Table of Contents 

Features 

The Personal Qualities of Leaders during the COVID-19 Era
By Terrence MacTaggart

Today’s challenges demand college and university presidents display exceptional qualities of temperament, personality, and character to meet the realities of a time best described as the COVID-19 era. This article suggests that relevant personal qualities top the list of qualifications when it comes to recruiting new leaders and supporting incumbent ones. It identifies seven leadership traits that together represent highly relevant characteristics for college and university presidents in this era. It concludes with strategies for recruiting leaders with these traits and for building leadership skills in incumbents who are willing and able to learn them.

Scenario Planning in Three Modes
By Larry D. Shinn

“Scenario planning” has become a common phrase in higher education describing colleges’ and universities’ fiscal and educational responses to the coronavirus pandemic. It is this background that has prompted me to reflect on these three related but quite different meanings and uses of “scenario planning” in higher education in America today. Each of these three modes of scenario planning described below can be effective if their different purposes, processes, and time frames are understood and applied accordingly. If these important distinctions are not understood, such processes can produce unintended and even unwanted outcomes.

Trustee Leadership: The Foundation of Building an Effective President-Board Partnership
By William E. Troutt

Few things matter more to the success of a college or university than effective trustee leadership. Leadership is the capacity to shape an organization’s future. The days when heroic presidents could lead as a solo act are over. Today’s higher education environment calls for more thought partners to generate meaningful alternatives for the future and new ways of thinking about approaches to how colleges and universities function optimally.

Departments 

On My Agenda
Refocusing on the Horizon
By Henry Stoever

News in Brief 
A sampling of national higher education news 

Inside AGB 
An upcoming book from AGB: Assessing Readiness to Lead Strategic Change: A Guide for Public System Boards 

Legal Standpoint
Lawyer as Counselor
By Steve Dunham

Forum
A Wake-Up Call
By Kevin P. Reilly

Foundations of Consequence
For Universities and their Foundations, Innovation and Leadership Are Inseparable
By Jeff D. Standridge

Focus on the Presidency
When An Institution Is Named After a Slave-Owning Founding Father
By George Washington

A Question For… 
Joseph I. Castro, PhD
Why is equity in student success a priority for higher education?
By Elena Loveland