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Presidential Hiring: A Team of Colleagues

By Harry L. Peterson

After a two-year presidential campaign, this year's focus has been not only on our new president, but on the people President Obama has chosen for cabinet positions.

The president's selections have received much praise for being smart, experienced, and pragmatic; however, we know from experience with other presidential administrations that some of them will not be successful. They will not be up to the job, they will not be a good fit for the position for which they have been chosen, they will offend constituents, or they will not work well with other cabinet secretaries or with the president and his White House staff.

We also know that the success or failure of Barack Obama will, to a large degree, depend on these individuals. Their competence, their loyalty, the candor of their advice, and his willingness to listen to them will shape his presidency and his legacy. So it is with college and university presidents. A new president's decisions about whom to hire and retain and how he or she works with those individuals can significantly determine success or failure in the job.

There are obvious differences between the jobs of the president of the United States and a president of college or university, of course. There are, however, some important similarities from which campus leaders can learn.

• Barack Obama chose foreign policy and other advisers who view the world differently from him and from one another. University presidents should seek people who view the university from different perspectives, who are likely to offer differing, even competing ideas and advice about important issues. The president can then choose whose advice to take, or develop an approach that is a blend of that advice.
• President Obama appointed Rahm Emmanuel to be his chief of staff, not only because he had served in the Clinton administration, knew the president well, and had a reputation for candor, but because he had been a member of Congress and could work with legislators to advance the president's agenda. Your senior colleagues should not only be competent in their area of responsibility, but also be able to contribute more broadly. The vice president for student affairs should be able to speak knowledgeably about the budget. The vice president for advancement needs not only to promote the university, but also to understand its academic programs. This kind of administrator will do a better job and be able to help other colleagues and the president make important decisions.
• George W. Bush chose as his attorney general Alberto Gonzales, a man whose career success was entirely dependent on the president. We should not have been surprised by reports that, seemingly, he told President Bush what he believed the president wanted to hear. Barack Obama, on the other hand, has chosen senior administrators who already have proven themselves and did not need him or his appointment of them to establish themselves. This will help ensure independent thinking and advice. . . .

Excerpted from the fall 2009 issue of The Presidency. To subscribe to the magazine, please call (301) 632-6757, or order online through ACE's bookstore.