Read They Told Me Not to Take that Job: Tumult, Betrayal, Heroics, and the Transformation of Lincoln Center for Free Online

illuminate certain truths, not just about Lincoln Center, but also about the leadership and management of key institutions in our society.
    Institutionally, America is supposed to run on a strong three-sector engine, monitored by a vigorous Fourth Estate. Each sector, prodded by a free press, is said to contribute significantly to the public welfare, in a division of labor virtually unique to our country. But the gap between the promise and performance of all of these sectors is growing, alarmingly so. And the faith of Americans in the proper execution of their respective responsibilities has badly eroded, perilously so.
    The first sector is government at all levels: federal, state, and local. Each is divided into executive, legislative, and judicial branches, which share power with one another. And each is supposed to act ultimately in accordance with the will of the people, the consent of the governed as expressed through free and fair elections. The polity is the ultimate consummation of the will of the people. American democracy has no other master.
    So I have been taught. By Madison, Jefferson, and other Founding Fathers, the authors of arguably America’s only tract of political philosophy, the Federalist Papers . 2
    The second sector is free enterprise. It is composed of for-profit institutions presumed to act in the best interests of their shareholders by delighting customers, partnering with suppliers, and conducting themselves not only lawfully but in a socially responsible way. Such being the case, little regulation from government is said to be required. What is in the interest of General Motors and Goldman Sachs is in the interest of the United States. Ordinarily, capitalism triumphs where government treads lightly.
    So I have learned. From Friedrich Hayek, Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, and Alan Greenspan. 3
    The third sector is the realm of nonprofit institutions. Accountable neither to voters nor to shareholders, eleemosynary organizations form when markets and governments fail to provide needed services at high enough levels of quality and at low enough cost. Exempt from taxes and eligible to receive tax-deductible gifts, these publicly subsidized nonprofits are intended to promote the general welfare.
    The pluralism of this third sector allows for the coexistence of hundreds of thousands of organizations serving the commonweal, a critical component of the genius of America. Educating our kids, healing our sick, offering the visual and performing arts to a demanding and discerning public, ministering to our religious needs, providing social services of all kinds, generating ideas in think tanks and patents at research universities, and safeguarding our civil rights and liberties, these and other indispensable services are performed better in America than elsewhere because of our extensive voluntarism and philanthropy.
    So I have gathered. Courtesy of Alexis de Tocqueville, Waldemar Nielsen, Lester Salamon, and Robert Putnam, among others. 4
    Politicians are accountable to citizens. The $4.5 trillion budgets they collectively wield each year, and the millions of workers the federal, state, and local governments employ, are intended to serve public needs. No more. No less. Answerable to the American people who choose to vote, politicians must face the public in regularly held elections, in which their performance will be judged.
    Members of the boards of directors of for-profit institutions are supposed to govern them intelligently and prudently. Our $17.5 trillion economy depends on it. That means careful selection of a qualified chief executive officer and the constant monitoring of the chief executiveofficer’s (CEO’s) performance, as well as that of the senior management team. It entails rigorous review of company strategy and close examination of an organization’s strategic risk profile. It suggests that the director of a for-profit firm is responsible not to the CEO but to the shareholders and the