(III. Recommendations)

F. Concluding Recommendations With Regard to Implementation

The Commission is aware of the already extensive history of commission reports that have served only to fill bookshelf space -- no more. Quite naturally, this is one line of history to which this Commission would prefer not to add. With that concern in mind, the Commission offers these additional recommendations, which are intended to increase the chances that the foregoing Commission recommendations may have operational effect.

RECOMMENDATION (16) re: SEARCH FOR NEW DIRECTOR

RECOGNIZING THAT THE NEW NMAH DIRECTOR WILL BE, PERHAPS, THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT INDIVIDUAL IN SHAPING THE MUSEUM'S TRANSFORMATION, THE COMMISSION RESPECTFULLY RECOMMENDS THAT THE SEARCH COMMITTEE BE DIRECTED AS FOLLOWS:

• (16-a) DISCUSSION WITH CANDIDATES. THE SEARCH COMMITTEE SHOULD EXPLICITLY DISCUSS THIS REPORT WITH SERIOUS CANDIDATES FOR THE NMAH DIRECTORSHIP, AND SHOULD SOLICIT CANDIDATES' SPECIFIC VIEWS WITH RESPECT TO EACH OF ITS RECOMMENDATIONS.
• (16-b) EXPLICIT ASSESSMENT. IN ADVANCING TO THE SECRETARY AND THE REGENTS ITS OWN RECOMMENDATION OF A NEW DIRECTOR, THE SEARCH COMMITTEE SHOULD EXPLICITLY ASSESS THE PREFERRED CANDIDATE'S VIEWS OF THIS REPORT AND CAPACITIES FOR IMPLEMENTING ITS RECOMMENDATIONS.
• (16-c) PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS. THROUGHOUT THIS REPORT, PERSONAL QUALITIES AND CHARACTERISTICS ARE EXPLICITLY AND IMPLICITLY IDENTIFIED AS IMPORTANT FOR A NEW DIRECTOR. MANY OF THESE DO NOT LEND THEMSELVES TO MEASUREMENT VIA CONVENTIONAL CREDENTIALING, AND MUST BE ASSESSED IN A MANNER THAT REQUIRES ARTFUL JUDGEMENT. IN ADDITION TO QUALITIES THAT ARE NOT INDICATED BY FORMAL CREDENTIALS, HOWEVER, IT IS IMPORTANT ALSO TO ATTEND TO TWO INESCAPABLE FACTS:
  
  (i) AN NMAH DIRECTOR MUST KNOW AMERICAN HISTORY;
  
  (ii) AN NMAH DIRECTOR MUST COMMAND THE RESPECT OF PROFESSIONALS IN THE FIELDS OF HISTORY AND MUSEUM MANAGEMENT.
  
  Note: Most members of the Commission believe that, as a practical matter, this means that an NMAH Director should have superior scholarly and museum credentials.

RECOMMENDATION (17) re: ALIGNMENT OF VIEWS

RECOGNIZING THAT THE NEW DIRECTOR WILL REQUIRE THE SUPPORT OF THOSE ABOVE AND BELOW HIM OR HER IN A LARGE INSTITUTIONAL BUREAUCRACY, THE SECRETARY AND THE BOARD SHOULD ATTEMPT TO ASSURE THAT:

• (17-a) VISION. THEIR VISION OF THE DESIRED NMAH TRANSFORMATION AND THE NEW DIRECTOR'S VISION MUST BE CONSISTENT WITH EACH OTHER.
• (17-b) STRATEGY. THE SECRETARY, THE BOARD, AND THE NEW DIRECTOR MUST BE SATISFACTORILY ALIGNED WITH RESPECT TO THE STRATEGY FOR ACHIEVING THAT TRANSFORMATION.
• (17-c) SUPPORT. THE NEW DIRECTOR MUST HAVE THE INSTITUTIONAL BACKING AND PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL CAPACITIES NECESSARY TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN THE SUPORT OF NMAH PROFESSIONALS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRANSFORMATION STRATEGY.

RECOMMENDATION (18) re: DIRECTOR'S TENURE

RECOGNIZING THAT A TRANSFORMATION STRATEGY THAT IS WORTH PURSUING WILL TAKE MANY YEARS TO IMPLEMENT, THE SECRETARY, THE REGENTS, AND THE BOARD SHOULD CONSIDER THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS REQUIREMENT FOR POSSIBLE TERMS, PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES, AND INCENTIVES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW DIRECTOR'S CONTRACT.

RECOMMENDATION (19) re: BALANCE TESTS

RECOGNIZING THAT THE COMMISSION'S RECOMMENDED PRINCIPLES FOR ASSURING EXHIBIT BALANCE ARE ABSTRACT, AND THAT THE PROCESS OF DEVELOPING INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITS IS LONG AND DYNAMIC, NMAH SHOULD STRUCTURE AN APPROPRIATE ADVISORY REVIEW MECHANISM TO ASSURE THAT THE TESTS OF BALANCE ARE REASONABLY ADDRESSED AT AN INTERMEDIATE REVIEW STAGE IN THE COURSE OF EXHIBIT DEVELOPMENT.

RECOMMENDATION (20) re: MONITORING

THE SECRETARY SHOULD REQUIRE THE ACTING DIRECTOR AND NEW DIRECTOR TO REPORT TO THE BOARD AND THE SECRETARY AS FOLLOWS:

• (20-a) SPECIFIC PLANS. THE ACTING DIRECTOR AND NEW DIRECTOR SHOULD DEVELOP SPECIFIC PLANS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OR NON-IMPLEMENTATION OF EACH OF THE COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS.
• (20-b) STRATEGY. AFTER APPROPRIATE REVIEW OF SUCH PLANS, THE NEW DIRECTOR SHOULD PREPARE AND SUBMIT A LONG-TERM STRATEGY THAT ADDRESSES SPECIFICALLY THE PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES IDENTIFIED IN THIS REPORT.
• (20-c) PROGRESS. HAVING IN VIEW THE PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES IDENTIFIED BY THE COMMISSION, AS WELL AS A LONG TERM STRATEGY AND PLAN FOR NMAH, THE NEW NMAH DIRECTOR SHOULD REPORT PERIODICALLY TO THE SECRETARY AND THE BOARD -- IN DETAIL -- ON PROGRESS IN IMPLEMENTING EACH COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION (OR APPROVED ALTERNATIVES THERETO).

In being educated about the Museum, and in preparing to draft this report, the Commission has been aided throughout by NMAH staff. They have been highly professional, consistently cooperative, and unfailingly constructive. Members of the Commission wish to express formally their appreciation, respect, and thanks for the excellent support afforded to the Commission by NMAH staff.

The Commission has concluded its deliberations with great respect for NMAH's extraordinary strengths; with a deeper appreciation for the complexity of the challenges facing the Museum; and with confidence that, as the problems identified here are addressed, NMAH will not only remain a fundamentally important national treasure. It will also be a museum of the very highest quality: aesthetically appealing, intellectually responsible, thematically interesting, educationally effective -- a worthy focus of compelling interest and a justifiable source of national pride.

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