The Transformative Power of Higher Education, with Dr. Brian Ralph
Dr Brian C. Ralph, is the President of William Peace University. Dr. Ralph’s career includes leadership roles at Hocking College in Ohio, Bethany College in West Virginia and Queens University in North Carolina. Dr. Ralph has a number of professional affiliations, including The Fifty Group, Leadership Triangle Executive program; board member of the North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities (NCICU), Cooperating Raleigh Colleges (CRC), Downtown Raleigh Alliance, The Alexander Family YMCA, The USA South Athletic Conference and Independent College Enterprise (ICE). As president of WPU, Dr. Ralph oversees a student body of almost 1,000 full and part-time students enrolled in undergraduate day, evening, and online programs, and an alumni body of more than 9,000. An astounding 97 percent of graduates from the classes of 2015 and 2016 were employed and/or in graduate school within one year after graduation. Dr. Ralph received his Bachelor of Science degree from Bloomsburg University, and both a Master in Business Administration and Doctorate of Philosophy in Organizational Communication and Culture from Ohio University. He and his wife Kristen have been married 22 years and have three daughters.
He is a 2016–2017 Leadership Triangle Goodmon Fellow.
“I’m driven to work hard to help others reach their potential. I’m a strategic and relational leader, and I’m doing my best work when I’m not trying to be the smartest person in the room, but instead, trying to be the best leader in the room.”
Kristine: To get us started, I’d love for you to share a bit of your story, and maybe some pieces that aren’t included in your public bio.
Dr. Ralph: So first, I would say that my identity and my purpose is shaped by my Christian faith. I was born and raised in Skaneateles, New York, which is one of the Finger Lakes just outside of Syracuse. I’m the oldest of three sons, and growing up, I played hockey and golf. I also did a lot of performing in vocal groups and musicals in high school and college. I am unbelievably fortunate to have had two amazing parents. My mom was at home with her sons until we “launched” out of the house. My dad was a successful stockbroker and wealth manager, for gosh, 40 something years there. He retired when he was 78. He loved to work and he was really good at it — just building relationships with people and valuing people. I think that’s something that I picked up on growing up is just how much both my mom and my dad placed a premium on really valuing people. Unfortunately, I lost my mom way too young.
My dad’s still alive and is based in upstate New York — one of the really cool things about him, that I did not recognize the importance and the influence of until later, is that he was a first generation college student. He worked his way through college, paid for it himself, and earned a degree from Syracuse, which is a terrific school. And of course, growing up from that area, I’ve been a lifetime Syracuse fan, especially men’s basketball and lacrosse. I appreciate what my dad accomplished more and more every day, because of the roles that I’ve had throughout my career, and of course in Higher Ed in particular. At William Peace University (WPU), almost 25% of our students are the first in their family to go to college. That connection enables me to give such a deeper level of respect and passion for the students that I serve, especially those who are blazing a new trail as a first generation student.
You can see where I went to college from my bio, but while I was getting my MBA and PhD from Ohio University, I met my wife, Kristen. We’re celebrating our 27th anniversary this summer and we have three amazing daughters. It’s been a real privilege to be their dad — all three are going to be in college this fall — a senior, a junior, and a first year student. It’ll be an interesting year.
Finally, I guess another way I’d answer the question about myself and my story, is that I have a deep passion for leading people. In particular, I’m driven to work hard to help others reach their potential. I’m a strategic and relational leader, and I’m doing my best work when I’m not trying to be the smartest person in the room, but instead, trying to be the best leader in the room. On a personal note, I absolutely hate coffee and I start my day off with Monster. I know that’s sacrilege, but I can’t stand it.
Kristine: OH NO. EVERYTHING WAS SO GOOD UNTIL THAT LAST SENTENCE. Dang it! Tea?
Dr. Ralph: No, no. It’s a bad habit, I fully acknowledge.
Kristine: Oof. I love coffee. Moving on.
Kristine: You mentioned not striving to be the smartest in the room, but to be the best leader in the room. Where does that orientation come from for you, and how do you think continual investments in your leadership and professional development have served you over time?
Dr. Ralph: I had a really cool crisis in my MBA program. So, I’m getting my MBA with a specialization in marketing and I’m about halfway through my program and I’m starting to do informational interviews and starting to, you know, get my toe in the water. But none of it resonated for me. So I went to my advisor and told them that none of the positions were exciting to me, and I felt no sense of purpose in that work. It just wasn’t for me. So she asked me if I had considered working in higher education. I was like, “What do you mean…. you can do that?” So she said, here’s eight people. Talk to them and come back to me. I talked to each of them, came back to her, and knew that this is what I wanted to do. What I do now is absolutely because of that moment. The educational mission of Universities is so important to me, in part, because it was so transformative to my family. I saw what that education did for my dad, my brothers, and now for our family.
I’m really passionate about organizations and how they grow, develop, change, excel, and most importantly, fulfill their mission. I believe that people need to be cared for and led well. One of my mentors often said that the quality of the organization is never going to exceed the quality of its people. I think she’s spot on. As a leader, attracting talent and creating space for talent to shine and grow is critical to organizational success. And then when an organization is being successful, that means they’re fulfilling their mission, which at the end of the day means the people that that organization is trying to serve are going to benefit the most. And as a member (and the leader) of teams, I try to align that to my own life — and ensure that I’m constantly growing and developing in service of getting better to steer my organization to bigger impact. That’s why I went through the Leadership Triangle Executive Program, and I’ve maintained good relationships with the other members of my cohort.
Lastly, I have a couple of people in my life who I call my Ironmen. There’s a proverb that says that as iron sharpens iron — one person sharpens another. I’ve got a couple of men in my life that are critical to my growth and development as a leader, a husband, a father and a man. They’re excellent at keeping me humble and encouraging me. In all of these ways, I’m intentionally investing in my own growth as a leader.
Kristine: When you were talking about how you have to create the space for the people in the organization to do transformative work, I was thinking, wow, you are really in the right space for you, because at the meta level, you’re doing that to create a functioning university. But of course a functioning university is going to create so many more functioning organizations itself. Right. There’s a ripple effect that’s really powerful in a university system.
Dr. Ralph: That’s a good observation. I hadn’t fully processed through that. That’s good.
“We have test questions that we have put into our meetings to make sure that we are challenging ourselves to evaluate and make decisions in alignment with our commitments. A few of the questions are “Have we been risk averse today?” “Have we been inclusive today?” We’ve made it a discipline to ask these questions at the end of our meetings and take a moment to think about them. We challenge ourselves to be sure we’re leading everyone, not just a segment of the organization.”
Kristine: So I love your iron sharpens iron people. I feel like one of the most powerful interventions, especially at the executive level of leadership, is to have people who tell you when you’re wrong and keep you accountable. Does that feel true for you?
Dr. Ralph: So, as I mentioned, I’ve got a couple of guys like that, but, the challenge with that of course, is they’re not in the meeting. They’re not in the boardroom. And that context is critically important. One of the things that is really important to me is to work really hard to create a climate where my leadership team can speak the truth. This is my first time being a CEO, President of an organization. I’ve had to learn a lot of good lessons, especially when I’ve got, you know, maybe an exciting idea or maybe I’m passionate about something. I have to work really hard to not be the first person to say something, because if I throw my first idea out there, it can change the whole dynamic of the conversation.
The second thing I’ve had to work on, alongside my team, is to create a culture of transparency where we are willing to be contrarian for the purpose of advancing the organization. We have test questions that we have put into our meetings to make sure that we are challenging ourselves to evaluate and make decisions in alignment with our commitments. A few of the questions are “Have we been risk averse today?” “Have we been inclusive today?” We’ve made it a discipline to ask these questions at the end of our meetings and take a moment to think about them. We challenge ourselves to be sure we’re leading everyone, not just a segment of the organization.
“I personally led our COVID planning team the entire year. I didn’t delegate that decision in part because I was being influenced by my own family’s experience, and I wanted to make sure that I was giving my full attention to the effort to lead our organization well, and really care for our students, our faculty and our staff.”
Kristine: That’s such a good practice. We do that at the beginning of our weekly meetings, as a review of the last week, but I really like your in-the-room check-out. I’m going to use that. Alright, so you said you have three daughters who are in college and you’re also leading a University. How did your role as a parent inform your role as the President of WPU over the last year?
Dr. Ralph: Way more than I could have ever asked or imagined. In a weird way, it was a huge gift. Over the last year, my two oldest were of course in college and my youngest was a senior in high school going through the college search. It was super instructive. From their experiences, I got insight into other institutions and how they were managing things and dealing with issues. I also heard their personal stories about how they were grappling with things, you know, watching my youngest daughter be in virtual high school all year, sitting behind a laptop, cranking through content and engaging with really hard-working teachers trying to make it all work. It gave me a glimpse into what our students and faculty and staff were experiencing, a perspective I absolutely would not have had otherwise.
Unfortunately, one of my daughters’ colleges was virtual all year, and I saw the struggle and the challenge of that. It was part of the reason I was so passionate about doing everything we could to make sure that our students were here in person. I personally led our COVID planning team the entire year. I didn’t delegate that decision in part because I was being influenced by my own family’s experience, and I wanted to make sure that I was giving my full attention to the effort to lead our organization well, and really care for our students, our faculty and our staff. Lastly, they became my sounding board. They were really responsive to me when they got several texts from me like, “Hey, how would you read this as a student?” And they are absolute truth-tellers, they are happy to tell Dad what works and what doesn’t, which is great. I’m proud that they’re wired that way and grateful that they’re willing to do that, because it definitely kept me from making a couple of mistakes along the way.
“Our undergraduate population represents 25 states, is 52% female and 48% male, and 45% students of color. I think we’re a very different place than a lot of people think we are.”
Kristine: So we’re in a moment of transition, and this is still a year of recovery. How can the Triangle community support you, support William Peace, and support your students this year?
Dr. Ralph: For one, I continue to feel like I have the opportunity to introduce us everywhere I go. I’d love for the Triangle to get to know us more — get to know who we are.
I think it will surprise a lot of people to learn that our undergraduate population represents 25 states, is 52% female and 48% male, and 45% students of color. I think we’re a very different place than a lot of people think we are. And we have this great online program for working adults who maybe got some college and want to finish up, and they can do hybrid or online.
We believe learning should be active and hands-on — we call our approach Immersive Learning. We work really hard to ensure that almost every one of our graduates gets at least one internship before they graduate. So we would welcome the opportunity for organizations who are looking for interns to provide a great experience for our students.
Hire our graduates. I know a lot of people are looking right now, and we’ve got some terrific graduates out there looking for some new opportunities.
Finally, we’re a nonprofit, and we have an awesome mission. Philanthropic support is always a great help for us, especially when we can direct it towards scholarships. We welcome guest speakers in our classes, or maybe hosting a class in your organization. A great example of that is our partnership with Leadership Triangle, where the Alumni Board and Alumni community partners with our Spring semester leadership class and they mentor students in that class. If you’re a LT Goodmon Fellow alum, please join us as a mentor (you can email Kristine if you’re interested).
