The Defiant Optimist: Daring to Fight Global Inequality, Reinvent Finance, and Invest in Women
Durreen Shahnaz WG95
Broadleaf Books
The Defiant Optimist is grounded in the idea that systems benefiting a few can be remade to serve many. A global leader in impact investing, Durreen Shahnaz uses her own journey and background to inform a discussion of worldwide inequality and the need to rethink finance in order to lift up those people typically excluded from networks of opportunity. A key aspect of her book, Shahnaz immerses readers in her efforts to empower women across the globe, including the creation of a tradeable financial product geared toward investing in women’s livelihoods.
Faster Cures: Accelerating the Future of Health
Michael Milken WG70
William Morrow
Milken Institute founder Michael Milken traces the fast-paced history of medical research, public health, and progress over seven decades. Describing major advances in health care, he also explores his own role in transforming the industry. Dubbed by Fortune as “The Man Who Changed Medicine,” Milken shares the influences throughout his life that have set him on a determined course to accelerate cures and treatments for people all over.
Think Bigger: How to Innovate
Sheena Iyengar W92
Columbia Business School Publishing
“How can I get my best ideas?” That’s the guiding question for Sheena Iyengar’s latest book, a how-to guide on innovation that’s based in the Columbia Business School professor’s vast knowledge on leadership and the science of choice. In Think Bigger, Iyengar provides the tools needed to spark creative thinking, drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and cognitive science in the process and making revolutionary ideas accessible to all.
Resilient Marketing: What’s Next in Growth
Brian Gregg WG05, Raghuram Iyengar, Mukul Pandya, David Reibstein, and Eli Stein
Analytics at Wharton
Recessions are more common than we may care to admit. Since the turn of the century alone, there’s been the dotcom bust, the Great Recession, and a brief COVID-19 recession. While these economic upheavals often cause great turmoil for businesses, they also spur innovation and new learnings. Informed by McKinsey & Co. expertise and interviews with marketing leaders, this free e-book from Analytics at Wharton details several strategies to help marketers become more adaptable and resilient in the face of future disruptors.
A Test for Our Time: Crisis Leadership in the Next Normal
Stephen S. Tang WG92
New Degree Press
The former CEO of OraSure Technologies Inc. shares the company’s journey of growth throughout the pandemic, spurred by the development of its InteliSwab COVID-19 rapid test. With stories of leadership and compassion, Stephen Tang offers unique insights on courageous decision-making that serve as inspiration during this post-pandemic “next normal.”
The Malfunction of U.S. Education Policy: Elite Misinformation, Disinformation, and Selfishness
Richard P. Phelps GRW01
Rowman & Littlefield
Highlighting faults in the quality of education research and policy dating back to 2001, Richard Phelps attempts to root this decline in history. Discussing everything from the No Child Left Behind Act to the reorganization of the U.S. education testing industry, Phelps uses years of experience in education policy to craft a new argument about the current problems in the system.
SuperAging: Getting Older Without Getting Old
Larry Wolf WG59 and David Cravit
Flashpoint
Get ready to rethink what you thought you knew about the later parts of life. Larry Wolf and David Cravit break down their concept of “SuperAging” into seven simple components: attitude, awareness, activity, autonomy, achievement, attachment, and avoidance. Relevant to everything from taking control of your health to fresh ideas about retirement and housing, the basic principles laid out by Cravit and Wolf give readers a roadmap for transforming the period after age 65 into a greatly fulfilling time.
Becoming an Entrepreneur: How to Succeed When You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
Paul Zane Pilzer WG76
ZCI, Inc.
Breaking down his own setbacks, successes, and turning points as an entrepreneur, Paul Zane Pilzer aims to motivate budding business leaders with his own story of determination. Words of advice are scattered throughout the book, accompanying inspiration for everything from finding business opportunities in bad customer experiences to earning your first $1 million. Another story to spark other leaders’ own ambitions: Pilzer recounts his rejection from Wharton in April 1974 and his subsequent acceptance a week later.
The New Roaring Twenties: Prosper in Volatile Times
Paul Zane Pilzer WG76
Matt Holt Books
Published around the same time as Becoming an Entrepreneur, Pilzer’s The New Roaring Twenties digs deep into the author’s projections for the next 10 years. Leaving readers with a template for navigating the consequences of the pandemic, Pilzer discusses everything from an energy revolution to artificial intelligence to universal basic income, revealing pathways to both financial success and personal happiness in the years to come.
Sustainable Oil and Gas Using Blockchain
Si Chen ENG92 W92 and Soheil Saraji
Springer
This book tackles the intersection of climate change and financial markets within the oil-and-gas sector — specifically, how blockchain technologies can be used for sustainable purposes. An open-source developer with experience as an investment fund manager, Si Chen met Soheil Saraji, a professor at the University of Wyoming, while working on climate carbon accounting as part of the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Foundation. Their work on a white paper on blockchain, carbon capture, and sequestration eventually expanded into this book, which tackles the question of how the oil-and-gas industry can participate in a collaborative solution to climate problems.
Navigating Your Healthcare Journey: Lessons Learned to Get the Care You Need and Deserve
Z. Colette Edwards M85 WG85 RES88 and Charlene Rothkopf
Bold Story Press
Aimed at helping patients and caregivers maneuver within the U.S. health-care system, Navigating Your Healthcare Journey offers readers invaluable tools for cutting through the complexity and becoming confident self-advocates. Starting each chapter with true stories, the authors outline lessons learned from those experiences and deliver concrete takeaways. Their hope: to make an often-difficult experience less perplexing for patients across the nation.
From Failing to Phenomenal: The Story of WSFS 1985 to 1996
Marvin “Skip” Schoenhals WG71
The retired chairman, president, and CEO of WSFS Financial Corporation provides a behind-the-scenes look at the bank’s tumultuous journey. Coming back from near closure in 1991, WSFS has had a storied history serving the greater Philadelphia and Delaware region. Schoenhals also relays foundational leadership principles and good business practices, sharing his hard-earned knowledge and the importance of perseverance with readers.
