The Revolution Nobody's Talking About

I've been in education for 30 years. Elizabeth Rosner has been in it for 40.

Last week, we had our first conversation.

I mentioned these Master's degrees start from US$6,000.

Long pause.

Then: "Wait, what? We need to talk about this. Now."

Twenty-four hours later, we were recording a podcast.

The Woman Fighting For Debt-Free Education

Elizabeth Rosner (https://www.linkedin.com/in/drelizabethrosner/) isn't just talking about making education "affordable." She's demanding it be debt-free.

After four decades in US higher education—35 years as someone else's employee before retiring into entrepreneurship—she founded Love Revolution. Debt-Free Degree.

Her mission statement comes from Martin Luther King Jr.:

"A social movement that moves merely people is a revolt. But a social movement that transforms both people and institutions is a revolution."

This woman is revolutionary.

And when she heard "$6,000 for an entire Master's degree," she knew we were circling the same truth from different hemispheres.

The Education System Wasn't Built For Us

Here's what neither of us said on the podcast, but both of us know:

Traditional academia was designed for a specific type of person with a specific type of life:

• Uninterrupted time for 3-4 years

• Financial resources (or willingness to go into debt)

• Ability to prioritize theory over immediate application

• Career trajectory that values letters after your name over lived experience

• Belief that you must climb the ladder, not build the circle

For women building businesses that breathe?

That model is catastrophically misaligned.

You're juggling client delivery, team management, family responsibilities, and trying to carve out space to even think about your business—let alone spend years on case studies from a decade ago about companies you'll never work for.

And yet.

Those letters matter. For board positions. For tenders. For grants. For corporate partnerships. For the simple recognition that you know what you're doing.

So we're stuck in this impossible bind:

Need the credentials. Can't afford the time. Can't justify the debt. Can't stomach the irrelevance.

Until now.

What If Education Looked Different?

This is where Ducere Global Business School enters the story.

(Pronounced “Do-Sir”. Latin: "to lead.")

Founded 17 years ago by my friend Mathew Jacobson (Mat) —an Aussie who became one of the few Australians to own a university in the US—Ducere Kennedy University of Leadership (https://kennedyu.org/) was built on a radical premise:

What if higher education actually served entrepreneurs?

Not as an afterthought. Not as a "flexible option." But as the primary design.

Here's what that looks like in practice:

The Framework That Changes Everything

No exams. Every assessment is a project you work on in your actual business or role.

12-24 months. Not 3-4 years of your life disappearing into academia.

$6,000-$15,000 USD total. For the entire degree. Not per semester. Not per course. The whole thing.

No bachelor's degree required. Just demonstrate 3 years in a leadership role or business ownership. (Yes, self-employment counts. That IS leadership.)

Learn from global leaders. 2,500+ curated interviews with people like Desmond Tutu, Julia Gillard, heads of the CIA, Goldie Hawn (yes, the actress—who's also a brilliant businesswoman).

Every assignment builds your business. Not theoretical case studies. Your actual work.

What This Looks Like In Real Life

My Story

I completed my Master's degree with Ducere in 14 months while completely rebranding Navigate Biz.

Every project I submitted? Built my business in real time.

• New messaging framework

• Client journey mapping

• Service offering restructure

• Pricing repositioning

• Authority positioning strategy

The ROI? I now have people reaching out every other day asking to work with me.

The degree paid for itself 500% over—and it's still compounding.

The Corporate Story

One global company put 10 senior leaders through Ducere's MBA program.

Total investment: $83,000 for all 10.

But here's where it gets interesting:

Ducere went into that organisation at no cost and did a complete analysis. Where were the challenging spots? What needed attention? AI implementation? Supply chain issues? ESG compliance?

They identified the problems, then designed the MBA projects around solving those actual challenges.

Those 10 leaders spent their degree work solving real problems in their real business.

Documented ROI: Multi Multi million straight to the bottom line.

This isn't unusual. This is how the model works.

The Accessibility Revolution

But here's what made Elizabeth stop mid-conversation:

This isn't just about entrepreneurs in developed countries.

Ducere provides scholarship-level pricing for students in developing nations. Same education. Same materials. Same global leader interviews. Same credentials.

Just priced for their financial reality.

Trade school graduates can pursue Master's degrees without needing a bachelor's first (through European and Australian university partnerships where that's not required).

Self-employed parents can get credentials without sacrificing income or business momentum.

Career changers can demonstrate leadership capacity without traditional academic pathways.

Anyone told "university isn't for you" gets a different door.

This is what Elizabeth understood immediately:

Debt-free education isn't charity. It's strategy.

When we remove the barriers that keep brilliant people from transformation, everyone wins.

The Question That Changed Our Conversation

Toward the end of our podcast, Elizabeth asked me:

"How can I best serve you so this information gets out there?"

I paused.

Because here's the thing: This isn't about me.

It's not even primarily about Ducere.

It's about the revolution Elizabeth is already leading.

For 40 years, she's been inside the US higher education system watching it extract rather than elevate. Watching brilliant people go into debt for degrees that don't transform their lives. Watching institutions prioritize profit over impact.

Now she's on the outside, fighting for something different.

Debt-free education as the norm, not the exception.

And when I shared the Ducere model with her, she didn't just see a "good deal." She saw proof of concept for her revolution.

Why This Matters For Circle Builders

If you've been following my work, you know I talk about circles over ladders.

Collaboration over competition. Rhythm instead of rush. Businesses that breathe.

Traditional academia is the ultimate ladder model:

• Climb over others to get in

• Compete for grades, attention, opportunities

• Guard your knowledge until you've "earned" the right to share it

• Rush through in the "right" timeframe

• Sacrifice everything else to prove you deserve those letters

The Ducere model is a circle:

• Cohorts learning together, solving problems collectively

• Your success doesn't diminish mine—it proves it's possible

• Knowledge shared immediately, applied in real time

• Honour your rhythm (12-24 months, but at YOUR pace)

• Build your business WHILE you study it

This is what collaboration as competitive advantage actually looks like.

Not just in how you run your business. In how you educate yourself to run it.

The Three Mindsets: Employee, Entrepreneur, CEO

In our podcast conversation, Elizabeth and I talked about something most people don't distinguish:

Employee mindset. Entrepreneur mindset. CEO mindset.

They're three different operating systems.

And here's what's wild: You can be an employee and still need CEO mindset.

That young man Elizabeth mentioned—working for a large organization but already thinking like an entrepreneur? He's going to lead a division someday. Maybe his own company.

He needs CEO education now. Not when he's already drowning in the role.

The woman who got passed over for promotion because nobody knew she was doing her Master's degree? She needed to shift from employee mindset to intrapreneur mindset.

(Intrapreneur: An entrepreneur WITHIN an organisation. Leading your division like it's your business.)

Most traditional education teaches you to be a better employee.

Ducere teaches you to be a CEO—regardless of where you sit.

What Elizabeth and I Are Building

At the end of our conversation, Elizabeth said something that stopped me:

"I've never asked anyone to come back for a second interview. But I'm reserving the right to invite you back for a deeper dive."

Ready to be booked.

Because this conversation is just beginning.

We're exploring:

How to shift parental expectations around higher education (Your kid doesn't need $400,000 in debt to prove they're worthy)

How to reframe trade school as a pathway, not a limitation (Get your trades, then get your credentials—no bachelor's required)

How to help schools understand they're serving multiple audiences (Not everyone is going to traditional university, and that's not failure)

How to make debt-free education the standard, not the exception (Because when 8 billion people have access to transformation, we all win)

This is circle collaboration at its finest.

Two women. Different countries. Different audiences. Same revolution.

Neither of us competing. Both of us amplifying.

When Elizabeth wins, I win. When I win, she wins.

When either of us wins, YOU win.

The Invitation

I'm sharing our podcast conversation here because I want you to hear what happens when two people committed to transformation actually circle together.

Not networking. Not transactional referrals.

Actual collaboration around a shared mission.

And if you're sitting there thinking:

"I need those letters, but I can't do traditional academia" "I've been told I need a degree first, but I've been leading for years" "I want to expand my CEO capacity, but not sacrifice my business" "I believe education should elevate, not extract"

You're in the right circle.

Three Questions To Ask Yourself

1. What would shift if you had credentials that matched your expertise—without sacrificing 3-4 years and going into debt?

2. What projects in your business need strategic attention right now—and what if your Master's degree WAS those projects?

3. If you knew you could complete a degree while building your business, what's actually stopping you?

Not rhetorical questions.

These are the questions that transformed my business. These are the questions that could transform yours.

The Links You Need

Watch our full podcast conversation

Connect with Dr. Elizabeth Rosner: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drelizabethrosner/ Learn about her Love Revolution: Debt-Free Degree mission

Learn about Ducere Global Business School: Talk to be about Ducere - https://tidycal.com/joannebrooks/talk-about-ducere Full transparency: I'm both a recent graduate AND I've been affiliated with Ducere for many years. Matt Jacobson and I go back 25+ years in the education space. I'm sharing this because I experienced the transformation firsthand—and because I believe in what he's built. This isn't a sales pitch. It's an invitation to access what changed my business.

Connect with me: I'm always happy to talk about education, collaboration, and building businesses that breathe. Navigate Biz: navig8biz.com

Final Thought

Elizabeth's foundation quote keeps echoing:

"A social movement that moves merely people is a revolt. But a social movement that transforms both people AND institutions is a revolution."

We're not just changing individual access to education.

We're challenging the institution itself.

What if higher education actually served the people it claims to educate? What if credentials enhanced your business instead of extracting from it? What if debt-free wasn't radical—it was standard?

That's the revolution.

And you're invited into this circle.

Because when one woman rises, we all rise.

🟠 Joanne Brooks The gal in orange Circle Collaboration Framework | Navigate Biz Building businesses that breathe, one circle at a time

P.S. — If this resonates, share it. Tag someone who needs to know debt-free Master's degrees exist. Forward it to that brilliant woman who keeps saying "someday I'll get my credentials."

Because this revolution needs voices. Yours included.