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When Companies Forget Who They Are | Yale School of Management

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Within twelve months in 2024–2025, five iconic companies replaced their CEOs. Headlines captured their shared dilemma: “Why Nike, Starbucks, and Boeing have lost their magic,”[1] “How Target lost its sparkle,”[2] and, from Bill Gates, “I am stunned that Intel basically lost its way.”[3] The language is telling. These struggles stem not only from strategic or operational missteps but from something more fundamental—an erosion of distinctive character. They are companies that have, in a real sense, forgotten who they are. These examples are part of a broader pattern. Since 2020, the Yale School of Management’s Program on Stakeholder Innovation and Management has conducted nearly 200 in-depth CEO interviews. We have observed that the conventional playbook for turnarounds and transformations—restructuring, portfolio reshaping, process redesign—often proves inadequate when a company has lost connection to its core identity. Some leaders, recognizing this deeper issue, undertake different wo

The Work of Refounding Study Paper By: Jon Iwata November 2025 When Companies Forget Who They Are Research Paper.pdf (PDF | 398.83 KiB) Within twelve months in 2024–2025, five iconic companies replaced their CEOs. Headlines captured their shared dilemma: “Why Nike, Starbucks, and Boeing have lost their magic,” [1] “How Target lost its sparkle,” [2] and, from Bill Gates, “I am stunned that Intel basically lost its way.” [3] The language is telling. These struggles stem not only from strategic or operational missteps but from something more fundamental—an erosion of distinctive character. They a

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