A university president possesses neither the truth as a crystal nor a crystal ball. The true university works from the bottom up, not from the top down. The main responsibility of a university's leaders is to create and maintain the conditions that make university work possible. These conditions do not include tightly formulated programs. On the whole I find this view very congenial, though not quite complete.
Universities can become too set, too complacent, too smug in their ways.
It is the responsibility of presidents, provosts, deans continuously to question the manner in which things are being done at a university. The notion that university administrators should only implement what university faculty, from time to time, may get around to ordaining is not really a recipe for coping with the inevitable need for change. And I think there's a real danger to use the term excellence too easily. Even as excellent an institution as Stanford can develop weaknesses, can be mediocre in some areas. At a true university those who participate in its life must draw together and jointly reinvent the university every day.