The Solution Trap
A Guide to Better Decision-Making for Higher Education Leaders
Unable to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Failed to remove from Wish List.
Adding to library failed
Unable to follow podcast
Unable to unfollow podcast
Get 30 days of Standard free
The Solution Trap
Buy Now for €15.99
-
Narrated by:
-
Calvin Sweers
-
By:
-
Brian Fleming
New learning models. Structural reforms. AI-powered everything. Vendor pitches that promise growth, efficiency, and transformation. Across colleges and universities, leaders are surrounded by solutions. Yet the same problems persist: declining enrollment, rising costs, political pressure, and eroding public trust.
What if the real problem isn’t a lack of solutions? What if it's how decisions get made under pressure?
In The Solution Trap, higher education strategist Dr. Brian Fleming exposes a hidden pattern behind many of the most expensive and disappointing decisions in higher education. Drawing on decades of experience advising colleges and universities, Fleming shows how smart, well-intentioned leaders repeatedly get pulled toward the wrong solutions—not because they’re careless, but because of three powerful lures that shape decision-making:
Urgency: The pressure to act before clarity emergesImitation: Taking inspiration from what succeeded elsewhere.
Survival: Choosing what feels safest in times of uncertaintyThese shortcuts feel responsible in the moment—until you’re explaining a failed initiative, a stalled program launch, or a multi-million-dollar mistake to your board.
Through vivid case studies and practical frameworks, The Solution Trap offers a way out.
©2026 Brian Fleming (P)2026 Brian Fleming