Long Life Learning Jeffrey Sonnenfeld on How Successful Leaders Learn
To kick off Season 2, Kavitha sits down with Yale SOM Professor and Senior Associate Dean Jeffrey Sonnenfeld to discuss the evergreen question, “How do leaders learn?” Drawing on Jeff’s decades of research expertise, high-profile media engagement, and longtime partnership with Executive Education, they attempt to answer this question for senior level leaders and C-Suite executives in particular.
Together, Kavitha and Jeff delve into the rich history of how institutions have striven to craft timely and innovative education for aspiring business leaders, culminating in Yale SOM Executive Education's flagship initiative, the Yale Global Executive Leaders Program (YGELP). Jeff, who has served as Faculty Director for all eight YGELP cohorts, makes the case for combating CEO loneliness by cultivating strong relationships across markets and borders. He advocates the importance of maximizing impact by leveraging Yale SOM’s unique embrace of interdisciplinary learning, from accounting and economics to anthropology and the study of happiness.
Join us for a vibrant conversation as Jeff and Kavitha tackle questions like: How can leaders evade the pitfalls of strategic stagnancy in the forms of “success syndrome” and groupthink by elevating dissenting voices where their objections hold true with investigated fact? How can an intensive, multi-module program like YGELP empower leaders to engage in experimental innovation, gain real-time feedback from peers, and facilitate a sense of mutual exchange and clarity when innovating with AI, Cloud technology, and other cutting-edge research and strategies?
Transcript
S2E1—Jeff Sonnenfeld Transcript
Links and Resources
Information on YGELP and Yale SOM Executive Education:
Resources Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
- The Evolving Self by Robert Keegan
- “The Strength of Weak Ties” by Mark Granovetter
- The Hero’s Farewell by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld
- On Tyranny by Timothy Snyders
- Works by Marci Shore and Jason Stanley
- Health & Veritas podcast by Howard Forman and Harlan Krumholz
- Who Believed in You? by David McCormick and Dina Powell McCormick
Where to Find Jeff:
About Today’s Guest
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is the Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies and Lester Crown Professor in Management Practice at the Yale School of Management, as well as founder and president of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute, a nonprofit educational and research institute focused on CEO leadership and corporate governance. He previously served as full tenured professor at Emory's Goizueta Business School for a decade and a professor at the Harvard Business School for a decade.
Professor Sonnenfeld has informally advised 5 US presidents - 3 Democrats and 2 Republicans - and thousands of CEOs. He helped advise the development of the Abraham Accords; helped catalyze the exit of over 1,000 companies from Russia; and helped catalyze collective action from CEOs on safeguarding democracy and voting rights.
Professor Sonnenfeld's related research has been published in 100 scholarly articles which appeared in the leading academic journals in management such as Administrative Sciences Quarterly, the Academy of Management Journal, the Academy of Management Review, the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Social Forces, Human Relations, and Human Resource Management. He has also authored eight books, including The Hero's Farewell, an award-winning study of CEO succession, and another best seller, Firing Back, a study on leadership resilience in the face of adversity.
Professor Sonnenfeld’s work is regularly cited by the general media in such outlets as: BusinessWeek, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, the Economist, the Financial Times, the Washington Post, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, FOX, NBC, ABC as well as PBS, and he is a staff contributor for CNBC and a staff columnist for FORTUNE, TIME, Chief Executive, and Corporate Board Member.
Sonnenfeld was recognized by Poets & Quants Magazine as the 2022 Professor of the Year in recognition of his high-profile efforts to catalyze the historic exits from Russia of over 1,000+ global businesses after the invasion of Ukraine, and was named to Worth Magazine’s “Worthy 100 Leaders”, an annual global listing of the most influential leaders across society. Sonnenfeld received the 2023 Greatest Impact on Corporate Boards award by Corporate Board Member magazine, and received the Academy of Management's 2023 Distinguished Scholar Practitioner Award.
Sonnenfeld has advised the White House, U.S. State Department, U.S. Treasury Department, and Council of Economic Advisers on Russian economic sanctions and business retreats and has testified to the U.S. Congress; in addition, he has been profiled by various media outlets including TIME, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Washington Post, and Business Insider. BusinessWeek listed Sonnenfeld as one of the world’s 10 most influential business school professors and Directorship magazine has listed him among the 100 most influential figures in corporate governance.
He is the first academician to have rung the opening bells of both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Exchange having done so ten times. Professor Sonnenfeld earned the 2018 Ellis Island award from the US Ellis Island Foundation. He was Harvard’s first John Whitehead Faculty Fellow and won outstanding educator awards at Yale, Emory and the American Society for Training and Development.
He is now a member of the board of Lennar, the leading American homebuilder, as well as IEX, Atlas Merchant Capital, and the Ellis Island Honor Society. Professor Sonnenfeld was appointed by Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont to serve as co-chair of Advance CT, where he helped lead the state’s economic development, including attracting and retaining leading global businesses and developing the state’s workforce. Sonnenfeld also serves on the Board of Directors of Connecticut Innovations, which is focused on building the innovation and business ecosystem within the state of Connecticut.