Once in a long while, I come across a book that I just can’t stop reading until I finish it. And then I have to read it again and again to savor it. For a guy who finishes a book every week, only a few books have had a magical impact on me. These include Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “One hundred years of solitude”, John Johnson’s autobiography “Succeeding against the odds”, John Bogle’s “Enough” and Thomas Moore’s “Care of the Soul”. I recently bumped into another gem.

At the January conference of Presidents of Colleges, hosted by the Council of Independent Colleges, where I spoke, I picked up a copy of this book titled “From Bottom to Top Tier in a Decade: The Wagner College Turnaround Years”. It’s a wonderful turnaround story of a college that fell on hard times because two competitors ate away at its core base, one from the top and the other from the bottom. Instead of facing reality, one college administration after the other let it slip until President Norman Smith was brought in to rescue the college.

I won’t give the story away, but it’s powerful story of how Dr. Smith – with his sheer optimism, dogged determination and smarts – nurses the college back to prosperity. Frankly, I think this is movie material. Read it. Savor it. Enjoy it.

Get more details at The Wagner College Turnaround Years website.