"We all err," write Trachtenberg, Kauvar, and Bogue. "As academics, we must also believe that we can all learn how to reduce the chance for error. But human beings are endlessly imaginative and will no doubt continue to find new, innovative ways to mess up and also to do well and good."

In this mordant account of why university presidents fail, these authors show us why leadership in higher education is fraught with peril. Relying on first-hand testimonies from "derailed" university presidents, sixteen case studies in four sectors of higher education, and reviews of the scholarly literature on leadership failures in the public and private sectors, this book shows how good presidencies go bad. Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, Gerald B. Kauvar, and E. Grady Bogue organize, classify, and explain patterns of leadership failures and offer key advice on how institutions, their boards, and their leaders can avoid these acrimonious battles.

Presidencies Derailed provides a menu of best practices designed to forestall, if not prevent, future leadership failures. With incisive commentary drawn on years of insider experience, this book offers clear examples of derailments and precise advice on how to prevent these institutional disasters at research universities, liberal arts colleges, master's level institutions, and even community colleges.