Breaking the Bubble of Normalcy in Higher Ed: Brian Rosenberg, PhD (Part II)

Brian Rosenberg, PhD, has become a leading voice for change in higher education, challenging the status quo and (as noted in Part I of this two-part podcast) striving to ensure that bureaucracy does not overwhelm the humanity essential to higher learning.  

In Part II of his conversation with WittKieffer Senior Advisor Elsa Núñez, EdD, Dr. Rosenberg expands upon why higher education must "break through the bubble of normalcy" and find new and better ways of serving students and sustaining its institutions.  

Today's college presidents, provosts, and other leaders must be transparent and brutally honest with faculty and other constituents about the challenges they face, he believes. To win people over, "relentlessly present them with evidence and do it often enough that they believe you," Dr. Rosenberg says, especially around budgeting and finances which are too often shrouded in mystery.   

He also advises today's leaders to resist their natural desire to be the "smartest in the room" and to step back and listen to others. "Your job is to empower other people, to make them feel like they're the smartest in the room," he says. "It's not about you."