Michael HornThought leader creating a world where all individuals can build passions & fulfill their human potential. Author of the national bestseller Job Moves: 9 Steps for Making Progress in Your Career

Inside the Role of College Trustees During Turbulent Times

Name: Inside the Role of College Trustees During Turbulent Times
Uploaded: 2026-02-10T14:00:05+00:00
Duration: 2 min 19 s
Channel: Michael Horn
Description: In this interview segment, Michael Horn asks Speaker B about the pivotal insight that led to the idea of publishing college trustees' resignation letters…

10 Feb 2026 · 2 min

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2:19

In this interview segment, Michael Horn asks Speaker B about the pivotal insight that led to the idea of publishing college trustees' resignation letters as a book. Speaker B explains that while governance formally requires trustees and fellows to submit resignation letters, there is no prescribed content. Over time, a tradition emerged where trustees write reflective, personal letters about their service, which are then read aloud to the entire corporation of 54 members. The emotional impact of these readings, especially a particularly moving letter from a long‑time friend, sparked the realization that these personal narratives hold broader value. Speaker B’s “light‑bulb” moment was recognizing that without such shared stories, we remain unaware of the depth of individuals’ experiences, prompting a vision to collect and share these stories publicly.

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And I'd love to hear your story around this. What was it that struck you, that light bulb moment, if you will, that led you later to think, hey, these letters should be published in the form of a book?
Sure. Well, two things. Number one, there is a formal governance requirement that trustees and fellows terming off the corporation are required to send a letter of resignation. However, it's not a requirement in any way as to what the content is. It could be, dear Secretary, dear President, dear Chancellor, I hereby resign. But what has happened is that not by governance, but by practice or tradition, people had begun to reflect they're human beings. And this term of trusteeship or fellowship meant a lot of. And they do tend to write reflections of their time either on the corporation or at Brown. My light bulb moment came in two parts. At the end of my first year of my six year term, hearing these letters read aloud, which is the other kind of nuance of it. They're not just submitted, they're read aloud in front of 54 people in a corporation room. They were moving, they were eloquent, et cetera. And a couple years later, it was really a letter written by someone who I had gone to school with, who I had known for around 30 years, who I thought I kind of knew pretty well. His letter was read aloud and his story that informed so much of his life was so essential and so emotional that I thought to myself, if I didn't know this man's story, look around, look around the world. You really don't know anyone's story until they choose to share it with you. And that was the real light bulb moment of having a vision to see if people wanted to share their stories with the world.