This brief is designed to be a primer for reform-minded university boards. The authors outline the evolution of university management and culture over the decades following World War II and explain the dynamics that have led most universities to be underperforming on their essential mission. This sets up a discussion of the steps that board members must take to reform the organization and its culture to maximize the likelihood of success. The implementation specifics will differ in substantive ways from institution to institution. This report cannot delve into all the details; rather, it provides a template that reformers can fill in as the project gets under way and the appropriate personnel begin to fill their mission-critical roles. The authors provide background on the priorities of key members of the senior leadership team. Trustees must understand how these jobs fit into the larger mosaic--why these roles are essential, what they entail, and what skill sets are required by each to ensure that the performance of the whole is greater than the sum of the performances of the individual parts. The authors discuss this in the context of the issues likely to be most pressing and discuss how the board can strengthen the leadership team's ability to address them successfully. This includes the board's involvement in hiring and staffing oversight. The authors also identify the choppy waters that inevitably lie ahead. The board is likely to encounter resistance to its reform program from every direction because every stakeholder group, from administrators to faculty members to students to donors, can see their interests as best served by the status quo. Worse, the byzantine policies and governance structures of the typical university are used very effectively by these interest groups to thwart attempts to change course. Therefore, the strategy the authors discuss calls for swift action and sustained effort over many years. University reform is not for the faint of heart or for those who are easily distracted.