Written by scholars and past community college presidents, this book provides unique perspectives and tools for facing some of the most vexing problems for community college leaders. Applying the 'challenge framework', each chapter is structured the same way which includes a review of the information needed to address challenges, the process for engaging with that information, a set of potential applications, and then a discussion on the follow-up processes for each challenge. As the guiding outline for each of the subsequent chapters, we present the framework as an important tool to apply to common challenges and wicked problems in higher education. By using the framework in this book to examine nine of the most significant challenges that college leaders face, the work shows how to apply the framework to additional issues. The scaffolding provided by the challenge framework is used in the subsequent chapters to inform. These challenges are situated in current research focused on executive college leaders and the lived experience of college presidents to create a blend of theory and practice that best informs and prepares college leaders. The challenges focused on in this book include the executive leader search process, strategic enrolment management, board engagement, talent management, institutional politics, institutional finances, fundraising, inclusive programming, crisis management, and personal health. The challenges span the experience of being hired as a community college leader to the impact of leadership on one's personal life.

Taking this wholistic approach is critical because too much of the current research only focuses on the day-to-day work of presidents.