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Explore Business

ESG

Environmental, Social and Governance

Companies around the globe have stated their intentions to do more than just make a profit. ESG — or Environmental, Social and Governance — has become the unifying lens with which to evaluate these efforts. Investors, customers, employees are asking: how well does a company score on ESG?
But ESG involves more than just screening a company’s beliefs and actions around social and environmental factors. As firms actively strive to contribute positively to the environment, address governance practices, and support social causes, many are also working toward ESG compliance by being more open and honest about their business activities. In this series of Explore Business mini-sites, Wharton School Dean, Erika James joins Wharton faculty and industry-leading experts to discuss how organizations can improve on ESG criteria and drive impact around everything from climate change to social and political issues.
Meant to be incorporated into classroom discussions and assignments, we invite high school educators and students to dig into these rich learning opportunities with the help of Wharton-powered insights and tools. Explore Business with a world leader in business education.

Explore the Topics

Tackling the Climate Crisis

Climate change has captured the corporate spotlight. In discussing how firms are addressing their carbon emissions, experts explore how businesses should evaluate their environmental footprints, and what sound ESG policies mean for stakeholders.

Explore

Redefining Corporate Governance

Board governance is one of the most challenging issues for firms to manage, and social injustice, civil unrest, and the global pandemic have only added complications. Hear experts discuss which issues to address and how investors should interpret success.

Explore

Humanizing ESG

The ESG “S” factor is about people and how companies impact and support them. The shout for social justice hasn’t landed on deaf ears. Executives are listening, learning, and changing longstanding practices. Explore the social landscape of ESG and how companies, data and investors are driving change.

Explore

“As a business school, we have a responsibility to provide the tools that will allow future leaders the ability to listen, talk, and learn from the experiences of others.”

— Wharton Dean, Erika James

Exploring the Social Issues on the Minds of Gen Z

In our new monthly column for high school educators, The Essential Educator, guest blogger Alex Lamon, a teacher of economics, business and personal finance at Livingston High School in New Jersey, U.S., shares his experience addressing issues of race and business in the classroom. His chosen tool to teach concepts and encourage discussion around racial justice? The Wharton Global Youth Program’s Explore Business Mini-sites. Alex, take it away.

Race, gender, climate change, inequality. These issues are at the forefront of our news feeds and popular topics of conversation among members of Gen Z. As educators, how do we do justice to both the happenings of the world around us and the feelings, curiosities and questions of our students? Especially when these issues can lead to uncomfortable discussions? I find it important to struggle through these topics with my students, especially as a business educator. Being culturally aware and having discussions of race, especially, is an issue of relevance, cultural significance and a truly well-rounded business education, should not ignore the historical and current systemic problems in our capitalist society.

The Intersection of Race and Business

For a long time, I have worked to be aware of my status and privilege as a white teacher and understand how I can be an appropriate ally and support system for students of color, who are a minority population in my school where approximately two-thirds of the student body is white. For the last couple years, I have dived into what it means to facilitate a culturally responsive classroom, which puts issues of bias and diversity to the forefront.

Still, I found more motivation to figure out how to talk about the intersection of race and business not because of current events or school-wide initiatives, but because of a personal story from one of my students.

During pandemic teaching, one of my students stayed after our Zoom class to tell me that she was glad she decided to take Advanced Placement (AP) Economics. I told her I was glad, too. I was the one who told her to take it! And this was one of my students who admitted she would not have taken the class if I was not teaching it. However, she then shared with me her struggle. She was told by her counselor to reconsider her decision to take the course during her scheduling meeting because “students like you don’t really take AP Econ.”

This was one of my female students. This was one of my black students. Was it because she was a girl? Was it because she was black? We were not sure, but we were both upset.

“My students largely reported these discussions were interesting, relevant, and important to their success in a diverse workforce and in simply being able to participate in the conversations that are happening around them.”— Alex Lamon, High School Business Teacher

I am happy my student felt comfortable enough to tell me about what her school counselor had said. Her story motivated me to be more purposeful in setting aside time to talk about race and business.

To do this, I turned to the Wharton Global Youth Program’s free Explore Business Mini-sites for high school students, the first series of which focuses on the intersection of business and race. (A new series of three mini-sites will be launched in November and December of 2021, focusing on business topics discussed in this year’s lecture series related to Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance or ESG.)

With the help of deep conversations and analysis from actual business leaders, this unique content model provides videos, readings, and activities for teachers to use with their students. There is even a primer Teacher Guide that overviews the available resources on the mini-site. I specifically used Wharton’s mini-site, Race and the Selling of America with my Business Honor Society students. I used this group as my test group as they are all passionate about business and would see a lot of relevance in the topics we were about to discuss. Two other mini-sites exploring Race and the Entrepreneur and Race and Corporate Power are great gateways into discussing deep issues affecting business and society.

The Race and the Selling of America mini-site features an hour-long conversation led by Wharton’s Dean Erika James interviewing various business leaders of color in the sports and entertainment marketing fields. Wharton divided up the conversation into six smaller segments, which were perfect for my needs. I had my group of 40-something students watch the first clip as a whole class, which I felt laid a good foundation. I was able to model some healthy discussion techniques, such as sharing what I wondered and how I felt.

‘Embracing Discomfort’

I then turned the tables to the students. They were allowed to pick one of three other clips I decided to allocate to our time together. I narrowed it down to three so it felt less daunting for me to prepare. I was lucky enough to be able to enlist two other business teachers in my department to serve as facilitators to the different groups. With a teacher in each group, conversations could be guided and continued if needed. However, this was a necessity of Zoom and hopefully one I will not need when we explore these mini-sites together in the physical classroom. Still, having a co-teacher buddy when talking about challenging topics is an excellent use of resources and can make you feel more comfortable when addressing these issues.

After student groups watched the video of their choice, it was time to discuss. Wharton provides guided-question PDFs like this one that can be given to students for each video segment. I decided to use these internally for my purposes, and used many of the provided questions to spark discussion among the students. With more time and offline space, I would give these guided questions to students as a reflection.

The discussion itself went well! Students were respectful and asked good questions. Encouraging them to start sentences with “I wonder…” or “I feel…” keeps tensions lower than they otherwise might be. Embracing discomfort was another important norm we set. We cannot expect everyone to say only things we are comfortable with. How we present our ideas, opinions, and feelings though with full respect for others and a plan to get through potential discomfort is what is really important. For this to work well, students need some background in active listening. “What I hear you saying is…is that right?” is an excellent sentence for them to practice using before sharing their perspective. I tell my students that if they ever want to debate a position, they should spend most of their talk time genuinely trying to understand the other speaker, and ensure they themselves are always talking in good faith.

My students largely reported these discussions were interesting, relevant, and important to their success in a diverse workforce and in simply being able to participate in the conversations that are happening around them. Our students want to gain knowledge and be able to speak on issues intelligently. The Wharton Global Youth mini-sites do an excellent job scaffolding the experience, providing the teacher with many resources, including assessment choice boards that can extend students’ learning further.

I am not the best at having difficult conversations with my students. But I am always learning. I became a teacher because I truly value learning. I see no more meaningful or impactful way to embody that value than talking about issues of importance to our world and the world of our future generation.

Young investors – passionate about sustainability and business ethics – are exploring at the intersection of social impact and investing. You want the money that you invest in companies to not just make a profit, but also achieve a purpose. This includes everything from addressing the climate crisis, to supporting the careers of women and minorities in business.

An example of “Gen Z’s unique way of reforming business is through investing,” notes Raymond L., a high school student who participated this summer in our Comment & Win contest. “Investors will begin to shoulder the responsibility to solve social and environmental problems. As an impact investor, I will always be on the lookout to spot ‘good’ companies and find new ways to promote this type of investing through my generation.”

Environmental, Social, Governance

ESG is one approach that investors are using to spot those good companies – and invest sustainably in financially strong prospects. Every year, it is a popular acronym and approach among the teams that participate in our Wharton Global High School Investment Competition.

ESG refers to the environmental, social and corporate governance practices of an investment. Looking at companies through an ESG lens, rating companies use data to score company performance around certain metrics, like a company’s concern for the community, environmental impact, and how well its leadership performs. When selecting stocks, investors integrate ESG factors to improve their traditional financial analysis of potential investments and to identify risks and opportunities. It is part of the risk management that can be essential to sound investing.

“There is little evidence that any of this huge fund inflow is improving financial or societal returns to date. This is a huge risk.”— Witold Henisz, Founder, Wharton’s ESG Analytics Lab

Different from socially responsible investing, where investors favor companies that are engaged in intentionally good acts like developing a technology that cleans plastic waste from the oceans, ESG screening rates all types of companies on how they measure up on various factors. And while there is an overlay of social consciousness, the main objective of ESG valuation remains financial performance – investments that will generate returns.

“The idea is to look at companies and to evaluate them on their ESG performance,” says Katherine Klein, vice dean of the Wharton Social Impact Initiative. “What is their environmental performance? Are they polluting? Is there good diversity in gender and race on the board of directors? Governance has to do with how this company is governed by the board of directors. How many independent board members are there? How much control and oversight is there outside the company? The emerging evidence on ESG suggests that at least in some cases, it’s a good way to evaluate risk.” (For a comprehensive discussion of everything ESG that breaks down Environmental, Social and Governance into easy-to-understand lessons, visit our Explore Business mini-sites for high school students.)

Witold Henisz, Wharton professor of management, director of the Wharton Political Risk Lab, and the founder of the ESG Analytics Lab, notes that ESG investing takes different forms.

“ESG investing incorporates or takes into account ESG factors in some manner. This could include screening out low-performing companies on ESG, tilting away from low and/or towards high-performing companies, or investing in companies that have been underperforming on ESG (and financial returns), but seem poised (or could be prodded) to improve.”

Henisz believes ESG can generate value within companies, with big potential to deliver value to investors, the environment and society. What’s been missing is solid research on the effectiveness of ESG measures.

Portfolios with Values and Value

Wharton started the ESG Analytics Lab in 2019 because “there is so much interest in harnessing the power of capital to ‘fix capitalism,’ but so little hard-edged data analysis of what works and why,” notes Henisz. ESG Analytics generates rigorous but practically relevant analysis on the financial importance of ESG factors. The latest research, due out this month, introduces a new metric for assessing a firm’s ESG performance that has a more rigorous academic theory behind it and stronger connections to stock market value as compared to other measures. Other recent analysis looks at how widely ESG impacts can differ across industries.

The buzz around ESG is driven in large part, Henisz observes, by younger generations wanting a portfolio whose “values appreciate as much as its value.” However, the cautionary tale for investors is that a lot of the ESG hubbub is still hype.

“Most of the ESG offerings are simple greenwash,” says Henisz, adding that certain index funds might be called ESG for marketing purposes as a way to take advantage of investor demand. “There is little evidence that any of this huge fund inflow is improving financial or societal returns to date. This is a huge risk. If we don’t demonstrate impact on returns…the entire boom could be followed by a bust,” which would waste precious time in advancing ESG investing to benefit society.

The world’s youth, already intrigued with Environmental, Social and Governance factors, have an opportunity to strengthen the impacts of and case for ESG by connecting that emerging “hard-edged data analysis” with ESG’s financial and societal goals. “At present, interest far surpasses rigor, which is an invitation to bright, young, interested minds to help reality catch up to the rhetoric,” says Professor Henisz of the ESG landscape. “Be that entrepreneur, not just because it will generate alpha [investment returns] or because it will address climate change, but because of both and how important it is to convince people that’s possible.”

Conversation Starters

What is ESG?

Why does Professor Witold Henisz say that ESG is largely hype? What needs to happen for that to change?

Are you interested in ESG? Share your story in the comment section of this article.

Lessons Plans

Enrich your classroom with Wharton Global Youth.

We offer more than 400 free lesson plans developed by educators that cover the full scope of business and finance topics, including accounting, career development, communication, computation, economics, entrepreneurship, information technology, international business, management, and personal finance.

Browse our lesson plans for high school educators below, organized by National Business Education Association standard subject areas.

NBEA Standard Subject Areas

Explore Business

The Business of Race

In recent years, protests in response to attacks on Black Americans brought attention to the breadth and depth of racial injustice in our country, and the need for a national dialogue. The first three mini-sites in our Explore Business series for high school learners (based on Wharton’s Beyond Business discussions led by Erika James, Dean of the Wharton School), shine a light on how systemic racism impacts business and society as a whole, and ways it can be confronted. From C-suite diversity and corporate philanthropy to the role of Black culture in marketing and the impact of systemic racism on Black entrepreneurs, panelists unpack the issues and provide their insights on how business and organizations can affect change.
Meant to be incorporated into classroom discussions and assignments, we invite high school educators and students to dig into these rich learning opportunities with the help of Wharton-powered insights and tools. Explore Business with a world leader in business education.

Explore the Topics

Race and the Entrepreneur

Explore the challenges Black entrepreneurs face due to unjust practices that limit their ability to prosper.

Explore

Race and Corporate Power

Explore the financial, operational and strategic commitments firms have made to combat the systematic challenges facing the Black community.

Explore

Race and the Selling of America

Explore how Black culture has made its mark on brands and businesses around the world over the years.

Explore

“As a business school, we have a responsibility to provide the tools that will allow future leaders the ability to listen, talk, and learn from the experiences of others.”

— Wharton Dean, Erika James

Teaching with Our Content

The Wharton Global Youth Program celebrates the power of the high school educator. Most often, teachers are our partners in student engagement, shaping and using our various opportunities to empower learners in and out of the classroom.

We encourage educators to use our content — written for the high school reader with insight and analysis from Wharton’s world-class community — to inform students about the latest business and finance trends, and to spark curiosity, conversation and innovative thinking.

Suggestions for teaching with our content:

Explore Business Mini-sites

This unique content model built around dynamic Wharton School conversations is designed to help high school students think more deeply about critical business issues. Videos, guided-question worksheets, a teaching guide and student choice board are among the materials to help teachers and students explore such topics as racial inequality in the business world and the influence of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) factors on companies, investors, employees, customers and communities.

Explore Mini-sites

The Essential Educator

This monthly blog feature, written by educators for educators, explores important issues for business educators and imparts practical strategies for using Global Youth opportunities to teach and inspire high school students.

View Blog

Online Business Journal

Need a supplement to your teaching unit? Perhaps an opening activity? Our hundreds of published and searchable articles written for high school students are designed to introduce new ideas and concepts relating to business, finance, entrepreneurship, economics, leadership and career and college prep. Each article page includes a 500-800-word article and a Google Classroom link to allow teachers to easily assign individual readings to students. Each article also provides Conversation Starters to guide students in thinking more deeply about what they have read. Our Video Glossary gives students an additional layer of learning within each Global Youth article with business vocabulary defined by Wharton professors.

View Journal

Future of the Business World Podcast

This monthly audio series features 20-minute conversations with teen entrepreneurs from around the world who are embracing innovation and emerging business trends to launch businesses and products. Share the podcasts with your students and use the accompanying published written transcripts, complete with conversation starters, to explore innovation through the lens of other teens’ experiences.

View Episodes

Videos

Our diverse video collection includes conversations with undergraduate entrepreneurs, career chats with Wharton alumni, research discussions with Wharton faculty, interviews with finance professionals, and more. Visit the Wharton Global Youth Program YouTube channel to explore our playlists and supplement your student classwork with a business-inspired video. Our video glossary collection is also featured as a YouTube playlist.

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Black economic history is an important theme to consider during Black History Month. The wealth gap (economic inequality between different races and populations), joblessness, bank lending – in all these economic areas and more, “African Americans have long been on the losing end of this trend,” former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen recently pointed out.

The Leading Diversity@Wharton lecture held virtually this week addressed another economic area of disparity: the struggles faced by Black entrepreneurs who often don’t have the same opportunities as their white counterparts when it comes to securing funding for their businesses and growing beyond the start-up phase.

Lecture host Stephanie Creary, an identity and diversity scholar and assistant professor of management at Wharton, welcomed guests Melissa Bradley, managing partner of 1863 Ventures, a company that bridges entrepreneurship and racial equity to support “New Majority” entrepreneurs; and Frederik Groce, partner at Storm Ventures venture capital and co-founder of BLCK VC. They talked about their approaches to diversity, equity and inclusion in the venture funding and business start-up worlds.

The challenges within this entrepreneurship and funding ecosystem are great — from decision-makers who have biases and judge people based on harmful stereotypes, to outright discrimination against entrepreneurs of color. The Wharton Global Youth Program’s new Explore Business mini-sites provide a detailed look into the impact of systemic racism on business and society. In Race and the Entrepreneur, we meet Black founder and successful entrepreneur Chris Bennett, CEO of Wonderschool, who says, “The color of your skin plays a big role in the types of experiences you have from an economic standpoint.”

We encourage all students to dive into our Explore Business pages to take a deeper look at the challenges Black entrepreneurs face because of unjust practices that limit their ability to prosper, and how the venture capital community that provides funding is working toward change.

“You find a peer group so you can actually see what amazing work you’re doing, but also have a safe way to say I totally screwed up, can somebody help me?” — Melissa Bradley, 1863 Ventures

In the meantime, this week’s diversity lecture provided some practical insight on the topic.

Bradley, Groce and Ethan Mollick, a Wharton associate professor of management who specializes in entrepreneurship and who joined Dr. Creary for the lecture, offered sound advice for the next generation of Black and women entrepreneurs who want to break into an industry that has historically held them back. Here are their top 5 tips:

  1. Venture capitalists want to meet you. “There’s a greater understanding of these problems and challenges across the industry than there has ever been,” noted Groce. “What that means is that if you’re an entrepreneur, a female founder, a Black founder, a LatinX founder, it doesn’t matter, you have more funds who are tuned into these challenges and willing to lend [you money] and take the time and meet… People are waiting to be blown away, and it’s your job to do it… That means practicing, talking to mentors, and not being afraid to ask what you might perceive as dumb questions, because there are no dumb questions.”
  1. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. “Investing and being an entrepreneur is imperfect. If you are a perfectionist, then this is definitely not your path. The role of imperfection allows people to fall and get back up and fail forward and still have an opportunity,” said Bradley.
  1. If you want to be a change agent in the entrepreneurial space, default to action. “You can do way more than you think you can do,” suggested Groce. “Consistent effort actually moves mountains. It’s shocking. We often underestimate the risk-reward of doing action, and we often just sit and think someone else must be doing it….If I’ve learned anything with BLCK VC and the work so many of us have done, we realized we could be the change agents ourselves as long as we worked together.”
  1. Once you get past the barriers, there is real willingness to change. “A lot of people are trying to figure out how to be allies and they really do want to fund more Black and female founders,” said Mollick. “If you can get through and get the warm introductions that these communities are making, I’ve been hearing very good things from my [entrepreneurship] students.”
  1. Find a community where you feel safe. “The biggest thing is to find a peer group so that you are not comparing yourself with everything that’s out there,” said Bradley. “You find a peer group so you can actually see what amazing work you’re doing, but also have a safe way to say I totally screwed up, can somebody help me? Don’t let the external standards define your greatness. Let’s be clear: entrepreneurship is a sport and one of the hardest sports out there. It’s also a team sport, and you need those folks around you.”

Related Links

Conversation Starters

Which piece of advice mentioned in the article resonates most strongly with you? Why is it important for everyone — regardless of race — to understand the challenges faced by Black entrepreneurs?

Are you a young entrepreneur of color who has faced stereotypes? Share your story in the Comment section of this article.

While it’s not mentioned in the article, Melissa Bradley led up to her “peer group” advice by saying that many young Black entrepreneurs are suffering from “Imposter Syndrome” right now. What do you think Imposter Syndrome is and why is it so prevalent? Have you felt this way before? If you need help with the concept, check out the Related Links tab with this article.

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Wharton Global High School Investment Competition

The Wharton Global High School Investment Competition is a free, experiential investment challenge for high school students (9th to 12th grade) and teachers. Students work in teams of four to seven, guided by a teacher as their advisor, and have access to an online stock market simulator. Together, they learn about strategy-building, teamwork, communication, risk, diversification, company and industry analysis, and many other aspects of investing.

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News & Articles

Wharton Global Youth produces original content introducing high school students and educators to the broad scope of business and finance education. Explore hundreds of educational articles featuring Wharton analysis, discover enterprising teen entrepreneurs on our monthly Future of the Business World Podcast, and more.

Global Youth News

Tea Drinkers and Deep Thinkers Unite in Round 1 of Wharton Global Youth’s 2024 Comment and Win Contest

Our eyes are tired and our hearts are full! Round 1 2024 commenters hit the ground running, punning, and stunning, dropping nearly 180 unique comments on Wharton Global Youth articles from June 10 to June 21. This was our biggest Comment and Win round EVAH! Thus, making the EVAL that…Read More
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Future of the Business World Podcast

A Budding Bio Entrepreneur Makes Nutritional Gummies for Teens

High school students love a good passion project – and often, what begins in the classroom launches into the business world. This month’s Future of the Business World podcast guest is poised to explore the market for her IB school project during her time in Wharton Global Youth’s Essentials of…Read More
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Business Concepts & Trends

Wharton Research Adds to the Evolving Brand Story

On Episode 45 of Wharton Global Youth’s Future of the Business World podcast, tea brand innovator Victoria Fang Gao, says: “Buying a brand is like opening a book; only a good story can keep the readers coming back and back again.” We agree that the topic of brand in business…Read More
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Our annual report highlights the achievements that the Global Youth team has accomplished in a year’s time. Discover Global Youth’s mission-driven work, partnerships, markets and vision as we deliver quality business-education opportunities to high school students and educators.

Read the 2022-23 Annual Report

WATCH THE GLOBAL YOUTH SUMMER OVERVIEW

Undergrad@4x

Resources for Educators

Wharton Global Youth Program provides resources and training for teachers both inside and outside the high school classroom, including professional development opportunities and teaching tools. Offerings include lesson plans and articles with conversation starters, themed toolkits, a comprehensive video glossary, and student competitions.

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While 2020 was a challenging year, it was also a time to reflect – and innovate. The Wharton Global Youth Program at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, did lots of both as our team devised new ways to connect with high school students around the world, even while we could not meet the top teams on the 8th Floor of Wharton’s Huntsman Hall in May for our annual Investment Competition Global Finale, or hold our high school summer courses on Wharton’s Philadelphia campus starting in June.

Still, the learning continued through this very different year.

So, we have pulled together select quotes from some of the innovators and experts we invited into our online platforms in 2020. In most cases, you can follow the links to listen to, watch or read the full interviews. Enjoy this clearinghouse of great advice for the new year on leadership, life, business education and careers. We give you Empowerment 2021:

“Having your back against a wall forces ingenuity and creative solutions. When bad things happen to you, when you are able, try to realize why this ultimately could be good for you. Pick your head up and find a better path forward. We live in a turbulent world and this resilient approach to life is the only inoculation against the madness of the present.” -Entrepreneur Jack Abraham, in a Knowledge@Wharton High School interview about the business he started after his house burned down in California’s Tubbs Fire (not pictured)

“Knowing what is happening in our nation and understanding the root of these problems is how they get solved. Even if you feel as though your one voice doesn’t matter, our voice in numbers is what is going to make a difference in the long run.” –Sanjana Yeddula, creator of an app to help Gen Z learn about politics, and a guest on our Future of the Business World podcast (Pictured, top right)

“If you’re interested in investing in stocks, start by thinking about businesses that you like or admire and why that’s the case. We engage with a lot of businesses every day in our own lives. Why do you tend to shop at a certain online store? Why do you buy a certain brand? If you start thinking about what drives your own behavior, you can start gaining insights into companies and businesses…and that can inform your own investment decisions. It’s a starting point.” Peter Ammon, Chief Investment Officer, University of Pennsylvania, a guest on our Wharton Global High School Investment Competition Meet the Experts series. (Not pictured)

“Business is all about relationships. It’s about who is there with us, and who is there to guide us in how we collaborate and engage and how we think about things. My colleagues bring really great thinking to the party. Look at your classmates as your network. Be less judgmental and more open to people’s strengths. Every single person has something unique about them. Your job is to find it and connect with it. Once you connect with it, you will then understand what the power of relationship is all about. It’s not about being competitive; it’s that everybody has something to bring to the party.”-Suzy Ganz, Wharton MBA and CEO of Lion Brothers, a guest on the Wharton Alumni Career Chat in our summer program online Global Youth Meetup community (Not pictured)

“Finance, data analytics and coding are three skills I recommend learning to be competitive in the world of finance and investing.” –Vusal Najavof, Wharton MBA and managing director of Cowen Sustainable Investments, a guest on the Wharton Alumni Career Chat in our summer program online Global Youth Meetup community (Not pictured)

When it comes to having an impact on society, “One of the mistakes I see is that there is an arrogance that can come with business. People think, ‘Well, If you only had a business mindset, of course you could solve that problem.’ Not true. These are not easy problems to solve. You need to understand the issues. If you’re really interested in gender and women’s rights, for example, then make sure you learn about sexism and are taking gender-theory classes and are studying gender dynamics in countries around the world. That marriage of deep knowledge about a social or environmental issue and business is really good.” -Katherine Klein, Vice Dean, Wharton Social Impact Initiative, during the Meet the Deans series in our online Global Youth Meet-up community (Not pictured)

“The ultimate privilege that I and other white people have is that we don’t have to think about race and racism every day — whereas Chris Bennett and other Black founders have to deal with this; it’s their life. I think what could be most powerful is to not take advantage of that privilege…Do the work that’s necessary to leverage your platform, leverage your network to make change when it’s not in the headlines and it’s not convenient.” –Josh Kopelman, Wharton MBA and Managing Partner at First Round Capital, in the Race and the Entrepreneur conversation featured in our new Explore Business Mini-sites (Pictured, bottom right)

“Being confined during the pandemic is a great time to practice empathy. How are others feeling? How are your friends? How are your parents? If you can put yourself in their shoes, understand how they are feeling and think about their needs, then it’s only a short step to figuring out how you can help them. You need to understand your users and empathize with them if you want to develop a product and think like an entrepreneur.” –Lori Rosenkopf, Wharton’s Simon and Midge Palley professor of management in a Knowledge@Wharton High School article about thinking entrepreneurially in times of crisis. (Pictured, bottom center)

“Don’t be afraid to go up to someone else and introduce yourself. Even though it might be awkward or vulnerable, great things and great relationships come from when you’re willing to put your ego aside for a little bit and get to know someone else who does something different than you.” –Wharton senior Jordan Williams in a Knowledge@Wharton High School video interview about his book Breaking the System: Unlocking Your Limitless Potential (Pictured, top center)

“In my business career, anything I can do to help pull women over the fence…I’m going to do it. I want to tell young girls that you have a voice and if you have an opinion, don’t stay quiet. If someone is telling you no and that you can’t do it, kick the door down in their face. I like that it’s a somewhat aggressive message. Fight for your dreams and never say die.” –Stephanie McCaffrey, former member of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team and a Wharton MBA candidate, in a Knowledge@Wharton High School interview about her future in finance. (Pictured, bottom left)

“Looking back, I wish I could have embraced my ignorance more. When you’re starting out on a journey of learning anything, recognizing the limits of what you know and don’t know is going to give you the horizon. When I was in high school, I thought I had it all figured out. I was launching ventures. None of them were successful. I thought it was easy to innovate and that I’d be a millionaire by the time I was 18. Of course, it didn’t happen. I didn’t know anything. I wish I had embraced that early on and not viewed it as a weakness, but really a strength. The world becomes a much more fascinating place when you realize that you don’t know much about it, and you use that as a motivation to learn more.” Tyler Wry, Wharton Associate Professor of Management, a guest on our Wharton Global High School Investment Competition Meet the Experts series. (Pictured, top left)

Related Links

Conversation Starters

Which quote resonates with you the most, and why?

What did we forget? What were some of your favorite moments from our business journal interviews, Explore Business videos on racism in business and society, Meet the Experts finance series, and more? Check the Related Links with this article to explore more, and then post your picks in the Comment section of this article.

Many of the quotes featured in this article represent themes that defined 2020. What themes were most powerful for you last year? What did you learn from them?

While 2020 has delivered more than its share of challenges, it has also provided rich opportunities to learn and grow.

The Wharton Global Youth Program has tapped the business education expertise within the Wharton community in recent months to feature articles in our online business journal that help high school students think critically about the world’s problems, develop necessary skills, and embrace new ideas and perspectives.

Unprecedented times have also required innovation, which prompted our team in October to build an entirely new content model for high school students and educators. Our Explore Business mini-sites are gateways to conversations, readings and activities that encourage high school students to think deeply about issues affecting business and society.

Our Explore Business mini-sites were inspired by Wharton’s new Beyond Business series of video discussions. Led by Wharton Dean Erika James, the first three recorded conversations with invited guests – beginning in October — addressed the impact of racism on business and society through the lens of entrepreneurship, corporate America, and sports and entertainment. “As a business school, we have a responsibility to provide the tools that will allow future leaders the ability to listen, talk, and learn from the experiences of others when it comes to race and its impact,” said James.

The Wharton Global Youth Program designed online learning opportunities for high school students around each of Dean James’s powerful discussions on race. The first three Explore Business themes are:

Race and the Entrepreneur
An exploration of unjust practices against minority entrepreneurs and how to level the playing field.

Race and Corporate Power
Why companies have committed billions of dollars in 2020 to fight racial discrimination, and why that alone won’t solve the problem.

Race and The Selling of America
A study of brand and Black culture through the experiences of two prominent players in sports and entertainment.

Each Explore Business mini-site for high school students includes:

  • The complete Dean James video conversation for each topic
  • A link to a published summary of this discussion, including conversation starters and additional resources
  • The main video presented as six shorter themed video segments
  • Guided questions for each video segment in PDF format
  • Links to Wharton Global Youth Video Glossary terms and online business journal articles, as well as additional defined vocabulary, included in the PDF
  • A Choice Board providing students with activities to further explore concepts introduced in the video
  • A Teacher Guide to help educators understand the purpose of Wharton’s lecture series and the Explore Business content model and guidance for using the mini-site and discussing these topics with students

Students and educators are invited to visit and use these free online materials wherever and whenever you want to explore compelling and timely topics. We will be adding new opportunities to Explore Business in 2021. Happy New Year!