SOM professors reflect on summits condemning Trump’s statements
Nearly a year after former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, professors reflect on the corporate summits organized by professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld.
Sanchita Kedia
Staff Reporter
Zoe Berg, Photo Editor
Following former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, Yale School of Management professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld gathered chief executives from top companies to condemn the president’s actions. One year later, SOM professors reflect on the outcomes of Sonnenfeld’s summits.
Sonnenfeld is the founder and president of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute, a nonprofit that focuses on developing leadership skills for business professionals. The institute holds six forums every year for CEOs of major companies: three in New York City, two in Washington, D.C. and one in New Haven. While these forums are typically planned far in advance, Sonnenfeld organized three Zoom calls on short notice in response to Trump’s various actions. On Nov. 6 he hosted a conference after Trump made claims the election had been stolen, a conference on Jan. 5 when Trump continued to stop the approval of the electoral college votes and another on Jan. 12 in response to the Capitol insurrection.
At the special conferences, more than 90 CEOs wrote a statement congratulating President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and emphasizing the importance of a peaceful transfer of power led by the Trump administration.
“[The joint statement] was going to make more news and have a higher chance of changing someone’s mind,” said Andrew Metrick, professor at SOM and renowned financial economist in former President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors. “It also lowered the cost of each of the CEOs speaking out.”
According to Metrick, it was a rare occurrence for CEOs to speak out in this manner, as they prefer to stay out of political matters. This is because many of their stakeholders come from a variety of public backgrounds, and CEOs want to avoid losing support due to political changes, Metrick said.
Although some CEOs did not initially support Trump, they “thought he would be…
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