Today's most successful college presidents are primarily defined by entrpreneurial attitudes and behavior. This landmark empirical study is substantially an update of the groundbreaking book by Fisher, Tack, and Wheeler entitled The Effective College President published in 1988. The sample used for this latest study is the largest ever of college presidents (more than 700), including presidents located in all regions of the United States, and including more women and minorities than found in prior studies. Fisher and Koch clearly demonstrate that common ground exists between the classic and tested characteristics of the leader and those of the entrepreneur. This book centers on key questions: Do college presidents often behave in an entrepreneurial fashion and does this behavior pay off for them and their institutions; and why are some presidents more likely to exhibit entrepreneurial attitueds than others? In addition to examining presidential attitudes and values, Fisher and Koch focus on actual presidential behavior. They have expanded their work to include much larger samples of women and minority presidents, whose number have increased tremendously in the past 15 years. They also include numerous control variables that reflect the character of the president's institution and focus on the entrepreneurial attitudes and behavior of presidents, along with how these factors determine success. They examine the extent to which academic training and reliance upon technology affect presidential success and introduce a multivariate model that permits them to examine how a variety of factors related to presidential success influence one another and presidential behavior. The most effective presidents identified in this study are analyzed in significant detail and their answers are reduced to close statistical analyses wherever possible. These presidents are intelligent risk takers who frequently question the status quo. They prize innovative thinking and appreciate contrary positions. They establish he
About the Author: JAMES L. FISHER holds a Ph.D. in psychology from Northwestern University. He is President Emeritus of the Council for Advancement & Support of Education (CASE) and President Emeritus of Towson University. He is presently Professor of Leadership Studies at the Union Institute and University and a consultant to boards and presidents. He has taught at Northwestern, Illinois State, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, and has been a consultant to more than 300 colleges and universities. He is one of the most published writers in higher education today. He has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Times, and The Baltimore Sun. The author or editor of nine books, his book, The Power of the Presidency, was reviewed in Change magazine as The most important book ever written on the college presidency and was nominated for the nonfiction Pulitzer Prize. JAMES V. KOCH is Board of Visitors Professor of Economics and President Emeritus at Old Dominion University. He has also held teaching and research positions at institutions including Illinois State University, the University of Grenoble (France), Brown University, the University of Montana, the University of Hawaii, and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia. He served as President of the University of Montana (1986-1990) and Old Dominion University (1990-2001) and has served as an advisor to more than 60 corporations, governing boards, and college presidents.