Skip to main content

Leadership

When Crises Hit, Shovel-Ready Ideas Can Get Greenlighted Quickly

Frontline staff and managers often face years of resistance and red tape when they try to improve organizational processes. But a Yale SOM study suggests that crises can create windows of opportunity to get those changes implemented—if advocates move fast and demonstrate the short- and long-term value of their ideas.‌

Illustration of a worker presenting an idea amidst crisis
  • Lessons From GE: When The Board Wants You Out

    Last month, GE chief executive John Flannery was fired after barely a year on the job. What does a CEO need to do to stick around for a while?

    John Flannery
  • Lessons for the Crisis Fighters

    Yale SOM’s Andrew Metrick and the Yale Program on Financial Stability are studying the global financial crisis of 2007-09, working to create the knowledge and tools to prepare the next generation of policymakers who find themselves in the eye of a monetary maelstrom.

    The New York Stock Exchange on September 17, 2008. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 449 points, a day after an $85 billion bailout of AIG. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images.
  • In Post-Khashoggi Saudi Arabia, Business Leaders Have a Chance to Fill a Moral Void

    Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and journalist Roya Hakakian write that continued business activism can help bring about positive change in the Middle East.

    Attendees at the Future Investment Initiative conference on October 23, 2018, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Photo: Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images.
  • Can a Company Succeed without a Hierarchy?

    Inspired by research by Prof. James Baron, the founders of the biotech firm AgBiome created a company with no managers, run by committees of passionately committed employees.

    Leafcutter ants carrying a leaf
  • Think Like an Owner

    In an excerpt from a new book, William H. Donaldson, Yale SOM’s founding dean, writes about the importance of leaders creating a sense of shared responsibility, whether in the private sector, at a nonprofit, or in government.

    A woman in corporate boardroom overlooking New York City
  • SEC Settlement Won’t Fix Tesla

    Tesla may have reached a settlement with the SEC, Yale SOM's Jeffrey Sonnenfeld writes, but the company's board still needs to address the problems created by its brilliant, self-destructive CEO.

    Tesla dealership
  • At CBS, Less of Les Is More

    Whoever replaces Les Moonves at CBS must look beyond picking hits, writes Yale SOM's Jeffrey Sonnenfeld.

    CBS headquarters
  • Is There Reason for Optimism on Climate Change?

    Yale’s Dan Esty points to hopeful signs of progress on a bottom-up response to climate change in the wake of the Paris Agreement.

    Demonstrators in Washington, D.C., during the People's Climate Movement March on April 29, 2017. Photo: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
  • Can Organized Labor Come Back?

    Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, sees collectivism as a force that can transform a broken system and bring about a fair and equitable future.

    Union rally
  • Departing PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi Did It Her Way

    Yale SOM’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld writes that Nooyi brought a rare combination of intelligence, toughness, and vision to the job.

    Indra Nooyi