Fighting Fires and Building Flywheels

ENDORSEMENTS

“I learned a lot from working closely with Bob Brown when we were colleagues at MIT. This book distills decades of hard-won leadership wisdom into a valuable guide for every university leader navigating today’s profound challenges.”
—Lawrence S. Bacow, President Emeritus, Harvard University and Tufts University

“Read Robert Brown’s fascinating book and get an insider’s view of what it takes to be a great university president. Brown tells stories; presents challenges; reveals how complex decisions are made; and enlightens us about how leaders can earn the trust of the faculty, students, alumni, and trustees through accomplishments beyond rhetoric.”
—Jonathan R. Cole, John Mitchell Mason Professor of Columbia University; Provost and Dean of Faculties (1989–2003); author of The Great American University and Toward a More Perfect University

“A magnificent combination of autobiography, history, and leadership, with examples of striking the balance between the urgent and the important. A must-read for leaders who want to make a difference.”
—Eric W. Kaler, President and Morton L. Mandel Presidential Chair, Case Western Reserve University

Dr. Robert A. Brown is the President Emeritus of Boston University, where he served in that office from 2005 until stepping down to return to teaching in 2023. Prior to his appointment as BU’s president, Dr. Brown served as provost and Warren K. Lewis Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, where he was on the faculty from 1979 to 2005.

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