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Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld

  • Business Prognosticators Keep Getting It Wrong

    Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld explains the mistakes that analysts and forecasters make while trying to predict the future.

    A crystal ball with a stock chart inside
  • Activist Investor Nelson Peltz’s Track Record Doesn’t Back Up His Bluster

    Peltz, the founding partner of Trian Fund Management, is demanding a seat on Disney’s board. Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian found that more than half of the companies with Peltz on their boards have underperformed the market.

    Nelson Peltz pointing at the camera
  • The U.S. Has Thwarted Putin’s Energy Blackmail

    Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian write that the Biden administration’s balanced approach has helped Europe maintain its natural gas supply while protecting U.S. interests.

    The Enagas regasification plant at Barcelona’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal. 
  • The CEOs Who Succeeded and Stumbled in 2022

    Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Stevan Tian name five corporate leaders whose accomplishments stood out this year—and five who led their enterprises into rough waters.

    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at the 2022 World Economic Forum.
  • Return to the Kingdom: Inside Robert Iger’s Restoration at Disney

    Yale SOM leadership expert Jeffrey Sonnenfeld provides an insider’s perspective on the move.

    Bob Chapek (left) and Robert Iger at Walt Disney World in 2019.
  • Don’t Expect Pollsters to Break Their Losing Streak

    Polls predicted a “red wave,” but Democrats held the Senate and fought to a near-draw in the House. Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian write that after a series of polling misses, it’s time to acknowledge the fundamental flaws in pollsters’ approach.

    Voters at a polling station at the Brooklyn Museum on November 8.
  • The Thinker at the Pentagon

    Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld remembers Ashton Carter, the scholar and diplomat who served as secretary of defense in the Obama administration.

    Ashton Carter, then secretary of defense, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2015.
  • The Good News You Aren’t Hearing about U.S. Energy Policy

    Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian write that energy industry analysts are getting it wrong about the Biden administration’s progress on energy independence and supply.

    Oils tanks in Carson, California, in 2020. 
  • Saudi Arabia’s Sabotage of the Economy Will Backfire

    With its surprise cut in oil production, write Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian and Congressman Ro Khanna LAW ’01, Saudi Arabia has chosen to side with the Russian war machine.

    Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy, speaks at a press conference on October 5 after an OPEC+ meeting.
  • Lessons on the Role of Business in Society, from a Timber Baron

    Yale SOM leadership expert Jeffrey Sonnenfeld remembers George Weyerhaeuser, who led his family’s timber business for decades. He died earlier this year at 95.

    George Weyerhaeuser with President Ronald Reagan