Leadership Spotlight

Practicing What He Preaches
By Natalie Pompilio

Wharton’s Karl Ulrich, creator of innovations from the TerraPass to a high-tech scooter for commuting, on ideas, design, and execution.

Wharton Professor Karl Ulrich teaches innovation, which doesn’t seem like something that can be taught — until you see some of the inventions his product design students offer at their end-of-term design fair. It’s then you realize he must be doing something right.

On an afternoon in early May, Jon M. Huntsman Hall was buzzing as teams of Ulrich’s students hawked their products and would-be consumers assessed the items’ desirability. There were Jungle Hooks, a system of S-shaped links meant for hanging items while preserving precious dormitory space; Ironus Prime, the ironing board that folds into a pillow case; and Sticky Sudoku, Post-It Note sized puzzles for the sneaky student who wants to play number games without getting caught.

Amanda Dyson, E’09, demonstrated The Cordanizer, a series of cups that helps tidy the mess made by multiple electrical wires. (It later won the “market share” portion of the fair.) Ulrich’s product design course is difficult to get into, she said, and she’s glad she made the cut.

“This is probably my favorite class I’ve had at Penn. After taking this class, I know this is what I want to do,” Dyson said. “(Ulrich) taught us how to look for needs. You trust him because he’s obviously succeeded and he knows what he’s talking about.”

Ulrich’s title at Wharton is CIBC Professor and Chair of the Operations and Information Management Department. His research focuses on innovation, design, and product development, and he’s partnered with companies like Merck, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard. He’s also faculty director of the Weiss Tech House, a campus organization that supports students in the development of new technologies and sponsors the annual PennVention competition.

But the reason he can teach something that seems unteachable is because he’s the real deal: an inventor, an entrepreneur, an in-demand consultant for companies working in the fields of medicine, food, transportation, and technology. He’s the driving force behind products as diverse as chewy fruit snacks and a state-of-the-art scooter.

He knows innovation and product design because he lives it: His Narberth home is a former 19th century stone church converted into living space perfect for Ulrich, his wife, Penn English professor Nancy Bentley, and sons Jamie, 14, and Nathan, 10. He makes his nearly 10-mile ride to Wharton on a Swift bike, a folding bike he’s helped refine, that’s equipped with a Crossrack, a bike storage system that’s also his latest product. He has about 20 patents to his name — and he’s only 47.

So just how does he teach “innovation”?

“I mostly teach with projects,” he says. “On the one hand, you have to teach by doing. On the other, there’s some theory to be taught but it’s too dry to do it in the abstract.”

At the start of his product design class, every student came up with a product opportunity. Those were then narrowed down via something Ulrich calls, “tournament-style decision making.”

“It’s ‘American Idol’ meets ‘Survivor,’ ” he says. “You determinedly filter the ideas until only the best survive.”

Being creative isn’t a requirement for success, he says. He puts an emphasis on hard work, sometimes quoting Edison, “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”

“A good idea is better than a bad idea, but execution matters,” he says. “You are looking for both good ideas and a team that will take it forward.”

Taking it forward is the hard part. Even among very entrepreneurially minded Wharton students, only about five percent actually attempt to take their products out of the classroom and into the real world, Ulrich says.

Undergraduates usually take Ulrich’s course during their junior or senior year. For some, like systems engineering major Thomas Macrina, it’s their first chance to be “hands-on.” The subject matter — and the professor — are gripping, he said: Of two other three-hour classes he had last semester, Macrina says he “walked out after five minutes.” Not Ulrich’s. “Honestly, he’ll keep my interest, three hours straight.

“You need innovation. Creativity is giving yourself a different perspective on everything you do, be it how you get up in the morning, how you eat your cereal, or how you solve the housing crisis,” Macrina said. “He gives you full range, within a box, and you realize what you’re capable of.”

It’s also an eye-opener, he said. After a class on how products are made, he walked around the rest of the day looking at everyday items and thinking, “That door is sawed out. That knob was molded.”

Ulrich notes that at Penn and Wharton, the culture is often focused towards finance. “If we’re really going to understand how technology develops, we need more than economics,” he says. “The product design course opens up new possibilities for students.”

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