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There is no one right way to be a leader. Boston College students are called to serve others in whatever ways they can: in their classrooms, in their careers, and in their communities. But what does it mean to specifically be an empathetic leader? That is the lesson that Brandon P. Fleming, an acclaimed educator, public speaker, and founder/CEO of the听, brought to the annual Brennan Symposium for Inclusive Leadership.

On an unseasonably warm February night, students from across all Boston College schools filled tables in Gasson Hall as Fleming took the stage. He notes that these types of speeches, ones about leadership, often go hand-in-hand with data and Powerpoint presentations. His speech has a different tactic entirely鈥攊t's about lived experience.听

鈥淪tories change people more than information ever will,鈥� he says, before launching into his tale, a harrowing journey from childhood abuse at the hands of his addict preacher stepfather and an adolescence dealing with gangs to the educational transformation that ultimately brought him to the Harvard Debate Council staff. His story also includes Fleming landing on lists like听贵辞谤产别蝉鈥櫶�鈥溾�� and听The Root鈥檚听, and听听at the United Nations General Assembly. Add to that list: leading underserved Atlanta youths to victory in Harvard鈥檚 annual summer debate residency tournament four years in a row.

Fleming himself could be a poet the way he captivates a crowd in his three-piece suit and striped bowtie. He can go from exuberant to deadly serious in seconds flat, taking his audience with him as he recounts his story. The audience can鈥檛 help but lean in. They stop flipping through the yellow and black copies of Fleming鈥檚 memoir听Miseducated听in their hands and tuck their phones away鈥攖hey are immediately along for the ride.听

As Fleming says, every single person in the room is there for the same reason鈥攁 kindred desire for 鈥渋mpact.鈥� No matter the field, no matter the role, we have a moral imperative to be empathetic leaders. It鈥檚 the perfect lesson for the听Brennan Symposium for Inclusive Leadership, which was launched in 2007 by the听Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics. The annual event was devised to bring together student leaders across the Boston College community and foster dialogue on what it means to be a leader. Past speakers have included Ben Rattray, CEO of Change.org, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tina Rosenberg.

Although Fleming now takes his role as a teacher and mentor seriously鈥攈e is currently the Assistant Debate Coach for Harvard University鈥攊t鈥檚 clear that being an educator was not always his dream job. Growing up he resented teachers and felt shuffled along, knowing that those around him were unconcerned with what went on in his life after the last bell rang. In reality, by the age of 12 he was dealing drugs and joined a gang at 14. A promising basketball player, he was recruited to play for Liberty University, but quickly dropped out after a devastating tear to his patellar tendon. At 18 he was working a factory job, bottling vitamins. He did eventually return to college鈥攇raduating from Liberty University in 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts in English鈥攂ut not before surviving a drug overdose.

Fleming wishes he could say that his life was smooth sailing from there, but when he did go back to school, he was especially aware of what he didn鈥檛 know. He resorted to cheating his way through classes, hanging on by the skin of his teeth. All it took was one teacher seeing beyond his troubled grades and frustrated demeanor to change his outlook completely.

After plagiarizing an essay, his professor called him into her office. Instead of failing him, she did something Fleming had never experienced before: she asked to know more about him.听

鈥淎ll of a sudden this wall started to come down between us鈥攖his wall that represented my disdain for teachers,鈥� he says. That professor made it her mission to help him. Not only did they work on class assignments together, but she also introduced him to the works and words of great thinkers like Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass. For the first time, he saw Black scholars in his world.听

鈥淗aving a young Black man in front of her, she understood what it would take to reach me and show me something about myself that I did not know,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he entire trajectory of my life changed when I was met with compassion.鈥�

Finding Your Place in the World Through Empathy

This lesson extends well beyond the world of education. With the portraits of past Boston College leaders watching on, the students in attendance asked questions that embodied the Jesuit value of 鈥渕en and women for others,鈥� and the calling to interact with the world in ways that embody justice and empathy. They asked about faith, burnout, and education, but also about finding their purpose as they prepare for life after college.

鈥淲hat would you suggest for someone who is stuck in the rabbit hole of what they want to do鈥�and want to find value in what they do?鈥� one student asks, clearly weighing professional choices as graduation inches ever closer.

鈥淭he best way to figure out what your purpose is, is to be for someone else what you once needed,鈥� Fleming says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just about making it to the top, but reaching back and pulling others up too.鈥�

When he ultimately returned to Liberty University, Fleming joined the school's debate team and relished the process. But he quickly realized that his desire to mentor others outweighed his own need to participate. Dropping from the debate team, Fleming began to mentor at-risk teens in his free time, teaching them about leadership and academics through debate. Those skills became the foundation of his career.