Rebooting the Presidency

Looking back on my chief of staff days, two habits sustained my attention: thinking about time and advising the president. Here’s my working theory on both. Most presidents struggle, silently and significantly, with the dual time demands of playing the part and doing the job.

And the rest of us, unfortunately, have only made things worse. On the one hand, we keep saying the presidency is a 24-7 job. On the other, we’ve done next to nothing to fix the problem. If anything, we’re guilty of pouring more water into an already overflowing cup.

The time has come to help reset the internal clock of the presidency.

Playing the Part

The public nature of the presidency is expansive.

Presidents preside over formal ceremonies like convocation and commencement. The same for big-scissor, shiny-shovel and hard-hat events like ribbon cuttings, ground breakings and beam signings.

Presidents welcome an ever-growing number of visitors to their campuses, including elected officials, industry partners, international delegations, donors, accreditors, alumni groups, parents and prospective students. What was more often a pleasant surprise is now an unstated expectation: If you’re a visitor of consequence, you expect to be greeted by the president at some point.

Community engagement is vital, so presidents find themselves serving on numerous boards, committees, advisory groups and task forces throughout their region. Each role typically comes with a corresponding calendar of activities—everything from receptions to retreats.

Beyond the campus community, presidents crisscross the country attending alumni gatherings, fundraising events, government relations sessions and athletic conference meetings. Speaking of sports, add to the schedule multiple overnight trips for away games.

Let’s not forget about campus engagements, too. Faculty awards celebrations. Student awards celebrations. Staff appreciation events. State of the University addresses. Alumni reunions. Signature fundraising events. Holiday receptions. Special anniversaries. Campus memorials. And the list goes on and on.

Less formal but no less frequent are invitations to speak at classes, conferences, student meetings, faculty gatherings and community events. What’s more, most people expect to see their president highly visible on campus and in the community, attending concerts, shows, games and the like.

Finally, there’s the unrelenting pressure for presidents to memorialize such comings and goings on social media. Post a suitable picture here. Write a witty blurb there. All the while trying to ensure every piece of content upholds the higher standards of the office.

The Crux of the Problem

If you total the hours associated with these public engagements, including preparation time, travel time, mingling time and social media time, it’s the definition of a full-time job—and then some. But here’s the rub: Another full-time job is waiting for presidents back at the office.

And the stakes for that one couldn’t be higher. The presidency is chock-full of essential duties that determine an institution’s overall health and viability. Accordingly, presidents must have their finger on the pulse of no fewer than a dozen critical domains at once:

• Finance
• Fundraising
• Student life
• Faculty affairs
• Board relations
• Athletics
• Enrollment
• Research
• Public relations
• Government relations
• Legal affairs
• Public safety
• Audit
• Risk management
• Marketing

Sure, a senior administrative leader directly manages each of these areas. But every president knows this simple truth: The buck stops with them. Presidents must be ready for anything—and at all times.

Indeed, the scope of this portfolio is humbling on a good day. But imagine what life is like when a president has to manage multiple crises across different domains in the same day. Now imagine layering two speaking engagements and a fundraising event into that formidable day.

The Path Forward

Here’s what many presidents feel but are reluctant to say: Trying to do both full throttle—playing the part and doing the job—is not only exhausting but also increasingly ineffective.

In theory, it seems like an easy fix: Presidents should say no to more requests and yes to delegating more duties. But in practice, it’s more complicated than that.

No president wants to be viewed as absent by their community. That’s why they say yes to as many requests as their already-packed schedule allows. Similarly, no president wants their team to view them as aloof. That’s why they say yes to helping wherever and whenever possible.

Truth be told, few presidents believe they have the latitude to fundamentally restructure their relationship to time. For them, the job is the hammer, and they’re forever the nail.

But here’s the good news: things don’t have to be this way. The rest of us can help reboot the presidency by insisting on a more balanced approach for the role. Which, in turn, should lead to meaningful gains in presidential effectiveness, satisfaction and longevity.

I recommend the following as four places to start.

• Boards. Give your president clarity on load management. What’s your desired ratio for them regarding playing the part versus doing the job? Is it 50-50, 40-60 or some other combination that totals no more than 100 percent? Take ownership of the fact that the default ratio of 100-100 is untenable. Pick a preference, set priorities and have your president’s back.
• Direct reports. Protect your president’s time and energy as if it’s your job. Never tire of asking how you can help lighten their load, especially when it comes to attending events on their behalf. Most important, stop elevating administrative issues that you or your peers can solve on your own.
• Chiefs of staff. Find a way to carve out three deep-work days a month for your president. The rules are simple: no events, no meetings, no emails, no calls and no disruptions. It’s a full day of unbroken concentration for your president to read, write, think and strategize. Spoiler alert: Your president will become addicted to these deep-work days.
• The campus community. Let’s stop trying to make the president be all things to all people. We can host a great event without having the president there. The same goes for concerts, conferences and games. Let’s drop the tired notion that visibility equates to effectiveness.

For those dedicated to disrupting the presidential hamster wheel, figuring out where to start may seem like an impossible task.

But take a page from Jim Collins’s playbook: “Think of it as like putting down rocks in the river; if you wait for the river to stop flowing before you walk out and put a rock down, you’ll never get one out there.” Collins adds, “Instead, better to drop a rock in the flow and make the river go around it.”

Unless and until the rest of us drop rocks in the river of time, the presidency will become a shadow of its former self—all breadth and no depth. In this world, presidents will function more like glorified mascots and less like the innovative thought leaders we need them to be.

The clock is ticking. Higher education’s future is waiting for us to do something—now, not later.