How College Presidents Succeed

Leadership lessons in higher education and what they can teach us about leadership in all walks of life

In an era when college presidents serve for on average fewer than six years—leaving out of personal ambition for a next post or being forced to leave under fire—there is an inspirational counterexample of leaders dedicated to the long-term success of their institutions. This book weaves together the stories behind what the Washington Post dubbed “Virginia’s academic dynasty” to determine what makes for sound and effective institutional leadership. Here are the lessons of three generations of college presidents from one family, the Reveleys, who have successfully led major colleges and universities across the commonwealth of Virginia for decades, an ongoing legacy unrivaled in modern American higher education.

All three generations of Reveleys profiled here successfully dealt with the challenges of stewarding varied institutions—Hampden-Sydney College, William & Mary, and Longwood University—in a politically and demographically evolving state embedded within an equally dynamic and complex national, economic, and cultural environment for higher education. Now, in the Reveleys’ own words—drawn from more than one hundred hours of oral interviews and thousands of pages of personal papers—this book tells their story and offers readers insights into best leadership practices gleaned from their unparalleled cumulative experience.