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.
Industry Reviews
"""Broken is an invitation to imagine different dimensions of the same challenges, abandoning old, tired ideas and reaffirming the most important human and spiritual values. That is why this book deserves wide readership and recognition.""
—His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
""Broken inspires those who are already engaged in education and/or social justice movements, as well as those who are on the sidelines, to explore how we build social systems that ‘love ALL those they are intended to serve.' You'll find yourself hanging onto every word.""
—Janiece Evans-Page, CEO, Tides
""LeBlanc, one of the nation's most innovative and visionary university presidents, offers a thoughtful and thought-provoking look at how to counter the despair so many Americans feel about the state of our most vital systems—from education to health care to criminal justice. For all of us eager to find ways to truly be the change, Broken is a worthwhile and inspiring read.""
—Thasunda Brown Duckett, CEO, TIAA
""LeBlanc lays out a strong case for how each of us can play a role in delivering on our promise to all people to help them realize their highest potential.""
—Johnny Taylor, CEO, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)
""In his galvanizing new book, LeBlanc turns his attention to systems of care in our society, including health care and criminal justice, in addition to higher education, that are in a state of brokenness. Employing his considerable gifts as a storyteller, LeBlanc asks his readers to consider social systems informed by love and respect for the human condition.""
—Dr. Matthew G Biel, Division Chief and Vice Chair for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Georgetown University Medical Center—Medstar Health
""In his powerful book Broken, Paul LeBlanc outlines what a world that centers our shared humanity can look like, and why it's so critical that we seize the chance to make bold changes—now. This is requisite reading for anyone who wants to be a part of the solution, not the problem.""
—Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO, Acumen and Author of The Blue Sweater and Manifesto for a Moral Revolution
""Paul does a masterful job of honestly assessing our social systems from higher education to health care and criminal justice, weaving in his own decades-long personal and professional journey . . . Paul lays out a strong case for how each of us can play a role in delivering on our promise to all people to help them realize their highest potential.""
—Johnny Taylor, CEO, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)"
