Chapter 8 - Center for Engaged Learning

Beth Brunk

While she has occupied many leadership roles, Brunk’s chapter focuses on the benefits of acknowledging her “incompleteness” as a leader. She describes how a 360° leadership assessment helped her recognize a particular area for development—the need to be more authoritative. Brunk describes how she used this feedback to learn from her colleagues and to develop additional leadership skills. She then describes this process, which involved listening actively and rhetorically—i.e., listening to hear and identify with others’ perspectives—as central to her learning.

Related Book Resources

Through Brunk’s experiences, these video resources highlight how leaders learn to work with feedback, navigate complexity, and expand their effectiveness by engaging meaningfully with others’ perspectives.

Deciding to Lead

Brunk reflects on her decision-making style, exploring how listening to colleagues, gathering perspectives, and navigating conflict shaped her approach to leadership.

Transformational Leadership

Brunk considers how she chooses leadership opportunities, balancing readiness, institutional value, and collaboration while reflecting on her growth as a transformative leader.

Collaborative Leadership

Brunk reflects on leadership as a collaborative, reflective practice, emphasizing mentorship, dialogue, and expanding access while navigating the challenges of shared decision-making.

Learning within Leadership

Brunk describes how she integrates innovation and reflection, guiding program-wide initiatives and incremental change to better serve students and strengthen institutional practices.

Discussion Questions

Brunk describes two kinds of listening (active listening and rhetorical listening) as central to her leadership. She also provides illustrations of how she uses these strategies both as she approaches institutional goals and experiences and develops her own identities as a leader. As you consider your interactions, whether as a leader or an aspiring leader, what listening strategies do you bring to your role? How do these listening strategies contribute to your overall growth as a leader?

Cite this Chapter

Brunk, Beth. 2026. “Listening as a(n Incomplete) Leader.” In Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn: A Collaborative Syllabus for Higher Education Leadership, edited by Linda Adler-Kassner and Chris W. Gallagher. Center for Engaged Learning. https://doi.org/10.36284/celelon.oa11.8.

Chapter 8: Listening as a(n Incomplete) Leader