Parenting and Professing: Balancing Family Work with an Academic Career (review)
overall value of the book because it closed off other potentially beneficial analyses. If the authors had spent more time analyzing the narratives through other frameworks, they may have discovered many useful concepts that could have illuminated research on the university presidency, governance, administration, and leadership. For example, had the authors examined the narratives through the lenses of transactional and transformational leadership, they may have been able to tell us which approach seemed to work best and in what circumstances. The narratives are rich in description of politics and power, particularly in examining the presidents’ relationship to governing boards and campus constituents. Examining the research through a political perspective could also have enhanced our understanding of the challenges leaders face. Common themes were often unanalyzed. For instance, stories of faculty frustrating and wearing down presidents and students creating havoc seemed only to reinforce negative stereotypes. I hoped to understand more about these forces and expected Brodie and Banner to provide advice about how to negotiate more constructively with these groups. In the end, the book contributes little to our scholarly understanding of the university presidency. The authors own findings suggest that the life cycle/case history approach does not appear to be a promising analytic framework for research. However, the life cycle/case history may be useful as a reflective tool, one that might assist leaders in thinking about the way they engage their presidency in phases and in considering the inevitable tasks and conflicts within each phase.