There's a great essay in today's Inside Higher Ed called "Boards and Presidents -- After the Hire." It's filled with advice and best practices on how boards can help brand-new presidents do their best. I recommend it!

Here's just a little bit:

Every board, especially its leadership, needs to provide its new president with appropriate guidance and oversight as well as support.

Boards must, however, avoid mistaking support with passively rubber-stamping all presidential recommendations. Trustees best contribute to a president's success by defining the sorts of problems they wish jointly to address with the president and by asking hard questions about internal and external challenges so that the board and president can work together to derive potential solutions.

Presidents for their part need to view their boards as their most critical resource, understanding from the outset that even as they must work effectively with multiple constituencies (faculty, students, staff, alumni, donors, foundations, the local community and in some instances elected officials), no president can be successful without board support.

Ten specific areas of collaboration follow. Read the article here.

Photo By: Mo Elnadi