Advocates for the missions and structures that make universities unique among American enterprises. While they acknowledge the challenges faced when working with academic institutions, the authors argue that understanding institutional mission is essential to improving the effectiveness of business leaders who engage in higher education.

"This book is an introduction to universities for business people who are board members or who take leadership positions in higher education. Lack of understanding the core mission of colleges and universities limits the effectiveness of business people in higher education, and this book provides the information they need to be more successful. It covers topics such as the similarities and differences between businesses and universities, the variety among educational institutions, the role of government especially in higher education, the different types of faculty and how they got to be faculty, and how they are motivated and rewarded. ...[It] describes the nature of governance in academic organizations, and how it is shared among boards, administration and faculty, ... it also describes the types of research conducted by faculty, and how research performance is assessed, as well as how classroom education has changed since most board members attended college"--