Leadership

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.

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.

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 Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and his team have been tracking which companies have withdrawn from Russia, which are making partial moves, and which are staying put.

Tesla has resisted unionization in the United States. But in Germany, where the electric car maker launched a new Gigafactory this week, unions are powerful and anxious to maintain jobs in an electric future.

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.

Laszlo Bock ’99, founder and CEO of Humu, highlights the importance of company culture for keeping workers motivated and delivering results despite the challenges of the moment.