, such as derivatives or bank liquidity, to D.C. policy professionals,” Matt said. During his internship, he co-authored a report on Bitcoin’s monetary features and also contributed to a paper on the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s designation of systemically important financial institutions. “My internship exceeded my expectations. I was given the opportunity to do real policy work. It was a wonderful experience.”
Why Continue With a PhD?
As Matt was finishing his undergraduate degree at Wharton, a private-sector firm asked him to join their two-year executive-training program as soon as he graduated. However, he ultimately decided to stay at Wharton and pursue a PhD in Ethics and Legal Studies, in preparation for an academic career.
“I thought getting paid to read and write about whatever I’m interested in sounded like an amazing career option and I’ve always enjoyed teaching,” Matt said. His interests lie in business ethics — issues “at the nexus of economics, management, law, and philosophy.” For Matt, this combination provides “a full outlook on how businesses can, do, and should operate.” Currently, he is finishing a dissertation entitled “None of Your Business Ethics: A Defense of Secrecy in Business” that examines the ethics of secrecy in firms and markets.
Becoming an Expert in Election Technology
While forging ahead with his dissertation, Matt has also been serving as the Principal Investigator for a research project to update PPI’s 2016 study of the election technology industry: “The Business of Voting,” sponsored by PPI.
Matt was part of a team of six students who contributed to writing the 2016 report, which explores the ways in which the industry’s structure inhibits innovation from developing more reliable, accessible, and secure voting machines. He got involved with the study because he saw it as a chance to combine economic, strategic, and policy analysis.
He became the spokesperson for the study and earned opportunities to present its findings at multiple conferences, including the Global Election Technology Summit and National Conference of State Legislatures. Matt was also invited to serve as an expert to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on the Future of Voting.
“Being treated as an expert in election tech markets has been both flattering and somewhat alarming,” Matt said. “The fact that I, beginning as an undergraduate student, have become one of the main commentators on election technology markets points to how little market-oriented commentary currently exists.”
Advancing His Career in Public Policy
As Matt enters his seventh year as a Wharton student, he is busy applying for academic positions and deeply appreciative of all that the School has enabled him to achieve.
“Wharton has made me feel more and more comfortable with piercing traditional disciplinary boundaries. Deep engagement with philosophy, management, and law is not only possible but hugely valuable.”
“The Wharton name has been instrumental to getting different stakeholders invested in our project, and the resources offered by the Wharton Public Policy Initiative have allowed us not only to conduct this research but introduce it to most major groups working in this area.”
This story was adapted from a profile originally published by the Wharton Public Policy Initiative.
Undergraduate Concentrations
Management, Legal Studies and Business Ethics
Postgraduate Program
Ethics and Legal Studies
Outside the Classroom
Politics and Law
Matt was an Executive Editor of the Penn Undergraduate Law Journal and also wrote for its popular legal blog, The Roundtable. He served as co-chair of the University Honor Council. Additionally, he was involved with the Penn Government and Politics Association in several ways — as Treasurer on the Executive Board, a member of the Polybian Society, a writer for The Spectrum, and Whip of the Liberal Caucus of the Penn Political Union.
Music
Matt was a vocal soloist in the Penn Baroque Ensemble and a member of the Penn Singers Light Opera Company.
Fellowships and Awards
As a grad student, Matthew received an Institute for Humane Studies Fellowship, the Platt Fellowship in Business Ethics, and the Society for Business Ethics Founders’ Award.
Wharton Stories
Welcome Back to Campus: 7 Social Impact Programs for Student Changemakers
Learn about Wharton Social Impact Initiative’s student programs, with opportunities in impact investing, consulting, social entrepreneurship, research, community building, and more.
What impact will you make this year?
As a Penn or Wharton undergraduate, graduate, or Ph.D. student, you have access to transformational social impact and business programming with the Wharton Social Impact Initiative. Discover our programs for the 2019-2020 academic year.
Not sure where to start? We’ll help you find the social impact program for you.
1. Real-world experience: You’re an undergraduate, graduate, or Ph.D. student seeking real-world consulting or research experience.
Apply for the WISE Fellowship. With a small team of Penn and Wharton students, you’ll help your client (a leading impact investor, local organization, start-up entrepreneur, or cutting-edge researcher) scale their impact.
2. Social impact commitment: You’re an undergraduate student who is passionate about social impact, and you’re ready to engage with a diverse community who is, too.
Learn about the Turner Social Impact Society. Members build a strong community through monthly events, receive coaching, and are eligible to earn funding for social impact related internships, conferences, and more.
3. Venture capital deals: You’re an undergraduate, graduate, or Ph.D. student who wants to work on real impact venture capital deals.
Apply to Wharton Impact Venture Associates (WIVA). You’ll get hands-on training in sourcing social impact companies and conducting rigorous due diligence as you link entrepreneurs with potential investors.
4. Entrepreneurial support: You’re a first-year Wharton MBA student with ambitious plans to launch or expand your social enterprise.
Apply for the Jacobs Impact Entrepreneur Prize. You’ll have the opportunity to win up to $50,000 for your social venture and join a global network of fellows.
5. Portfolio skills: You’re a Wharton MBA student aspiring to be a wealth or investment advisor, and want to put your skills to the test to meet your client’s impact and financial goals.
The Total Impact Portfolio Challenge is an annual competition where you’ll gain the knowledge, skills, and experience to design and execute investment portfolios that maximize impact across asset classes.
6. Impact investing competition: You’re a Wharton MBA student seeking to learn more about impact investing alongside peers all over the world.
MIINT is a global impact investing training program with 30+ business schools that culminates with a final pitch competition. Joining MIINT@Wharton will provide you with supplementary training and networking opportunities.
7. Inclusive growth: You’re a Wharton MBA student who is passionate about social and economic growth in Africa.
Check out Wharton Africa Growth Partners. You’ll join a select group of students working with impact investors who channel capital to African SMEs.
IF YOU WANT TO USE YOUR TALENTS TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE, WE’LL SUPPORT YOU AND HELP YOU SUCCEED. LEARN MORE ABOUT WHARTON SOCIAL IMPACT PROGRAMS — ALL APPLICATIONS OPEN ON AUGUST 27, 2019.
Our mission is to build the evidence, talent, and community to advance business solutions for a better world. To develop the talent for tomorrow’s social impact, our programs give students the skills and training opportunities to effect smart and savvy change through business.
Wharton Stories
How an Award-Winning Marketing Firm Fosters Work/Life Balance
“I used to not believe in core values — until we picked ones we believed in and operationalized them. They work if they’re real.”
Workplace culture has become a growing priority as more and more employees look to balance their personal and professional lives. Global performance marketing firm Acceleration Partners has been a leader on this front, having been ranked by Glassdoor and Ad Age as one of America’s best companies to work for. Wharton Prof. Stew Friedman sat down with the firm’s founder, Robert Glazer, C’98, to find out how he’s crafted an environment that values employee satisfaction.
Interview Highlights
On Core Values
“You have to have real values. I used to not believe in core values because I saw them everywhere, I’d go to these companies and no-one behaved that way and I was really cynical about them — until we picked ones we believed in and operationalized them. They work if they’re real. I’d say they are not really 90% of the time. The less companies talk about them or put them on the wall to the outside world, the more real they are. I see them as an internal thing; the DNA of your people, not a marketing slogan.” — Robert Glazer
On Measuring Success
“We have two core metrics. We measure employee satisfaction, we measure client satisfaction, and then we have the empirical performance of the program. So if someone happens to keep all their clients happy, hit the growth targets for the program, and somehow they’re working an hour a day, God bless them, it’s the right hour. If you incentivize time, you get time, you don’t necessarily get good outputs. One of our operating principles is actually that we don’t reward working hard, we reward working smart.” — Glazer
On Investing in Relationships
“We want people to invest in relationships. One of the rules we have is that when you get on the phone with a client, you don’t jump into business. You ask him how the weekend was, how things are going. You can learn a lot from that. Maybe something terrible happened over the weekend. Now you know why they are in a really bad mood for the call. So we want people to have strong relationships. There is a lot of data and science around it. People are healthier and they live longer.We think that’s an important part of your health and your spiritual health to not be transactional with everyone you’re working with.” — Glazer
On New-Generation Leadership
“Command-and-control leadership, I think, is dead. I don’t think a lot of leaders realize it’s dead, but the military is not even using it anymore. There are still people who really believe that that is the way to lead. And I think what they are missing is some of that clarity [in core values] I talked about before. They don’t know how to hold people accountable because they are not clear about what they want or where the company is going, so they get frustrated, and then they exert authority. We have a software that actually tracks [goals]. You can go in and see my four objectives for the quarter. It’s very rare that we even have to hold someone accountable because it’s all out there, it’s all public.” — Glazer
Bob Glazer, C’98, is the CEO of Acceleration Partners, a global performance marketing agency, and the founder and chairman of Brandcycle. Under Bob’s leadership, Acceleration Partners has become a global leader in the affiliate marketing industry, receiving numerous industry and company culture awards for best workplace. Bob was also ranked #2 in Glassdoor’s list of Top CEOs of Small and Medium Companies in the US.
Stew Friedman is Practice Professor Emeritus of Management at the Wharton School and founder of the Wharton Leadership Program and the Wharton Work/Life Integration Project, where he is currently director. His research interests cover leadership development, work/life integration, and the dynamics of change.
Why The Co-Founder of SoulCycle Restarted with a New Fitness Venture
“I really wanted people to find this safe place, this safe workout, because it’s low-impact. People can come and take a class if they’re 17 years old or if they’re 82 years old.”
Ruth Zukerman’s path to entrepreneurship was nothing if not unconventional. After studying dance in college and teaching fitness classes in New York City, she ended up co-founding two indoor cycling studios, SoulCycle and Flywheel. Now, as Creative Director at Flywheel, she teaches sold out weekly cycling classes. She shares takeaways from her career and walking away from a successful company to start a new venture.
Interview Highlights
On Lessons From Dance
“I think that all of our experiences as we grow up all play an important part in how we end up. When I think back now, taking dance classes from age eight through 22 taught me the importance of discipline and the art form of dance — you never quite succeed in that you can always improve upon yourself. That was a real learning lesson for me too, that we have to keep working on it. If we fail, if something trips us up, we keep going.” — Ruth Zukerman
On Designing an Inclusive Exercise Environment
“I really wanted people to find this safe place, this safe workout, because it’s low-impact. People can come and take a class if they’re 17 years old or if they’re 82 years old — and I have people in my class in their 80s. I also placed a lot of importance on customer service and making sure there were people in there ready for you when you came to your bike so they could set you up properly and set your expectations, and let you know which part of the class is going to feel challenging and which part [you] could really slack off on. So, making the most important thing the comfort of the person coming in.”
On Going in the Opposite Direction
“The cultures at SoulCycle and Flywheel were completely different. At SoulCycle, we very quickly became the club you can’t get into, and that has a lot of appeal to a lot of people. When they’re in and they’re doing it, they feel really great. That was a huge part of the success of SoulCycle. When we started Flywheel, I wanted to go in the complete opposite direction, purely because it was more of who I am and I wanted those other people to have a shot at it. So we tried to make it as open and welcoming to everybody as possible. And for Flywheel, my partner Jay and I, we were both very nice and kind people. I do believe in business there is a certain importance to the trickle-down theory and I feel that we were both people who needed to please others. If that’s your MO, you’re going to cultivate a group of people that are also really nice and want to please and be liked, and that’s really what happened.”
On Managing Partnerships
“There needs to be a certain respect among the partners, and more specifically, a respect for what each partner is bringing to the business. There has to be a discussion around how are the partners going to handle disagreements and different points of view on things. At Flywheel, [we] had two partners, we each had our own area of expertise, and we each stayed in our own lanes until we wanted to contribute to a situation that wasn’t in [our] lane. But we made sure that the other partner was okay with it. Once we had that comfort level, we could collaborate and we could suggest things and be okay if the other partner said: ‘That’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard.’”
On Trusting Your Gut
“I think for the most part, your gut will start the ball rolling because it kind of tells you where this is probably going to end up. But then I do think it’s important to go through the ritual of figuring out if this is the right decision, going right back to that old-fashioned technique of sitting down with a pen and paper and writing down the positives and negatives — it always works.”
Ruth Zukerman is the co-founder of SoulCycle and Flywheel. She is currently Flywheel’s Creative Director and continues to teach several sold-out classes every week nationwide. She is the author of Riding High: How I Kissed SoulCycle Goodbye, Founded Flywheel, and Built the Life I Always Wanted.
Laura Zarrow hosts Wharton Business Radio’s Women@Work show on SiriusXM 132, and is executive director of Wharton People Analytics and a member of Wharton’s Innovation Group. She has spent her career advancing the strategic goals of educational institutions and the needs of diverse learners, and is now helping the People Analytics Initiative further their ground-breaking work in evidence-based management.
