How Universities Work

Lombardi is a man who has been to the rodeo. He has served as a university president more than once. He has clearly learned every step of the way, has thought about the university, and produced a well-crafted, well-articulated text that will help to inform the uninitiated and add insight even to those with extensive experience on campus. This is the book that all university presidents wish our trustees, donors, provosts, vice presidents, deans, and faculty had read during their first week on the job. This is not a good book; this is a very good book.

John Lombardi has outlined for us all what is involved in making these complex knowledge enterprises work and how we might manage their evolution. As an on-the-ground leader in a wide range of sociopolitical settings, Lombardi provides the kind of managerial insight that can be derived only from a person who has led from the front and made a difference. This is an important book for people interested in how one of America's most successful organizational designs can continue to be a key contributor to national success in the decades ahead.