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REVIEWS BY JEFF YERGLER

A FAILURE OF NERVE: LEADERSHIP AND AMERICAN HIGHER HIGHER EDUCATION
LEADERSHIP IN THE SELF-DECEPTION: EDUCATION IN THE IN AMERICA
AGE OF THE QUICK FIX GETTING OUT OF THE BOX TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: Derek Bok (2013)
Edwin H. Friedman The Arbinger Institute (2010) SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND Princeton University Press
Seabury Books (2007) Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. ECONOMIC CHALLENGES This reviewer found Derek Bok’s
Friedman’s book, A Failure of When leaders engage in self- Altbach, Gumport, and approach to his exploration of
Nerve: Leadership in the Age of deception they are unwilling to Berdahl (3rd. Ed) (2011) the incredibly deep and broad
the Quick Fix, will make the reader see the realities around them. Johns Hopkins Publishing topic of higher education to be
uncomfortable. This is a book This failure to see realities and This book provides an in-depth, informative, detailed, and also
written by a man who is a therapist, the “truth” is likely to create pain, scholarly, and informative practical. As an assistant professor
rabbi, and business consultant. frustration, and stunted growth perspective on the challenges and and department chair, Bok’s book
He has successfully taken his rich for themselves, others, and their issues involved in and around the is written in a manner that links
knowledge and experience working organizations. The points of the book conversation of American higher directly to and resources my work
with family systems and applied are communicated using stories education. Simply put from the in undergraduate and graduate
them to the work of leaders in the and vignettes that portray men perspective of this reviewer, this is a instruction. The book contains fve
complex systems of organizations and women addressing issues of resource that frames up and clarifes parts beginning with the context for
and institutions. Much of this book deception and attempting to break the many complex currents that have his writing, undergraduate education,
is about how leaders fail, that is, through to new understanding. and will continue to infuence higher professional education, research,
how leaders, because of their lack The vignettes are brief, easy to education. The contributors for each and what Bok calls “fnal reckoning.”
of self-differentiation, are unable digest, and simple and clear in chapter bring impressive credentials In section two, undergraduate
and unprepared to address the their emphasis. The writers use and are connected to a broad swath education, this reviewer found the
complexity of the emotional systems diagrams embedded in the narrative of higher education institutions and chapter on “the expanding audience
in which they work. As a result, to explain and explore how self- think tanks. The chapters in the for higher education” to be incredibly
Friedman argues, our institutions deception can impact the life and book are arranged in four parts: The insightful and accurate. Bok explains
are often flled with anxious, work of the leader and those around setting of higher education (where in strong detail how the audience
invasive, and reactive people who the leader. Moreover, the message the reader will fnd an excellent for undergraduate education is
fail to honor boundaries and can about deception can apply beyond chapter on academic freedom), the expanding to include, more than
attempt to sabotage even the the workplace into one’s personal life external forces impacting education ever before, the nontraditional
“healthiest” (think differentiated) and relationships. The real utility of (featuring a chapter addressing adult student. The impact on
of leaders. Friedman discusses this book is found in a later chapter the federal government’s role in and use of technology in higher
such topics as societal regression, that begins to explain how the higher education); the academic education is further expanding the
system anxiety in organizations and lessons gleaned from the narrative community (including a chapter on reach of undergraduate education.
societies at almost every level, the can be practically employed in the role of the presidency in higher One primary avenue that is
abuse of data, overuse of empathy, organizations. For example, the education); and central issues for facilitating this reach is the ongoing
and the importance of integrity. This information can be used in applicant the twenty-frst century (featuring development and deployment of
is a must read for leaders who know screening, team building, confict a chapter on technology’s role in creative electronic platforms used
they have internal work to do if resolution, accountability, and research and learning). This is an to deliver courses in communities
they are to move their organizations growth and development. This is an excellent resource for both the higher across the globe. Overall, there
toward health. easy read that can offer good value. education historian and futurist. is much in Bok’s book to both
appreciate and employ.

RATING  RATING  RATING  RATING 
RATING  HATS OFF  THUMBS UP  SO-SO

LEADERSHIP Vol. 20.3 Winter 2015 37

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