Trusteeship Articles By Topic: Leadership And Strategy

This special issue of Trusteeship focuses on the national agenda  seeking dramatically increased college graduation rates and how that goal will guide boards' engagement in setting institutions' strategic direction and priorities. We are especially pleased that U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and former Virginia Governor Gerald Baliles, along with a number of other distinguished leaders, have contributed thoughts to Trusteeship about the nation's higher-education priorities.

The steep economic recession, coupled with increased national expectations and demand for higher education, poses serious challenges for board and presidential leadership. A special panel at AGB's recent National Conference on Trusteeship, moderated by AGB President Richard Legon, examined those challenges. The following Q&A is excerpted from the discussion.

A Trusteeship Q&A with Richard Chait, research professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He kicked off the recent AGB National Conference on Trusteeship with a plenary speech about the "Gremlins of Governance," three major challenges that face college and university governing boards today--in the areas of board structure, planning, and trustee selection.

What Would Warren Buffett do? the counterintuitive approach of the world's greatest value investor may be the best hope for colleges and universities during this recession. Buffett's time-tested philosophy of seeking value and investing for the long term remains a sound approach, even if his short-term returns have declined along with those of the rest of the world in the current downturn.

It would be easy in these turbulent economic times to be discouraged by the waves of bad news that seem to flood us daily--to let fear of the unknown take over. Allowing such discouragement to inform our decision-making would not only be a disservice to our campuses, it also would guarantee that we would miss the opportunity to see crisis as a gift that provides an urgent incentive to focus on what is most important on our respective campuses.

Financial problems plague both higher education and health care, two sectors that struggle to meet public expectations for quality services at affordable rates. A growing number of people cannot afford higher education, and many universities are cutting personnel, canceling capital projects, eliminating programs, and even turning students away. Health care has parallel problems. Access to care is a national issue, with resource shortages stressing both consumers and providers of health care.

As trustees, we take seriously our fiduciary responsibility to the institutions we serve regarding such matters as financial stability, endowment management, enrollment planning, and fundraising. Many of us bring to the table a background in private business that prepares us for discussions about budgets, competitive strategy, and succession planning. But are we ready to talk about mission?