Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld

Stakeholder capitalism is not new, argues Prof. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld. Despite political backlash against “woke” CEOS, today’s leaders need to account for the broad strategic environment in which their companies operate.

Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian, who have been tracking companies’ disengagement from Russia, write that Asian airlines, European aviation giants, and sanctions evaders are gaming the system and gaining an advantage over their American competitors.

Media commentary suggests that Russia is using its energy resources to hold the rest of the world hostage. To the contrary, write Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian, Russia’s actions have devastated its own economy and undermined its status as an energy exporter.

In some cases, those pledges have not been fully honored, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld’s team has found. He writes that boards play a key oversight role in ensuring that companies genuinely end their exposure.

A new analysis from Prof. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and his team suggests that the firms cutting ties with Russia are seeing markedly better shareholder returns.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, Prof. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and his team have been tracking which companies have withdrawn from Russia, which are making partial moves, and which are staying put.

Yale SOM leadership expert Jeffrey Sonnenfeld writes that companies’ moves to disengage from Russia can make a difference, pointing to the withdrawal of businesses from apartheid South Africa in the 1980s.

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. 

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.

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.