Leadership

In the digital age, newspapers remain an important source of on-the-ground reporting and in-depth journalism, but the advertising revenue that once supported those expensive endeavors is disappearing. Some newspapers are closing down or scaling back; others seek to reinvent themselves and their business models. Jack Griffin ’88, CEO of Tribune Publishing, which publishes 10 major newspapers, talks about how he’s positioning his company.

The highly visible chancellor of the New York City Public Schools from 2002 to 2011, Joel Klein recently returned to the private sector as the CEO of News Corporation's education division, Amplify. Klein talked with Yale Insights about applying his approach to leadership in a new role.

Laboratory experiments have suggested that, counterintuitively, having both an internal motivation for completing a task and an external reward makes performance weaker. A study by Yale SOM’s Amy Wrzesniewski tested this idea in the real world, by examining how the motivations of West Point cadets affected their performance. The results have strong implications for how leaders can get the best performance from their organizations.

What kinds of motives are most conducive to success? In a New York Times op-ed, Professor Amy Wrzesniewski and coauthor Barry Schwartz discuss their research looking at the motives of new West Point cadets and how they relate to success as Army officers.

Sustainability leaders often have to interact with a wide range of stakeholders with varied interests and incentives. They need to figure out the best way to engage, communicate, prioritize, and implement—in other words, to persuade. According to a panel of sustainability executives, that can mean sidestepping the language and baggage of sustainability entirely.

How do companies with rapidly evolving business plans and a constantly shifting competitive landscape hire the right people for tomorrow, let alone next year? While education and training still matter, Laszlo Bock, head of people operations at Google, says that the company looks for people with the ability to learn, solve problems, and step in when leadership is needed.

Performing arts organizations are contending with aging audiences and shrinking budgets, and looking for new ways to reach audiences. Yale Insights spoke with Jed Bernstein ’79, formerly a theatrical producer, as he prepared to begin his new job as president of Lincoln Center, the country’s biggest stage for classical music, opera, and dance and a pillar of New York City’s economy.

Starting in the late 1990s, a series of television shows with a novelistic sweep, many of them produced by cable channels, have redefined the medium; at the same time, technology has given audience members new ways to engage with each other and their favorite shows. As AMC’s executive vice president of marketing, Linda Schupack '92 has had the job of selling two of the biggest hits of TV’s second golden age: Mad Men and Breaking Bad. She talked to Yale Insights about creating great marketing for great stories.

Business is a social act. The relationships among a network of stakeholders define an organization and account for a great deal of the success or failure of a global brand. John Pepper discusses how personal relationships and organizational ties defined a career that included serving as CEO and chairman of P&G and chair of Disney’s board of directors.

In a New York Times op-ed, Professors Victoria Brescoll and Jeffrey Sonnenfeld write about the gender bias and discrimination that persist for powerful women in corporate America.