Weekly Wisdom Interview With College of the Holy Cross President Vincent Rougeau
The Innovating Together Podcast
English - September 11, 2023 17:24 - 26 minutes - 36.4 MBEducation Homepage Download Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
In today’s episode of the Innovating Together podcast, hosts Bridget Burns and Doug Lederman talk with Vincent Rougeau, a former law dean, and the current President of College of the Holy Cross. President Rougeau spent a good part of his career in legal education, and was a law dean prior to taking the Holy Cross job. Today, he shares his insights on how his legal training and experience leading in a law school has affected how he leads.
President Rougeau believes that in order to be an effective leader, it requires a deep understanding of oneself. To be an authentic leader, you must be able to recognize your strengths, weaknesses, values, goals, and interests and use them to your advantage. He believes that it is just as important to see those in others. This means that as the leader, you should focus on serving the needs of the team and the organization, rather than your own personal needs and desires. President Rougeau stated that this can be difficult, as the natural instinct of a leader is to focus on their own needs and desires first. However, by focusing on the needs of the team and the organization, the leader is able to create an environment of collaboration and trust. This allows the team and the organization to thrive and grow.
“I was fortunate enough to have a role model in my life who taught me the importance of leading with service. My father was deeply devoted to principles, often making serious sacrifices to benefit many people beyond himself. He was involved in the civil rights movement and was jailed for his work. From him, I learned that if you lead primarily to gain something for yourself, it may not be the best motivation. Instead, if you lead to improve an organization or institution on behalf of many, then you will be more successful.” - President Rougeau
What you will learn -
Authentic leadership is key
Diverse leadership in institutions
Building a Positive Community
Many pathways to success
Learn more about President Rougeau by visiting:
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This week's episode is sponsored by Mainstay, a student retention and engagement tool where you can increase student and staff engagement with the only platform consistently proven to boost engagement, retention, and wellbeing. To learn more about Mainstay, click here.