Presidencies Derailed: Why University Leaders Fail and How to Prevent It

Trachtenberg, Stephen, Kauvar, Gerald, & Bogue, E. Grady (2013). Presidencies Derailed: Why University Leaders Fail and How to Prevent It. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Pages:184. Price: $34.95USD (hardcover).In 1908 Charles Eliot wrote a book with the simple but direct title, University Administration. Eliot knew what he was talking about. He was then in his 39th year as president of Harvard University. Today, more than a century later, he is still Harvard's longestserving president. That Eliot expected his book to become the first in what is now a genre of university presidential memoirs and DIY manuals is, of course, unlikely. The genre, however, has not changed much. Eliot addressed issues that are as contemporary now as they were then: merger of Harvard University and M.I.T. (which MIT faculty and students scuppered), pitfalls in accepting gifts from self-interested donors, reorganization of governance to involve politicians less and public trustees more, the recruitment of faculty, stewardship of endowments. There is even a section on how to preside over a faculty meeting. These are problems that were taken up later by other presidents: Warren Bennis in Why Leaders Can't Lead (1989), Peter Flavin in A Primer for University Presidents (1990), and E.K. Fretwell (with David Leslie) Wise Moves in Hard Times (1996).This is the genre of which Presidencies Derailed is a part. It does not break new ground for the genre. In fact, it is quite typical. But it does do some things differently, and for that reason alone is worth reading. It is a DIY manual without being self-referential and selfreverential. The authors, wisely, seem to have adopted Eliot's maxim that presidential "success will be due more to powers of exposition and persuasion combined with persistent industry." In other words, don't condescend or glibly minimize the tough problems that face any president, derailed or not. To the authors' and maybe the publishers' credit, Presidencies Derailed names names. It contains an appendix that explicitly identifies and summarizes presidencies that, in the authors' judgement, failed. It reports without any evident editorial burnishing what the derailed presidents who were interviewed had to say about their experiences. The evidentiary side of the book relies on a series of case studies, fourteen in all.Sadly, one might say that Presidencies Derailed is evidence that at least some university presidents in the last century either ignored Eliot's advice or never knew about it. The book describes this willful behaviour as a "disconnect between conviction and courage" that "abnegates the super ego." The ancient Greeks did not have universities, but they did understand hubris. Presidents make mistakes because they imagine that they cannot make mistakes or, if they do, because, according to the authors, they think they are "too smart to get caught."Of the three authors of Presidencies Derailed, two - Trachtenberg and Bogue - were themselves university presidents, at George Washington University and the University of Hartford, and Louisiana State University and the University of Tennessee respectively. Their contribution - the larger portion of the book - is analysis and advice on how to avert derailment. The balance - which is about derailments per se - was written by experts in the field of higher education, none of whom served as presidents. …