THE LIFE-CHANGING POWER OF EDUCATION

"Being a University President is closer to being the Mayor of a small town than it is being the CEO of a company because of how democratic college campuses are by design." — Rhett Brown, Wingate University

This is the perfect quote to help you understand the kind empathetic leader Rhett Brown is. One who values casting a clear vision, having a passion for the mission, collaboration, diversity, and consensus building.

Though he calls himself an "accidental leader", there's nothing accidental about Wingate University becoming one of the fastest growing universities in North Carolina under his leadership.

We covered a lot during our short conversation: the purpose of higher education, the criticism it often fairly and unfairly receives, the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion, and a myriad of other topics.

I asked him what an empathetic approach to education would look like.

His answer was simple: "Meet the students where they are."

This sentiment was echoed multiple times throughout our conversation.

We all have a personal relationship with education, which explains why each of us have an opinion on the topic.

Higher education is regularly criticized and its usefulness increasingly questioned.

I asked Rhett Brown, President at Wingate University what he thought were the fairest and least fair critiques of higher education.

He acknowledged higher ed's resistance to change and its sluggish adoption to new ideas and technologies that best reflect current realities.

However, his belief in education's power to change lives is unwavering and the critics that argues otherwise only stoke his passion for giving as many people as possible access to this life-changing opportunity.

Empathy-Led EP14/S02: