Skip to main content

Leadership

Olympic Lessons: Leadership and Fun

In advance of the Paris 2024 Olympics, we asked Yale SOM faculty for their take on this global sporting event. Are there lessons they draw from the Games, or do they watch just for fun?

Eiffel Tower with Olympic rings
  • How Leaders Finally Walk Away

    In analyzing President Joseph Biden’s decision not to run for reelection, Yale leadership expert Jeffrey Sonnenfeld sees the underlying quest for heroic mission and stature that drives many epoch-shaping leaders—and often makes succession a tricky affair.

    President Joe Biden
  • The Power of Positively Energizing Leadership

    Researchers have found that certain people make everyone around them more productive, writes Yale SOM’s Emma Seppälä. In an excerpt from her new book, she explains how to become a colleague with “positive relational energy.”

    An illustration of a mug in the shape of a woman's head filled with water that birds are drinking
  • How AI Is Already Transforming Fortune 500 Businesses, According to Their CEOs

    At a recent Yale CEO Summit, Prof. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld talked to business leaders about the AI tools and other new technologies appearing everywhere from back offices to fast-food kitchens. Sonnenfeld and co-author Steven Tian outline the looming changes in a variety of sectors.

    A Chipotle chef with Chippy, an autonomous kitchen assistant that makes tortilla chips
  • CEOs Need More Face Time, Not FaceTime

    Yale SOM leadership expert Jeffrey Sonnenfeld explains how effective business leaders make the best use of face-to-face meetings with employees around the world.

    A business jet on a runway at twilight
  • The Best Leaders Use Intuition

    In an excerpt from her new book, Yale SOM’s Emma Seppälä writes that drawing on instinct as well as analysis can help us make better decisions.

    An illustration of butterflies around a woman's face, with a human figure on top of one of them
  • Who Is the Leader to Put Boeing Back on Course?

    Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a longtime observer of the company, and co-author Steven Tian consider five likely candidates to succeed CEO Dave Calhoun, who will step down at the end of the year.

    A plane over a runway
  • What Bob Iger’s Critics Get Wrong about His Performance at Disney

    Disney is embroiled in a proxy fight with activist investor Nelson Peltz ahead of its annual shareholder meeting next week. Prof. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and co-author Steven Tian write that Peltz and other critics of CEO Bob Iger are relying on a series of myths that don’t hold up to scrutiny.

    Bob Iger
  • How Boeing Can Restore Trust

    The blowout of a door plug on an Alaska Air 737 MAX 9 earlier this month is just the latest incident casting doubt on the safety culture of the aerospace giant. Yale SOM leadership expert Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a longtime observer of Boeing, and co-author Steven Tian offer a series of steps to rebuild its internal processes and win back the trust of airlines and the public.

    An airplane fuselage with plastic sheeting over an opening
  • Triumph and Disaster: The Best and Worst CEOs of 2023

    Yale SOM leadership expert Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and co-author Steven Tian highlight the three best- and worst-performing CEOs of 2023—and hint at what’s ahead for each of them in the new year.

    Marc Benioff speaking
  • Raise the Bar: Research-Based Ideas to Improve Your 2024

    Harness your own creativity, learn to leverage Chat GPT, and have some fun are three of the suggestions from our faculty to help you make your new year healthier, more rewarding, and more prosperous.

    illustration of a person climbing a bar chart