Knowledge@Wharton Interviews

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 Knowledge@Wharton, Noce drew on more than three decades of experience to discuss what has changed in the fashion business -- and what hasn't. (Video with transcript)

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 even third -- acts. (Video with transcript)

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 provide seed funding and angel investors. A startup community has to tap its "natural resources," he says in this Knowledge@Wharton interview. Feld is also the author of several books, including Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City. (Podcast with transcript)

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 Pennsylvania. Michael Useem, director of Wharton's Center for Leadership and Change Management, recently interviewed Tina Sciabica, executive director of READ Global. (Video with transcript)

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, Rascoff said during a recent conversation with Knowledge@Wharton and Wharton real estate professor Susan Wachter; it's about the level of accuracy gained from the various sub-models the company's software incorporates. (Video with transcript)

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 Knowledge@Wharton about his findings, which are explored in his new book, Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success. (Video with transcript)

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 Knowledge@Wharton, Mirabai Bush, co-founder of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, spoke with Katherine Klein, vice dean of Wharton's Social Impact Initiative, about the benefits of contemplative thinking. (Podcast with transcript)

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@Wharton, Bruce Broussard, president and CEO of Humana, the fourth-largest health care insurance group, offers his take on Obamacare and the challenges -- and opportunities -- it presents to health care stakeholders. (Video with transcript)

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 with transcript)

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@Wharton recently spoke with McMillan about how income level affects food consumption, who controls the food we eat and why the food system might be transformed if people threw away less food. (Podcast with transcript)

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, what led Gibbs to build ships and how the builder's firm became responsible for 70% of all ships built during World War II. (Video with transcript)

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 luck and how to avoid overconfidence. (Video with transcript)

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 about the ideas in his book, including why consumers mistrust salespeople, what the new ABCs of selling are and why questions may be the greatest selling tool. (Video with transcript)

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@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 needs. He also discusses the housing market and offers his take on where the stock market is headed for the rest of 2013. (Video with transcript)

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@Wharton. (Video with transcript)