Faculty Viewpoints
Temporary CEOs Can Introduce Permanent Problems
Yale SOM's Jeffrey Sonnenfeld writes that putting off a leadership transition is usually the consequence of governance failures—and can have negative repercussions long after a permanent leader is installed.
The Digital Tool That Helps Robert Shiller Understand the Past
We asked the Nobel Prize-winning Yale economist to reflect on an unexpected source of research information and inspiration. He writes that Google Ngram Viewer can provide important insights about how people saw economic events as they unfolded.
Office Romance Policies Aren’t Working
Yale SOM leadership expert Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and author Joanne Lipman write that Jeff Zucker's departure from CNN illustrates the inconsistency and ambiguity of corporate policies on workplace relationships.
To Be More Charismatic, Take the Focus off Yourself
In an excerpt from her book Influence Is Your Superpower, Yale SOM's Zoe Chance explains how to avoid “anti-charismatic” behaviors that we fall back on when we’re feeling powerless, including overusing personal pronouns and adding unnecessary apologies and caveats.
Beyond Resolutions: Research-Based Suggestions for 2022
We asked faculty from the Yale School of Management for their advice—philosophical, professional, and personal—for our readers for the coming year.
A Year Later, Most CEOs Are Keeping Their Post-Insurrection Promises
Recent news stories have asserted that corporate leaders are reneging on their pledges to withhold contributions to members of Congress who voted against certifying election results on January 6, 2021. But Yale SOM's Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, who hosted one of the meetings where those pledges were made, writes that CEOs remain deeply troubled by threats to democracy, and that campaign records show that most corporate PACs aren't giving to election objectors.
Is Climate Risk More than Markets Can Handle?
Yale SOM finance professor Stefano Giglio lays out the unique complications of grappling with climate risk, and explains his own work on stock portfolios that hedge climate change.
Is the Fed Ready for the Next Financial Crisis?
Yale SOM’s June Rhee discusses how the lessons of the global financial crisis prepared policymakers for COVID, and what tools they’ll need for future crises.
GE’s Split Unravels a Massive Management Mistake
General Electric CEO Larry Culp announced this week that the company would split into three separate firms. Prof. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld writes that Culp was acknowledging the failure of an approach—the highly diversified industrial conglomerate—that dates back to Jack Welch’s tenure in the 1980s.
No, Machiavelli Did Not Say It’s Better to Be Feared Than Loved
The leadership lesson attributed to Machiavelli’s The Prince is one of many truisms that are frequently distorted for ideological purposes, writes Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld. Such distortions can lead to flawed decision-making in the boardroom, according to Sonnenfeld.
