Broken

by Paul LeBlanc

Many of the systems built to serve people instead do more harm than good.

In Broken, Dr. Paul LeBlanc, president of Southern New Hampshire University, draws on his experience working in one such system—education—to reconnect us to the human facets of serving people. In doing so, he charts a course for rebuilding and reinhabiting better systems across education, healthcare, criminal justice, government, and more.

The United States spends enormous sums on helping people—$3.8 trillion on healthcare, $182 billion on prisons, and $604 billion on higher education—and yet these systems routinely fail us.

When we seek to improve how they function, our efforts focus on policy debates, technical solutions, funding, and data. But if these systems are to truly improve, we have to start with the human values that fuel decision making.

Broken explores the deeply human dimensions we must consider—aspiring, discovering, mattering—if we want to rebuild the policies, technologies, processes, and, most importantly, the heart we use to serve people.

Over the course of 25 years as a college and university president and higher education innovator, Paul LeBlanc, PhD, has encountered innumerable wonderful people who want to do the right thing for students but whose efforts cannot overcome the shortcomings of the system. Now, he shares what he’s learned, and continues to learn, about the opportunities and necessity to put humanity and care at the center of all our systems.

With Broken, LeBlanc outlines the distinctly human questions that education—and all systems that serve—must start asking to reframe what is broken in order to make lasting repairs and to better care for those they serve.

Genres: Audiobook

256 pages, Hardcover

Published September 27, 2022

Reviews

[Don Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would have been a really good book had he not included pushing a blatant leftist agenda in parts of the book

Although as a President of a higher education system, I guess I should have expected it

[Lance Eaton · Rating 2 out of 5]

As the man who led Southern New Hampshire University from a small unmemorable college in New England to one of the largest and most recognizable accessible institutions, Leblanc builds upon that achievement by looking at the broader societal challenges to consider what can be fixed. In some ways this feels like a victory lap--having supposedly succeeded in one area, it's time to show others how it's done in areas that he seems to have a paltry understanding. The book goes through a mixture of biography, all the things SNHU is doing right through his leadership, occasional dips into times he just didn't get it right and maybe a place or two where he could get better, as well as occasionally dives into areas of K-12 education, criminal justice, healthcare, and the like to point out what he deems examples of systems that are putting humans first--just as he supposedly is. Yet LeBlanc's purpose in this book is mired and unclear, but most evident, disingenuous to the point he is trying to make. He argues regularly about the importance of creating extensive systems that can still recognize and uphold the humanity and agency of every individual; he claims this is what he has done at SNHU through his students and his staff; yet, the vast majority of labor--labor that counts towards educational attainment is done by an adjunct system that is highly controlled and exploited. Underpaid, monitored, and expected to constantly respond to students and the like that is easily comparative to the command and control approaches to other dehumanizing spaces such as Amazon, Uber, and such. It's a frustrating thing to hear how often he upholds the importance of relationships and spends less than a few pages in total considering the role of the actual educators in an institution that has over 100,000 students. It becomes hard to take what he says or his recommendations seriously because his own accomplishments seem suspect. That said, he's not wrong about wanting to think about how to center relationships in complex systems, he just is far from doing it and therefore, this book feels like an unreflective and undeserved pat on the back to create opportunities for more financially-rewarding speaking engagements.

[Joelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Main message is that most systems fail at scale because once they've reached that scale they're not held accountable for maintaining a human touch. When held accountable for financial metrics only - surprise! - the people-focused metrics suffer. The book advocates for technology that assists, rather than replaces, human-centered service as programs expand. He also asks organizations to proactively collect not just their success stories, but also the uncomfortable stories of the people they failed to help, and reflect on why, so those shortcomings don't get glossed over by metrics. As an example, the author (a university president, scaling online programs) tells a story of inviting all his worst critics to dinner and asking them to give feedback on how he was running the university - all while he sat, listened, and took notes on how to improve the university, looking for nuggets of truth from every piece of feedback, even when he disagreed with it.


I thought the examples and data in the book were compelling. For instance, the data about how much money could be saved in social programs by making them more dignified rather than (ironically) focusing on cost-cutting measures. (For-profit prisons that neglect rehabilitation got a hefty critique from this book). An example of keeping the human touch at scale- the story of a healthcare system that provides patients with a health coach who gets to know them long-term, guiding them as they see multiple specialists, their internist, nurse practitioners, etc. These examples and others could have been even stronger with more detail.


It read like a leadership book with a few case studies sprinkled in.

[ExLibrisR811 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not wait to get my hands on this book, and it was more than I could’ve hoped for! A book focused on caring about humans across social systems written through the lens of captivating storytelling and conversation with other relevant thought leaders. Paul sprinkles his own story throughout the book, providing a level of personal connection often lacking in such a book, ironically.
He conveys the challenges of our social systems, largely exacerbated by the pandemic, while reminding us that all is not lost.
By acknowledging that “…our systems may be broken, our people are not”, Paul delivers a message of hope grounded in love if only we can shift our perspectives and redefine success in our human-focused sectors. An excellent and engaging read for anyone working with people, from leadership to those on the frontline, who feel called to address the inequities and failures of our social systems.
This book made my soul happy.

[Audrey McLaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Written with a storyteller’s skill and the quiet confidence of an educator at the top of his game, Dr. LeBlanc shares his hard-won lessons, irrepressible imagination and heart-centered worldview to inspire readers to improve the myriad systems that are meant to support human beings but so often fail those most in need.

Searingly honest but buoyantly hopeful, with solid advice and touching tributes to the many people whose work he so admires, LeBlanc is not afraid to outline his own mistakes in the service of instruction and to celebrate the successes of his own institution and so many others. No matter how long you’ve been working in education, Broken will inspire you to remember why you chose this path in the first place and increase your determination to be among the educators who co-author the sequel to this book: Fixed.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant analysis of where “the problems” lie in our systems today and what it will take to fix them. Put simply, LeBlanc says that focusing on ensuing your clients, students, patients, inmates feel they “matter” is the first step. Second, carefully consider the human fundamentals at the core of scaling. Pay attention to what really CAN be done by AI or other digital means with an eye NOT on firing people to help your shareholders or board but rather to free your people up to do the things that a machine cannot do. Third: intensely focus on your people/employees/teams (as opposed to your clients in first point), and finally lead without your thumb up your ass looking at your monthly or quarterly profit.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. LeBlanc combines the right amount of authentic anecdotal material with well researched and in-depth analysis to provide a positive way forward. Seldom are leaders and managers so self-aware and able to reflect on how to do things better. As a 30 plus year government employee I saw firsthand the obstacles of change and deficits of bureaucratic paralysis. The humanity does not have to get lost in delivering services on a large scale. I enjoyed this book so much because it doesn't just point out what's not working but presents a plan on how things can work better. A great read from a visionary leader.

[Lost Horse]

A very honest but truly hopeful book. Universities must be committed to developing and adapting to the changing educational demands of students worldwide. LeBlanc's success at SNHU shows how the advancement of online asynchronous learning is crucial to the overall objective of preparing students for meaningful degrees, as well as real-world skills.

[Mark Nichols · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring.

Please, if you are a higher education administrator, leader, decision-maker, budget holder, or are in any way involved in learner success, read this. We need better systems, more generous thinking, more enlightened processes. And, at the centre of it all, love. Yes, love.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

The subtitle says what the book is about: How our social systems are failing usd and how we can fix them. Well written, but just didn't appeal to me, especially after reading Robert Reich's book Coming Up Short. I bailed about a quarter of the way in.